System seems to be underperforming -- how do I optimize?

[Sekkai]

Hello -- I just put a computer together for the first time with these specs:

Intel i7 920 processor with d0 stepping
Gigabyte UD4P motherboard
EVGA GTX 295 video card
12 GB OCZ GOLD RAM
2 1TB 7200 RPM HDDs
1 LG Optical Drive (CD and DVD R/RW)
850W Corsair PSU
Prolimatech Megahalem heatsink with Arctic Silver 5 thermal compound
Windows Vista 64
Antec 1200 Case (three intake fans in the front, two exhaust in the back, a huge exhaust up top, an intake fan on the side, another fan to cool off the GPU, and a fan pulling air up through the heatsink).

Some pics if anyone is curious:
http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/1331/dsc00534t.jpg
http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/7040/dsc00537q.jpg
http://img30.imageshack.us/img30/9486/dsc00538y.jpg
http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/224/dsc00539v.jpg
http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/8914/dsc00540l.jpg
http://img35.imageshack.us/img35/155/dsc00542uak.jpg
http://img41.imageshack.us/img41/3175/dsc00543uma.jpg


3dMark Vantage results:
http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/1624/3dmarki.jpg

System stats:
CT and CPUZ and Precision: http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/9889/sysstats.jpg
Note: For the SPD tab, it displays those stats for all 6 memory slots (each slot is a 2 GB stick)
HWMonitor: http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/5456/24447720.jpg

Some screens of my BIOS settings:

MB Intelligent Tweaker
http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/7584/dsc00524g.jpg

Bottom of MB Intelligent Tweaker
http://img200.imageshack.us/img200/931/dsc00525l.jpg

Advanced DRAM features
http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/2663/dsc00526djy.jpg

Advanced Voltage Control
http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/4357/dsc00527akd.jpg

Bottom of Advanced Voltage Control
http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/485/dsc00528y.jpg

Forgot where this was
http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/3569/dsc00529j.jpg

Integrated Peripherals
http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/8647/dsc00530n.jpg

Advanced BIOS Features
http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/5905/dsc00531x.jpg

Standard CMOS Features
http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/6079/dsc00532t.jpg








WHEW. I don't expect anyone to actually read all that, but to anyone that does, you have no idea how much I appreciate it. I've never put one of these together before, and this site has been of great help.

My problem is that I feel like my system is vastly underperforming. This 295 gfx card should be chewing everything alive, and it doesn't seem to be, especially given that 3dMark Vantage score.

Questions:
1. Does anything look glaringly wrong or inefficient or anything in ANY of these pictures/numbers/figures?
2. How would I overclock the CPU correctly/how do I adjust the relevant voltage settings and to what extent? What else must I change?
3. Should I OC the gfx card? If so, to what extent?
4. In general, given these figures/pictures/specs/results, how can I change things to maximize my computer's potential?

Thank you all very much.

 

[Sekkai]

Too much?

 

[totalnoob]

If you are underperforming, your problem is on the software side, not hardware. I suggest you do some tweaking in Windows, disable the paging file, eliminate services and programs you don't need running, etc.

 

[Sekkai]

But I don't know what tweaks those would be or how I would even go about looking for them. What's a paging file and why would I want to disable it? How would that affect my video card performance? This thing's got 12 GB RAM... I figure processes running isn't the issue?

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

What are you worried about, the scoring by that app?

 

[faxon]

well for one you put a megahalems on that thing and you arent even overclocking it. there's your problem right there! the guy who scored that max score there, he had his cpu overclocked to 5ghz. of course his system is going to have double the score of yours lol. he had to use virtually no system memory to get the rest of it stable though. you could probably do 4.2ghz with that cooler though, if you install push/pull fans maybe more. i got my Q9650 to 4.2ghz using dual low speed yate loons and my temps are in the mid 70s under OCCT, im sure you will have no problem with some slightly faster fans lol. as for over all system performance, is it underperforming in the sense that it isnt performing how you expected it to? or is it actually lagging in some way? either way, if you are concerned about your synthetic benchmark score, overclocking your cpu will change that, and you have the system with which to do it, so more power to ya. either way, that system should chew through any game no problem

 

[betasub]

OP: you already have a very fast system out of the box. It is not going to match the benchmark scores of rigs that have had many hours of overclocking, tweaking and optimising. Unless you are competing in some sort of benchmark race, you can be happy and enjoy your shiny new fast system.

 

[vj8usa]

Your score's fine, considering you're at stock speeds. Stop looking at synthetic benchmark scores and start using your system for actual games/work/etc.

 

[Sekkai]

That's the thing -- I am. ON certain games there are either slight FPS drops, etc. I expected this thing to be flawlessly smooth at completely maxed settings, and it's not achieving that. It runs games well at very high settings, granted, but it isn't maxed (which was my expectation), and so I am not sure what the problem may be given these results/outputs/etc.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

A 2.66Ghz i7 920 will run around the same ipc as a Q9650 at 3Ghz. From personal experience, there is a noticeable difference in gaming going from 3Ghz to 3.6Ghz on my Yorkfield. So, that may apply to your i7 9xx

 

[Schmide]

Originally posted by: totalnoob
If you are underperforming, your problem is on the software side, not hardware. I suggest you do some tweaking in Windows, disable the paging file, eliminate services and programs you don't need running, etc.

Worst advice ever. The page file is necessary for a proper operation of a virtual-memory mapped OS. None of these tweeks are going to alter the benchmarks by any measurable margin. At most they will improve load OS boot times.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Originally posted by: Schmide

Originally posted by: totalnoob
If you are underperforming, your problem is on the software side, not hardware. I suggest you do some tweaking in Windows, disable the paging file, eliminate services and programs you don't need running, etc.

Worst advice ever. The page file is necessary for a proper operation of a virtual-memory mapped OS. None of these tweeks are going to alter the benchmarks by any measurable margin. At most they will improve load OS boot times.[/q

I agree.

 

[Sekkai]

Do you think overclocking would make these issues better? Is my processor the bottleneck here or is there something up with my card?

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Generally overclockers in the same segment have faster machines (iC2Q vs C2Q). Not stock latest and greatest.

 

[Sekkai]

How are my temperatures for the system/GPUs? When I am under heavier load at 2.8 GHz, the core temps go to like the mid 50's or so. If I were to overclock the CPU, say 4.0 Ghz, what else would I have to change? Just voltages? Which ones would I change? How do I know if the resulting temperatures are safe? Video card OC as well?

I just wonder if I even NEED to OC to fix these issues or if there is some other problem, which is why I posted all my settings/stats.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

I wouldn't call it "fix" as you need to relax and just accept it for what it is. In the first place, what games are you playing and you never told us your screen size and what res you are gaming at. That would help us help you out.

I'm sorry right now as I can't help you with overclocking your i7 yet. I don't have my Classified DDR3 machine running ...yet. Someone wanna chime in on this?

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

brb

 

[Sekkai]

Well, for example, when I tried the Half Life Lost Coast video stress test, it only got 60 fps (and there was visible FPS slowdown/stuttering on certain parts, but very smooth on other parts -- it is this smoothness I expected all-round). I usually try tio play at the max settings available to me.

Unreal Tournament 3 seems to run well at maxed out settings, but again, there is a tiny bit of fps slowdown from time to time.

I try to play 1920x1080 when it's supported, otherwise I just choose something high that looks good (which is still a lesser resolution).

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

your monitor might be causing it, also there might be a fps cap-lock with steam/valve games; i know if UT3 if you run the 'dial-up' modem settings it caps your fps, try that.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

yeah, do you have vsync on? or maybe its some setting with your graphics card (not in-game) but from desktop - maybe you are forcing 8xAA ???

 

[dguy6789]

Definitely don't run with vsync on.

 

[Sekkai]

Without vsync, though, isn't there tearing?

Besides, shouldn't the 295 be able to handle vsync?

 

[Sekkai]

My point here is that I was under the assumption that nothing came close to maxing out the 295 yet -- should it not be able to handle anything you throw at it?

Most of my settings btw are "application controlled" in the globals

 

[dguy6789]

Vsync locks the frame rate at your monitor's refresh. It is a very very flawed technology and many serious gamers don't use it at all.

It comes in two flavors right now, double buffering and triple buffering. With vsync on, let's say your fps is 60. That fps can never be anything but a number divisble into 60. If for some reason your fps were to drop to 58 in game(due to an insanely demanding scene or something), because of having vsync on, your fps would drop down to 30 instead. Not because your video card is only capable of putting out 30fps, but because of how flawed vsync is. If vsync was off, your fps would drop to the appropriate 58 at that instance. Vsync also introduces some input lag with the mouse. It isn't much, but it is noticeable. That is the exclusive reason competitive gamers don't use vsync.

Triple buffering vsync helps to alleviate these issues somewhat, but it doesn't solve them completely.

The only other alternative is to run with vsync off. This ensures that your video card is pumping out all of the frames that it can at all times with no silly constraints. There is no input lag either. The game runs as optimally as possible. The problem with this of course is tearing. It looks bad, and depending on how often it happens, it can appear to make the game choppy even if your fps is high.

There isn't a single flawless solution yet unfortunately. Some of us have been waiting a very long time for one.


As far as some games having minor hitching, that is more likely to be caused by lazy developers than a lack of muscle in your hardware. Some game engines just happen to be really really bad. It's an unfortunate fact of life. Half Life 2 Lost Coast has some studdering on plenty of systems that are many times more powerful than what is needed to run it.

 

[Sekkai]

Interesting to know... I'll have to remember that. I don't recall there being too many tearing issues aside from a 3d Mark Vantage test, but I'd have to experiment a bit more with it.

Do you think, based on the data, that the card is underperforming?