CPU, GPU, and Ram.

[thegatekeeper]

Ok, so after some benchmarks, i came to the conclusion that my 8800gt is not performing like it should be. Cranking up all the settings in cod 4 for example, at 1280 by 1024 res, and my fps is between 20-60. Shouldn't it be a constant 100 or something? My 3dmark06 score was also a little over 6100, iv seen people saying they have a score of 10,000 with their 8800gt! Now my first thought was that i didn't have enough ram, so i increased it from 1 gig to 3 gig (using Corsair performance modules), and still, minor increase.

So it only leaves one thing that could be bottlenecking my GPU, my CPU! I am using an AMD 5200+ overclocked slightly to 2.7 from 2.6.

And now my question, when overclocking a CPU, how exactly is Ram involved? I'v seen ram mentioned a couple of time when people speak of CPU overclocking, but iv never actually seen a guide that gave all the details.

Also, would increasing my CPU to, for example, 2.9 or 3.0 help my CPU not bottlenecking my card, or do AMD and Nvidia cards just don't mix well?

Thanks a lot for helpful replies.

Specs:

8800GT oc2 from BFG running at 680/1680/980
Crosshair motherboard with the latest bios/drivers
Raptor x
3 gig ram from Corsair, running at 4-4-4-12
Seasonic S12 600W Silent ATX2.0 Power Supply

 

[dragonsprayer]

wow

bottle neck this bottle neck that

my 8800GTS 512 scored a 12,210 in sdmark06 with a 6750@3.4ghz in vista with all back ground items on

same card so its not the card
i doubt its the mobo mine is g33
improperly tuned?

wait its an amd chip - switch to intel

my system: Silverstone lan box with 2 raptors in raid0 with storage drive - e6750 runnng 3.4ghz@1.4375v with muskin 4-4-3-10 running 4-3-3-9 @2.1v with memory fan. 8800gtx oc 640mb with slot fan to draft that nvidia e=internal exhust - its stuffed! gigabyte G33 mobo with chipset 40cm fan. 4x60mm fans plus front mod fan.


i pulled the evga 640mb and replaced it with the screeming 730mhz msi

old 3mark06 was 9200 or so

 

[thegatekeeper]

What exactly is wrong with an AMD chip? Switching mobo/cpu isn't cheap you know :/ .

 

[spuddyt]

dragonsprayer has an agenda, although the part about GPU is probably accurate, don't listen to him under any circumstances when it comes to AMD vs intel, he always screams for the latter
to the OP, have you tried putting your 8800gt in a friend's computer? to make sure its not faulty somehow

 

[thegatekeeper]

I actually cant put it in anyone's computer, but the idea that its faulty isn't something i haven't thought about. I mean, look at how crap the wording looks ever since i plugged in the card:

Notice the red thats coming out from the edges of the wording? I'm going to speak to the store i bought it from, this cant be working ok, it just performs too crap.

 

[thegatekeeper]

Could this distortion be coming from the fact that im running VGA and not DVI?

I just found out that my monitor supports : "Analog and digital DVI-D source inputs"

Should i go with DVI?

Edit: where the hell do you plug in your DVI cable? All i see at the back is a port labeled "D-Sub" which i'm pretty sure is analogue. The monitor supports DVI for sure because you have an option in the monitor's menu (the one that comes up when you press the button on the front) to select between D-Sub and DVI.

My monitor: http://www.superwarehouse.com/BenQ_FP931_Black_19_LCD_Monitor/FP931/ps/415495

Do i need to use a D-Sub to DVI dongle if such a thing even exists?

 

[thegatekeeper]

Nobody can help me with the original overclocking question? :/

 

[rahul_cracker]

hi
The main Problem is the CPU if the cpu can't churn out enough power for the GPU and the Ram can't help it either.See the problem is not supporting intel or amd your CPU is quiet dead it's too slow for that 8800 you have.Get a new cpu and motherboard.There is no problem in your monitor connectors and they really don't matter it's just the cpu and mobo.You can get cheap deals.

 

[thegatekeeper]

hi
The main Problem is the CPU if the cpu can't churn out enough power for the GPU and the Ram can't help it either.See the problem is not supporting intel or amd your CPU is quiet dead it's too slow for that 8800 you have.Get a new cpu and motherboard.There is no problem in your monitor connectors and they really don't matter it's just the cpu and mobo.You can get cheap deals.

How fast would my CPU need to be for my 8800? 3ghz?

And my question was not understood, i need to know how ram is connected to the CPU, and how ram is effected when overclocking my CPU.

 

[Grimmy]

I really don't think that CPU would be a bottle neck @ 2.7ghz.

I kinda suspect perhaps settings in the Nvidia Control Panel may be setup wrong, or the driver is just having problems. Not sure what to advise to do or change.

 

[thegatekeeper]

I really don't think that CPU would be a bottle neck @ 2.7ghz.

I kinda suspect perhaps settings in the Nvidia Control Panel may be setup wrong, or the driver is just having problems. Not sure what to advise to do or change.

How much performance should i be getting from my 8800 gt? Its not a high end card, is it normal for it to drop to 20-30 fps in crowded areas in cod 4 for example? Its running at 1280 by 1024 with everything set to high, except AA which is x2 instead of x4 and "Soften Smoke Edges".

In the control panel, the options are set to "Let the 3d application decide", the only thing i ran from the control panel was the optimization wizard which to my knowledge only changes gamma values.

 

[speedbird]

MY AMD 4400+X2 combined with a ATI 2900pro card scores higher than your rig in 3Dmark 06.
Your Spec is better than mine, so your score should be higher than what you stated. Your CPU will bottleneck a 8800GT somewhat, but not by that much! There is probably something else effecting your performance?

 

[brett_monkey]

Ok, so after some benchmarks, i came to the conclusion that my 8800gt is not performing like it should be. Cranking up all the settings in cod 4 for example, at 1280 by 1024 res, and my fps is between 20-60. Shouldn't it be a constant 100 or something? My 3dmark06 score was also a little over 6100, iv seen people saying they have a score of 10,000 with their 8800gt! Now my first thought was that i didn't have enough ram, so i increased it from 1 gig to 3 gig (using Corsair performance modules), and still, minor increase.

So it only leaves one thing that could be bottlenecking my GPU, my CPU! I am using an AMD 5200+ overclocked slightly to 2.7 from 2.6.

And now my question, when overclocking a CPU, how exactly is Ram involved? I'v seen ram mentioned a couple of time when people speak of CPU overclocking, but iv never actually seen a guide that gave all the details.

Also, would increasing my CPU to, for example, 2.9 or 3.0 help my CPU not bottlenecking my card, or do AMD and Nvidia cards just don't mix well?

Thanks a lot for helpful replies.

Specs:

8800GT oc2 from BFG running at 680/1680/980
Crosshair motherboard with the latest bios/drivers
Raptor x
3 gig ram from Corsair, running at 4-4-4-12
Seasonic S12 600W Silent ATX2.0 Power Supply

Ok, first things first. The CPU bottle necking people talk about is an absolute myth, IF your processor was made within the past two years you have plenty of horsepower to run todays games. CPU bottle necking only exists if you run at resolutions BELOW 12X10.

Ok, and here is a great guide to overclocking...

http://www.overclock.net/amd-general/91-ultimate-overclocking-guide.html

 

[thegatekeeper]

Ok, first things first. The CPU bottle necking people talk about is an absolute myth, IF your processor was made within the past two years you have plenty of horsepower to run todays games. CPU bottle necking only exists if you run at resolutions BELOW 12X10.

Ok, and here is a great guide to overclocking...

http://www.overclock.net/amd-general/91-ultimate-overclocking-guide.html

Thanks for the guide mate, so i'm guessing my card is defective then?

 

[shabodah]

I hate to say this, but your numbers point to your card being a 8600GT.

 

[thegatekeeper]

I hate to say this, but your numbers point to your card being a 8600GT.

Nah i'm sure its an 8800gt, should i take it back and exchange it then?

 

[shabodah]

Nah i'm sure its an 8800gt, should i take it back and exchange it then?

There has got to be something going on either with it, or with your settings, then. Both CPU cores are showing up to your OS, right?

 

[thegatekeeper]

This is all the information i think is relevant to the problem:

Slot 1 and 2 are the same.

Slot 3 and 4 are the same.

I do not have enaugh computer knowlage to see what the problem is, but maybe someone can help me?

Tell me if i need to post any more information about my computer.

It could just be a bad card after all.

 

[brett_monkey]

Have you downloaded the latest driver for the 8800GT? It can be found here..

http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us

Also, what operating system are you running?

If you are running Vista, here are some links to some 'hot fixes' that you might need to install, to improve your performance.

http://www.nvidia.com/object/windows_vista_hotfixes.html

 

[thegatekeeper]

Have you downloaded the latest driver for the 8800GT? It can be found here..

http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us

Also, what operating system are you running?

If you are running Vista, here are some links to some 'hot fixes' that you might need to install, to improve your performance.

http://www.nvidia.com/object/windows_vista_hotfixes.html

Yes i have the latest driver, and i'm running windows XP with the latest updates.

I know this sounds off, but could it be that auto-overclocking tool i'm using for my CPU? It's called AI-Booster and came with my motherboard.

 

[brett_monkey]

Hmm, things should be running great for you. Are you experiencing low performance in other games also?

 

[thegatekeeper]

Hmm, things should be running great for you. Are you experiencing low performance in other games also?

In my opinion, yes i am getting crappy performance, but i don't know what to expect from my card exactly. I mean, in bioshock there where times where i couldn't even aim properly because the game got so choppy (15 fps), even thou everything was set to high, i expect my 8800gt to handle it. Something must be wrong, i should be getting more than a 1000 point increase in 3dmark06 when upgrading from an 7900gto.

 

[brett_monkey]

Ok, you should be able to run Bioshock smoothly on max settings with your setup. Have you tried to defrag the hard drive since you installed your new games? And ran the diskcleaner? A good utility to clean gunk from your system is called CCleaner. Found here...

http://www.ccleaner.com/download

 

[thegatekeeper]

Ok, you should be able to run Bioshock smoothly on max settings with your setup. Have you tried to defrag the hard drive since you installed your new games? And ran the diskcleaner? A good utility to clean gunk from your system is called CCleaner. Found here...

http://www.ccleaner.com/download

Yes i ran all those tools AND gave it a format. I am also getting some defects (which points out more to a defective card) on the screen (didn't have them with the 7900gt), i made a thread about it here:

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/53417-29-distortion

 

[brett_monkey]

Do you know how hot your 8800GT is getting while you are playing games?
These cards tend to run on the hot side. If the temps got too high during a game that would cause the distortion you are seeing.

Also have you tried to plug in a friends monitor to see if you can repeat the problem.

In the end it could be a defective card.