Dear Hardware Enthusiast forum:

I have issues with my computer playing games: it doesn't play them well, and I don't know why. Specs:

-Intel D975XBX motherboard rev 304
-Intel Pentium D 805 2.66 ghz
-2GB DDR-800 Corsair memory
-EVGA 8800gts 640
-Windows XP MCE, fresh install except some games and windows updates
-Integrated sound, network.

I have had the box for a long time, and I don't know when it started to suck, or if it is just limited that much by the CPU, or if some component is damaged, because it will play games without much worries, but will not get decent framerates. I just thought that games I played didn't scale well, but now my roommate has the same generation graphics card and CPU (Pentium D and 8800GTS) and same amount of RAM, and has framerates I would kill for. In particular- I really would like to play Mass Effect, but it just runs too slowly to be enjoyable on my box, just fine on my roommate's. So, does anyone have any advice?

As a side question- Does anyone know if Creative soundblaster live card would offload work from the CPU or does it need to be an X-fi or something else?

I'd look and see if the processor is overheating and throttling itself. A Pentium D 805 runs hot and isn't the newest chip on the block, so a heatsink/fan that has been moving a lot of air past it for a couple of years can get clogged with dust and lose its cooling ability. If the inside of your computer is clean, then perhaps replacing the thermal compound on the CPU/heatsink may help. A Pentium D 805 isn't all that fast of a processor by today's standards but if your buddy has one too and his system has better performance, I'd look at the thermal issues considering you just did an OS reinstall.

Ok- I will air it out a bit and see if that helps. I do have a nice cpu heatsink, forget the exact kind, but it could be dusty or have bad paste placement. Case needs a working over anyway I'm sure.

-Windows XP MCE, fresh install except some games and windows updates

This sounds more like a repair install.

Clean everything, buy a good HSF, Arctic Cooling Freezer for the p4 skt 478.

Format and install, then overclock it.

Then rock out.

The 805 is a 775 socket, not 478.

What Pentium D cpu does he have? Theres a fair difference between some of them. If hes running a PD 940 and your running an 805, there will be a difference.

What PSU do you have? How many watts?

His CPU is probably quite a bit faster, but the performance is orders of magnitude better.

In any case, I think I figured out a major problem- I am using the antec p182 case, and I think the change from good to awful might have happened when I switched from my old one- after I looked into it, I saw that the fan used to cool the PSU lower section was not operating- the cords coming out of the PSU were snagged on it (there is almost no space between the fan and it).

Now that the fan is running and I have used some canned air on the power supply, there have been excellent subjective gains to framerates, to the point where the CPU speed is probably culprit for any other differences.

So continuing on with the idea that this was the problem, is overheating a PSU a cause of permanent damage, or will it be fine? Thanks for the quick thoughts by the way.

The bottom fan on the psu generally just sucks hot air. It doesn't do much in the way of cooling the psu. I doubt it caused anything in the psu, though no doubt it did make your cpu throttle, and made your whole system run a lot hotter.

I would just monitor how it works under a heavy workload such as gaming or whatever else intensive you can throw at it and see how it performs. If everything seems fine I wouldnt worry about it...