Fake 16x PCI bottleneck?

[NorthernCross]

Hi to all
3 weeks ago i bought a new system config. I didn't have a lot of money so i built a system that suits my pocket. I installed an ASUS P5GL-MX mobo, a Celeron D 341 (2.93Ghz), a 512MB Tranc DDR1 @ 400 Mhz, Seagate 80GB 7200rps @ SATA and an ASUS ATI EAX700 256 (regular) because GeCube's corresponding model didn't work with p5gl-mx. I noticed that the PCI x16 slot is in x4 mode(physically is a x16 PCIe slot), (only 2gb/s max transfer comparing x16's 8gb/s) getting me suspicious for a possible bottleneck. In 3Dmark05 I get 7-10fps with default settings and Ati Catalyst 5.12. In lineage 2 i get 30-40 fps even in narrow areas when other systems with 9600 get 80 :/ . I know "you get what you pay for", but I expected more performance coming out. Is there any way to increase the speed? And btw, is there any chance to change x4 mode to x16(bios update or anything) Anyway thnx for reading )

 

[Crashman]

See if you can disable onboard video in BIOS, or set the amount of memory for VGA to none. Your board is probably giving the x16 to onboard video and supplying the remaining four pathways to the x16 slot.

 

[NorthernCross]

Thnx for answering Crashman.
There are 2 options in bios;
VGA boot first : 1. PCIe / Onboard | 2. Onboard only (option 1 was selected by default)
and also;
Amount of RAM used by onboard: 1. None | 2. 1MB | 3. 4MB | 4. 8MB (option 1 automatically selected after installing the gfx card)
Maybe the motherboard itself has a limit @ 4x PCI xpress speeds so if it's not a problem i probably can't fix it ^^
Thnx anyway

 

[the_guru]

Most graphics cards rarely uses any more bandwidth than 4x PCI Express. So no, it's not a bottleneck.

The Ati Radeon X700 256MB is the only problem. You should have bought a faster card like a 6600GT 128MB. Many people only looks at the amount of graphics memory when in reality the GPU is what is most important.

Your X700 is much better than a 9600. Are you sure you have the same resolution and graphic detail as the 9600 systems?

 

[NorthernCross]

Hi guru and thnx for ur answer,
First of all yeah, i think i made a mistake choosing this card for its amount of graphics memory, but now it is hard to change it due to lack of money. Thnx for the information about the bandwidth coz i thought pcie x4 was a bottleneck. I used exactly the same detail settings and to be sure that i did, i copied all the *.ini settings from the 9600's system into my system. Even though you think that EAX700 (DDR1) is the system's bottleneck? And it's much worse than 6600GT? I don't want to frustrate people seeking answers in this section of forum, but, if i overclock a bit the graphics core or even change the cpu you think I'll get any better results?
Thnx again

 

[the_guru]

Since you are getting worse FPS compared to a 9600 there is something wrong with your configuration. And it's hard to say what it is but it could be driver related. You could try and run 3Dmark on both systems and compare the difference.

The difference between your X700 and a 6600GT isn't huge but it's noticeable.

 

[NorthernCross]

Maybe it has to do with the drivers or even with a bad configuration as u said, i'll reformat and reinstall maybe the old (onboard) drivers make a malfunction.
Thnx again