GIGABYTE HD4870 Performance issues.

[TriStar]

I just got a GIGABYTE HD4870 1GB video card along side a Corsair TX750W power supply.

Well my system is set up with 4gb DDR 400MHz ram, Asus A8N-E motherboard and a AMD 64 X2 Dual Core 4200+ processor. I think I made a mistake of buying such a powerful video card without upgrading the CPU first because I can't even run World of Warcraft, COD4 or COD5 at max settings and my Macbook pro gets higher fps. My goal was to get a new computer but upgrade part by part.

So as of now I'm pretty disappointed and wanted my question answered. It's my CPU and ram that are holding back the full performance of the 4870, correct? Also, any recommendations to look at in the future for a new CPU/Motherboard/Ram combination would be appreciated.

 

[Shadow703793]

1. What resolution do you play at?

2. Have you considerd OCing?

3. By the look of DDR RAM Im guessing you have a socket 939?

 

[boulard83]

any E8xxx or Q9xxx are way better.

Some 800mhz ddr2 ram, with low latency your good to go !

only this can lead you to Awesomelly better performance.

(that mean you need Mobo-CPU-Ram at least.)

 

[TriStar]

Thanks for the replies. For most games I try to play at 1400 x 1050. That's what my monitor supports and I expected the 4870 to be able to handle 1400 x 1050. I have not considered OCing as I don't have any cooling installed and would be a newbie to that aspect. It is a 939 socket. I also cleanly formatted and installed 8.12 drivers.

So am I right in thinking that the reason for poor performance is that the card isn't being backed up with a strong processor and ram?

 

[r-sky]

Time to overclock the 4200...

The ram isn't really the issue, just the speed of the processor.

 

[boulard83]

ddr400 .... YES ITS AN iSSUE ! ddr2 800 will give twice bandwith ....

The PROC ... can still OC it

Old proc Old mobo .... still a bottleneck here for a 4870 ...

Edit 1 : CANT put ddr2 ram on this mobo
http://ca.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=3&l2=15&l3=171&l4=0&model=455&modelmenu=2

 

[FatFunkey]

"4gb DDR 400MHz ram, Asus A8N-E motherboard and a AMD 64 X2 Dual Core 4200+ processor"


In essence you have a Ferrari..with a 4 cylinder engine...

Your system is holding back the HD 4870.

 

[V3NOM]

wow man 4gig of DDR must have cost u a lot.. 16:9 monitor as well... tv?

anyway, i recommend at least attempting to oc that.

 

[EXT64]

The CPU and RAM are holding you back, but not that much. Beaten by a Mac Laptop? Yikes, something else is wrong.

 

[TriStar]

Well it is the new Macbook Pro. T9400 @ 2.53 ghz and a 9600GT @ 512mb. This runs call of duty and world of warcraft better than my PC right now. 2 Gigs of DDR was about $80 Canadian. In WoW I get about 25 FPS @ 1400x900 on the mac everything on high. On my PC I get 10-12 FPS @ 1400x1050 everything on high, on medium it's about 25.

 

[Shadow703793]

^ Looks like your drivers or some thing else is messed up. Also what is the res on the Macbook Pro?

 

[TriStar]

^ Looks like your drivers or some thing else is messed up. Also what is the res on the Macbook Pro?

1400x900. I just did a clean Vista with SP1 install yesterday and installed the newest ati drivers.