Horrible frame rates on my computer

[JosephBAdams]

Hello, I'm having some major problems with video performance on my computer. Before I describe the problems, here are my system specifications:

Antec TruPower 550W Power Supply Unit
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L Motherboard
Intel Core 2 Duo E4500 @ 2.2 GHz
NVIDIA GeForce 9600 GT 512 MB
4 GB G.Skill PC2-6400 RAM
2 x 300 GB Maxtor MaxLine III
Windows Vista Home Premium Edition (64-Bit)

Note: I am running the most recent NVIDIA drivers, my BIOS is fully up-to-date, and Windows is fully updated. My hard drives are defragmented at least twice per week, I have tried re-installing the games described below, I have no background programs running on my system, and I don't have any anti-virus software running when I'm attempting to play games.

My problem: I almost never get more than 15 frames per second on any game that I play, including older games such as Counter-Strike: Source and newer games such as Crysis. Textures in some games such as Team Fortress 2 are rendered horribly (for instance, weapons held by characters in the game are invisible, the game freezes whenever projectiles exit the gun chambers).

I have no idea how to troubleshoot this problem or work toward a solution. I've talked to several people who have virtually identical systems to mine, and they obtain frame rates at least 5 to 10 times higher than I do. What can I do to get my system to perform better? I literally obtained vastly superior frame rates on a Pentium IV processor with a 6 series NVIDIA card back in 2003 than I can obtain on my current system. And yes, I have connected the video card to the power supply unit.

Please help me figure out what's going on and identify potential solutions.

For what it's worth, here are my 3D Mark Vantage scores--

3D Mark Overall: P2760
GPU Test 1: 10 FPS
GPU Test 2: 11 FPS
CPU Test 1: 241 Plans/S
CPU Test 2: 1.47 Steps/S

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: JosephBAdams
NVIDIA GeForce 9600 GT 512 MB

nVidia GeForce 7800 GTX 256 MB DDR3

Were you aware that you have to use DriverCleaner Pro or DriverSweeper, when changing video cards?

 

[Jeff7181]

Originally posted by: myocardia

Originally posted by: JosephBAdams
NVIDIA GeForce 9600 GT 512 MB

nVidia GeForce 7800 GTX 256 MB DDR3

Were you aware that you have to use DriverCleaner Pro or DriverSweeper, when changing video cards?

Don't have to, especially when staying with nVidia cards. A driver reinstall is the most one would need to do... usually not even that since Forceware drivers cover every nVidia video card you're likely to find in a PC built in the last 8-10 years.

 

[JosephBAdams]

If this is true, I'll give it a shot. However, I don't see much potential for a conflict here. The driver set for the 9600 GT is exactly the same as the driver set for the 7800 GTX. Of course, I uninstalled my video card drivers (and installed anew) when I swapped cards a couple of months ago.

Can someone please tell me if my horrible score on 3D Mark is appropriate for my system? I've been told that it should be 8 to 10 times higher.

 

[Jeff7181]

Check the clock speeds... is it not ramping up from 2D to 3D speeds when you start a game?
Do you have the proper PCI-Express power connectors plugged in?
Is it overheating?

 

[Quiksilver]

Download Driver Sweeper
Install Driver Sweeper
Download Latest Drivers
Re-boot into Safe-Mode
Remove driver from Add/remove programs (if not listed use device manager)
Reboot if needed (into safe mode again)
Run Driver Sweeper with correct driver manufacture selected.
Reboot Normally
Install latest drivers

Check FPS again. Use GPU-Z and see if clocks are being reported right.

 

[JosephBAdams]

Originally posted by: Quiksilver
Download Driver Sweeper
Install Driver Sweeper
Download Latest Drivers
Re-boot into Safe-Mode
Remove driver from Add/remove programs (if not listed use device manager)
Reboot if needed (into safe mode again)
Run Driver Sweeper with correct driver manufacture selected.
Reboot Normally
Install latest drivers

Check FPS again. Use GPU-Z and see if clocks are being reported right.

I just followed all of these steps based upon your recommendations and those of myocardia.

GPU-Z tells me that my GPU core clock is 650 MHz (correct) and my memory clock is 900 MHz (also correct). I think it's constantly running at those speeds.

Here's what I'm seeing in GPU-Z. And here's another screen showing no apparent fluctuation in clock speeds or temperature. Does this look like my video card is not actually doing any work?

Do you have the proper PCI-Express power connectors plugged in?

Yes

Is it overheating?

No.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Check your PEG link width. It should be 16x, not 1x. I think that CPU-Z can tell you this info.

 

[JosephBAdams]

Originally posted by: VirtualLarry
Check your PEG link width. It should be 16x, not 1x. I think that CPU-Z can tell you this info.

PEG link width is correct, 16x.

 

[JosephBAdams]

Originally posted by: Jeff7181
Check the clock speeds... is it not ramping up from 2D to 3D speeds when you start a game?
Do you have the proper PCI-Express power connectors plugged in?
Is it overheating?

I'm not sure that I am looking at the right thing, but on GPU-Z I don't see any difference whatsoever in my clock speeds. I think it's constantly at the speeds of 650 MHz/900MHz.

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: VirtualLarry
Check your PEG link width. It should be 16x, not 1x. I think that CPU-Z can tell you this info.

Thanks for bringing that up, Larry, I had completely forgotten about that. And yeah, CPU-Z will tell you. It's at the bottom of the Mainboard tab.

 

[JosephBAdams]

Guys I just posted some screens from GPU-Z. I'm very perplexed that the GPU's clock speeds and temperature don't change at all when I'm running a game.

It looks like my 3D Mark score should be WAY higher than it is right now (2760). According to this review of the card, my 3D Mark score should be at least 10,000. Half-Life 2 performance on this card should be over the 100 FPS mark, and I get 15. World in Conflict performance should be in the 50 range on average, and I'm getting 8. I am starting to believe that my video card is dead? Or is it possible the PCI Express slot on my motherboard is screwed up? I would think that if this information is coming up in GPU-Z, the card and the PCI Express slot are functional.

It's like my card is not even running/my computer doesn't even use it?!

If you look at RivaTuner, it's like my card is constantly running at the same speeds and the only thing that changes when I load a game is that the temperature goes up a few degrees.

 

[GreenGhost]

I had the same problem with a 7600GT. The card was bad. No visual problems, only terrible frame rates. You may have a similar problem.

 

[ashishmishra]

Originally posted by: JosephBAdams
Guys I just posted some screens from GPU-Z. I'm very perplexed that the GPU's clock speeds and temperature don't change at all when I'm running a game.

It looks like my 3D Mark score should be WAY higher than it is right now (2760). According to this review of the card, my 3D Mark score should be at least 10,000. Half-Life 2 performance on this card should be over the 100 FPS mark, and I get 15. World in Conflict performance should be in the 50 range on average, and I'm getting 8. I am starting to believe that my video card is dead? Or is it possible the PCI Express slot on my motherboard is screwed up? I would think that if this information is coming up in GPU-Z, the card and the PCI Express slot are functional.

It's like my card is not even running/my computer doesn't even use it?!

If you look at RivaTuner, it's like my card is constantly running at the same speeds and the only thing that changes when I load a game is that the temperature goes up a few degrees.

Joseph I believe you should be 10000 in 3d mark 06 and not 3d mark vantage, above 10000 in vantage is 4870X2 territory. Though you should be getting way higher performance in games. Just to make sure are all your driver settings default, maybe some insane level of AA got forced in the driver page by accident.

 

[JosephBAdams]

Originally posted by: ashishmishra

Originally posted by: JosephBAdams
Guys I just posted some screens from GPU-Z. I'm very perplexed that the GPU's clock speeds and temperature don't change at all when I'm running a game.

It looks like my 3D Mark score should be WAY higher than it is right now (2760). According to this review of the card, my 3D Mark score should be at least 10,000. Half-Life 2 performance on this card should be over the 100 FPS mark, and I get 15. World in Conflict performance should be in the 50 range on average, and I'm getting 8. I am starting to believe that my video card is dead? Or is it possible the PCI Express slot on my motherboard is screwed up? I would think that if this information is coming up in GPU-Z, the card and the PCI Express slot are functional.

It's like my card is not even running/my computer doesn't even use it?!

If you look at RivaTuner, it's like my card is constantly running at the same speeds and the only thing that changes when I load a game is that the temperature goes up a few degrees.

Joseph I believe you should be 10000 in 3d mark 06 and not 3d mark vantage, above 10000 in vantage is 4870X2 territory. Though you should be getting way higher performance in games. Just to make sure are all your driver settings default, maybe some insane level of AA got forced in the driver page by accident.

I have my AA driver setting fixed on allowing programs to determine it. Running 0 AA, 2x AA, 4x AA, 8x AA has no effect on my frame rate in any programs. So it's not that.

 

[ashishmishra]

3DMark Score
P3966 3DMarks
CPU Score (QX9650 not overclocked (yet))
12296
Graphics Score (GeForce 9600GT)
3235

Source: Incrysis Forums

 

[ashishmishra]

Ok run dxdiag and check whether hardware acceleration is enabled or not? Though your Vantage score are normal and in range, so that's unlikely but worth a check.

 

[Tempered81]

I'd install 177.98 Driver. Update mobo bios, drivers, system drivers & windows vista SP1 updates. Overclock the gpu & cpu. Clean up the HDD. Make sure your pci-e is 16x. Try again.

 

[SergeC]

Have the latest chipset drivers installed?

 

[JosephBAdams]

I ran dxdiag and confirmed that all DirectX features are enabled.

The latest chipset drivers are in place. I might try the beta 177.92 driver per jared's suggestion. I will post an update when I test this.

I'm not aware that there are separate device/chipset drivers for NVIDIA cards. How can I make sure that chipset drivers are installed?

 

[Quiksilver]

Originally posted by: JosephBAdams
I'm not aware that there are separate device/chipset drivers for NVIDIA cards. How can I make sure that chipset drivers are installed?

He's referring to the p35 chipset drivers for your motherboard. In which case yes, there are seperate drivers for each. I suppose the drivers for the chipset would at gigabytes site.

 

[JosephBAdams]

My chipset drivers are 100% up to date.

Still no luck finding a problem/solution.

 

[darkhorror]

did you bench any other parts of your system to see if something else is running slow which in turn is giving you low fps?

Have you tried physicly reinstalling the card? If that doesn't work do you know anyone with the same card which you could test in your computer?

 

[smithkt]

This sounds eerily similar to the problems people (including myself) were reporting 7-8 months ago with 8800GT boards. The Power Sentinel was downclocking boards as a result of an incorrect determination that the power supply was insufficient. At the time, I waited 2 1/2 months for a driver release to correct the problem. I believe it was 169.44 at that time. That fix should have been in all the new releases since then. Not saying it's the same problem, but the symptoms sound exactly the same. Unexplained poor frame rates despite all the clocks being reported correctly.

For a while, people were blaming the PSUs, but eventually, Nvidia released the driver fix.

People running Vista received no warning. People running XP would get a warning message when Windows started up.

It would be a shame if this is the same issue popping up again.

 

[will889]

If you possibly can try installing/test the card in a different setup - or with XP if possible.