Horrible FPS in all games with 4850. Previously Good FPS.

[Darthbudge]

Hey everyone, recently I got a new a 4850 to replace my old 7600 GT in my system. I loved it quite a bit, I went through and replayed COD4 with all settings maxed out and enjoyed a buttery smooth 60~ FPS.

However, just yesterday I went to play TF2 for the first time after getting my new card. I bumped up the AA and AF all the way, and left all my other settings at max like they were before, and updated my resolution for my new wide screen monitor I had also purchased. I was getting playable FPS, around 25-30, but it still seemed slow. Suddenly as I was playing, my FPS dropped to 5-15 and stayed that way. I tried joining different servers and nothing. I tried lowering everything to minimum settings, and I still didn't get more than 15-25 FPS.

So next I tried the new Dawn of War 2 Beta I downloaded overnight. I put the resolution at 1440x900, which is my native resolution and left all the settings at their recommend spot, which was Low for everything. I tried joining a match and I got 5-10 FPS. Completely unplayable, and if you ask me unacceptable for a 4850.

Finally I tried the one game, I knew was running super smooth just a day or two before, COD4. Well I left all the settings at the same setting I was playing before and getting 60~ FPS at. I loaded up the mission called "The Bog" and I was getting 10-15 FPS.

I really don't know what the issue might be... as I am writing this I am downloading the latest 9.1 drivers, and I am going to uninstall my old ones, clean them out with driver cleaner and then install the new drivers.

Maybe something is wrong with my core and memory clock speeds? I have an Asus 4850 TOP and it is factory overclocked, well in ATI CCC, it shows that ATI overdrive is enabled and set to the factory overclock settings, however, just below that, it says Current Clock speeds and has them listed as the default non OC'ed numbers.

Also, I have read up and people have suggested that possibly it could be a PSU issue? I have a fairly low PSU, I believe only 475 Watts, however, that wouldn't explain why before that games were playing just fine.

Anyway, any suggestions would be much appreciated. Here are my critical system specs:

Pentium 4 3.6GHz Dual Core
Asus 4850 TOP
2GB of RAM

 

[ehanger]

Your pentium 4 is a HUGE bottleneck to your system, your probably going to have to upgrade your motherboard, cpu, and memory (if you have DDR2 then you won't have to).

Get an LGA 775 mobo (P45 is a good chipset) and nothing worse than a pentium dual core E5200 (which if you end up getting should be overclocked to at least 3.0GHz.) If you can afford it, get a better cpu like a Core 2 duo E7200/7300/8400 or a Core 2 Quad Q6600/9400.

Also tell what manufacturer your PSU is from, if it is a low quality PSU then it might not be enough but if it is from a good company (antec, corsair, PC power & Cooling, etc.) then it will probably be enough. Check the +12v rails to make sure they are enough. The total amperage on the +12v rails should be at least ~26A (Im not 100% sure on this so you should google the power req. for a 4850).

 

[Darthbudge]

Well, I agree with you ehanger. I actually already have a LGA 775 mobo, and I have been saving up for a C2D processor.

However, my main concern is that this exact same setup WAS giving me good FPS and now it isn't.

I updated to 9.1 and I saw a performance upgrade, it is now a playable 25-30 FPS again. But still, I think the FPS should be higher. I am trying to get some numbers from DoW 2 Beta and COD4, but FRAPS is giving me trouble.

EDIT: I got slightly improved FPS in COD4 also. But still around 20~ FPS which is still about 40 FPS slower than I was getting a few days ago.

 

[ehanger]

Are you using a system built by a big company like Dell or HP or did you build it yourself?

You should check your motherboard specs online to make sure it is compatible with newer processors because I have heard that older 775 mobos that were originally designed for P4 CPU's will not work with C2D's.

I don't know why you are getting less FPS than you did before, did you clean off your old 7600GT drivers? It also could be your P4 overheating and throttling back the clock speed which would result in greatly reduced FPS.

 

[Darthbudge]

Are you using a system built by a big company like Dell or HP or did you build it yourself?

You should check your motherboard specs online to make sure it is compatible with newer processors because I have heard that older 775 mobos that were originally designed for P4 CPU's will not work with C2D's.

I don't know why you are getting less FPS than you did before, did you clean off your old 7600GT drivers? It also could be your P4 overheating and throttling back the clock speed which would result in greatly reduced FPS.

Unfortunately, it is an older Dell XPS computer. I have since then upgraded it's GPU and RAM, but nothing else in it.

I did clean off my old 7600 GT drivers, and of course as I said, I played through all of COD4 with my new card and I was getting great FPS. It could be my P4 overheating, but I am not sure why all of a sudden it would start overheating.

 

[rescawen]

cod on what resolution?

 

[Bluescreendeath]

"Pentium 4 3.6GHz Dual Core"

1. How is a Pentium 4 3.6GHz a Dual Core?

2. Are you sure it's actually the CPU is causing the bottleneck for anti-aliasing? TF2 doesn't seem very CPU intensive.

 

[ehanger]

"Pentium 4 3.6GHz Dual Core"

1. How is a Pentium 4 3.6GHz a Dual Core?

2. Are you sure it's actually the CPU is causing the bottleneck for anti-aliasing? TF2 doesn't seem very CPU intensive.

I think he means P4 with hyperthreading.

 

[coozie7]

Whatever anyone feels about Dell computers, Dell psu`s are usually quite good and give plenty of Amps on the 12v rails, certainly more than enough for a HD4850.
For now I`d suggest you run a virus/malware sweep, (in Safe Mode). The Safe Mode bit is importaint, some infections can `hide` from a sweep under normal running conditions.

 

[BenSheriff]

Actully youre bottleneck is from the cpu to gpu transfer of data as you're cpu is basicaly to crap to run such a powerfull gpu,

And as for the games you mentions with that card you have you should be expecting 150+ fps,

TF" = a cpu driven game just like CSS, if you play offline adding bots eats cpu power same as mutiplayer with bigger servers as cpu loads everything into memory/ hash and the more people on a server the laggyier you will get my friend.

Best thing to do - www.overclockers.co.uk

Left side panel hit processors or motherboards sector and upgrade, yes it will cost but if you use you're brain , and set a min and max for each item and then scan the tom HW articles for the best performing for the money parts, and are satisfied reading reveiws until you know you picked the best to benifit you.

Good luck with it!!!

The idea of puchasing a p4 (DC) is pointless, as you would benifit for more future games + apps with a better efficent cpu. Trust me even upgrading to the same cpu performance level of a c2d *you will be shocked at the speed it actuly produces from youre current, as cpus have gotten better with different addons like virtulization, and more bugs fixed , better stepping tech etc*

End of the day its up to you, but as im a serious gamer myself ~ i would suggest as a gamer to another , its time to upgrade.

A tip for you:-
If you have money and want to upgrade and are thinking sli to futureise youre benifits, do not go 3-way sli straight away!!.

s this will then in the future, when you think pc again has gotten outdated , you'll have the opertunaty to upgrade to 3-way sli and experience a whole new level,

If you went 3-way you'll experenec great gaming performance but sooner or later you'll want better upgrade again and well it be more costly to upgrade from 3way to quad, than 2way to 3way, yes you'll get a whole new experience but my advice is dont bounce to the top straight away, just enjoy it in steps. like so of us do.

 

[BenSheriff]

Another item i would 100% suggest is a new PC atx case, as old dell cpu's come with the most heavyest and bulky atx towers that i ever saw!!, so the caes shell will be incasing the pc parts rither than having air circulation points and space for air to move around like you see is modern day cpu atx towers.

 

[Darthbudge]

Well, I kind of partially have this resolved. After I installed 9.1 drivers, and manually OC'ed to the factory set OC settings with RivaTuner, my FPS did go back up some.

I also think there was a chance of overheating, since it was very cold here and I had the heater turned up quite high. In any case though, most games are back to smooth FPS, but not as good as before.

I definately want to build myself a whole new PC from scratch this summer, so I will look into all the parts then. Thanks for your help guys.

 

[Plyro109]

Okay guys, I KNOW you all love having people spend money on new hardware, but if the game was running FINE a couple days ago, and now it's unplayable, it's NOT his CPU.

If I were you, Darthbudge, I'd Reinstall drivers (which you've done), try reinstalling DirectX, and if that doesn't work, try reinstalling your OS (which I'm assuming is XP?)