Hi,
 
I've just installed a Inno 3D 9800 GTX to replace my 7900 GT. When updating my VIsta score and trying out Call of Duty 4 i was expecting them to both improve. But they've reduced!! CoD 4, which was previously running with the same settings at an easily playable FPS has now dropped to unplayable at much lowered settings. I've installed the latest drivers from the Nvidia site but still the performance is awful.
 
Could anyone please help me?
 
David

did you uninstall the old drivers?

may want to give us more details on your system. What Power supply are you running?

Yeah i've unistalled and reinstalled a few times but still the same result.
 
I have vista ultimate, 460w psu (not quite sure what make), 4gb of ram, core 2 duo 2.13 Ghz, asus p5w dh mother board

Do you have both 6 pin PCI-e power connections made on the GPU? If not, than that could be your issue. Also we will need your amps on your 12V rail(s) to determine if your PSU can handle the 9800gtx. If you could give us a make and model of your PSU than we might be able to look it up for you.

no i only have one, i thought that as there was only one of the 4pin to 6 pin adaptors supplied that only one was needed, i was quite puzzled about there being 2 slots though. also i didn't have any free 4 pin connectors to use. i fiddle around with what i've got in atm and free some up and try it out. but i've gtg out soon so won't have time to do it now. i'll post back later with my findings

you NEED to have both 6pin connectors plugged in or else you are not going to get that things up to its full potential.
 
My EVGA 9800GTX came with a  molex to 2x6pin connectors, I would assume yours would come with one as well. If you have a 6 pin connector already plug that in and then use the molex to 2x6pin connector and just use one additional 6 pin. That should power your 9800GTX properly. You can try just using the adapter but if you have dual rails you may want to spread the power around a bit.

mine only came with the one molex to 6pin adapter but luckily i had the one that came with my old card still. Rearranged things in my case and now the airflow is much better around the case and freed up some power leads for the card and now everything is perfect. cheers for all your help.

umm the MINIMUM is a 450 watt. you might start getting blackouts when your card starts running fast.

Thats right makotech22 2, i agree with you. To power up the 9800 GTX properly you really need a minimum 500W or more (my opinion), even in the brochure it said "Psu with minimum 450W". But, IF you believe what said in the brochure, well i assume you are one of the fraud victim
 
For example, you are have a C2D (stock clock i guess), 4 GB of Ram and ASUS P5WDH. Then how many HDD you've installed, how many Optica drive you've installed, how many fan you've installed? Every game, specially the next generation, it's really really power and resource eater. Even you read in the certain hardware official website, they're claiming that their product is energy saver or even whatsoever. But the fact is the more complex of a process, the more power and resource use and the more heat generated. So if you still using your old psu i don't mind, its you system, but what im concerning for you is your system lifespan won't last long enough to use. Think guy's, computer that used for game is use a lot of power and generate a lot of heat. Even you buy a case for what... say a $1000, for example (but maybe there is no case that price that high. Who's gona buy it? or even maybe there is?) that wont work for a psu with 450W. So add power to your system, since 9800GTX is a BIIIG card (for wallet and for case), if you wanna longer the lifespan of your hardware.

OUCH! i don't know what to say. You should get a new PSU cause a stupid PSU aint something to waste a 9800GTX over

Man, even more reason for me to skip this stupid 9 series. The 9800GTX and the G92 8800GTS are the same thing, yet the 9800 requires 2 power connectors!!The F~ck is that?!?!?

Both pins need to be connected and chances are that PSU is not powerful enough. If you don't know what brand, I would guess it's an el-cheapo, which means it is probably the problem.  
 
Not my favorite PSU by any means but as good as you can get for 50.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817702003
If you want the cadillac that will last you a couple of upgrades:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817703009
Good middle of the road:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817139004