Radeon X800 PRO - Poor performance

ThomasMack · Mar 13, 2005, 12:50 PM

Alright, I'm back. I formatted, installed all my drivers and it's still performing like CRAP. 21FPS On HL2 in "Anticitizen (I think) One".

Please refer to Sapphire X800 Pro not performing as expected if you don't remember my first post.

Here is what I've done. First off, I installed all the latest drivers from ATI (5.3) and the latest chipset for my computer which is: http://www.viaarena.com/downloads/dr...n1_v455vp1.zip

I'm sure my AGP driver is installed right, I read that the Hyperion will automatically detect the drivers to install and DOES NOT give me a option to select which drivers. Is there anyway to bypass this?

Now here are my detailed specs:
http://downloads.sidrahq.com/cpuz.htm
http://downloads.sidrahq.com/dxdiag.txt

My processor:
1.80GHZ AMD 64 bit 2800+ processor NOT overclocked
ASUS K8V SE Deluxe I FLASHED MY BIOS TO LATEST YESTERDAY
40 GIG Maxtor 7200RPM HDD, 80GIG Maxtor 7200RPM, and 250GIG Western Digital 7200 (this is where my games are stored)
17" LCD 1280x1024@75Hz
My game settings for HL2: 6xAA, 16xAF (I've turned it off, same result except the highest frame rate hit over 120 but still dropped to pathetic levels)
My format is clean, I have exactly 34 processes.. and this is:
RadeonTweaker.exe
Firefox
ASUSProb
TASKMGR
svchost
BDSS
VSServ
PDSched
XCommsvr
WDFMGR
Setgamma (I know what it is)
ResumeFix (I know what it is)
bdswitch
bdnagent
bdoesrv
CTHELPER
bdmcon
CLI
svhost
Explorer
aim
spoolsv
svhost x 4
lsass
services.exe (wtf?)
winlogon
csrrss
smss
system
system idle process

Now CPU temperature averages 90F, same with my motherboard
RIGHT NOW it's running at CPU: 105F, Mobo: 104F. It is hot in my room thats why.. they never touch above 115F (I never really seen 115 but yea0
My CPU FAN runs at 5000RPM
My case fan runs at 3000RPM
+12V = 11.52
+5V = 5.134
+3.3V = 3.312
VCore = 1.486

I don't know anything about voltages. I never adjusted, or overclocked.

I use radeon tweak to enable all recommended options for DX which is:
AGP Texture Tiling, AGP Micro Tiling, Back buffer tiling, primary tiling, texture tiling, export yuv textures, use any texture size, enable z-mask, plain tiling, agp textures, lvb, point sprites, texture microtiling, z-compression mode is 3, enable fast z-clear, ensure hyperz is enabled at boot time

My powersupply (I think) is 400watt. I can replace it if NEEDED, but otherwise it stays.

I also have many other fans that keep my system cool, exhaust fan in the back and a harddrive fan+case fan. All running around 2500-3000RPMS.

I have 1.50GIG of memory. Two of them are PC3200 and one of them is PC2700 (i know this isn't good, but there was no performance increase or decrease.. and i couldn't let it lay around, eh?)
Fastwrite is OFF
My AGP Aperture size is 32 (I've had it 128MB, no difference!)

Any help please?

ThomasMack · Mar 13, 2005, 12:54 PM

And please note I'm sure my ram is fine, my system performs top notch. I do a lot of programming, and I use rather intense programs. I defragment with PerfectDIsk 7. I use BitDefender Pro v8 virusscanner (I'm buying it soon :P)

If I have to buy more ram I'll have:
3 512MB's laying around
2 256MB's laying around
and 3 128Mb's laying around
lol :P

Give me a minute and I'll run Spyware programs..

NO Spyware according to spyware search and destroy.

reholli · Mar 13, 2005, 03:41 PM

For starters, after a clean format/install, why not try running your game apps with default driver settings and before installing a bunch of "tweaker" software, none of which is usually needed anway? Does running your LCD at 75Hz over 60Hz buy you any picture or performance improvement? AGP aperture size still seems low....I'd leave it at 128.

ThomasMack · Mar 13, 2005, 03:48 PM

I did run with all the default driver settings. No difference between 75Hz and 60Hz.

I will set aperture size back to 128.

ThomasMack · Mar 13, 2005, 04:31 PM

Here is my powersupply:
400 watts
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...?Sku=P456-4002

According to tiger directs little table on wattage, I require 444 WATTS of power!

Component Wattage Required
Motherboard 15-30
Low-end CPU 20-50
Midrange to high-end CPU 40-100
RAM RAM 7 per 128MB
PCI add-in card 5
High-End graphics board 60-100
IDE hard drive 10-30
Optical drives 10-25

I might buy a new power supply. Is Antec the best? And 500 watt.

Edit: Antec is a bit expensive.
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...103-920&depa=0
That is what I'm looking at for $76, but it's a bit expensive still

How about this:
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...170-002&depa=0
Not going for looks, but it's cheaper.
or
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...153-007&depa=0

I wouldn't mind the thermaltake one, though.

ThomasMack · Mar 13, 2005, 11:14 PM

My latency was set to 255. I set it to 16, is this too low? I also see no performance raise.. except I do get 212 FPS inside on America's Army, but when I went on a server it dropped to 50.

Tipstaff · Mar 14, 2005, 12:26 AM

Do you mean the PCI latency for the card? No.. you should never lower that number below 128. In fact, the only reason to lower the latency would be to correct stuttering issues, or to correct sound problems. People have reported that they gain performance when they changed it, so giving it a try won't hurt, but you should remember something: the AGP bus is a graphics enhanced PCI slot, and it requires a higher latency. To quote a friend, "the graphics card carries the load of the bulk of PCI activity during gaming to maintain peformance, and thus requires a higher latency". What will happen by lowering that number down is that your games will run more smoothly, but you will most likely not get a performance gain. However, as I said, it won't hurt to try.

Again, if you have to set that number don't got lower than 128. My adivce, though, would be to keep it at the default.

- Tip

ReDGuiTaR · Mar 14, 2005, 01:28 AM

Still you should change your power supply for a good brand name ... Enermax, Antec, OCZ are the best and you will get what you pay for with those ... too many people overlook the fact that a good powersupply is one of the most important part in a system .. i say throw the extra cash and go for one of the above mentionned brand, it could save your system life one day ....

ThomasMack · Mar 14, 2005, 05:20 PM

I will set my latency to 128.

How is this power supply?
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...153-007&depa=0

redsolar · Mar 15, 2005, 12:48 PM

You may have to turn your fastwrites on. I had the same issue with fastwrites off, and FPS was diving down badly (15 FPS in NBA Live 2005 vs 100 with FW ON). Most AMD64 systems need to have it on.

Pluvious · Mar 15, 2005, 12:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ThomasMack

I will set my latency to 128.

How is this power supply?
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...153-007&depa=0

Coolmaster is highly regarded:

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproduc...171-001&DEPA=0

ThomasMack · Mar 15, 2005, 01:32 PM

I already went with a ASPIRE 550Watts... I read reviews and 98% people were happy.

ThomasMack · Mar 15, 2005, 01:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by redsolar

You may have to turn your fastwrites on. I had the same issue with fastwrites off, and FPS was diving down badly (15 FPS in NBA Live 2005 vs 100 with FW ON). Most AMD64 systems need to have it on.

Ok. I will turn fast writes back on (thanks)

topbob · Mar 15, 2005, 01:59 PM

I have a x800 pro agp also, and i used to get crappy frames in hl2 as well with the offical drivers from ATi, the very latests omega drivers work for me a lot better, i get an extra 40 frames from them.

farkas · Mar 15, 2005, 02:26 PM

If you have 3 sticks of RAM (2 X 400 and 1 X 333) I gather your're running the RAm at 333 ratio ? If so, try taking out the 333 stick, and then go into the BIOS and make sure the RAM and the FSB is set a 200 (400 for RAM).

I know that my board detects my RAM at 333 ratio when set to auto or set by SPD precisely, so put it manual and make sure of the settings. Then do a few quick benchmarks !

Your anti virus seems to be running in the background, if it's disbled for gaming, it might still be using RAM and idle'ing in the process list, so close it if so !

Fastwrites might be better on since you are on Athlon 64 but it's not certain.

Until you get your new PSU, you migh wanna try unplugging components that you are not running when gaming for curiosity, like a 2nd CD/DVD or xtra HDD's if you are curious.

Keep us posted !

regards
farkas