Need help! Graphics problem

[Spoonoop]

I've finally gone PCI-E and have gotten my board and my video card. I've upgraded from an AGP 9800 Pro 128MB to the X800XL 256MB GDDR3. I'm having a terrible problem with frame rates. When I play regular ol' Half-Life 2 singleplayer everything is fine and noticeably better than my 9800 Pro. But when I try to do any form of multiplayer such as HL2 Death Match, Counter Strike Source, or even Garry's Mod my frames are 15 and below! I don't know what the problem could be. When I first installed the hardware and powered up my computer I remembered, shit! I didn't uninstall the old drivers from the old motherboard and graphics card. So, I uninstalled those drivers and replaced them with the new ones, I don't know if that could still contribute to the problem or not. And with the video card I didn't use the drivers on the CD, I just went directly to the ATI's web site and got the CATALYST 5.7 driver for Windows XP. Ok now, where did I go wrong? My computer is running fine, I think I made it clear i'm just having problems with my video card. If you need any other information say so, because I would really like to fix this it's impossible to play online with these frames!

 

[sinkoman]

Wait, so you mean to say you didn't have to do a clean install of Windows when you switched your motherboard? OH MAN THAT'S AWESOME! How did you do that?!!?

Oh, umm, yeah, we need more info such as the motherboard. I would bet it's something going on there. BUT, did you uninstall the old drivers before installing the new ones? I know it sounds stupid but perhaps you didn't.

Also, go to www.tweakguides.com and go through the xptc, then tell me how your performance is after. And remember to go through the regular maintenence procedure at least every week.

To me it just sounds like an unoptimized windows thing. I get horrid frames if I don't go through the regular maintenence procedure at least every week (usually more though, just for the performance gains).

 

[Spoonoop]

No, I didn't have to install windows again, I just replaced the motherboard and video card. I never heard of tweaksguide but I don't think I would need that, because with my 9800 Pro I didn't have this difficulty with frames in multiplayer, it ran fine. And as I said, I didn't get rid of the old drivers out of sheer forgetfulness. So I just figured it would be alright to remove them and install the new ones.

 

[EVIL]

seriously? I think you need to do a clean format man..

but don't take my word for it, it just sounds logic to me..

 

[lister]

If u haven't reinstalled windows again u will be experienciong conflicts with drivers from ur old hardware and ur new hardware. U need to reformat.

 

[sinkoman]

seriously? I think you need to do a clean format man..

but don't take my word for it, it just sounds logic to me..

Yeah.

Generally, whenevery you change any piece of hardware (besides opticals and hdds') it's highly reccomended that you reformat.

 

[Spoonoop]

Hehe, crap, I thought I could take the easy way out. But yeah, I think I should reformat. Haven't done it in like two years, ganna be a bitch to get HL2 back up and all. I mind as well get started, thanks for all your feedback!!! :cheers:

 

[sinkoman]

Hehe, crap, I thought I could take the easy way out. But yeah, I think I should reformat. Haven't done it in like two years, ganna be a bitch to get HL2 back up and all. I mind as well get started, thanks for all your feedback!!! :cheers:

WAIT WAIT WAIT!

Make sure you burn the xptc (www.tweakguides.com) and the latest drivers for your components to a cd before getting started. It'll save you allot of grief when you get to that point in time. I'd reccomend also burning the installs for your antivirus programs and firewalls to a cd.

And as soon as you can boot up into windows, before installing drivers or ANYTHING, install Acrobat Reader (yeah, burn that to a disc too) and jump straight into the xptc. It's best used at the exact moment of a clean install (AI nothings been touched yet) and guides you through the proper procedures for driver installation (it'd be a good idea to burn the driver installation guides on tweakguides.com to a cd also) and such.

 

[gweedodogg69]

I'd definitly do a clean install, the SIDS and HAL XP stuff is crazy, unlike in Windows 98 when i would just say "ooo new hardware, lemme find yo drivers"