Help

[TenekaKhan]

Hi,

Ok - I have been trawling for a long time through this forum, but so far I cannot find an answer to my problem. I have spent a long time on building my machine (16 years to be exact) but it is just really annoying me at the moment.

This is what I have:

Intel 2.8ghz 800 fsb Hyperthreading on a MSI 875P Neo-FISR motherboard
1gb Elixer PC3200 mem (not great)
160gb Western Digital
BFG 6800 GT O/C
Audigy soundcard
Thermaltake case and PSU (Butterfly 480w)

The issue i have is that although it runs well enough most of the time,
it constantly seems to underperform. Case in point - HL2 in Canal_08 demo benchmarks at 57-59 fps (1280*1024 no aa etc everything else high) - I would have expected 100fps!!!

Farcry on Ultrahigh etc at same resolution averaging about 49fps

Doom 3 on High (not Ultra) averaging 45fps.

I just think that I should be getting better that this. It doesnt feel right. I have rebuilt, done drive cleaner/cab cleaner etc, using different drivers etc but doesnt seem to have an effect. Have tweaked my bios - still no affect.

My friend just bought a Athlon 64 3500+ and MSI Via motherboard + MSI 6800GT and he was averaging 140fps in CounterStrike Video stress Test - I got 90? A difference of 50% - I just don't understand

Here's the question (sorry about the long post but it really is pissing me off)

Is it the Motherboard and chip - should I go Athlon
or shall I get better memory
or do I need a Raptor HD
Or is there something else I am missing?

Please please help me before I jump off the nearest cliff

 

[mechBgon]

First, I assume you have two 512MB memory modules since that's the popular configuration. Make sure they're in the appropriate slots for dual-channel operation: DIMM1 and DIMM3, or DIMM2 and DIMM4.

Second, the order of installation of stuff can be important. Here is how I would go:

1) WindowsXP (I assume you have WinXP). If you don't have a router providing a hardware firewall, unplug your network cable FIRST and keep it that way until you have SP2 installed. Worm infections... no thanks

2) Service Pack 2 for WinXP (that's the full offline installer), which also gets DirectX updated to DirectX 9.0C and enables the Windows Firewall for you.

3) Motherboard driver package, then a reboot.

4) AFTER the mobo drivers, now install your video drivers and other drivers.

5) You may want to try the Audigy in several different PCI slots since the AGP slot often shares some of its IRQs with one or two PCI slots. Also disable any non-used onboard controllers and the onboard MIDI, audio, gameport and Firewire in your mobo's BIOS since the Audigy duplicates those functions.

6) Athlon64's are powerful gaming chips and that may be part of your friend's advantage, yeah.

Please please help me before I jump off the nearest cliff

Keep it all in perspective. At least you can play Doom3 and HL2. I'm on a 1GHz Duron with a PCI Voodoo3 2000 here. Count your blessings!

 

[TenekaKhan]

true mate - very true. Thanks for the response. Thought to be honest its not the gameplay thats the problem its knowing that it should be better. I am using Windows XP - and I have installed everything as per your reply. Though how you get the firewire port on an Audigy to work is another thing. I have decided to invest in a new pair of OCR PC4000 memory - see if this is the problem. What annoys is that it could be any one of many reasons why this is happening , but how do you troubleshoot. Buy an Athlon I suppose