Pathetic New Rig ?

zewm · Feb 16, 2003

Hi everyone. I just made myself a computer less than a week ago.

CPU: Pentium 4 - 2.4Ghz
RAM: 1,280 MB DDR
MB: Asus P4S8X
GFX: ATI Radeon 9500 PRO 128MB

I went to a lan this weekend, and I thought I would have a pretty
decent gaming machine. While I was there, I noticed that my computer
was pretty slow compared to most of the people there. That had computers
that had lower specs than mine. I then tested my machine in 3DMARK and
got horrible scores. (11xxx in 2k1|4xxx in 2k3)

I looked around and even noticed an AMD XP 1800+ with 512 ram and
a gf 4200 running a game so smooth, that I couldn't even begin to explain
how laggy it ran on mine.

My question is, what am I doing wrong. I went to a parts warehouse and
got the highest components that were available and even bought this new
video card, but my computer still runs games crappy. What do I have to
do to get a decent gaming machine. On a side note, someone suggested
that I get my parts from newegg.com instead of my local cpu reseller ?
Would that make a HUGE diffrence ?

IanthePez · Feb 16, 2003

What power supply do you have? What brand ram? What os?

Where you buy the parts will not make any difference except in price.

Make sure you have the latest video drivers.

cmdrdredd · Feb 16, 2003

did you install the Intel INF drivers and application accelerator?

NokiaDude · Feb 17, 2003

Check to see your card is running full stride at 8x AGP!! Or else you need a bigger PS with more juice.

henmaster · Feb 17, 2003

They're the same parts no matter where you buy them... Run some low rez tests like Quake 3 at 640x480 and tell us what you get. That will take the video card out of the equation - if your 640 x 480 scores are too low, the problem is related to cpu/memory, if the scores are normal then your problem is with your video card setup. At 640 x 480 in Q3 you should get 300+ fps.

zewm · Feb 17, 2003

Wow, thanks for the fast post guys.

1. 300Watt power supply

2. Wont let me put it at 8X. Even though my bios is set to 8X mode
It locks @ 4X mode in Windows.

3. Windows XP

4. I am running Catalyst 3.1

5. did you install the Intel INF drivers and application accelerator? (not yet, will try that now)

6. I'll post the low res scores in a bit

Also, what are the scores I *SHOULD* be getting from 2k1 and 2k3.

NokiaDude · Feb 17, 2003

Originally posted by: zewm
Wow, thanks for the fast post guys.

1. 300Watt power supply

2. Wont let me put it at 8X. Even though my bios is set to 8X mode
It locks @ 4X mode in Windows.

3. Windows XP

4. I am running Catalyst 3.1

5. did you install the Intel INF drivers and application accelerator? (not yet, will try that now)

6. I'll post the low res scores in a bit

Also, what are the scores I *SHOULD* be getting from 2k1 and 2k3.

Might as well go and refund your 9500 Pro for a 7000. You'r mobo's chipset is the culprit here.

Arhra · Feb 17, 2003

AGP 4x shows the same scores as AGP 8x, so that doesn't matter.

mechBgon · Feb 17, 2003

I vote for starting over and following the Intel-recommended installation procedure found here (different board, yeah, but same concept). Also, if your system runs choppy, maybe the CPU is not getting enough cooling and is hitting the self-throttling point to keep its temperature under control.

It probably goes without saying, but you do have your video card's auxiliary power plug attached to the power supply, right? And you have your motherboard's secondary 2x2 power plug plugged in?

(by the way, my gaming system gets about 3600 in 3DMark2001... feel better now? )

obeseotron · Feb 17, 2003

Your scores aren't too far off. I get ~13300 in 3D Mark 2001, and 1680 in 3D Mark 2003 (Useless test for comparing dx8.1 to 9.0 HW). My setup is listed below.

BurnItDwn · Feb 17, 2003

I get around 11K in 3dmark 2001 with an xp1800, 1gb of pc2700, and a GEforce 4TI4200 running at 265z610 ... I think yours should get a bit more than that

Entropy007 · Feb 17, 2003

Originally posted by: zewm
Wow, thanks for the fast post guys. 1. 300Watt power supply 2. Wont let me put it at 8X. Even though my bios is set to 8X mode It locks @ 4X mode in Windows. 3. Windows XP 4. I am running Catalyst 3.1 5. did you install the Intel INF drivers and application accelerator? (not yet, will try that now) 6. I'll post the low res scores in a bit Also, what are the scores I *SHOULD* be getting from 2k1 and 2k3.

The p4s8x is a SiS chipset so don't install the intel drivers. Have you installed the latest AGP driver from SIS? If not you can get it HERE

godmare · Feb 17, 2003

What hard drive are you using? you didn't upgrade it, it seems.
Also, try PC Pitstop for full system benching.

RanDum72 · Feb 17, 2003

The p4s8x is a SiS chipset so don't install the intel drivers. Have you installed the latest AGP driver from SIS? If not you can get it HERE

I was going to say that.

Dulanic · Feb 17, 2003

Originally posted by: NokiaDude

Originally posted by: zewm
Wow, thanks for the fast post guys.

1. 300Watt power supply

2. Wont let me put it at 8X. Even though my bios is set to 8X mode
It locks @ 4X mode in Windows.

3. Windows XP

4. I am running Catalyst 3.1

5. did you install the Intel INF drivers and application accelerator? (not yet, will try that now)

6. I'll post the low res scores in a bit

Also, what are the scores I *SHOULD* be getting from 2k1 and 2k3.

Click to expand...

Might as well go and refund your 9500 Pro for a 7000. You'r mobo's chipset is the culprit here.

What kind of crap is this? I'm sorry, I like people who try to give advice... but not when its GARBAGE! WHY WHY WHY should he get a POS video card just because his 9500 Pro isn't running AGP 8X? 4X is MORE then enough and 8X would make NO NOTICABLE difference in speed.

DusterAZ · Feb 17, 2003

Yup 8x means absolutely nothing except marketing for a good while. I think it's just a driver, OS issue. I've had various issues with my system depending on which drivers I loaded. I'm thinking it might be some issue related to your hard drive performance. I've had issues where I get normal 3dmark scores but games seem to stutter a lot ... sometimes it's as simple as making sure your HD is set to DMA in Windows or just reinstalling/updating the HD controller driver (if your motherboard has a separate RAID/IDE controller built in). There are numerous drivers for SiS chipsets ... trial and error or a little searching on the net will tell you which ones to install and which ones to NOT install.

SuperSix · Feb 17, 2003

1. Correct chipset drivers, see link above.
2. Latest DirectX
3. Latest vid drivers (You have those)

*I* would change my vid card to "Standard VGA", then install in the order above.

Krk3561 · Feb 17, 2003

How much memory is in your computer? How can you have 1.28GB of memory, what combination of sticks is that? If you have 128MB of memory that is the problem. You need at least 512MB if you want to do heavy gaming. Also, is that P4 the 2.4B? And do you have a link to your 3dmark?

bone266 · Feb 17, 2003

I dont know how helpful this is, I read of a problem similar to yours on a different board
To fix it the guy had to install intel inf drivers before the video card drivers, afterwards he got about
13500 scores (before he had like 10500)

of course if i could read i woulda saw your sis chipset lol try theirs then the video drivers

zewm · Feb 17, 2003

Ok, I popped in the cd that came with my MB and installed the AGP drivers. 8X is working now.
I am using DX 9, but I installed it after my video drivers. I see that a lot of websites say to
install the video drivers LAST. I'll see if I format and do it that way.

All the ide devices are set to DMA.

My ram setup is 2 PC2700 512 chips and 1 PC2100 256 chip.
(setup from highest to lowest from the CPU [Did this make sense ?])

Harddrive setup are as follows
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Primary Master - 80GB SG Baracuda 7200RPM 8MB CACHE
Primary Slave - 60GB Maxtor (I think 5200rpm) <-- this was my old harddrive from like 2 years ago
-------
Secondary Master - Buslink 16x10x40x CD-RW
Secondary Slave - Old 13gb Maxtor (used to store music and video)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I have the 80 gig partitioned in 2. 10GB and 70GB. I used the 10GB for windows
and the other 70 is for storage. The 60GB is partitoned in 2 as well. It has a 5GB
partition which I used to use for windows in my old computer. Which is now my
incoming drive. The rest of the 60GB is used to install software and games.
(Should I install games on the faster harddrive, and use my 60 for storage instead ?)

On a side note, when I spoke to some people at the lan I went to they said I should
theoretically be getting scores around 14xxx-16xxx with my current computer setup. Yet I
only get 11xxx at the moment.

Here are some pics of CPU info.
http://www.bellsouthpwp.com/z/e/zewm426/images/cpu1.jpg
http://www.bellsouthpwp.com/z/e/zewm426/images/cpu2.jpg

drewis · Feb 17, 2003

I'm also gonna agree about the flaky drivers.. When I bought this system I tweaked it to get 7900 3dmarks in 2001 SE.. Now I get just under 5K LoL...

godmare · Feb 17, 2003

Originally posted by: zewm

Harddrive setup are as follows
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Primary Master - 80GB SG Baracuda 7200RPM 8MB CACHE
Primary Slave - 60GB Maxtor (I think 5200rpm) <-- this was my old harddrive from like 2 years ago
-------
Secondary Master - Buslink 16x10x40x CD-RW
Secondary Slave - Old 13gb Maxtor (used to store music and video)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I have the 80 gig partitioned in 2. 10GB and 70GB. I used the 10GB for windows
and the other 70 is for storage. The 60GB is partitoned in 2 as well. It has a 5GB
partition which I used to use for windows in my old computer. Which is now my
incoming drive. The rest of the 60GB is used to install software and games.
(Should I install games on the faster harddrive, and use my 60 for storage instead ?)

I would try unplugging the slower drive altogether and running 3DMark with only the Barracuda running. Maybe it won't make that big of a difference, but worth trying, I'd say.
Also, if you're not terribly pressed for space, consider dumping the 13gig altogether.

AgaBoogaBoo · Feb 17, 2003

The 2nd image shows an AGP transfer rate of 2x, If its running at 2x instead of 8x, that could be where lots of the speed is going.

zewm · Feb 17, 2003

Originally posted by: AgaBooga
The 2nd image shows an AGP transfer rate of 2x, If its running at 2x instead of 8x, that could be where lots of the speed is going.

I just noticed that. But my ATI settings say 8X.

AGP

mcveigh · Feb 17, 2003

maybe try sisoft sandra to get your system specs? see what it says you agp mode is at?

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