Questions about my setup

[kewlguynick]

Hey guys I'm new to the Anandtech forums and first wanted to say hey to everyone.

Now my PC specs are as follows

AMD X2 6000+
3 GB Ram 667 mhz
8800 GT EVGA
Trio 430 Watt PSU
500 Gb HD

I was wondering what might be bottlenecking my PC because I can't run some games on high and I know that this graphic card is able to do that. I bought this computer built from Acer so my guess was that it was either the crappy RAM they included or the PSU is too weak. The temperatures are kept at 60 C at load, so i don't think it's a cooling problem. Please help! Thanks a lot guys.

-Nick

 

[the unknown]

Well, we still do need a little more info. RAM type, DDR or DDR2. Resolution you're playing at. What games youre trying to play on high settings.

Otherwise you have a pretty powerful system. Your CPU shouldn't be bottlenecking your GPU too much, unless you're running DDR ram still... It might just be the resolution plus too much AA/AF thats not allowing you to run games on high. Also, games like crysis on all high are really too demanding for your machine.

edit: welcome to anandtech

 

[kewlguynick]

Thanks the unknown for the welcome. Yeah I run it withough AA/AF and I'm talking about games like frontlines: Fuel of war. I do have a 24 inch Acer monitor that I would like to run at 1900x1200, but for the most part I run it at lower resolutions and still can't get it at high. I installed the drivers correctly and I have DDR2 RAM. I'm going to buy some pc6400 ram today at 4-4-4-12 speed. Hopefully my system will be a little more able, because beyond that, all I can think of doing is adding more fans for cooling and OCing my GPU/CPU and i really dont want to OC my CPU/GPU because i'd need to add a new cooling system to both.

 

[the unknown]

Well, I wouldn't really worry about your RAM. Unless you're getting a really good deal on it. Because going from 3gigs of 5-5-5-15 to 4 of 4-4-4-12 you will see NO appreciatable difference. Don't waste your money. I really don't see what else you can do, other than add another 8800gt if your mobo can do that, or a platform upgrade to a good C2D. Otherwise, you'll just have to live with it.

Oh, just read about your PSU... run some benchmarks so we can see if your card is being underpowered. Run GPU-Z to make sure your card is running at 16x PCI speed. Though I'm nt very good with PSU's, I think you need 22A on your 6v rail, so read your PSU and see if its giving your card that. Or you can run 3dmark and compare your scores to someone with a similiar set up and if theres a large discrepancy then you have a problem.

 

[kewlguynick]

I checked the ratings on the PSU and I doubt it had 22A on the 6v rail because it ran a total of 32 (approx) A on all three rails. I'm not at my cpu so i'm not sure. When i get home iLL run GPUZ and find out.

I also just bought 3 GB of PC2-6400 RAM 4-4-4-12 timings. My old sticks ran at a rating of 1.8v and these run at 2.1 V and 2.0 V. Do I need to go into the bios and change the voltage or is it plug and play?