Radeon 9700tx

[benklop]

Hey,
I have a Dell Dimension 8250 with P4 2.53ghz, Radeon 9700tx and 256mb 1066RDRAM. I was playing Mafia the other day at 800X600 at low detail settings and I noticed it was running pretty sluggishly. 800X600 is not exactly a demanding setting, and I have a friend with a GF3 that doesn't seem to have a problem playing Mafia on equal or higher settings. It is a Dell, and I never reformatted the hd right when I got it. Is it possible that my lack of performance is due to the massive amounts of bloatware Dells preinstalls on all their machines before shipping? If not, what could it be? Also, if I were to overclock my video card what speed settings should I expect and which program is the best to use for this card. If your suggestion is to update the drivers please let me know what drivers are compatible with this flavor of the Radeon card and where they can be found.
Thanks in Advance,
Ben

 

[Harabecw]

download the ATI Catalyst 3.4 drivers.
choose your OS and the radeon9700 chipset.

btw, slow performance could be due to only have 256mb of RAM.

 

[nick1985]

yeah 256 ram is the culprit me thinks

 

[HarryManback]

Originally posted by: nick1985
yeah 256 ram is the culprit me thinks

I would have to agree as well. I too have the 9700-tx card from Dell and mine runs quite well on my P2.4 and 768mb of PC2700 memory. I am also running the ATI 3.2 catalyst drivers. Upon doing a drive reformat and fresh XP install, I tried running the 3.4 drivers. Everything was running fine until I loaded UT2003. The game seemed to load ok and I could get to the main menu screen, but when trying to launch an actual game, my pc locked up and I had to remove the power to get her to shut down. Fiddle with it for a bit, but never got it to work so I went back to the 3.2 drivers. Everything is peaches and cream now.

 

[benklop]

Bleh. I will try the drivers. Goddam RDRAM is so expensive...

 

[Harabecw]

should have bought DDR

 

[benklop]

shoulda woulda could
Story of my life.

 

[EdipisReks]

Originally posted by: benklop
Bleh. I will try the drivers. Goddam RDRAM is so expensive...

not as bad as it once was. you can get a 256 stick of PC800 for $60 if you shop around.

 

[JammingJay]

Memory for sure. I have almost the exact system as you, and even when playing something less graphics intense such as Warcraft 3, I noticed my system was loading, playing, just simply was a bit slower than my secondary Athlon XP 1800+ system with a GF 4 Ti4200, and 512mb of DDR memory. After I took out a second mortgage on my house and purchased some more PC1066 Rambus memory, problem solved. I'm gunning away faster than ever before.

BTW, if you need PC1066 memory, there are various sites that are selling a 256mb for $82+ shipping. (Same memory as Dell OEM, Samsung). Check the other....ummmm obese wallet forum (wink wink) and they have a thread about Rambus memory and where to find it the cheapest. Considering you need a pair, it'll be about $170 shipped. Sell the (2) 128mb of PC1066 you have, and you can get $85-$90 back on ebay. Best of luck to you.

 

[Budmantom]

Try killing all other apps before you start playing Mafia.

I for one don't think it's the memory, sure more is better but 256 should be fine. The games' minimum requirements are "Windows 98/ME/2000/XP with DirectX 8.1 installed, Pentium III 500MHz compatible processor or higher, 128MB RAM, 8X CDROM, 800MB free hard drive space, DirectX compatible 3D Accelerator with 16MB RAM, DirectX compatible sound card, Keyboard, Mouse" so I think you are fine there.

I would recomend running 3dmark2001se and 3dmark 2003 that will be a good benchmark to see where you are at, it might be as simple as installing the new 3.4's.

BTW my brother in law has the same puter except 2.4ghz and he has no problems.

Tom.

 

[1ManArmY]

You get what you pay for. 1066 RDRAM still the fastest to date.