Poor performance - XFX 9800GT

[Motiv38]

So, I need help. In short, my FPS is ridiculously low.

CPU Intel Celeron 3.06GHZ
Mobo Dell 0WG864
RAM 1GB (PNY I believe) DDR2 PC2-5300
PSU Corsair VX550
Graphics XFX 9800GT

CS:S - Medium settings @ 1024x768, I'm getting ~40 fps just running around, which dips to ~15 in a fire fight.
CoD4 - Textures on high, no AA @ 1024x768 ~30 and dropping to ~15 during activity.

Stuff I've ruled out:

-The card is getting enough power on the 12v rail... (needs 26amps, is getting 40+)

-Drivers are at 178.24 (latest). I even tried 177.39 (the version provided in the box) using Driver Cleaner in between installs... no dice.

-Running processes
44 in total, none are strange/hogging.

nVidia CP
-The drivers were just installed, so the default setting (checked and double checked) is app controlled.

I'm stumped.

Any help/suggestion is appreciated (I know some of the hardware isn't very impressive, but I was receiving similar performance in CS:S w/ my old computer packing a beastly nvidia 5200fx... which simply will not do)

Thanks in advance!

Edit: I plan on getting more RAM in the next 24-48 hours, but even with my currently low RAM (+ taking into account bottlenecks), performance exceeding 15-40fps should be coming from this card regardless.

 

[vj8usa]

Have you tried running at higher visual settings? If, for instance, you increase your resolution and/or turn AA way up and performance doesn't change, your video card isn't the problem. I'm inclined to say your CPU's at fault, but I don't have enough experience with the 2 games you mentioned to be sure (I do know that CS:S is somewhat CPU hungry, though).

 

[daveybrat]

A Celeron 3.06GHz?? That is your problem right there. That is a huge bottleneck in today's games. You really need a dual-core to let that video card breath.

 

[roid450]

dual or quad core and 2gb ram at least.

 

[Quiksilver]

Originally posted by: Motiv38
So, I need help. In short, my FPS is ridiculously low.

CPU Intel Celeron 3.06GHZ

Found your problem. A Celeron in any shape or form will bottleneck a system.

 

[nRollo]

Originally posted by: Quiksilver

Originally posted by: Motiv38
So, I need help. In short, my FPS is ridiculously low.

CPU Intel Celeron 3.06GHZ

Found your problem. A Celeron in any shape or form will bottleneck a system.

No, no- he needs to move up to the GTX280 to get some perf.... errrr...no.....


Yes, as noted, you can't get good performance out of a Celeron and 1GB RAM these days.

 

[Motiv38]

Awesome. I have my old Intel P4 @ 3.00GHZ lying around. Gonna pick up some heat sink compound tomorrow, pop it in and see how that works. Keep you posted, thanks all

 

[schneiderguy]

Originally posted by: Motiv38
Awesome. I have my old Intel P4 @ 3.00GHZ lying around. Gonna pick up some heat sink compound tomorrow, pop it in and see how that works. Keep you posted, thanks all

The P4 will be better but you'll still get low performance.

 

[SolMiester]

Originally posted by: Motiv38
Awesome. I have my old Intel P4 @ 3.00GHZ lying around. Gonna pick up some heat sink compound tomorrow, pop it in and see how that works. Keep you posted, thanks all

@ least a core 2 to saturate that card with data for GPU bottleneck.

 

[legcramp]

Well putting the Pentium 4 in there will net you probably 20% increase which isn't much at all.

 

[betasub]

Originally posted by: Motiv38
CPU Intel Celeron 3.06GHZ

Skt 478 Celeron? 23x133(533QFSB)? Minimal L2 cache?

Hopefully that P4 you try wil have more L2 and a better FSB e.g. 200(800QFSB).

 

[error8]

You have 1 gb of ram in 2008, man! That is your problem there. And of course the cely pays an important role in your slide show. Go get a dual core, the cheapest you can find and another 1 gb of ram at least and everything will run just fine.

 

[Insomniator]

Source never dipped into the teens on my old P4 3.0 and 6600GT running XP. This was at 1280 and medium/high. I'm sure the Celeron and memory is holding him back for COD 4, but source should be better.

Unless bottle necking a card that badly hurts its performance even more than it technically should..

 

[nemesismk2]

Originally posted by: daveybrat
A Celeron 3.06GHz?? That is your problem right there. That is a huge bottleneck in today's games. You really need a dual-core to let that video card breath.

I agree 100% the Celeron is definitely the problem!

 

[dug777]

Originally posted by: Insomniator
Source never dipped into the teens on my old P4 3.0 and 6600GT running XP. This was at 1280 and medium/high. I'm sure the Celeron and memory is holding him back for COD 4, but source should be better.

Unless bottle necking a card that badly hurts its performance even more than it technically should..

Those CS:S figures are far worse than my old 2.1Ghz tbred/1GB (and later 1.5GB) RAM/6600GT machine also...and I never ran less than 1280x960 and everything high in CS:S.

EDIT: COD4 I would imagine your RAM and CPU are a killer...

 

[JPB]

Originally posted by: daveybrat
A Celeron 3.06GHz?? That is your problem right there. That is a huge bottleneck in today's games. You really need a dual-core to let that video card breath.

This

:thumbsup:

 

[dug777]

CSS Stress test scores from back in the day, I knew they were far better than the OP's

These are run on a tbred-b@2.1Ghz, 1gb RAM, ASUS A7V8X mobo, and a AGP 6600GT@583/1140mhz...

CSS Stress Test

Firstly at 1280x960, 2xAA, 8xAF, everything else maxed in the game video options.

HQ Q P HP

64.73 67.38 67.22 68.09

1280x960 with 4xAA/16AF, everything else maxed in the game video options.

HQ Q P HP

51.18 58.12 58.52 59.74

Now at 1600x1200, 2xAA, 8xAF, everything else maxed in the game video options.

HQ Q P HP

21.35 25.39 26.47 26.89

http://forums.anandtech.com/me...ab=arc&highlight_key=y

 

[Keysplayr]

I can't imagine the OP getting CS:S scores that low even with the celeron in there. I had a P4 2.8, 1GB DDR and a 6800GT and was getting near 100 fps in the stress test if I recall correctly. I was getting about the same with a X800XTX in there.

Call of Duty 4 would have brought that system to it's knees though. Different animal.

 

[taltamir]

as much as i would like to say it is the celeron 3ghz that is the problem (and it IS a problem!)... his biggest issue is this:

RAM 1GB (PNY I believe) DDR2 PC2-5300

... you gotta be kidding me... 1GB of ram?
throw it in the TRASH and go buy one of these:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...240-Pin%20DDR2%20SDRAM

For under 50$ for a 2x2GB of DDR2 ram you can't go wrong. Expect your speeds to be at least 3 times as they were before... and they could still be doubled by getting a modern CPU.

This is a good ram to buy:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16820231122
45$ and free shipping.

example: on an AMD X2 3800+ 2ghz with a 7900GS video card. upgrading ram from 2gb to 4gb increased my FPS in company of heroes on max settings (and an older version btw... it is less of an issue with newer patches) from 5FPS to 35FPS. You are critically out of ram... going from 4 to 8GB though, will probably not increase your speed at ALL, not even 0.1%, ram is only an issue when you don't have enough of it. 1GB has not been enough for 5 years. 2GB is not enough for most things nowadays.

 

[taltamir]

Originally posted by: Motiv38Edit: I plan on getting more RAM in the next 24-48 hours, but even with my currently low RAM (+ taking into account bottlenecks), performance exceeding 15-40fps should be coming from this card regardless.

No, no it should not. that is like saying "Even with the traffic jam, my lamburgini should be going 100 mph". there is a TRAFFIC JAM. you are gonna go 5 mph like everyone else no matter how fast your car is.

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: taltamir

Originally posted by: Motiv38Edit: I plan on getting more RAM in the next 24-48 hours, but even with my currently low RAM (+ taking into account bottlenecks), performance exceeding 15-40fps should be coming from this card regardless.

No, no it should not. that is like saying "Even with the traffic jam, my lamburgini should be going 100 mph". there is a TRAFFIC JAM. you are gonna go 5 mph like everyone else no matter how fast your car is.

As I have said Taltamir, I was getting 100fps way back when for CS:S with a P4 2.8/533, 1GB DDR, and a 6800GT/x800XTX. While 1GB may effect CoD4, I don't see that the case with CS:S at all. This engine is a cinch to run on even today's budget systems. Something else is the culprit here. Not memory quantity.
So while your analogy may hold true for CoD4, is does not for CS:S whatsoever.

 

[daveybrat]

According to what i could find online about your Dell motherboard....it looks like it's an Intel P965 or G965 chipset.

Your motherboard should support all Dual-core P4 chips and some Core2Duo chips with a Dell bios update.

I'd look into doing that first.

 

[Motiv38]

Thanks again everyone, the help I'm getting (and the fact that there's a general consensus) is really appreciated.

I updated both my chipset and bios to prelude any CPU purchase I might consider. First, however, I'm going to try the Pentium 4. If there is no improvement (which, from the wealth of experience here says is highly unlikely), then it wasn't the Celeron, and I'm going to be emo. If there is improvement (which is the preferred outcome ), but it's not sufficient, then I'll consider a Core2Duo/Dual Core CPU.

Edit: RAM upgrade incoming when I get some Arctic Silver 5 tonight/tomorrow morning.

 

[Ichigo]

There's no way in hell that it's just the Celeron. Everyone ran single-cores back in the day with 1GB of RAM and they ran Source games just fine at better settings. The 9800GT is running worse than a 9800 Pro right now.

 

[Motiv38]

Originally posted by: Ichigo
There's no way in hell that it's just the Celeron. Everyone ran single-cores back in the day with 1GB of RAM and they ran Source games just fine at better settings. The 9800GT is running worse than a 9800 Pro right now.

This is what I'm worried about...