Underperforming GTX 260

[DuncanV]

Just bought a shiny new XFX GTX 260 XXX edition and in WoW the fps is actually worse than my tired old 1950xt 256mg.

I've tried different drivers,restarting etc , havn't managed to find any aftermarker drivers for vista yet but can anybody explain that complete lack of any increased performance? If i turn the terrain distance above minimum my fps plumets to 20 and my sound craps out.

Could my problem be that its a PCIe 2.0 card but my p5b deluxe only supports PCIe 1.0?

My power supply is a Silverstone 500w with 18A on both 12v rail so the card is getting the 36A it needs, but I am also overclocking and running 3 hard drives could my power supply be holding me back?

 

[-Fran-]

Well, WoW is DX9 at best i think.

And some of the "video options" are not video card related, lol.

So, when in Shatt, you CPU will be stressed out with incoming connections from the servers and loading the textures to your video card like mad.

I smell more a CPU bottleneck here than a video card under performing.

Do a Crysis benchie, or a GRID, CoD4, STALKER or something that is really heavy on video cards rather tan the whole rig

Esop!

EDIT: I also play WoW btw

 

[teh_boxzor]

could be psu sounds like when you ask the card to do more work it gets more unstable...or maybe you have some leftover ati drivers that are unremoved?

 

[4745454b]

My power supply power supply is a Silverstone 500w with 18A on both 12v rail so the card is getting the 36A it needs, but I am also overclocking and running 3 hard drives could my power supply be holding me back?

Except that it doesn't work that way. Each rail by itself can provide 18A, but the thing feeding them most likely can't. The total combined output is probably a lot less, more like 22A-26A. If the 260 requires 36A, there is no way your PSU is giving it enough juice.

I would at least start with the PSU. It might not be the issue thats holding your back, but it does need to get replaced. Its hard to say what the issue(s) might be seeing as we lack complete system specs.

 

[DuncanV]

Sorry I thought I'd set up my stats in my sig,

E6400 2.1 @ 2.9GHZ
Asus P5B deluxe
XfX GTX 260 XXX edition
Silverstone ST50 500W power supply


as I said the 12v rails put out 18A but I can't seem to find anywhere whether it needs 36A on each rail or not

Im looking at upgrading this asap as I think u may well be right about it being the bottle neck

Going to check some other games out though

 

[teh_boxzor]

looks to me like a psu problem especially since you said its only 18a per rail.

 

[4745454b]

I guess we should look it up.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ShowImage.aspx?CurImage=17-256-037-06.jpg&Image=17-256-037-11.jpg%2c17-256-037-04.jpg%2c17-256-037-05.jpg%2c17-256-037-07.jpg%2c17-256-037-06.jpg%2c17-256-037-08.jpg%2c17-256-037-09.jpg%2c17-256-037-10.jpg%2c17-256-037-02.jpg&S7ImageFlag=0&WaterMark=1&Item=N82E16817256037&Depa=1&Description=SILVERSTONE%20ST50F%20500W%20Power%20Supply

This is the pic of the side of the ST50F. There are two 12V rails, each capable of 18A. There is no combined number however, so we have to guess. If the total can not exceed 500W, and the 3.3V and 5V can consume up to ~150w, then that leaves 350W for the 12V rails. This comes out to ~30A on the 12V rails combined. I have no idea how much power a 260 needs, so lets randomly pick one that has those specs listed in its newegg profile.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814143139

As stated, the 260 does require a 500W PSU with 36A on the 12v rail, assuming a fully loaded system. Your overclocked 6400 probably uses less power then a QX9650, so you probably don't need the entire 36A. (although the 3 drives might put you back up there.)

Download speedfan and have it monitor your 12V rail. Load up a game, and play for 5 min. Alt tab out and look at your 12V rail. Does it dip down a lot? Did it hit 11.4V? If so, thats probably your problem.

 

[warezme]

I'd have to agree with the other folks in that you aren't getting enough juice. The 260 like previous 8800 series models will run in a "safe mode" when not recieving enough juice and your performance is bad. Usually though you will get a driver warning when going into windows that your video card lacks power and will function at reduced function.

If it is a good power supply it should just be enough to run your card fine but if its like only 500W efficiency under ideal conditions and like 400W as the temperatures go up it aint gonna work