What is slowing down my refresh of an old gaming rig?

[Suprman]

specs:
motherboard: asus M2N32-SLI Deluxe
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200+ 2.7ghz
Memory: 4x2gb ddr2 800
GPU: 2x EVGA 7600GT KO 256mb PCI-E x16
Power: Antec 550
OS: Win7 64 bit
Display: 40" 1080P Sony HDTV via DVI to HDMI cable
Hard drives: 2x 250gb 7200rpm

I know the CPU and Graphics card along with the motherboard are from 2006, but I put in brand new ram along with some new antec 120mm fans and generally spruced it up. the main HD failed along with the ram, so its got a new clean install of vista 64bit (win 7 64bit coming soon) with all drivers up to date.

will stream HD tv shows and movies from Hulu fine, but it feels slow doing everyday task. I loaded one game (NFS: Hot Pursuit) and it will play it, but not online and if i put the res up to 720p (1300x768) it gets a bit choppy and its just not playable on 1080P.

We are trying to get this computer up and running to make a media center and to play limited games on it. also my GF wants to run photoshop/autocad/solidworks and such on it.

How can i find out what is choking the system and what path I should take to getting it to be able to run the way i need it to?

 

[dominionz]

Main problem is you're trying to do modern day things with a 5yo PC. It's just not up to snuff. The problems with the gaming and streaming can be fixed by adding a newer Vid card. Something in the Nvidia 400 series should make a big difference. Running PS/Cad/SW requires mainly CPU horsepower which can be done but will be slower on current setup. I'm not sure what budget you're working with but if money's tight I would upgrade either the GPU or Mobo/CPU/Ram depending on which was more important. Gaming or GF's work.

 

[mattius92]

I say upgrade the GPU to like an modern card, like an HD 5670. Other then that, there is not much more you can do.

 

[rrplay]

Depending on your budget you should be able to improve this rig quite a bit by adding a better gpu as previously recommend like a Nvidia 460. & only suggesting one vid card Since you currently have have a 550W psu

You're very likely to improve your overall cpu performance by adding a 3rd party cooler like a Cooler Master hyper 212 plus about 30.00 [note you may want to check if it will clear your memory] or other cpu cooler this way you can OC the cpu for a bit more 'snap'.

Nice to see you spruced up your rig with some newer 120mm fans and hopefully that newer HD has 32 MB cache.

I would think that the 3rd party cooler with some good timings and a not to power hungry an updated gpu should give that system quite a bit more use for both.

 

[Suprman]

Thanks for the recommendations guys! I went through and manually updated all drivers and it really helped out as I can now play NFS Hot Pursuit online and offline at 720p with no problems.

we spent $235 so far and the original budget was $500 total max. the most important thing is to get it to run the solidworks/autocad/photoshop stuff for my GF.

I updated my Bios to rev 5002 and this is the new CPU's that are available

[ 5002 ] (beta)
Support new AM3 CPUs.
Note: AMD 6-core CPUs are not supported.

Athlon IIX2 215 (ADX215OCK22GQ),2.7GHz,512KB,rev.C2,65W,SocketAM3
Athlon IIX2 240e (AD240EHDK23GQ),2.8GHz,1MB,rev.C2,45W,SocketAM3
Athlon IIX2 255 (ADX255OCK23GM),3.1GHz,512KB,rev.C3,65W,SocketAM3
Athlon IIX3 405e (AD405EHDK32GM),2.3GHz,512KB,rev.C3,45W,SocketAM3
Athlon IIX3 440 (ADX440WFK32GI),3.0GHz,512KB,rev.C2,95W,SocketAM3
Athlon IIX3 445 (ADX445WFK32GM),3.1GHz,512KB,rev.C3,95W,SocketAM3
Athlon IIX4 605e (AD605EHDK42GM),2.3GHz,512KB,rev.C3,45W,SocketAM3
Athlon IIX4 635 (ADX635WFK42GI),2.9GHz,512KB,rev.C2,95W,SocketAM3
Athlon IIX4 640 (ADX640WFK42GM),3.0GHz,512KB,rev.C3,95W,SocketAM3
Phenom IIX2 550 (HDZ550WFK2DGI),3.1GHz,80W,rev.C2,SocketAM3,Dual-Core
Phenom IIX2 555 (HDZ555WFK2DGM),3.2GHz,512KB,rev.C3,80W,SocketAM3
Phenom IIX3 705e (HD705EOCK3DGI),2.5GHz,65W,rev.C2,SocketAM3,Triple-Core
Phenom IIX3 715 (HDZ715WCJ3DGI),2.8GHz,95W,rev.C2,SocketAM2+,Triple-Core
Phenom IIX3 740 (HDZ740WFK3DGI),3.0GHz,95W,rev.C2,SocketAM3,Triple-Core
Phenom IIX4 820 (HDX820WFK4FGI),2.8GHz,95W,rev.C2,SocketAM3,Quad-Core
Phenom IIX4 905e (HD905EOCK4DGI),2.5GHz,65W,rev.C2,SocketAM3,Quad-Core
Phenom IIX4 910e (HD910EOCK4DGM),2.6GHz,65W,rev.C3,SocketAM3,Quad-Core
Phenom IIX4 925 (HDX925WFK4DGI),2.8GHz,95W,rev.C2,SocketAM3,Quad-Core
Phenom IIX4 945 (HDX945WFK4DGM),3.0GHz,2048KB,95W,rev.C3,SocketAM3,Quad-Core
Sempron 140,SDX140HBK13GQ,2.7GHz,1024K,rev.C2,45W,SocketAM3

 

[mattius92]

well with that said you could throw in a Athlon II x3 ($77), which will be much much faster then the one in there. And pop in an HD 5670 ($95) and you will be set for another few years.

 

[Suprman]

http://3dmark.com/3dm06/15343631

5165 3dmark06 score. looks like Cpu is not doing well but still kind of stuck on what is bottlenecking the system, i feel like it should be better then this.

 

[mattius92]

http://www.passmark.com/products/pt.htm

Use this one, it will give you scores for each component (CPU, GPU, Memory, HDD, etc)

Make sure no programs except the benchmark software is running, and then post your results on here. Then I might be able to see the bottleneck.

 

[Suprman]

Benchmark Results
Test Name This Computer
CPU - Integer Math 244.2
CPU - Floating Point Math 939.2
CPU - Find Prime Numbers 268.8
CPU - SSE 8.4
CPU - Compression 1777.5
CPU - Encryption 7.6
CPU - Physics 77.2
CPU - String Sorting 992.1
Graphics 2D - Solid Vectors 4.4
Graphics 2D - Transparent Vectors 4.3
Graphics 2D - Complex Vectors 96.3
Graphics 2D - Fonts and Text 76.2
Graphics 2D - Windows Interface 39.8
Graphics 2D - Image Filters 134.2
2D Graphics - Image Rendering 239.8
Graphics 3D - Simple 433.4
Graphics 3D - Medium 166.7
Graphics 3D - Complex 38.6
Memory - Allocate Small Block 2283.2
Memory - Read Cached 1272.1
Memory - Read Uncached 1187.3
Memory - Write 1168.3
Memory - Large RAM 2846.8
Disk - Sequential Read 43.9
Disk - Sequential Write 45.5
Disk - Random Seek + RW 2.6
CPU Mark 1605.0
2D Graphics Mark 463.3
Memory Mark 1083.6
Disk Mark 332.7
3D Graphics Mark 406.2
PassMark Rating 885.9
System information - This Computer
System Summary
PerformanceTest 7.0 1020 64-bit
Windows Vista (64-bit)
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 5200+
8189 MB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GT
190GB HDD, 190GB HDD
CD/DVDRW, CD-RW/DVDRW
System Information
System Name: DUSTINSTEVEN-PC
Operating System: Windows Vista (64-bit)
Motherboard Manufacturer: ASUSTeK Computer INC.
Motherboard Model: M2N32-SLI DELUXE
Motherboard Version: 1.XX
BIOS Manufacturer: Phoenix Technologies, LTD
BIOS Version: ASUS M2N32-SLI DELUXE ACPI BIOS Revision 5002
BIOS Release Date: 03/18/2010
Memory Information
Total Physical Memory: 8189 MB RAM
Available Physical Memory: 6542 MB RAM
Slot 1: Other, 2048MB, 800MHz
Slot 2: Other, 2048MB, 800MHz
Slot 3: Other, 2048MB, 800MHz
Slot 4: Other, 2048MB, 800MHz
Virtual Memory: C:\pagefile.sys (8489 MB)
CPU Information
Manufacturer: AuthenticAMD
Type: AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 5200+
Number of CPU's: 1
Cores per CPU: 2
Hyperthreading: Not capable
Measured Speed: 2712.4 MHz
L1 Instruction Cache: 2 x 64 KB
L1 Data Cache: 2 x 64 KB
L2 Cache Size: 2 x 512 KB
L3 Cache: (N/A)
Disk Information
Drive Letter (Number): C (Physical drive 0)
Model Number: Unknown
Disk Size (Free space): 189.9 GBytes (94.1 GBytes)
Disk Cluster Size: 4 KBytes
File System: NTFS
Drive Letter (Number): D (Physical drive 0)
Model Number: Unknown
Disk Size (Free space): 189.9 GBytes (123.2 GBytes)
Disk Cluster Size: 4 KBytes
File System: NTFS
Video Adapters
Description: NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GT
Chip Type: GeForce 7600 GT
DAC Type: Integrated RAMDAC
Memory: 256MB
Video BIOS: Version 5.73.22.18.24
Driver Provider: NVIDIA
Driver Version: 8.17.12.6658
Driver Date: 1-7-2011
Monitor 1: 1920x1080x32 60Hz (Primary monitor)

 

[mattius92]

CPU - Integer Math 244.2
CPU - Floating Point Math 939.2
CPU - Find Prime Numbers 268.8
CPU - SSE 8.4
CPU - Compression 1777.5
CPU - Encryption 7.6
CPU - Physics 77.2
CPU - String Sorting 992.1
Graphics 2D - Solid Vectors 4.4
Graphics 2D - Transparent Vectors 4.3
Graphics 2D - Complex Vectors 96.3
Graphics 2D - Fonts and Text 76.2
Graphics 2D - Windows Interface 39.8
Graphics 2D - Image Filters 134.2
2D Graphics - Image Rendering 239.8
Graphics 3D - Simple 433.4
Graphics 3D - Medium 166.7
Graphics 3D - Complex 38.6
Memory - Allocate Small Block 2283.2
Memory - Read Cached 1272.1
Memory - Read Uncached 1187.3
Memory - Write 1168.3
Memory - Large RAM 2846.8
Disk - Sequential Read 43.9
Disk - Sequential Write 45.5
Disk - Random Seek + RW 2.6

CPU Mark 1605.0 <--- Okay
2D Graphics Mark 463.3 <--- Good
Memory Mark 1083.6 <--- Really Good
Disk Mark 332.7 <--- Alright
3D Graphics Mark 406.2 <--- Good
PassMark Rating 885.9 <--- Thats not bad, still should be able to run programs just fine.

Windows Vista (64-bit)
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 5200+
8189 MB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GT
190GB HDD, 190GB HDD
CD/DVDRW, CD-RW/DVDRW


Your system shouldnt be having issues, while the benches arent like as high as modern components, they aren't bad.

 

[Suprman]

yeah, I'm stumped. I keep getting booted from NFS: Hot Pursuit online for poor performance even with the display settings on 800x600 and everything turned off.

this is ven after i slightly OC'd the CPU to 2.9ghz and GPU to 600/800

 

[mattius92]

did everything work before you put the new OS on it

 

[Suprman]

the reason for the rebuild is because somehow a harddrive and a stick of ram failed while it was in storage. so we had to start fresh with everything.

 

[mattius92]

I am gonna say its either your GPUS or CPUs. Does your motherboard have onboard? If so, try it with just that.

Might seem tedious, but I would think because you are getting such bad frame rate, it might be a GPU problem.

 

[Suprman]

yeah guess i'll have to live with it for now, I'm out of ideas. maybe once i install Win 7 it'll get better. but i'm guessing i'll need to upgrade the GPU and then the CPU.

 

[rrplay]

You can also minimize all unnecessary services and background resource hogs.you also may not get to much of an overall performance boost on Win7 for benchmarking scores but you may find Win 7 a whole better in the long run.[Son't recall seeing Win7 in upgrade budget proposal ..maybe I missed it ] anyhooo...

The reason I mention this is that should you install Win 7 fresh and update drivers etc & run your benchmarks before activating Win7...this way should you decide you upgrade your CPU and GPU as recommended previously in this thread

so if you spent 235.00 out of your 500.00 budget to upgrade

Athlon IIX3 445 (ADX445WFK32GM),3.1GHz,512KB,rev.C3,95W,SocketAM3 -77.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103872

add a modern gpu 5670 series or getter with remainder of budget
Example MSI R5770 Hawk Radeon HD 5770 - 155.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127490

or better
with optional 30 .00 for cpu cooler for higher OC.

you will def notice this cpu gpu upgrade more than installing Win 7 and you may be able to get a bundle deal or price break with Win7 or have girlfriend purchase Win7 unless you already have it.

 

[Suprman]

thanks for the help, I got a copy of Windows 7 pro 64bit from a friend, so i'm gonna try a fresh install and see if that helps it out some. if that doesn't help it i'll start looking into upgrades. money is a little tight so if i can not throw anymore money into it for right now then i won't.

 

[Suprman]

ok so i added win7 pro 64bit and oc'd the GPU and CPU.

PassMark(TM) PerformanceTest 7.0 Evaluation Version (http://www.passmark.com)
Results generated on: Wednesday, February 16, 2011


Benchmark Results

Test Name: This Computer
CPU - Integer Math: 329.2
CPU - Floating Point Math: 1044.0
CPU - Find Prime Numbers: 313.4
CPU - SSE: 9.1
CPU - Compression: 2008.7
CPU - Encryption: 9.4
CPU - Physics: 100.1
CPU - String Sorting: 1269.4
Graphics 2D - Solid Vectors: 4.4
Graphics 2D - Transparent Vectors: 4.2
Graphics 2D - Complex Vectors: 87.8
Graphics 2D - Fonts and Text: 105.9
Graphics 2D - Windows Interface: 42.7
Graphics 2D - Image Filters: 149.6
2D Graphics - Image Rendering: 266.1
Graphics 3D - Simple: 506.5
Graphics 3D - Medium: 191.5
Graphics 3D - Complex: 42.9
Memory - Allocate Small Block: 3419.6
Memory - Read Cached: 1331.9
Memory - Read Uncached: 1237.5
Memory - Write: 1253.8
Memory - Large RAM: 3143.2
Disk - Sequential Read: 61.5
Disk - Sequential Write: 51.6
Disk - Random Seek + RW: 2.9
CPU Mark: 1880.9
2D Graphics Mark: 467.0
Memory Mark: 1225.2
Disk Mark: 419.4
3D Graphics Mark: 465.2
PassMark Rating: 1027.6

System information: This Computer
CPU Manufacturer: AuthenticAMD
Number of CPU: 1
Cores per CPU: 2
CPU Type: AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 5200+
CPU Speed: 2970.1 MHz
Cache size: 512KB
O/S: Windows 7 (64-bit)
Total RAM: 8190.5 MB.
Available RAM: 6631.8 MB.
Video settings: 1280x1024x32
Video driver:
DESCRIPTION: NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GT
MANUFACTURER: NVIDIA
BIOS: Version 5.73.22.18.24
DATE: 1-7-2011
Drive Letter: C
Total Disk Space: 189.9 GBytes
Cluster Size: 4.0 KBytes
File system: NTFS


quite a bit better, but still getting kicked from NFS: HP while trying to play online

guess i'll live with it for now and upgrade the video card here next when funds become available.

 

[rrplay]

ok so i added win7 pro 64bit and oc'd the GPU and CPU.


quite a bit better, but still getting kicked from NFS: HP while trying to play online

guess i'll live with it for now and upgrade the video card here next when funds become available.

nice to see ya hanging in there make sure to thanks your pal for the win 7 pro ! that's great

you may expect to see about 3100.00MHz + with a 3rd party cooler. on your current cpu.

yep nothing will beat a newer vid card and cpu with a 3rdparty cooler

in the meantime the best free performance upgrade you can do & give your system some overall 'snap' is to 'tweak' your Win 7 install ..free up to precious cycles and resources

lots of info online to 'tweak' Win 7 for better performance & 'SNAP'!!

 

[Suprman]

Thanks for he suggestion, I tweaked what i could, but most stuf was turned off anyway. but it bumped it a little on passmark.




here is the comparasion of the 2 CPU's i'm looking at from newegg:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100006519%2050001028%2040000343&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&CompareItemList=343|19-103-872^19-103-872-TS%2C19-103-824^19-103-824-TS

not sure the Phenom II x4 820 (2.8ghz) its worth the extra $30 over the $77 Athlon II x3 445 (3.1ghz).

anyway, I think i will most likely go with a GTX 460 for around $150. (which brand/model would be best bang for my buck as far as performance for the money goes)

also my plan of attack is this:
Buy GTX 460 within a few weeks
Buy new processor next month or two
upgrade to a 800-1000w powersupply and buy another GTX460 when i strike it rich.
OC machine to max and run it till it blows - 5 years from now when this stuff can't compete anymore and its time to upgrade mostly everything and build a all new computer.