Is it just me? Or is my new Radeon 9500 pro really trash..

[Keysplayr]

I have tried everything and I cant get this damned card to run even UT over 35 fps and without artifacts.
Does anyone have a clue as to why I am having so much trouble with this card?

Here is my config:

ASUS CUSL-C i815 chipset
300w PSU
Pentium 3 1GHz
256 MB PC133
20GB Maxtor 7200
SBLIVE 5.1
3Com 3C905b NIC
Radeon 9500 pro 128MB (Built by ATI)

WTF!!!!!!!!!!

Latest Catalyst 3.2 drivers and Control Panel
Fresh Windows 2000 pro install Service Pack 3
Direct X ver 8.1

WTF!!!!!!!!!!

Extremely frustrated. Please help..

Thanks,
Keys

 

[Fingolfin269]

Well I guess all things are relative eh?

 

[Keysplayr]

What do you mean fingolfin?

 

[Fingolfin269]

Oh well when I posted that all you had was a title and no text

Have you tried the card on any other games or performance programs? I will say that you have 2 bottlenecks in your system relative to the 9500's power right off the bat : 1000mhz and 256 megs of sdram. The ram is the main bottleneck man you definately need to get 256 more.

 

[greyhavns]

I seriously hope not cause I just invested in a 9500 Pro and from ratings on tomshardware guide, they definately voted this card quite well. maybe it's just an issue that you are having hopefully. try reformatting if it's really giving you a problem. also, update your Direct X drivers. taht might have an issue as well.

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: Fingolfin269
Oh well when I posted that all you had was a title and no text

Have you tried the card on any other games or performance programs? I will say that you have 2 bottlenecks in your system relative to the 9500's power right off the bat : 1000mhz and 256 megs of sdram. The ram is the main bottleneck man you definately need to get 256 more.

Ok, I have some more ram that I can put in there. I think another 256. Ok will try it.

And I cant believe that a Gigahertz CPU is a bottleneck. I mean, it's hard to believe. But shouldn't it be enough to get over 35 fps?
No I have not tried any other games as of yet.

The thing is, I had a GeForce 2 GTS 32MB AGP card in this system before I upgraded to the Radeon. My fps were around 60-70 in Unreal Tournament. (not 2003). I know that the Radeon has tons more horsepower than the GTS does.

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: greyhavns
I seriously hope not cause I just invested in a 9500 Pro and from ratings on tomshardware guide, they definately voted this card quite well. maybe it's just an issue that you are having hopefully. try reformatting if it's really giving you a problem. also, update your Direct X drivers. taht might have an issue as well.

Yeah, I heard terrific things about this card and was so disappointed. I thought these GPU/VPU chips were supposed to offload duty cycles from the processor so as older machines can benefit for the lack of MHz. Wasn't that the idea at the time the first GPU hit the streets?
I am kinda leaning towards my hardware at the moment for the cause of the problem. Only because I have reformatted my drive twice and didi completely new OS installs. I can try installing DX9 I guess.

 

[Keysplayr]

I want to take a screen shot from the game and show you guys.

 

[Megatomic]

Install FRAPS and with it you can take in-game screenshots.

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: SeekingTao
Install FRAPS and with it you can take in-game screenshots.

Is it a separate program? Would you have a link?

 

[Schwan]

If you are using the newer drivers, I believe you need to have directx 9 installed.

I would try that.

 

[Mingon]

older gpu's are better with older games sometimes, This can be because they are less programmable and as such are good at certain specific tasks which are hard coded e.g. TnL .

 

[Randolphjo]

You also might want to check your power supply to see if it provides better than 300-Watts (350-watts+ better). If it doesn't, this could cause a major problem with system stability. I ran into this problem with my system when I installed my new Radeon 9500 128MB (non-pro).




ATI Radeon 9500 Pro Specifications:


System Requirements
RADEON? 9500 PRO requires connection to your PC's internal power supply for operation. A 300-Watt power supply or greater is recommended to ensure normal system operation where a number of other internal devices are installed.
Intel® Pentium® 4/III/II/Celeron?, AMD® K6/Duron?/Athlon®/Athlon® XP or compatible with AGP 8X/4X/2X slot
128MB of system memory
Installation software requires CD-ROM drive
DVD playback requires DVD drive

ATI Radeon 9500 Pro Specifications





JR

 

[Mem]

Is it a separate program? Would you have a link?

You can get Fraps from here .

 

[dguy6789]

definately the ram. I have a radeon 9000 pro 128 meg with an athlon xp 2000+

I used to have 256 megs of ram. I was trying to run ut2k3 at highest settings. it ran smooth about 10% of the time. Wanna know why? cause 90% of the time it was swapping files with the hard disc. I got another 256 megs of ram and WOW, the difference is amazing, so you should try it.

 

[Richdog]

Originally posted by: Fingolfin269
Oh well when I posted that all you had was a title and no text

Have you tried the card on any other games or performance programs? I will say that you have 2 bottlenecks in your system relative to the 9500's power right off the bat : 1000mhz and 256 megs of sdram. The ram is the main bottleneck man you definately need to get 256 more.

I agree, I'm afraid your system just doesn't cut the mustard and provide that Radeon 9500 with nearly enough juice... SDRAM and a PIII are like a two-stroke engine nowadays...

UPGRADE !!!

 

[DevilsAdvocate]

You really are not giving the 9500 Pro enough CPU to work with.

If I were you, I would sell that CPU and mobo in FS/FT and pick up an inexpensive AMD combo - maybe a 2100+ and an nForce2.

Dump SDRAM and pick up some DDR - RAM prices may never be better than they are now.

 

[vexingv]

definitely ur system....i have an axp 1700 (@1830mghz) w/ 512 ddr, and r9500pro and its fine...plays everything pretty well and if u cant really tell the difference it doesnt matter wut fps u're getting. e.g. I was playing splinter cell was quite smoothly but wanted to see my fps for the hell of it. then when i turned on fraps i found out i was only getting like 30 fps

 

[Keysplayr]

Ok, so I will try to sell the Mobo, CPU and Mem in FS/FT. I guess an Athlon 2100+ and NForce2 Mobo with DDR is the answer. I appreciate all of your
input. It has been very helpful. I will give any of you who responded first dibs on the CPU and Mobo if you have a use for them and want to buy them. I dont even know what I can ask for them. I'm thinking 150 for the CPU Mobo and mem. Lemme know if you want, if noone wants them by tonight, I will place them in FS/FT.

Thanks again for all of your help everyone. You guys are great.

Keys

 

[Killrose]

You say you are having artifacts? That has nothing to do with your CPU, Ram, ect., but points to a video card problem. What kind of artifacts? and does it only occur in 3d? and OpenGL games as well as D3D games?

 

[Guspaz]

And I cant believe that a Gigahertz CPU is a bottleneck. I mean, it's hard to believe. But shouldn't it be enough to get over 35 fps?

Well, you will just have to believe. Your CPU is the largest bottleneck in your system, and UT2K3 is a VERY processor intensive game. Its a third the speed of modern CPUs, and lacks SSE2.

In Tom's CPU scaling guide (http://www.tomshardware.com/cpu/20030217/cpu_charts-24.html), in UT2K3 (this is with an ATI Radeon 9700 Pro), the fastest processor got 215.1FPS, and using the same videocard, your CPU got 94.1FPS. These were taken at 1024x768, and it doesn't say what quality level.

Now, your card is slower than a Radeon 9700 Pro, that will decrease the framerate from there, and then you may have certain speed-reducing settings enabled that Tom's hardware didn't that will further reduce the framerate. Anti-aliasing, higher anisotropic filtering, and so on and so forth. Some other slowdowns might come from running Windows 2000 (It's not a gaming OS, last I checked WinXP outperformed it for games), not having DirectX 9 (Might provide a minor speed boost?)

So, I think that settles it: Your CPU is the largest cause of your performance problems.

BUT, if you are getting artifacts, something is wrong with the card. Have it replaced and try again?

 

[kylebisme]

its a confuration problem i am sure, the card should be doing far better than it is. use a benchmark like 3dmark to test and make sure yours score are in line with comprable systems while troubleshooting issues, and please don't ask for a link, use a seach engine and help yourself.

 

[Guspaz]

Originally posted by: TheSnowman
its a confuration problem i am sure

I am convinced that part of his problem is a misconfigured setup, (Perhaps accounting for why he isn't getting more like 60FPS), but from there his CPU is the reason he isn't getting something like 180FPS.

 

[wayliff]

I really think your video card is fine. I have the same video card and it runs very smooth and stable.

Your system seems a little behind and that might be why you're having issues...you definitely need an increase in RAM and like somebody else said...a CPU upgrade will also be wise.

I am sure after that and a reinstallation of everything you'll be loving ATI, like I do.

 

[Guspaz]

Originally posted by: wayliff
I really think your video card is fine. I have the same video card and it runs very smooth and stable.

Your system seems a little behind and that might be why you're having issues...you definitely need an increase in RAM and like somebody else said...a CPU upgrade will also be wise.

I am sure after that and a reinstallation of everything you'll be loving ATI, like I do.

I don't know, I'm really worried about his visual artifacts.