My 6600GT AGP won't meet THG's marks

doctorj

Distinguished
Mar 17, 2002
5
0
18,510
I just put an XFX 6600GT AGP card in my pc. I ran a couple of the same games that THG used when they reviewed this graphics chip. I got 2900 on 3DMark 2005 which is close to what THG scored (2964). On the Far Cry demo I never averaged over 40fps in 1024x768 where THG scored 60fps. I also noticed that I could increase resolution to say 1280x960 and still get the same frame rate. Is something in my system limiting me? I have a 4X mobo (Asus A7V333) but everything I have read indicates that it would not be the bottleneck as must cards don't utilize 8X bandwidth. THG averaged 97fps on Battlefield Vietnam at 1024x768 and I never averaged over 60fps. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I am including a link to THG's review so you can see the test setup they used.

http://graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20041119/geforce-6600gt-agp-03.html

My system specs
Athlon XP 3000 (333FSB)
512Mb Corsair XMS PC2700
XFX 6600GT AGP 128Mb
Asus A7V333 mobo (AGP 4X)
Maxtor 80Mb ATA133
 

cleeve

Illustrious
Your system is very different from the one in the article. Your AthlonXP 3000+ is no match for a Pentium 4 3.2 Ghz; the XP 3000+ is probably closer to a Pentium4 2.8 Ghz CPU.

Platform is very important is actual gameplay. 3dMark 2005 is a more graphics-card based benchmark; this is reflected in the close scores for that particular benchmark.

But in real-world benches, platform makes a difference. In addition to the CPU, your system memory is running notably slower than the P4, your chipset is older, and even 8x AGP will make a slight difference. Add this up and your system is bottlenecking your videocard in some situations.

System performance in applications like games depends on a whole lot more than the videocard itself, friend. Especially newer CPU-intensive titles like Far Cry...

________________
<b>Radeon <font color=red>9700 PRO</b></font color=red> <i>(o/c 332/345)</i>
<b>AthlonXP <font color=red>3200+</b></font color=red> <i>(Barton 2500+ o/c 400 FSB)</i>
<b>3dMark03: <font color=red>5,354</b>
 

doctorj

Distinguished
Mar 17, 2002
5
0
18,510
Thanks for the speedy reply. I'm thinking the only thing I can do to improve my fps is increase my RAM or upgrade the motherboard. Do you or anyone else feel going from 512Mb to 1Gig would help my fps much? Are the benefits from upgrading the motherboard worth the effort and money? I know I've read numerous threads here where everyone says an AGP 8X based board won't help much but you mentioned the chipset. I know mine is based on the KT333 but I have no clue as to whether a board based on a newer chipset will help. Thoughts?
 

cleeve

Illustrious
Negatory on the 512 - to - 1 GB memory upgrade. You won't see any FPS increase... maybe faster loading times and fewer hiccups, but no FPS.

Pretty much all you can do to see a worthwhile upgrade to that platform is to buy a nice Athlon 64 CPU & motherboard.

If you really want to squeeze all you can out of that AthlonXP, take this advice: Buy a nice Nforce2 motherboard for cheap used, and sell your current mobo for almost as much...

The Nforce2 chipset is respectably faster than the KT333, but more importantly it will give you better overclocking options. You'll need to learn more about overclocking to squeeze more performance out of that 3000+ of yours.

but like I said, it's probably not worth the 5 fps differecne you'll see though. If I were you I'd sell your current CPU & mobo for a new Athlon64 setup, even an Athlon64 2800+ will give you at least a 10fps boost on the games that are CPU limiting you, like Far Cry...

________________
<b>Radeon <font color=red>9700 PRO</b></font color=red> <i>(o/c 332/345)</i>
<b>AthlonXP <font color=red>3200+</b></font color=red> <i>(Barton 2500+ o/c 400 FSB)</i>
<b>3dMark03: <font color=red>5,354</b>
 
Also the nForce mobo will open up dual chanel memory for him so that extra stick of 512 might not be a bad idea if he's running single stick right now, but if he's already got 2x256 then he's good to go like you said.

But mobo is first issue, then replace the neon, BLUE is much faster! :lol:


- You need a licence to buy a gun, but they'll sell anyone a stamp <i>(or internet account)</i> ! - <font color=green>RED </font color=green> <font color=red> GREEN</font color=red> GA to SK :evil:
 

G_K

Distinguished
Jan 23, 2005
27
0
18,530
When I went from 512 DDR2 to 1 GB I noticed a 500 3dmark gain in 03'.

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by G_K on 01/26/05 08:04 PM.</EM></FONT></P>
 

cleeve

Illustrious
I dunno Grape. Have you ever had an Nforce2 mobo? I find, personally, that dual channel is useless compared to the higher clockspeeds you can get when you use single channel. Even then, it's so damned unstable in dual-channel mode unless you've got bling-bling RAM.

Just wan't worth it, for me anyways. Dual channel made a 50 or so difference in 3dMark03, and was still less than ideally stable... single channel, overclocked much higher and is stable as a rock.

________________
<b>Radeon <font color=red>9700 PRO</b></font color=red> <i>(o/c 332/345)</i>
<b>AthlonXP <font color=red>3200+</b></font color=red> <i>(Barton 2500+ o/c 400 FSB)</i>
<b>3dMark03: <font color=red>5,354</b>
 
I've never used the nF2, but most of the performance comparisons were praiseworthy compared to my single channel rig, even when both OC'd, and that made it the ONLY regret I've had with my choice, that and no funky UV colouring. :wink:

I assume he's got good ram being XMS like mine, but truely it is still PC2700 unlike my 3200, so I dunno. I assume his ram would be pretty solid if he got a similar stick.

If your experience is otherwise then I respect that, I'm going more based on my regrets of my mobo and the reviewed benifits than the peronal OCING experience with the two.

In any case it's one of the few benifits I could tangibly see, and as you pointed out even then it may be limited or non-existent.


- You need a licence to buy a gun, but they'll sell anyone a stamp <i>(or internet account)</i> ! - <font color=green>RED </font color=green> <font color=red> GREEN</font color=red> GA to SK :evil: