help-bad performance from X800Xl

[spazo]

I have a p4 3ghz, 512mb ram, and a X800Xl with cat5.5 drivers but my in game performance sucks. My synthetic benchmarks are alright though....

Games that I've tried and I recorded performance with FRAPS:
Half Life 2(first level): I get a min. of 0fps and a max of 80 with an avg. of 50
Need For Speed Underground(race number 97): min of about 25, max around 74, avg. at 40
3dmark05:48xx
3dmark03:103xx

Everything is set to the highest eye candy possible with the expection of AA and AF which are set at 2x and 0x respectively.

edit: temps top out at 72 on load
edit number 2: Vsync is enabled whenever possible but with these low scores, iI don't think it matters...

I'm assuming my X800XL is underperforming and if it isn't, I'm never buying a "high" end card again as my TI4800SE provided much smoother gameplay although at slightly reduced details and at lower frames....

 

[mwmorph]

Originally posted by: spazo
I have a p4 3ghz, 512mb ram, and a X800Xl with cat5.5 drivers but my in game performance sucks. My synthetic benchmarks are alright though....

Games that I've tried and I recorded performance with FRAPS:
Half Life 2(first level): I get a min. of 0fps and a max of 80 with an avg. of 50
Need For Speed Underground(race number 97): min of about 25, max around 74, avg. at 40
3dmark05:48xx
3dmark03:103xx

Everything is set to the highest eye candy possible with the expection of AA and AF which are set at 2x and 0x respectively.

edit: temps top out at 72 on load

I'm assuming my X800XL is underperforming and if it isn't, I'm never buying a "high" end card again as my TI4800SE provided much smoother gameplay although at slightly reduced details and at lower frames....

try in order
a) drivers update to newest(there are som omega/3rd party drivers that increase performance)
b) update mb drivers/bios to newest
c) vid card bios to newest
d) get pissed you bought a P4 for gaming
e) get another 512mb of ram

 

[spazo]

Well its a Dell so options a-b aren't applicable. Option C is already done. Option D well....I brought my enitre computer for $750 including the X800XL and 19" LCD moniter. I'm currently working on a deal to sell the moniter to some suckers for $330 so the enitre cost for my pc is $420....Don't think I can build a AMD based system for cheaper unless I steal some things...ram is something I'm thinking about but not until I get some more cash...

 

[mwmorph]

Originally posted by: spazo
Well its a Dell so options a-b aren't applicable. Option C is already done. Option D well....I brought my enitre computer for $750 including the X800XL and 19" LCD moniter. I'm currently working on a deal to sell the moniter to some suckers for $330 so the enitre cost for my pc is $420....Don't think I can build a AMD based system for cheaper unless I steal some things...ram is something I'm thinking about but not until I get some more cash...

well, no matter the manufacturer, you can install any video card driver you want. there is nothing to stop you.

also, as you see by the futuremark ORB, 2600 is about average for your system. 5150 is max for oced everything(438/1100) and the avrage is about right at 4800 (actually the avragew is closer to 4600 to 4700. the 0 fps thing seems like a memory or cpu bottleneck though.

 

[Dkcode]

This could work as i have a friend who had similar problems. Basically he threw up task manager (ctrl +alt +del) click on processes and killed most of the programs he had running (non vital ones at least), this solved his problems. Do you have alot of crap installed?| Also disable any virus checkers.

 

[spazo]

I have 42 processes and I'm not sure which ones are vital as I also don't want to screw up my system. I would love to know how to stop Mcafee, its one of the most obtrusive virus protection programs out there....I tried to stop it but I see no option of turning it "off"

well, no matter the manufacturer, you can install any video card driver you want. there is nothing to stop you.

I have cat 5.5s installed which are the lastest video card drivers.

 

[Dkcode]

You wont screw up your system. Anything thats critical for windows will not close. I can not help you with your virus checker as i do not use this however a simple google search should help.

Im running 28 proccesses this including IE so this maybe your problem. Just go through one by one disabling all that your can. then try your games. hope this helps.

 

[spazo]

Thanks, I'll give it a shot...I do have a question though, why is it that I have mutiple processes with the same name? Mainly I'm talking about SVCHOST.EXE....

I also have another question, I remember reading that qauntity of ram had nothing to do with fps, only loading times. Is this true? I constantly read that ram decreases loading times but has no effect on gameply itself...

 

[Dkcode]

I have the exact same process loaded up several times too. Im not sure what is but a guess is its some sort of communication app that is loaded for different types of connections ie, internet, lan. Like i said this is just a guess but its not important

As for ram more will not make a difference to your frame rates just your loading times so do not worry.

 

[mwmorph]

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=314056
"The Svchost.exe file is located in the %SystemRoot%\System32 folder. At startup, Svchost.exe checks the services part of the registry to construct a list of services that it must load. Multiple instances of Svchost.exe can run at the same time. Each Svchost.exe session can contain a grouping of services. Therefore, separate services can run, depending on how and where Svchost.exe is started. This grouping of services permits better control and easier debugging. "

 

[Appledrop]

Originally posted by: spazo
I have 42 processes and I'm not sure which ones are vital as I also don't want to screw up my system. I would love to know how to stop Mcafee, its one of the most obtrusive virus protection programs out there....I tried to stop it but I see no option of turning it "off"

First off, if you care about performance, dont run mcaffee, or any active virus scanner for that matter... Start//Control panel//Add Remove Programs//All mcaffee stuff =). Common sense is better than a scanner anyway... Also disable vsync except for games like CS tbh . Your scores good though... It probably is the background processes sucking cpu time.. what 3dmark 01 score do you get, because that is a good gauge of all around performance including cpu...

edit: Also 512mb ram?? Eek, you get a lot nicer gamefeel with 1gb, when i upgraded i was very happy i did =).

 

[BFG10K]

Vsync is enabled whenever possible but with these low scores, iI don't think it matters...

Yes it does; turn it off.

I would love to know how to stop Mcafee, its one of the most obtrusive virus protection programs out there

Add/remove programs. Failing that use the delete key.

 

[Emultra]

Azzy64, what do you mean by "CS tbh"?

Counter-Strike? If so, why should vsync be enabled there?

 

[Appledrop]

Originally posted by: Emultra
Azzy64, what do you mean by "CS tbh"?

Counter-Strike? If so, why should vsync be enabled there?

Because its the only game i get terrible tearing in, and with a card that powerful, you can afford to on games that will play at 500 fps anyway.