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FPS problem -- where is my bottleneck?


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Here is my current setup:

mobo = Asus A7N8X Deluxe (rev. 2)

CPU = AMD XP 2500+ (Barton)

RAM = 512 MB PC3200

Video = Radeon 9200

*nothing is being overclocked*

I guess that's all that is necessary to know. I recently tried playing Halo (not online, just regular), and it seemed OK until I got to any part with multiple soldiers and multiple ememies onscreen at the same time. Then it started getting real choppy.

Is there one thing in my setup that really jumps out as the cause for a bottleneck? None of the game's settings seem to make any difference when I change them, but perhaps there is something hardware-wise I can do? (BIOS settings, video settings, etc).

FYI -- 3DMark03 gives me a score of 1000-1100. Is that really low?

FYI2 -- I have fps problems with other games, so it's not just Halo.

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no no u don't really have to overclock

what ppl don't think about well at least from what u have provided

is the speed of the hdd, and how fragmented it is.

defrag your hdd and what is the rotational speed? 5400? too low 7200 fine 10000. sata + raptor gOOd!

I've a similar setup as yours

same cpu, same mb, same ram (kingston) geforce 4 440 64mb not the best one..

I'd say 1st thing is bc of your graphics card 2nd fragmentation on the hdd. and 3rd would be amount of ram.

that jumping is caused by these 3 problems also u might want to check your cpu or/and mb temp...

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Thanks for the tips. I'll admit, I haven't defragged lately. :)

The HDD is a 7200'er, and my temps are always pretty reasonable -- idle at mid-30's, full load at low 40's

For gameplay, I usually use 800 x 600 resolution (not great, I know, but I figure I'll get better performance that way).

Are there any hardware-type settings I should set for better performance, either in the control panel or the bios?

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  • 2 weeks later...

Debunking a few things here -

Your hard drive will NOT effect your framerate. If you experience periodic 'stuttering', that may be your drive, as it's trying to load new content. But your average FPS will not be affected by your drive.

512MB of RAM is plenty for just about any FPS at the moment. If you ARE running out of RAM, it's because you have too much crap running in the background.

Without getting into detailed system settings, the most obvious problem is your graphics card. Get a new one.

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i'd have to agree with neosapience, its deffinatly your video card.

The 9200 is a card i see at frys for 30$, and the lowsest model available ATI card at the Fry's in my area... lets just say, its pretty low tech.

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Your bottleneck is your radeon 9200. It quite frankly sucks at 3d

9200 is 9000 with agp 8x support(not that it matters with such slow memory).

9000 is castrated 8500.

I suggest a 9600 pro/9800, it'll last you a while.

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I kinda figured it was the video card. I don't want to spend too much, so how about the 9600XT? Is that a good card for the money, and something that will last me for the near future (such as Half-Life 2 and FarCry)?

And if the 9600XT is good, then what is the difference between these two on Newegg? They seem the same, just different colors and different prices.

GIGABYTE ATI RADEON 9600XT

ATI RADEON 9600XT

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And if the 9600XT is good, then what is the difference between these two on Newegg?  They seem the same, just different colors and different prices.

GIGABYTE ATI RADEON 9600XT

ATI RADEON 9600XT

The only difference is that one is made by Gigabyte, and the other is the official ATI model. I don't know if you'll see any performance difference between the two, but I'd ask around just incase.

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Hehe, I play halo at good fps with a stupid Geforce 3 TI200. Now that one is even a lot more crapier then what you have and the game still looks decently good (1024*768, of course not everything open). I haven't defragged my system in... well, since I got it... and that's about three years now (AMD 1800+, 512ram).

Even farcry is well playable, maybe you're just too demanding on the graphics side for your 9200 and then of course getting a card like a 9600xt or a 9800 pro will make a lot of difference. I'd go for the 9800 pro though if I was you

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Thanks for the tips.  I'll admit, I haven't defragged lately.  :)

The HDD is a 7200'er, and my temps are always pretty reasonable -- idle at mid-30's, full load at low 40's

For gameplay, I usually use 800 x 600 resolution (not great, I know, but I figure I'll get better performance that way).

Are there any hardware-type settings I should set for better performance, either in the control panel or the bios?

I will start of by saying; a HDDs RPM does not affect the FPS as much as you would think. If his FPS were being affected by his HDD it would be bogging him down all of the time. But in his situation, (I have not played halo on my 2200+ and 9700pro yet) but I can say it is his vide card that is giving him the low FPS. I think that the 9700pro is the first DX 9.0.

He may want to dabble in some overclocking… I hope you know how to do this because I am not going to explain it for you. Go ahead and find what the best setting for you is with your processor overclocked, just remember, you want it to be as stable as possible and not generate too much heat.

For your videocard… I would recommend trying out a little program called Powerstrip… I cannot tell you the URL because I do not know it. You may want to google… but it is the best app (to my knowledge) for overclocking. I don’t think that the card will generate too much heat so you can go all out. You will see some graphical artifacts before you get burned by overclocking.

Give what I had said a try, if that does not work out for you, then consider laying down some cash for a mid-rage videocard (depending on how much cash you have on hand and how much you want to spend) or if you don’t want to upgrade in a while and want to be able to play the newer games like doom3 and others that require allot of horsepower, consider getting a next-gen card like the X800XT or the 6800 Ultra. Keep in mind that when these games do come out, you will probably want to upgrade the rest of your system. :rolleyes:

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