FPS bad :(

[JDeezNutz]

My friend has exactly the same processor, same about of RAM and the same GFX card.
(Specs shown below)

Okay here is my problem:
My friend is getting something like 130+ FPS on HL2! i am getting 67 FPS if i am lucky.

Does anyone on this forum know what could be causing my system to recieve 67 FPS which is 63 FPS less than my friend?

Here are listed the same hardward as "Ben":
- AMD Athlon 64bit 3700+ ~ 2.4GHz
- Sapphire Radeon X800 XT 256MB
- 1534RAM DDR400 PC3200

Ben has all the settings on control panel and HL settings set on maxium and recieves 130 FPS with the 1 month old ATI Radeon 5. catalyst drivers.

We both have the same graphic drivers as well as GFX cards.

Thanks for your time and hopefully someone can help

J

 

[Killface]

Do you and your friend have the same chipset on your motherboards, because you could have a crap core logic chipset, but other than that I cant think of anything else that could be causing it.

 

[JDeezNutz]

yes we have exactly the same CPU, he has a different motherboard saying that, i have a ASUS K8v SE Deluxe and i do not know what he has

 

[Killface]

no, not the CPU, the core logic chipset. the chipset are the 2 chips that are on the motherboard. one of the chips are covered up by a heatsink, the other is usually not covered up by a heatsink but can be. the chipsets regulate information between the processor, pci and agp slot(s), ram, and disk drives and hard drive(s). If you have a bad chipset than you can be burned when gaming or running high-end applications. so the chipset is what could be giving you bad fps. Oh and sorry for any confusion that i caused you.

 

[Smith|]

Make sure that you install your motherboard's chipset drivers. Install those before you install the video card drivers. You'll see almost a 100-150% increase in performance.

 

[JDeezNutz]

no, not the CPU, the core logic chipset. the chipset are the 2 chips that are on the motherboard. one of the chips are covered up by a heatsink, the other is usually not covered up by a heatsink but can be. the chipsets regulate information between the processor, pci and agp slot(s), ram, and disk drives and hard drive(s). If you have a bad chipset than you can be burned when gaming or running high-end applications. so the chipset is what could be giving you bad fps. Oh and sorry for any confusion that i caused you.

Its no problem ,
800 core i think?

Make sure that you install your motherboard's chipset drivers. Install those before you install the video card drivers. You'll see almost a 100-150% increase in performance.

I am searching for my motherboard drivers now, the motherboard drivers were already installed (I think :S)
The only new hardware added on to my motherboard are:

- new CPU
- new heatsink
- more ram
- new APG GFX card

 

[Smith|]

Also, check and make sure you don't have AA and stuff on, as he may not and you do. And check your CPU temp. You may not have installed the heatsink correctly and your CPU is throttling.

 

[JDeezNutz]

my GFX card temp is: 45'C

On my ATI Catalyst Control pannel i has ticked the "Temporal Anti Analising" and had my AA on X6.
I have just changed the AA to X2

 

[Smith|]

CPU, not GPU. Make sure your CPU isn't overheating.

 

[Killface]

yeah, sorry forgot to tell you about that extra stuff Smith told you, thanks smith.

 

[JDeezNutz]

CPU, not GPU. Make sure your CPU isn't overheating.

Sorry about that, mis-read :/
My CPU temp idles at 35'C-40'C

 

[Smith|]

Check it when playing a game. It's good for it not to go over 50-55.

 

[JDeezNutz]

Check it when playing a game. It's good for it not to go over 50-55.

During a game, runs at about 45'C-50'C

Edit: my FPS is pee-ing me off big time, i turn AA off, no matter waht i do, i get a constant 68-69FPS :/

 

[Smith|]

Make sure your Vsync is off, too.

 

[JDeezNutz]

*Slaps Computer*

God i hate this!

with my old CPU (AMD Athlon 64 bit 3200+ 2.2GHz) i was getting 100FPS (well around 110)

Since i have changed CPU i have dropped 60+ FPS

 

[Smith|]

Are you using 3x 512MB RAM modules? And you're socket 754, right? And if the first question is a yes, did you put in the third along with the new CPU?

 

[JDeezNutz]

yes, my friend, Ben, who has the same CPU is also 754 socket and also has 3 X 512mbs, what CL i'm not sure, but mine are CL3 (thinking of buying 3 X 1GB sticks soon)

Edit: I installed the 3rd RAM stick before my new CPU, but i had a problem with teh CPU which got sent back and re-straightened but i left the 3rd RAM stick in. (even when i got my CPU back and installed that)

 

[Smith|]

yes, my friend, Ben, who has the same CPU is also 754 socket and also has 3 X 512mbs, what CL i'm not sure, but mine are CL3 (thinking of buying 3 X 1GB sticks soon)

Well, current AMD 64 processors have an inherent flaw in their built in memory controller where they drop down one frequency level when all their ram slots are filled. So if you're doing 3x 512MB at 200MHz (400MHz), it will drop it down to 166MHz (333MHz), and that could steal some of your performance. Take one out and see if you gain some FPS.

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Take one out
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And there are so many different things to worry about. You may have gotten some cheap value ram with terrible timings (3-4-4-8), in which case all your ram defaults to those. AMD 64's need very good timings for the best performance, unlike Intel.

 

[JDeezNutz]

Okay i will probably be about 10 minutes

Edit: I think i'll just leave it, I am getting good Quality its just the the Result of having a good FPS which is letting me down.

Plus my heatsink is a swine... XP 120, bloody hugh, already busted my CPU trying to take it off once, (This CPU which i got sent back and repaired, bent all the pins)

Hopefully buying 3GB of RAM will increase the performance!

Smith, can you tell me the different between Registered and Unbuffered? and what to get, thanks :yes:
(They both are represented in DDR400 PC3200)

Thanks for your help Smith

 

[Smith|]

And can you take a screenshot of the SPD Tables in CPU-Z? Just search for CPU-Z on google. I'd like to see it.