9600 XT - lackluster performance issues

[cKGunslinger]

Ok, just upgraded from an (original) Radeon LE DDR 32MB (DX7 card - recently renamed to Radeon 7200) to a spiffy 9600 XT 128MB. I was expecting some *big* performance increases over my 3+ year-old card, but so far, I've only been mildly impressed.

My system is an Athlon 2400+ with 512MB Ram (333Mhz). I have the XT running at 540/315 (defaults seems to be 500/300) without any visible problems. (Cat 4.5s)

My 3DMark 2001 score is about 8750, which seems a just little low when compared to similiar systems. I haven't tried 03 yet.

The biggest issue I have is DX9 games. I have both the Halo and Far Cry demos installed. At 1024x768, I'm only getting about 25 FPS in Halo. My old Radeon averaged ~35! Granted, the game looks *slightly* better with the new card, so maybe it's doing more rendering work than the old DX7 card? I would still expect better than this. I set everything in FarCry to "medium" and ran it at 800x600. Using Fraps, it starts off at about 50 fps, but as soon as there's any action of the screen (shooting enemies), it drops top the mid 20s as well.

In the drivers (and Rage3D) I've got all AA always off, but 8X AF forced on. Could that be the big hangup?

So far, the only game where I have seen any real improvements is Q3A. At 1152x864, and everything turned up, I'm getting about 160fps. That's about 2x as fast as the old card, but even that seems a bit slow for what I would expect this card to do. It definitely doesn't look like D3 or HL2 will be any fun on this card, as it stands now. Any ideas?

 

[Matthias99]

In the drivers (and Rage3D) I've got all AA always off, but 8X AF forced on. Could that be the big hangup?

It's certainly hosing your benchmark scores. Try 3DMark01 and 03 with both AA and AF off, and see what you get. If your scores are really low relative to other similar systems, you may have a driver conflict.

 

[cKGunslinger]

There's a tool out there for cleaning up the registry from old ATI stuff, right? Because now that I think about it, I really did a lot of hacking over the years to try and keep my old card alive for as long as possible. Perhaps I just need a good system purging..

Also, if I have AA or AF turned ON in the drivers, wil lthat override 3DMark's settings?

 

[nRollo]

When you consider the 9600XTs place in the scheme of things, I hope you're not looking for miracles from it .
X800Pro>9800XT>9800Pro>9800 or 9700Pro>9700>9600XT
No matter what you've heard the 9600XT is NOT DX9 card. It supports the features, but it's far too slow to run FarCry in PS2, probably at anything over 800X600, medium settings.
I've run the Far Cry demo on a 9800Pro and a 5800Ultra, the performance of both was not what I'd call good, and I have a A64 3000+ with 768MB of 333DDR.
(although 9800Pro was better)
Halo is a bad port of a console game that doesn't run well on anything.

Hope this helps, not trying to disrespect the 9600XT. It's a fine low end card.

 

[cKGunslinger]

Granted, I wasn't looking for miracles. But I was expecting better relative performance. I mean, I probably couldn't give away my old card, even with a $5 bill taped to it. But it still provids a more consistent gaming experience than this new one. In fact, I've been choosing to play games on it and my XP 1700+ over my new XP 2400+ and this 9600XT. It may be slower, but it's a lot more consistent. Its constant 35fps is a lot more appealing than the 70fps-one-second, 18fps-the-next. Oh well, maybe I did have my hopes up too high.

 

[Avalon]

In your display properties for the card, set your settings to application preference. That 8x AF is probably what's hurting you. As for Halo, that game doesn't run very well on anything like Rollo said. Try FarCry again with application preference for your settings. It should run smoother.

 

[LTC8K6]

[forcecalibur]9600 is crap![/forcecalibur]

You probably need a good driver cleaning too.

 

[ForceCalibur]

9600 is crap!

 

[ForceCalibur]

Hope this helps, not trying to disrespect the 9600XT. It's a fine low end card.[/quote]

Disrespect.. DISREPECT!!!! NOWWWWWW!!

 

[LTC8K6]

:beer: ForceCalibur

 

[ForceCalibur]

9600 = :evil:

 

[ronnn]

Originally posted by: ForceCalibur
9600 is crap!

So what does that make the 5200 ?

 

[ForceCalibur]

It makes crape :beer:

 

[CaiNaM]

i gotta agree.. lackluster card = lackluster performance.

 

[jagec]

Originally posted by: cKGunslinger
Granted, I wasn't looking for miracles. But I was expecting better relative performance. I mean, I probably couldn't give away my old card, even with a $5 bill taped to it. But it still provids a more consistent gaming experience than this new one. In fact, I've been choosing to play games on it and my XP 1700+ over my new XP 2400+ and this 9600XT. It may be slower, but it's a lot more consistent. Its constant 35fps is a lot more appealing than the 70fps-one-second, 18fps-the-next. Oh well, maybe I did have my hopes up too high.

But did you have 8x AF forced on your old card? Probably not. AA and AF will drop your scores faster than anything...I remember one time I forgot that I had 4xAA/8x AF forced on my 9800p (looked great in 2k4), and I was wondering why I was getting 5 fps in the intro to Metroid (3dmark03).

Turned it off (well, "application preference"), and it went back up to ~35.

 

[Blastman]

On the heavy games you won?t be running with AA/AF, but according to the fs benches, a 9600XT should run Farcry pretty decently at 1024x768.

http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/far_cry_ati/page3.asp

 

[nRollo]

Originally posted by: ForceCalibur
Hope this helps, not trying to disrespect the 9600XT. It's a fine low end card.

Disrespect.. DISREPECT!!!! NOWWWWWW!![/quote]


Nah. He knows his card isn't high end. I just wanted to point out that the two games he mentioned were two of the hardest to run fast and there will probably be problems doing so when you're using your brand's 7th fastest card.

I used to love the guys who would post about how a 9600Pro is faster than a 5900Ultra after Shady Days so that was the "bang for buck" card to get.

I wonder how many of them are reading this thinking "Shut up bastige Rollo!"?

 

[Pete]

8750 in 3DM01SE with 8xAF on a 9600XT = driver problems. Clean everything out as much as you can (try ATi's uninstall tool if you don't have any other ATi software on your HD, such as their DVD player or AIW/TVWonder apps), then reinstall the latest DirectX, then reinstall the latest Catalysts.

Don't force AF via software for Far Cry, enable it via the game (and try to stay within 4x, which I believe is the max the game will allow).

 

[dguy6789]

Rollo, the 9600XT is a dx9 card. There is obviously something wrong with some setting, as my Radeon 9600 Pro(not XT) runs farcry at 1024X768 absolute MAX settings without ever going below 30fps, and most of the time above 40. fraps does not lie. why dont you try to help the guy instead of talk about how crappy his card is. His card is even faster then my 9600 Pro, so there is no reason why it wouldnt play the game good. Not to mention halo runs perfect in multiplayer with minor slowdown in 2 of the single player missions.

you may not be trying to disrespect the 9600xt, but saying it cant do what it obviously can is. There is some setting or something wrong, as even when my comp is clocked down to 2400+ speeds, i get over 13,000 01 marks at stock.

as others have suggested try cleaning the drivers, also try the omegas, they are faster then the cats, and have better IQ.

 

[GeneralGrievous]

I actually agree with Rollo on this one. It's best to call a crappy card a crappy card, and that's what the 9600 XT is. All 4 pipeline cards are trash really.

 

[lithium726]

well, i run far cry on my 9600pro with all on high 1152*864 with min 30 fps. i have it clocked at 500/350. doesnt seem too bad too me.

 

[Tab]

How is the 9600XT not DX9?

 

[Sylvanas]

link to driver cleaner hear hear lithium, i have my 9600pro clocked at 500/334 and i can play far cry very well at 1280x1024. 9600xt is a great card and id give everything a clean, defrag (if needed) and disk cleanup just to make sure!!

 

[Nebor]

Originally posted by: lithium726
well, i run far cry on my 9600pro with all on high 1152*864 with min 30 fps. i have it clocked at 500/350. doesnt seem too bad too me.

... Tell another.

 

[oldman420]

i have a 9600 pro and get 13000 3dmarks i would remove and reinstall the card in device manager and reload with the latest catylist drivers
good luck