Extremely low framerates with 4850 in Vista x64

[vj8usa]

I just upgraded from an X1900XT to a 4850, and something's really wrong. All I've tried so far is Crysis, Crysis Warhead, and GRID, but in every one of those, I'm getting significantly lower framerates than I did with my old card. I ran Warhead windowed with CCC open, and "GPU Activity" rarely went above 30%. The card did throttle up to the proper 625MHz, though. Is there something keeping my card from working properly?

I'm using Cat 8.9, an IP35-E mobo, and a 450W Smartpower 2.0 PSU.

 

[GlacierFreeze]

Did you do a fresh install of Vista? If so, did you download available Vista updates? It solved my similar problem...

 

[vj9usa]

I did not do a fresh install. I uninstalled my drivers, and reinstalled. I'll reformat if nothing else works, but that's a last resort. I didn't see any new updates after I installed the card (I had already gotten all available updates prior to this). Thanks for the suggestion though, I just might have to reformat at this rate.

EDIT: oh crap, just realized my laptop was logged into the account I made when I forgot vj8usa's password a while ago. At any rate, vj9usa=vj8usa.

 

[GlacierFreeze]

Sometimes you have to reformat when swapping video cards. I think there is a certain program most people use for cleaning video drivers out. Hopefully someone will chime in with the name... Try it first then reformat if it doesn't work....

 

[thilanliyan]

Originally posted by: GlacierFreeze
Sometimes you have to reformat when swapping video cards. I think there is a certain program most people use for cleaning video drivers out. Hopefully someone will chime in with the name... Try it first then reformat if it doesn't work....

Drivercleaner I think.

 

[vj9usa]

Heh, I feel stupid. Turns out my PSU just isn't good enough. I'm running on my friend's 650W PCP&C, and it's performing exactly as it should now. I didn't realize lack of power could make a card run slowly (I figured it'd be all or nothing). I guess I'll have to buy a replacement PSU. Thanks for all the help though.

 

[betasub]

It'd be worth posting your old PSU details, even if it just helps ppl know what not to use with their 4850. Of course the PCP&C 650 is plenty strong enough for these cards.

 

[Kraeoss]

heard that it's a memory problem... vista 64 bit is a memory hog in certain games

 

[betasub]

Vista64 allocates memory resources just fine. Did you hear a rumor and feel compelled to spread it?

 

[imported_apocalypse]

A quality 450w should be enough to run a 4850, I guess that particular brand isn't very good.

 

[GlacierFreeze]

Originally posted by: betasub
Vista64 allocates memory resources just fine. Did you hear a rumor and feel compelled to spread it?

+1

Works fine for me.

 

[Kraeoss]

actually witnessed it.... 2 gig's of mem + q9300 +hd 4870 cf horrible fps
2+2 gig's of mem + q9300 +hd 4870 cf great performance

 

[CKTurbo128]

You might want to give the recently leaked Catalyst 8.10 RC2 drivers a try. I was running into several bugs (particularly BSODs), as well as some Crysis: Warhead performance issues on my 4870 X2 with Catalyst 8.9, but these beta drivers seem to perform flawlessly with Crysis: Warhead.

Originally posted by: thilan29

Originally posted by: GlacierFreeze
Sometimes you have to reformat when swapping video cards. I think there is a certain program most people use for cleaning video drivers out. Hopefully someone will chime in with the name... Try it first then reformat if it doesn't work....

Drivercleaner I think.

There's another effective one out there, called DriverSweeper, which is supported by Guru3D.

 

[GlacierFreeze]

Originally posted by: Kraeoss
actually witnessed it.... 2 gig's of mem + q9300 +hd 4870 cf horrible fps
2+2 gig's of mem + q9300 +hd 4870 cf great performance

Obviously the old days of 2GB of RAM are gone. 4GB is where it's at these days.

 

[Kraeoss]

yea i stand corrected.... i really have to boost my pc with some ram in a timing yes i only have like 2.5 lol

 

[vj8usa]

Originally posted by: betasub
It'd be worth posting your old PSU details, even if it just helps ppl know what not to use with their 4850. Of course the PCP&C 650 is plenty strong enough for these cards.

Ah, good point. I was using a 450W Antec Smartpower 2.0 (came with my Sonata II case). I've had it for 2.5 years though, so maybe it's just getting old. My friend built his system (E7200+4850) with a 450W Corsair 450VX and it's completely fine, and I'm pretty sure even a high quality 380W PSU would be enough. I decided to play it safe and ordered a 600W (should last me for a while, I figure).

Oh yeah, here's the weird thing... I just tried running TF2 with that old PSU, and it was almost normal (playable framerates, maxed out with 8xAA). I guess Crysis just needs WAY more GPU power.

As for RAM, I have 6GB, and Crysis has never used more than 1.5, so that isn't an issue.