Bad performance on a decent computer.

E

elkodust

Weaksauce
Joined
Aug 9, 2008
Messages
78
Hello, I have a issue with my current PC.

As you can tell from the title, I'm having performance issues (with games).

Examples : Team Fortress 2, resolution set to lowest, DX level set to the lowest possible, my graphics card settings all set to the lowest, and all graphical options set to lowest. I'll average about 10-15 fps at best.

Another example, a game I play called Exteel, I do the same as with TF2. But, I'll display the required, and recommended specs.

Minimum System Requirements
Windows 2000/XP
AMD Athlon 800 MHz or Intel Pentium III 800 MHz
256 MB RAM
1 GB available HDD space
GeForce Series 4 video card
16-bit sound card
Broadband Internet connection
Keyboard and mouse

Recommended System Requirements
Windows 2000/XP
AMD Athlon 64 2800+ or Intel Pentium 4 2.0 GHz
512 MB RAM
1 GB available HDD space
GeForce 5700 or ATI Radeon 9200 Series video card
16-bit sound card
Broadband Internet connection
Keyboard and mouse

On this game I also average about 10-15 FPS, it's to the point where almost every game I play is running terribly.

Here's my system specs

System Model
---
Dell Computer Corporation Dimension 4600i

Operating System
---
Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack 3

Processor
---
3.20 gigahertz Intel Pentium 4
16 kilobyte primary memory cache
1024 kilobyte secondary memory cache

Main Circuit Board
---
Board: Dell Computer Corp. 0F4491
Bus Clock: 800 megahertz
BIOS: Dell Computer Corporation A12 08/26/2004

Drives
---
159.99 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity
27.27 Gigabytes Hard Drive Free Space
BKF XIRGHENWX SCSI CdRom Device [CD-ROM drive]
HL-DT-ST DVD-ROM GDR8163B [CD-ROM drive]
SAMSUNG CD-R/RW SW-252S [CD-ROM drive]
3.5" format removeable media [Floppy drive]
Maxtor 6Y160M0 [Hard drive] (160.00 GB) -- drive 0

Memory Modules
---
3072 Megabytes Installed Memory
Slot 'CHANNEL A DIMM 0' has 512 MB
Slot 'CHANNEL B DIMM 0' has 512 MB
Slot 'CHANNEL A DIMM 1' has 1024 MB
Slot 'CHANNEL B DIMM 1' has 1024 MB

Display
---
RADEON 9800 SERIES [Display adapter]
RADEON 9800 SERIES - Secondary [Display adapter]
DELL E773c [Monitor] (15.7"vis, s/n 6418047V04JJ, July 2004)
(I know I use AGP, but I'm not sure what kind of "x")

Multimedia
---
Sound Blaster Live! 24-bit



All of my drivers have been updated, yes, even the video card.

I'm confused as to why almost every game I play (Except old half-life 1 games) run so bad.

Is it more then likely my video card, hardware malfunction ?

Any help would be appreciated.
 
If you're running a Anti-Virus, turn it off and see if you have any FPS improvements. In fact, what other apps do you have running in the background? If you're playing wirelessly, hook the PC directly to the router and see if there's any FPS improvements then.

How old is your current XP installation?
 
I believe the problem is that you're playing relatively new games (e.g. TF2, Exteel) on a relatively old computer. Just because it's designed to run on minimum settings doesn't mean that it will necessarily run well on those settings.

Have you tried using other games, both older and more recent, to confirm your suspicions?
 
Your computer, especially the graphics card, is not going to be able to play any modern game at a decent resolution. Time to buy a new system..
 
Another thing to check out, along with what apps you have going is what is up with that RAM configuration? Mismatched ram both size wise and not even dual channeling them properly? Shouldn't the 512 MB's be in Channel A DIMM 1 and DIMM2 to be running properly dual channel along with the 1024 MBs in Channel B DIMM 1 and 2? I might try taking out the 512 MB sticks and just run with 2 gigs properly running in dual channel and see if that helps too, since that's still 2 gigs, pretty decent still for XP. What speed does the ram run at also?

When you are just in your desktop what kind of CPU utilization and Memory usage are you getting in something like Task Manager? You meet the recommended specs of Exteel so you probably shouldn't need to crank everything down and still be getting such bad frame rates unless their specs are just way way off. What anti virus are you using if any? Has the performance always been bad no matter what game or is it just with these games/recently?
 
TF2 is not a newer game and it certianly wasen't made around dual core CPU's so your CPU is fine. Matter of fact I have a 3.4Ghz P4 and I have no problems with any older title pre-2008. The 9800 card you have was ATi's top of the line back in 2005? give or take so I can't see it only giving you 10 to 15 fps. That kind of performance in crysis not TF2. TF2 uses the HL2 engine correct? which the Radeon 9800 was utilized for if I remember correctly... forgive me if I'm wrong just going on memory from years back....
 
Another thing to check out, along with what apps you have going is what is up with that RAM configuration? Mismatched ram both size wise and not even dual channeling them properly? Shouldn't the 512 MB's be in Channel A DIMM 1 and DIMM2 to be running properly dual channel along with the 1024 MBs in Channel B DIMM 1 and 2?
Click to expand...

Hello, I just tried that, and my fps has dropped to about a average of 3-5, games are completely unplayable. I'll more then likely be changing it back to it's original setup soon.

What speed does the ram run at also?
Click to expand...

I have no clue what you mean by this, could you elaborate?

When you are just in your desktop what kind of CPU utilization and Memory usage are you getting in something like Task Manager?
Click to expand...

Before the ram change, and after, it's still 1-6%.

You meet the recommended specs of Exteel so you probably shouldn't need to crank everything down and still be getting such bad frame rates unless their specs are just way way off.
Click to expand...

The bad part about this is, some of my friends who play it with worse computers can run everything at the highest, with little to no FPS problems.

People with equal computer run it smoothly also.

What anti virus are you using if any?
Click to expand...

I've uninstalled all anti-viruses from my computer to try and increase performance.

Has the performance always been bad no matter what game or is it just with these games/recently?
Click to expand...

As I said (Not trying to sound like a dick or anything), I've only been able to run Half-Life 1 type games smoothly.

World of warcraft ran nicely also, but that's about it.

So to answer the question straight, no it hasn't always been this bad, it's just this past half year or so, as I've played some more "modern" (Low spec games though, and everything cranked to the lowest), and went away from the older games I've noticed the DISGUSTING drop in my fps.

any chance you have v-sync enabled?
Click to expand...

It's been turned off.
 
Weird that your performance would get that much worse just removing a gig of ram on a system running somewhat old games and running xp. When you are running the game can you alt tab and see if your utilization is basically maxing out at 100%? I would I guess go ahead and try seeing if you can borrow another AGP video card from someone of comparable or better quality and see if it significantly improves. If it does then I guess it's your video card. Maybe try a clean install of XP at some point as suggested by Danny.
 
maleficarus said:
TF2 is not a newer game and it certianly wasen't made around dual core CPU's so your CPU is fine. Matter of fact I have a 3.4Ghz P4 and I have no problems with any older title pre-2008. The 9800 card you have was ATi's top of the line back in 2005? give or take so I can't see it only giving you 10 to 15 fps. That kind of performance in crysis not TF2. TF2 uses the HL2 engine correct? which the Radeon 9800 was utilized for if I remember correctly... forgive me if I'm wrong just going on memory from years back....
Click to expand...

The Radeon 9800 Pro was top of the line back in 2003. TF2 is a newer game since it was released in October 2007. It also uses a more enhanced version of the Source engine that powers HL2.

Anyway, I can't think of anything besides just a complete reformat. My P4 2.53Ghz, 1GB of DDR400 RAM and Raden 9800 Pro played Portal, HL2, and Exteel just fine at 800x600 and 1024x1024 with all settings at low. Must be something wrong with your OS install.

Though, just a hunch, did these drop in FPS occur right when you upgraded to SP3?
 
have you tried running any antispyware are malware programs . Also you need to run memtest 86+ your ram could be dying
 
I think the issue is the computer vs games u are trying to play and the x factor is what you think you should be able to play at. I'd be surprised if you got 30 fps on low everything.
 
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