A graphics card problem

[Matty128]

Hello again guys.

 

I've been having trouble with my new graphics card. I've been getting incredibly low fps ingame. On Counter Strike for example; I'm only getting about 20 fps. This card should be able to play games like Crysis, but this is unbearable.

My setup:

 

XFX 8800gt Alpha Dog xxx edition 256mb

3gh Pentium 4 Processor

1gb RAM

 

I've been told that the problem is my processor, others have said its the card itself, so I got a new driver for it. It made a slight difference but its still incredibly laggy.

Can anyone tell me what the problem is? I would be most grateful.

[Guest Wolfeymole]

Hi Matty

 

Well if the board can stand it another gig of ram wouldn't come amiss.

 

How many other programs do you have running also?

[Matty128]

When we are playing these games, we only have them open and steam.

Even so, 1GB RAM should still perform better than my 7300GS, which on the most part, it isn't. Very worrying.

 

Thanks for the quick reply.

[Guest Wolfeymole]

Ok well I'm not a gamer Matty so I suggest you call back when some of the team are in and they may have more advice.

[maynardvdm]

Hi

 

Have you got the latest version of DirectX installed?

 

Its worth a try.

[Dalo Harkin]

Check the settings in the BIOS too - sounds like the card is running in PCI 8 speed and not 16.

can you list all yoyur system please including PSU and MEMORY

[Britty]

Hi,

 

This may help to improve your FPS.

 

Install the game you want. then uninstall all the games/Programs that you no longer use. Most ppl keep PC's like a mini program junkyard ;). 'One day i will play fifa 95 again' kind of thing.

 

Once that is done get yourself a registry cleaner personally i use Auslogics (free trial with it so if it don't work don't buy it) but there a re loads out there. Then a disk cleanup (CCleaner will do) and finally run disk defragmenter.

 

I have done this at home and in businesses many times and seen both FPS and perfromance increase massively.

 

Also make sure that no other programs are running int he background stealing your RAM and CPU use. If your not online then deactivate the Anti-virus software. BUT remember to switch it on again before connecting again.

[Dalo Harkin]

Hi,

 

This may help to improve your FPS.

 

Install the game you want. then uninstall all the games/Programs that you no longer use. Most ppl keep PC's like a mini program junkyard ;). 'One day i will play fifa 95 again' kind of thing.

 

Once that is done get yourself a registry cleaner personally i use Auslogics (free trial with it so if it don't work don't buy it) but there a re loads out there. Then a disk cleanup (CCleaner will do) and finally run disk defragmenter.

 

I have done this at home and in businesses many times and seen both FPS and perfromance increase massively.

 

Also make sure that no other programs are running int he background stealing your RAM and CPU use. If your not online then deactivate the Anti-virus software. BUT remember to switch it on again before connecting again.

 

The only part of this that will physically increase speed is the disk defrag

and closing tasks that are making the CPU work harder.

[Flair4it]

is it Specfic to Counter-Strike: Source or is all games FPS low

 

I know I had an issue with source i was getting 15 to 20 fps on my geforce 9600GT, every other game worked fine

 

Did You Install Crysis, and try play with new graphics card

 

as well IF Counter Strike was installed pre the graphics card.

 

you need to refresh your config.cfg I will get the commands for it

 

:)

[Matty128]

Now the problem has gotten a slight bit better. CSS is bareable now I installed the latest version of DX9, but the fps are still incredibly low. Its the same with all games I have. I do not own Crysis though, I just thought I would use it as a decent example of the capabilities of the card.

 

I'm not too sure how to increase the PCI speed to 16. Could you explain how I would do this?

 

I'll be posting the type of PSU I have soon (when I find out what it is).

Oh, and I have about 20GB of memory between my C and D drives.

Thanks.

Oh and 9600GT, Nice!

[Dalo Harkin]

your motherboard should do it automatically - so we will just leave it for now - are you 100% that you have the latest drivers for your card?

[Dalo Harkin]

Just checked and they should be 175.16 for XP and they were released on the 13-05-08

go to your C drive and open the file called Nvidia and there will be version numbers like the one above.

if there is more than one delete all of them other than the latest version and restart.

see if that helps and post back please

[Matty128]

There was 3 drivers in the win2k folder (one of them being 175.16).

 

I deleted the others. The other drivers must have not uninstalled propally.

Do I remove the drivers in "Win2kXP" aswell?

 

I have done anyways.

Thanks for the help.

 

I'm about to test it out to see if it has worked, I'll reply as soon as possible.

[Dalo Harkin]

There is a small program that you can download from the nvidia website and it gets rid of all the 'bumph' that gets installed along with the drivers - when you come to update - if you dont know where the files are located this is a great tool to use.

ATI also have a version available on their website.

[Matty128]

I just realised when I turned my PC on that my graphics card is running on VGA BIOS (its running on VGA mode)

I thought VGA would turn itslef off, but it didn't.

Would this make any difference and how do I turn it off?

[Dalo Harkin]

so the board has onboard graphics and you have a seperate graphics card too, if thats the case - you need to disable the onboard VGA in the BIOS - but that is only if you have onboard VGA and a Graphics card installed - they will conflict if both left on thats all

[Matty128]

so the board has onboard graphics and you have a seperate graphics card too, if thats the case - you need to disable the onboard VGA in the BIOS - but that is only if you have onboard VGA and a Graphics card installed - they will conflict if both left on thats all

Could you tell me how I would disable the VGA in the BIOS? (sorry, I don't know much about the BIOS)

[Seth]

When you turn on the computer, you should see a message that says, "Press such and such key to enter Setup (bios). It's usually Del, F1, or F2.

 

Make sure you save your changes before exiting the bios.

[Seth]

Further clarification:

 

The setting is usually in the Advanced Chipset Features of the bios. It will say something like Onboard Video, or on Chip VGA. Set that to disabled and save the changes.

[Matty128]

When I go into BIOS/ Advanced/ superIO (the likely folder) This is what comes up:

 

On- Chip Primary PCI IDE [enabled]

On- Chip SATA Mode [Auto]

On- Board HD audio [Auto]

On- Board H/W 1394 [Enabled]

On- Board H/W LAN [Enabled]

On- Board LAN Boot ROM [Enabled]

On- Board Serial Port 1 (long number)

On- Board Serial Port 2 (long number)

UART Mode [Enabled]

On- Board Parallel Port (long number)

 

Which of these do I disable? (if any)

[Seth]

None of those are the Onboard video (built into the motherboard). That means, either it's in a different section of the bios, or you don't have onboard video. Do you have a VGA port that is built into the motherboard?

 

If so, make sure the monitor is plugged into the separate video card, then poke around in the bios to find the option to disable the onboard video.

[Matty128]

I have searched long and hard in the BIOS and I can't find it.

 

There does appear to be a moniter slot attached to the motherboard.

[Seth]

Well that's a good find.

 

Many third party video card vendors will have a section that recommends certain bios settings for their particular video card. I recommend you investigate such further on your video card's site.

 

Other than that, I'm not a gamer so I just provide "outside of the box" info in such a case. Please wait for further assistance.

[Matty128]

I've been told by some to reset the BIOS. Apparantely it will remove the VGA and sort out any other inconviniences. After taking a look at my mother board (after opening the pc) I could not find the CMOS jumper. I do not know of any other way of reseting the BIOS and I'm a bit scared incase I do anything wrong.

Is reseting the BIOS necassary?

[Seth]

You can reset the bios by taking the motherboards battery out for about 30 mins. Make sure the computer is unplugged than do so. It' won't hurt, but may help.