New X800 GTO problem.

[rabidbunny]

I just got an X800GTO AGP graphics card and it actually decreased my performance in games. What is causing my system to run slower in games than my old MX 420??

 

[unbiased4u]

Can you tell us your other specs of your system? It may help...

 

[cleeve]

You have some massive instability happening somewhere, dude.

Start with the newest motherboard & chipset drivers. If that doesn't fix it there is a hardware problem somewhere, might be the card. I'd also try it on someone else's system...

Also, make sure you didn't enable 6xAA or something crazy in the Catalyst Control Center. That'll bring it to it's knees.

3dMark03 should give you an idea if it's running in the neighborhood of where it should be. What score does it produce on your system?

 

[rabidbunny]

Alright, this is my system specs. I have a Dell Dimension 4550 with:
-Intel Pentium 4 @2.4ghz
-1280mb RAM
-Intel 845PE motherboard
-(old gpu) Geforce MX420
-(new gpu) Sapphire X800 GTO

I have the most updated BIOS and drivers for everything. I checked Catalyst Control Center and everything was turned to "let the program choose" so I set everything to 2x (the minimum) to everything. I also downloaded the most recent Catalyst drivers once I got the card put in.

Unfortunately, I don't think any of my friends have a decent computer and know much about computers. So I'm stuck there.

I don't think there is a problem with the card because everything else works fine. I also am aware that my CPU is probably not allowing the gpu to gallop at full speed, but that doesn't account for my low frame rates in Half Life 2.

I hope this helps.

 

[cleeve]

Trust me, there is a HUGE problem somewhere if it's running slower than a Geforce MX.

There is no way your CPU is slowing it down that much, in fact the CPU should have relatively little impact on your game performance.

Download 3dMark03 from Futuremark.com, run the benchmark, and tell us what the score is.

 

[Bluefinger]

I owned a X800GTO AGP before, and it was the only ATI graphics card that fucked up on me. The memory went bad, and started getting poor performance, along with sudden decrease in quality in graphics (Seen in FarCry, smoke became interpreted as black squares), before undergoing a render failure (Seen in UT2004, HL2, and FarCry). I doubt your problem is exactly the same as mine, but nonetheless, post up some 3DMark scores so the rest of us can help you....

 

[GeneticWeapon]

I bet $20 bucks that your running the original windows install that came with your Dell......including the original bloatware and such that Dell sold you on as being "valuable stuff".


......and no, running the recovery disk does not count as a fresh clean windows install.

 

[rabidbunny]

Haha, I win!!!

No, i've had to reinstall Windows from the Windows XP HOme Edition install disc just about every year since 2003 (like twice). So there is no Dell installed shit that is on my pc.

Ill try the 3Dmark and see what happens.

Stay tuned pleez.

 

[rabidbunny]

:x Yeah, I ran 3dMark05 and got 3998.

I watched everything and the average fps was about 15.

 

[rabidbunny]

Could it be that the newer shader model on the x800 GTO is slowing down my pc's performance a bit?

I also reinstalled my old card and then got rid of the old drivers and installed my new card and didn't update the drivers because the old one was working fine (and actually better) My overall pc performance increased a bit, and it didn't take a longer time with the new card to shut down.

 

[cleeve]

Could it be that the newer shader model on the x800 GTO is slowing down my pc's performance a bit?

No. You have a massive problem.

The performance increase should be astronomical.

 

[Xbitpog]

I thought a score of 4k was ok for a 800GTO.
Run HL2 at 10x7.....no AA/AF....then go and find the cheat code to display your framerates....it should be up near 80.

 

[cleeve]

true, his score looks good actually. Pretty much spot on.

It's more the idea that he claims his Geforce4 MX was faster that makes me think he has a problem... but it's odd that 3dMark would run well and it'd be poor in games though...

 

[rabidbunny]

well, i was on Ati's site and noticed in the performance sections under games that there has been a problem in Half Life 2 with low framerates and that they are currently working on the problem and that is exactly what I have been experiencing. So I don't think there is a problem with my card just that it needs to be patched.

 

[rabidbunny]

Well, I uninstalled the drivers with the old card in and then booted up the pc with the new card in place and installed the new drivers.

And is 3998 good for my system in 3dmark05?

 

[cleeve]

Four grand in 3dmark05 is probably par for the course for a stock X800 GTO... overclocked you should get into the 5k range.

Unfortunately, I'm not sure how it would perform alright in 3dmark and then piss-poor in games...

What settings are you running in HL2? What res? And what are your framerates?

 

[rabidbunny]

I am running it at 10x7 and i tried turning down everything but it didn't make a difference whether I turned the details down or up.

with my GTO I am getting on average 55fps with the detail turned all the way up and on 10x7. Also during a heavy firefight and/or a detailed area the fps drops way lower than the average 55 fps but it will go up around 120 just looking at the water or ground. turning the res and detail down doesn't change anything.

My MX 420 was running at 800x600 with detail set to high and reflection turned down. It wasn't at the lowest settings but pretty close and on average I got 70+ fps and no lower and sometimes up to 120 fps in less activity areas.

Again, I checked out ATi's support and found that a problem with low framerates on Ati cards has been noticed and they are working on the problem.

 

[Xbitpog]

I assume it works well for D3 and Far Cry?

HL2 itself was a buggy HOS....but worth playing overall.

 

[rabidbunny]

Dunno, I dont' have those games. Im gonna try my other games: Halo, NFSPDU:2

It probably would be awsome!

 

[Xbitpog]

I
with my GTO I am getting on average 55fps with the detail turned all the way up and on 10x7. Also during a heavy firefight and/or a detailed area the fps drops way lower than the average 55 fps but it will go up around 120 just looking at the water or ground. turning the res and detail down doesn't change anything.
Again, I checked out ATi's support and found that a problem with low framerates on Ati cards has been noticed and they are working on the problem.

LOL, you don't have any problems....try running Q4 at 12x10 with spectacular lighting enabled on both cards and you'll see what I mean....HL2 is very demanding in the action scenes/explosions.....but if you want stutter free gaming for HL2, you'll need a 1800XL.

You'll be able to play Fear at 10x7....but you're other card won't.

 

[rabidbunny]

Update: I popped in Halo and cranked up the graphics to max and 1024x768 and WOW!!! I didn't know that my old card was taking away from all of that detail! Oh, and I did the same for all my other games and cranked the graphics. No prob for the x800 GTO and SMOOOOTH frames.
So I guess there is no problem with the card itself, just Half Life.

As I have typed this, I am downloading Half Life 2: Lost Coast and I will try that too.

As far as the half life 2 performance goes,...Ill just stick with my x800 and tuff the lower frames out until a patch is released.