Why wont witcher 2 run well

[switch0]

Hello,
My box is about 3 years old give or take but I'm running:
Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad CPU Q6600 @ 2.4 GHz
Ram: 4 GB
OS: vista 32 b sp1
GPU: SLI 9800 Gt's
Sound: Creative SB X-Fi

I can run the game on the bare minimum for about 20 minutes, then I get terrible lag and during the animated cut scenes I get a poppy sound quality...When I run NVmonitor after exiting my 2nd GPU is up to 100C!! The first is running at 80-90..Could this be the thermal gel since I baked both for solder re-flow? Aside from that, other games run smoothly, except I can't enable PhysX anymore. ALSO, the ambient temp is usually around 46C - 60C which is pretty normal.

Sorry for the randomness of my thought processes, but, which upgrade should I consider that would be the most effective to keep up to date with todays demands?

 

[55Range]

Hello,
My box is about 3 years old give or take but I'm running:
Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad CPU Q6600 @ 2.4 GHz
Ram: 4 GB
OS: vista 32 b sp1
GPU: SLI 9800 Gt's
Sound: Creative SB X-Fi

I can run the game on the bare minimum for about 20 minutes, then I get terrible lag and during the animated cut scenes I get a poppy sound quality...When I run NVmonitor after exiting my 2nd GPU is up to 100C!! The first is running at 80-90..Could this be the thermal gel since I baked both for solder re-flow? Aside from that, other games run smoothly, except I can't enable PhysX anymore. ALSO, the ambient temp is usually around 46C - 60C which is pretty normal.

Sorry for the randomness of my thought processes, but, which upgrade should I consider that would be the most effective to keep up to date with todays demands?

Have you updated your Gpu drivers recently? A new one is out since yesterday V 275...
Noting the temps, have you cleaned the pc, compressed air. Seems full of dust.

 

[HEXiT]

you balked it for solder reflow? IE: you stuck it in the oven to re-melt the solder?
bad idea... if you need to do such things use a heat gun. also a single 98gt will run the game satisfactorily at 12/10 and give you more than minimum settings. so i guess its either an sli problem or a driver problem.
i know it will work well enough on an 88gt so theres no reason why it shouldnt work on a 98gt. have you applied the latest patches also?.

 

[Gman450]

New BETA drivers, as said by 55range, are released, so try that.

 

[switch0]

@ hexit, a heat gun is a precise tool. How could I see a hairline fracture and know precisely how long to hold the heat gun there. Baking it is an incremental process that I can control. Either way, it worked. The SLI is something I never messed with since the box came with factory settings.

@55range thanks, crazy since I had just updated them 4 days ago that there would be another update!

 

[switch0]

I downloaded the new driver and the new Nvidia monitor mentioned that my gpu 1 was in a low power slot. Try switching it to a pci- e. I shutdown the computer, restarted and swapped the cards in their slots. This fixed the error message, but I had a hardcore freeze on Witcher 2. I currently have my box lying on it's side with the side panel off, a fan and air conditioning duct are pointed at it. Yet, I still get overheating playing this game.

 

[switch0]

@55range also, yes the box is dusted, I moved some of the cables around to provide more airflow. One card has minute dust on the fan blades, which air won't remove unless I take the card apart again. The internals on both are clean as I took them apart a week ago.

 

[55Range]

Hmm, monitor your temps with HW monitor.
Record min/ max.
Re plug your gpus cable, might be faulty cable or not tightly fitted.

 

[switch0]

Cables seem to be fine, possibly the motherboard has a faulty slot or PSU is dampening over the years...btw the PSU is 700w I believe, Model: H750E-01
Min/Max Temps ( celsius ):

CPU Temps:
0: 51/62
3:48/68
1:49/59
2:45/56

GPU Temps:
76/82
78/93
funny thing is the fan speed on the 1st one is max at 89% while the 2nd GPU is 57% even though the 2nd had a higher max temp. maybe therein lies the problem?

 

[HEXiT]

what i was getting at is its quite possible you can damage other components when you do a bake. the heat gun just needs to be flown over the card till you see the solder melting and then move on till you cover the whole of the card. its just less aggressive on the underside of the card where all the sensitive stuff is.

the reason i prefer this method is its more accurate. as solder can melt at anywhere between 90'c and 400+'c but your cpu can only take 110'c at operating load and 150'c ish max b4 it damages. and i doubt the memory can go that high.
it just seemed a little extreme to me...

 

[cbrunnem]

46c to 60c? and no one mentions this? if this is true which i doubt that could easily be the problem

 

[55Range]

For how long have you had those gpus ?
Are their vents/fans cleared of dust?

 

[switch0]

@cbrunnem That's the CPU temps, max is what they probably run during Witcher 2. Why do you think it's a problem?

@55range 3 years, the fans are clear of dust for the most part, in fact the one that runs cooler has more dust on the fan blades. But both of them have had their internals clean.

I think the problem is system settings or it's time to re-up on the thermal gel or cooling process. This system was tuned to meet the high performance standards of 3 years ago...I could be mistaken as I've only built one computer in the past, and that wasn't from the ground up.

 

[grimreaperpt]

Hi everybody!

@switch0,
I just bought a new Asus ATI HD 6970 2GB, and my system specs are:
Motherboard - gigabyte p35-ds3
Ram - 6gb
CPU - Intel Core 2 quad CPU Q6600 2.40GHz

When i turn on the high or ultra specs, it runs quite badly... I'm a bit disappointed... Maybe i shouldn't had run for such a good graphics card with my system specs?

 

[cbrunnem]

@cbrunnem That's the CPU temps, max is what they probably run during Witcher 2. Why do you think it's a problem?

@55range 3 years, the fans are clear of dust for the most part, in fact the one that runs cooler has more dust on the fan blades. But both of them have had their internals clean.

I think the problem is system settings or it's time to re-up on the thermal gel or cooling process. This system was tuned to meet the high performance standards of 3 years ago...I could be mistaken as I've only built one computer in the past, and that wasn't from the ground up.

cause ambient means the outside temp like the temp of the room or the temp outside. the native air temp. i understand now that those are the cpu temps and that makes better sense.

Hi everybody!

@switch0,
I just bought a new Asus ATI HD 6970 2GB, and my system specs are:
Motherboard - gigabyte p35-ds3
Ram - 6gb
CPU - Intel Core 2 quad CPU Q6600 2.40GHz

When i turn on the high or ultra specs, it runs quite badly... I'm a bit disappointed... Maybe i shouldn't had run for such a good graphics card with my system specs?

cpu bottleneck? turn the graphics to were you normally play and test for fps then turn the graphics all the way down and see what the fps are and if the fps doesnt go up much then you probably have a cpu bottleneck

 

[switch0]

@GrimReaperPT I've done a lot of reading about this game sir, and I can tell you that at least 75% of the people are experiencing the same thing you are. Some have opted to take the best ATI card and add a 2nd just to get a little more performance out of them. The big things to set low are the Depth of Field and ( I believe ) the shadow effects. This will stop your computer from trying to overlay more layers of the same graphic to add more depth and ultimately cut down on memory usage. Don't worry it's not your system, this game was so demanding and powerful that the Dutch Prime Minister gave it to Obama as a gift! Hopefully the President can afford a computer fast enough to run it. haha. Hope these 2 things help!

@cbrunnem Thanks for the quick replies. The ambient temp in my NvMonitor was the internal temp throughout...the environment that all of the processing units are in. The ac is set at 70...If my gf wasn't cold blooded I'd set it lower!! :lol:

 

[switch0]

Hi everybody!

@switch0,
I just bought a new Asus ATI HD 6970 2GB, and my system specs are:
Motherboard - gigabyte p35-ds3
Ram - 6gb
CPU - Intel Core 2 quad CPU Q6600 2.40GHz

When i turn on the high or ultra specs, it runs quite badly... I'm a bit disappointed... Maybe i shouldn't had run for such a good graphics card with my system specs?

Also sir, what is your PSU model?

 

[grimreaperpt]

Thanks for the quick reply
My PSU is an Hyperion LC8700 V2.2, 700W, so it should work nicely.
Also, my other games are working fine (like crysis 2, i'm running on hardcore settings with no prob).
I just wanted to play this one with the best settings, which seems quite hard for everybody :\

 

[grimreaperpt]

By the way, I've been doing some tests after the patch, and i realize that the framerate is always exactly the same... When i play with low or ultra settings, i always get between 20-40 FPS... that's a bit absurd

 

[HEXiT]

that is called a cpu bottlekneck. your cpu cant cope with your gpu output so does its best. all you can do is bump the settings to max and hope it ups the minimum fps.
you will have to do this with every game, until you get a new cpu.

 

[shanky887614]

i can run witcher 2 on a core 2 duo e7600 (3ghz)
and hd 4670

i think if i was in his shows the temp from the gpu would be worrying me a bit but then again my gpu fan is slightly bigger than my cpu fan
my ambiant temperature is arround 42oC

 

[cbrunnem]

i can run witcher 2 on a core 2 duo e7600 (3ghz)
and hd 4670

i think if i was in his shows the temp from the gpu would be worrying me a bit but then again my gpu fan is slightly bigger than my cpu fan

going from 2.4 ghz to 3 is a big step up

 

[grimreaperpt]

that is called a cpu bottlekneck. your cpu cant cope with your gpu output so does its best. all you can do is bump the settings to max and hope it ups the minimum fps.
you will have to do this with every game, until you get a new cpu.

That makes sense, i just don't get it because my cpu is a Intel Core2 Quad Q6600 @ 2.40GHz, and i saw some tests and benchmarks for 2011, and it's still considered a very good one, so can the problem be with my motherboard or RAM?

 

[HEXiT]

it is still a good cpu just it doesnt have enough grunt to keep up with that gfx card.
the truth of it is, theres a lot of people on these forums that think they know about pc's.
they tend to think because they have an ms certificate they know it all. or they have had some other kind of formal education and think the same.
when in truth theres nothing that beats hands on experience. there are plenty of guys on here and other forums that will say oh! buy this gpu it will work with your current cpu but they dont take into account that actual limitations of the said cpu. this is where there formal education lets them down. as what you read in books isnt always the same as what happens in real life.

fo instance a few years ago i had an amd 4600x2 a very good cpu, i paired it with an 88gt. this was all well and good as i got 40-125 fps on cod4 at max settings. i then swapped it out for an amd 6000x2 and got 90-130 fps at max settings but the fame was so much smoother. the truth of it was that the 4600 was bottlenecking the 88gt by about 10 percent which ment i ended up with a big fps variation. when i put in the 6000x2 the minimum jumped up but the maximum went up slightly. upshot of it, was it was a much more balanced machine. which is what every gamer wants.

your in the position that your cpu is bottlenecking by about 40 percent so your min fps is low and your max aint that high either so although the games will run smoothly in some cases. your never gonna see the best from it till you get a much better cpu, that will raise the minimum and the maximum to playable levels.

if you want actual proof then oc your cpu to 3.0 ghz and i guarentee your minimum fps will jump about 10 percent. to run a 6970 successfully you will need a minimum i5 2400 minimum
or an i7 780 or i7 920