Horrible, horrible game performance

[Cybernoid]

AMD 64 3000+
1 gigabyte of ram
X800 Pro (4.8, DX 9.0c)
Windows XP Pro Service Pack 2

The thing is: Doom 3 is unplayable at 640x480 with minimum detail, Counter-Strike: Source hovers at 30 fps while the stress test mysteriously runs at 50 fps with antialias and filtering cranked to the maximum.

What the **** is going on? Can anyone tell me?

 

[Champ]

That is pretty ****ing mysterious! I have no idea why it's that crappy. Your rig looks pretty damn decent!

 

[ShinRa]

Decent? Your comp is killer, you should easily be pulling off 60 fps. I think it's SP2 honestly.

 

[Link]

Latest drivers installed? Done a virus scan? Open up task manager and see what your CPU usage is like when its idle. Open up dxdiag and check everything is showing up in thereas it should be (Could be a jumper making things run slower than they should). Any random crashes or shutdowns?

Truly weird...

 

[Cybernoid]

All latest drivers installed. Processor, AGP, display adapter... everything. CPU usage is zero. No random crashes.

DX tests are normal.

 

[Link]

Check that dxdiag (start - run - "dxdiag") reports your system specs as they are?

 

[Cybernoid]

I just noticed that it doesn't even matter what settings I use with Doom 3. Performance just stays the same.

 

[Link]

Is doom set to use opengl or direct3d? Try switching to the other one to see if that helps.

 

[Cybernoid]

I don't know what Doom 3 uses, but you can't switch.

 

[Link]

*Drums fingers...*

Is the hard drive light on a lot? Maybe its got an error. Try defrag and scandisk

*Sees straws. Clutches*

 

[bosox188]

It's not Service Pack 2, don't worry. I can run Doom 3 800x600 medium on my 5200, and I have Service Pack 2. Get the latest drivers for your video card, Catalyst 4.8 are the latest, though you could try the 4.9 beta's as they came out for Doom 3. Update your motherboard drivers, virus scan, spyware/adware scan. And get directx 9.0c. If none of that helps, well I hope Asus knows what to do.

 

[ductonius]

Heres a question for all of ya.

I did that dxdiag thing and found that it restisters my AMD 2500+ as running at ~1.1 ghz. Is this right? I thought it ran faster than that? Is this a common error or is it just not reporting the speed right?

 

[Nostradamus]

should run at about 1.7 ghz..

 

[bosox188]

The speed should be 1.83ghz. The speed you're running at is VERY slow. Slower than the slowest Athlon XP. Your fsb may be at the wrong speed.

 

[ductonius]

The speed should be 1.83ghz. The speed you're running at is VERY slow. Slower than the slowest Athlon XP. Your fsb may be at the wrong speed.

What shoudl it be? I was under the impression that all of that was set automatically when the computer boots.

 

[Malfunction]

Yep, you have to go into your bios and fix it up to 1.83, the default. Did you build this yourself, and if not, ask whoever did build it if they purposely lowered your CPU's speed.

 

[blahblahblah]

[Kmart announcer voice] Clean up Isle 5 [/Kmart announcer voice]

Cybernoid - Uninstall your graphics card drivers, and restart. Then download and run "driver cleaner". Then reinstall your graphics card drivers. Also download and run 3DMark 03. That is a standard benchmark, it is more reliable than the timedemos of the VST, and Doom 3.

ductonius - Your processor should have a FSB speed of 166 MHz. The clock multiple is 11 and your FSB should be 166 MHz = 1826 MHz. You are currently running 11 times FSB speed of 100 MHz = 1100 MHz. Recap: go into your bios and change your FSB speed from 100 to 166. That will fix your problem.

 

[ductonius]

Yep, you have to go into your bios and fix it up to 1.83.

Well, slap my face and call me charlie.

All this time I've been running my CPU way slower than it should be.

You know, that might explain my s**tty doom 3 performance.

 

[Malfunction]

Definitely should. Have fun.

 

[ACLeroK212]

Well, slap my face and call me charlie.

All this time I've been running my CPU way slower than it should be.

You know, that might explain my s**tty doom 3 performance.

lol. well it must be a good feeling at least knowing that you theoretically got a free processor upgrade just by setting your bios correctly. kind of like finding a 20 dollar bill in an old pair of jeans.

 

[Bastion]

Cybernoid, make sure when you reinstall a fresh copy of the ATI 4.8 drivers to turn FAST WRITE off it will slow a lill & make sure its off in bios as well. game performance drops big time the more you ramp up the AA try with no AA or AF. Tell me what you get.

 

[The Terminator]

It might be DX9.0c Ive heard people have had trouble with it. Why dont you try goin back to an earlier version?

 

[Bastion]

well my lill wife has
AMD Mobile 2.0 @ 2.4 11x220 7.0v
1GB corsair 2-2-2-5 @ 2.9v
ATI 9800 Pro cat 4.8
ABIT NF7-S mobo
WIN XP SP2 DX 9c

In the stress test she is at 1024x768 NO AA or AF all high and its running 67 to 123 FPS with fraps.

 

[NeptuneUK]

i gots a 1.6 ghz, 512mb ram Gforce4 64mb graphics.
it wont run properly
should it?

 

[ACLeroK212]

i gots a 1.6 ghz, 512mb ram Gforce4 64mb graphics.
it wont run properly
should it?

I've got a friend that has pretty much the same thing except he's got 1gig of ram instead of 512mb. he runs the game at 800x600 res on medium quality and gets a pretty steady 30 fps. it's definitely playable and looks great too.

 

[Cybernoid]

I got all the latest&greatest drivers. I did a new install of XP this morning with them. I have defragged and so on.

 

[NeptuneUK]

i have done EVERYTHINg it runs at like 25 - 5 fps........
lowest settings...

im safe in assuming that HL2 will work, myes?

 

[ACLeroK212]

i have done EVERYTHINg it runs at like 25 - 5 fps........
lowest settings...

im safe in assuming that HL2 will work, myes?

I think your processor is a little to slow for HL2.

 

[Jimmeh]

Cyber - I posted in an earlier topic where I had exactly the same problem - it ran like crap on a Athlon 2200+ at 2.0ghz (a bit pants but meh) 1.5 GB RAM and an ATI 9800 Pro 128MB - no matter how high or low the setting are it spat out really shitty framerates. If your still having trouble - I just wiped off XP and started again and it seemed fine again. Very strange though.

 

[Kyorisu]

Me smells maybe some hackers are respobsible.

 

[Cyanide]

Cyber. Go into your bios and make sure your AGP card is set to 8x. Then change your graphics apature size to the highest setting available, or 512mb, whichever comes first. Also disable fast writes. Then go try the game again.

If that doesn't work, right click on the desktop and select "properties". Click the settings tab and then the "Advanced" button. Open the "Troubleshoot" tab. Make sure hardware acceleration is set to full, and disable write combining, or enable it if it's disabled.

Also, disable all the security crap that goes with SP2. MS has stated that SP2's new security features are not exactly game friendly.

If none of that works, open your device manager and see if there are any problems (marked by a yellow circle with an exclamation point). Also, I don't know if anybody has mentioned this, but sometimes sound drivers can cause slowdowns too. You might consider updating or re-installing those if you haven't already.

That's about all I can think to tell you on the software side of things. If you've already re-installed the drivers, OS, and DirectX, I can't think of much esle you could do as far as software goes. If you've got a friend who's willing to let you test your X800 is his machine, you might want to do that to rule out the possibility that your card is the problem.

 

[Dead-Inside]

It's not Service Pack 2, don't worry. I can run Doom 3 800x600 medium on my 5200, and I have Service Pack 2. Get the latest drivers for your video card, Catalyst 4.8 are the latest, though you could try the 4.9 beta's as they came out for Doom 3. Update your motherboard drivers, virus scan, spyware/adware scan. And get directx 9.0c. If none of that helps, well I hope Asus knows what to do.

... It could still be SP2 seeing as how you don't have the same comp he has and SP2 has proven to be *really* shitty.