Running older games on i7-920

soulgraph

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Running an hpe-170f. i7-920, 9 gb ddr3, nvidia gtx260 w/ 1.8 gb, win7. I can run newer games like mass effect 2 with all graphic options turned up, but I cant get a smooth framerate on modern warfare 1 or 2, or crysis even if I drop the AA & other graphics options. I play these all @ 1920x1080 but even lowering res doesnt help. Ive downloaded every patch for these games, used game booster to shut down all unneccesary background progs and shut off page filing. By rights I should be smoking thru these games, can anyone help with this.
 

soulgraph

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yes all my drivers are current, I have a 2nd pci ex slot & Im thinking about running another gtx 260 in sli, maybe im expecting too much out of my gpu. Upon further inspection mass effect is only dx9 but requires a multi-core processor so its probably making better use of my resourses. I also am worried the special edtion GTX260 that came in my hp might be the prob. My rig only has a 460 watt psu, when the nvidia gtx260 normally requires a min 500 watt psu.
 

soulgraph

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sorry obviously my excpectations were a little high on crysis (noob) I ve made some adj in my gpu control panel that helped with mwf2. Still cant figure out why all the older games are so bad when panning around (usually all of action on screen otherwise ok) Ive tryed running these games in compatabilty mode w/ no improvment either. Im gonna try & p/u a another new game & see how it goes...
 

soulgraph

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With AA off @ high settings it seems like high 30's. My gpu is running @ about 90%. My cpu is @ about 40-44% on cores 0&2 and 5-15% on 1&3. Ive got settings for pre-rendered frames in my nvidia control panel set to max trying to put some weight back on the cpu as well.
 

soulgraph

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Been doing some testing w/ mwf2 windowed so I can track my cpu & GPU usage. With every graphic option maxed out & aa x4 in 1080 the gpu is @ 85-90% with the fsb running 35% & the cpu only using cores 1 & 4 @ about 35% & 15%. Even if I turn the graphics all down & run 800 x 600 I can get smooth panning. This seems to be a problem with any game over 3 mnth old so far even games that have nvidia and multi-core enhanced on the box and every first person title has this problem.
 

theholylancer

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did you do a clean OS install w the newest drivers?

in MW 2 a 260-216 should be able to maintain 40fps with 4x aa...

unless you got the older 260 which would be still 30 fps at the least

reference :

CoD-MW2-GPUs-1920.png




 

soulgraph

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rig did this new out of the box, its an hp so im not sure I can do a clean os install (all partitioned in hdd) but this seems to be a problem with games even as old as doom3. Ive tryed a lot of games and all the same. Ive also updated the drivers. Do I need to somehow wipe all the gpu drivers out & start new?
 

theholylancer

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woah woah woah

did the GTX came with your HP box?

if not there is possible issues with drivers that comes with the box's windows, you will need a FRESH windows copy (7 or xp or vista if you want i guess), ala retail copy (or well maybe ask HP to give you a retail key, or just get it from else where) fresh install with the latest drivers for it

also, I'm assuming that it will have an onboard graphics, did you turn that off first?

thirdly what model is the motherboard, i have heard OEMs cutting down on the PCIE connectivity and is simply making the slot cheaper, so it isn't going to perform to it's full potential. Granted I haven't seen that first hand, but given their track record, it wouldn't be out of their cost cutting strategy.
 

soulgraph

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mobo is pegatron IPMTB-TK, I believe pcie are gen 2. not sure about onboard graphics, no vga so the only way to connect a monitor is thru the video card. I tried to start it in safe mode but it just goes to a windows recovery program also the GTX did come with the pc. havent tried anything more update the drivers but no difference before\after.

 

theholylancer

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so it came from hp with the gtx?

if so then it would be weird... as that is a asus mobo if it's this thing:

http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=IPMTB-TK-BULK&cat=MBB

you can always wipe the whole hdd and install a retail copy, but at this point if it was supplied by HP and it is performing lower than expected then maybe call them?

also do you know if the 260 is a 216 core or the older stuff? the older stuff would definitely have what you are seeing now.
 

soulgraph

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processor: GeForce GTX 260
driver version: 196.21
mem interface: 448 bit
cuda cores: 192
dedicated video mem: 1792 mb
total available graphics mem:4095
shared sys mem: 2303
bus: pci express x16 gen 2
 

theholylancer

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That is a core 192, and not a core 216 so you got you self the older and less performing part, and TBH ME 2 is made for the consols (if you look at the controls), while MW 1 was made for the PC, and MW 2 is made from the same engine as MW 1 and they crippled PC stuff, but at it's core it is still PC

and crysis is PC only so...

You'll need more muscle if you want the best of the best at 1920*1200 with real PC based games that uses not just console stuff and aim for the high end for PCs.

Here read this and you can see that with crysis it only can get 26 fps average and that low can get to 5 fps lol

http://www.elitebastards.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=656&Itemid=29&limitstart=4

 

soulgraph

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ok cool, Im going to get a new video card today, still a little torn between 285 & 5870 I know the ati is a better card and has dx11, eyefinity, ddr5 but im worried about driver issues switching brands. If I run in safe mode does that allow me to get rid of nvidia drivers without disabling my video alltogether since I have to go thru the card itself?
 

theholylancer

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errrrrr hold it, what is ur PSU?

HP isn't known for quality PSUs eh... The ones they have in there may burn with a more powerful card and kill the whole system.

also you should really back up all your important stuff, in case if things get wildly, I have never had issues, but if you have NEVER done this before, screwing around in safe mode uninstalling drivers and then poping back and installing new ones can get confusing....

The best practice of drivers is to download ATI drivers (newest for ur OS and 64/32bit) have them extracted and ready to go, uninstall NV driver from control panel of windows, reboot into safe mode, run driver sweeper fully on NV graphics drivers (not the other stuff) and then reboot back into regular and then run the ati driver installer that you have extracted before.

 

soulgraph

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psu is fsp group 700 watt (just installed a few days ago in prep) tryed to uninstall nvidia stuff in safe mode the drvr set uninstalled but had to sweep the rest out ie: gpu monitor, performance settings etc.. installed new ati drivers w\ anti-virus off all went ok but new card performs worse than old 260 so far.


ok un\re-installed ati drivers now seeing much better fps in demanding games (crysis,mw2) :D havent oc'd gpu yet, but its a sapphire vapor x so shouldnt have heat probs eh?