Fed Up and Underwelmed With 8800GTS

DeChache

DeChache

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
Oct 30, 2005
Messages
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I installed my EVGA 8800GTS today and after only having it in for about 6 hours I'm ready to take it out and put the 7800GT back in. I won this card otherwise I would be really quite disturbed right now. First complaint and this one is petty is that this thing is a space heater. I cranked the fan up to 100% and that solved that problem.

Second problem the drivers SUCK. Some games run beautifully some cames run worse then on my 7800GT. I actually had a game crash tonight and had it say that the reason the game crashed was the fact that the graphics driver just stopped working.

The third thing that has got me is the fact that it really doesn't seem that much faster then my 7800GT but then again the only game that my 7800GT really struggled with was NFS Carbon and that game now runs like a dream. But in all my other games FRAPs says that they are running faster but I wouldnt really noticed if it wasn't for fraps.

The computer that the card is running in is in my sig. I know it seems a little light for the this card but I won the card so I figured since it was faster then my 7800GT I might as well put it in.

I think the main reason for my underwhelmedness (not a word I know) is my 19" in LCD doesn't do this card justice.

Sorry for the rant but I cant believe that the drivers for this card are this bad. I think the 7800GT is going to go back into the computer until some decent drivers come along and I can use this card to its potential with out problems.
 
You won't be able to use that card to it's potential until you (a) buy a new cpu and (b) replace your monitor...sorry man, it's not the card's fault :(
 
Turn that AA and AF up f00l! Frankly @ 1280x1024 that card isn't hardly being stressed, also you may have poor ventilation through your case. To get the most out of it crank up the AA and AF.
 
headless said:
You won't be able to use that card to it's potential until you (a) buy a new cpu and (b) replace your monitor...sorry man, it's not the card's fault :(
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Im not really blaming the card I knew that is was complete overkill for the comp. If it wasnt really for the bad drivers I really wouldn't have any complaints.
 
Cyrilix said:
Are you using 97.44? They've been nearly flawless for me.
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Those are the ones I'm using.

Could my problem lay in the fact that the game is a couple years old. I was was playing KOTOR 2 when it did this.

I accidentally clicked on my second screen while playing and when I re maximized the game I got a blank screen telling me to restart the computer so the drivers could restart.
 
Weird...the drivers should tell you to restart after installing your drivers, not in-game.
 
Cyrilix said:
Weird...the drivers should tell you to restart after installing your drivers, not in-game.
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Id never seen it before either. I installed the drivers and tried out a few games and everything seemed fine some games had never ran better and some seemed about the same but the fact that there wasnt a setting I could add that would slow down the card. I figured that the lesser preforming games were more CPU bound.

Then I tore into KOTOR 2 and two things stuck me. It ran better on the 7800GT. I was only getting 20-30 FPS and no setting I changed would change that so I said screw it seemed smooth enough then about an hour in I clicked off the screen and when I tried to bring the game back up both of my screens went blank. My G15 said the CPU was working so I waited.

Then I got a warning saying the drivers crashed and I had to restart to get full performance back and it looked like my second monitor was in 16 bit color and then they both went black and then I had to hard boot.

Sorry thats two long posts in one thread. Im just trying to figure this out.
and

I have to complain about my free top of the line card so don't anybody tell me that I shouldn't of bought it with my comp.
 
It's fine with your comp. Either time (newer games in the future) or a larger monitor, or higher quality settings will alleviate your bottleneck (which is no real bottleneck on an Opteron). It's not like you're using an old AXP or a P4 5xx/6xx.
 
I think you underestimate the power of the core2duo ;) My a64 @ 2.75ghz got utterly destroyed by my core2duo @ 2.8ghz in real world performance, in games (i don't run benchmarks unless they are part of a game). Throw another 400mhz (at 3.2ghz now) on it and it's a disgustingly large difference. Minimum framerates in CS:Source on large maps up by over 50%, games that were previously irritating to play (need for speed: MW for example) now run rock solid above 50fps, 3 resolutions higher and with more details and maximum AA instead of lowered details and minimum AA. I can record at half size while playing nfs:mw @ 1280x1024 now, with every sitting maxed including max AA, and while recording i never drop under 40fps! My poor a64 couldn't handle recording @ even 30fps constant when recording at half size from an 800x600 screen, with many settings lowered and no AA...with 2 7800GT's in SLI (not a slouch setup).

The 8800GTX doesn't get overloaded unless i'm @ 1600x1200 with at least 4xaa and in a very new game (midieval: total war for example will still bring my rig to it's knees). Reasonably old games (COD2 for example) don't even care about 4xaa @ 16x12; might as well be playing counter-strike 1.6 on a 7800GT. Upgrading CPU when you've got an 8800gts paired with that box will result in a direct & noticeable increase in framerates. After upgrading to the 8800gtx everything seemed to run slower on my a64...then i realised that SOME games that were previously video bottlenecked were simply running so much better that the ones that were CPU bottlenecked FELT way slower. Once you get a taste of silky smooth @ high res it's hard to go back to mediocre performance and if you have to switch between the two from game to game it gets very frustrating very quickly. Had to upgrade the CPU to make it worthwhile to have the card.
 
With my 8800gts @ 550/1800 I'm getting 250-300fps in Goldeneye: Source at 1280x1024. That's with every single thing maxed.

I'm planning to get a new display sometime after CES. :cool:
 
Yeah it just hung up in the 3dmark06. Im thinking that the 7800 is going back in until Nvidia can put out drivers that dont screw up.

I don't get to game much when classes are in so when I can i just want them to work.

This box was perfectly stable until this card was put in. Its getting enough power my Corsair HX520 should be more then capible of powering a lone 8800GTS.

Or if there is something I have missed let me know. I may try running driver cleaner and reinstaller the drivers before I pull the card. Are there any versions that work better then others.

Also if I run driver cleaner will I have to reinstall all Nvidia drivers.

I knew winning this card was to good to be true.

Thanks again for putting up with me.
 
Wait, you won the card and you're complaining?... Why don't you send that on over my direction. :D
 
Get a 6600 B2 for around $270 - $280 and run it at 3.6GHz. This seems to be about what most people get.

You will be shocked ... .trust me. 3.6GHz is an amazing amount of power
 
DeChache said:
Yeah it just hung up in the 3dmark06..... I may try running driver cleaner and reinstaller the drivers before I pull the card.
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DeChache... absolutely try all the options first... I have nearly the exact same specs as you do (cept i run 1680x1050) and also upgraded from a 7800gt. I was happy with the upgrade and experienced no teething issues. Use Driver Cleaner Pro and give it another go.

This is worth asking... if you're in the New Driver CP, are you familiar with all the options? Get sorted, jack all the settings up and run with it.

Honestly, you won it and thats good! However, aside from a uniquely interesting peripheral or input device what are you going to do with it? You cant really sell it to upgrade other things b/c the 7800gt wouldn't scale well at all.

EDIT ----> ForceWare 97.92 just came out, try those
 
I ran my 8800gts in a dell xps 3.6 p4 and it made a world of difference for me over my 7900gt in the same machine and the 7900gt was no slouch. Either your card is defective or your driver install was botched. The drivers on these cards are pathetic though and nvidia is ~ from a lawsuit if they don't iron it out most ricky tick. The hardware is excellent but the drivers are shite. There had better be perfect drivers for xp and vista come end of this month for their sake. Either that or they had better be offering full refunds to interested customers.
 
The new nvidia .net based drivers suck royally. They're really buggy. Even the GUI is buggy for crying out loud. I've never seen such horrible release drivers in my life and this is supposed to run my $500 card.

I was disappointed that I couldn't run COH everything maxed with the 8800GTS. Well that is, I could run it of course but with clearly poor fps.

It wasn't the stellar jump in performance I was expecting for but then again it was an upgrade to a A64 3800+ box so I may be CPU limited. Curse the thought, but it might be a time to jump back to Intel.
 
did you try to remove your old drivers first? that might be causing some issues for you, run driver cleaner :p
 
Digital Viper-X- said:
did you try to remove your old drivers first? that might be causing some issues for you, run driver cleaner :p
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QFT. I just got a 7900GS for Christmas and I was getting under 3K in 3DMark06. Reinstalled Windows (because I haven't in well over a year) and my score is now over 4K. Why? It probably had some remaining crap from my 6600GT and other things borked within the installation. I'm not saying to reinstall Windows, but a good driver cleaning might be in order. If that doesn't work... I'll... uh... test the card for you if you ship it to me. :)
 
Im going to run driver cleaner tommorrow and see if i can iron out some of the issues. I think i may of botched somethings when I uninstalled the 7800 mainly that I forgot to uninstall it in my excitment.

Ill try the new drivers. I just got threw the teething with my dual core opty.

For everybody that is tell me I need a Core 2 at 3.0 or better. Ill start to take a collection from anybody that is willing to help me upgrade the opty is an upgrade from a 3200+. Im a college student and 200 bucks for a new CPU was enough. I cant swing the full system upgrade right now and I dont want to do another piece it together as I get the money computer. Thats what my main rig is now and you always end up getting screwed.

I can tell that it is an awsome piece of hardware. Its just that when I cant get more then 30 FPS in a game that recomends a FX series card. (KOTOR 2). I know Im not CPU bound in a game that requires a 2.0 P4.

Thanks for the help and thanks for not calling me an Idiot and flaming me in my haste
 
DeChache said:
Im going to run driver cleaner tommorrow and see if i can iron out some of the issues. I think i may of botched somethings when I uninstalled the 7800 mainly that I forgot to uninstall it in my excitment.

Ill try the new drivers. I just got threw the teething with my dual core opty.

For everybody that is tell me I need a Core 2 at 3.0 or better. Ill start to take a collection from anybody that is willing to help me upgrade the opty is an upgrade from a 3200+. Im a college student and 200 bucks for a new CPU was enough. I cant swing the full system upgrade right now and I dont want to do another piece it together as I get the money computer. Thats what my main rig is now and you always end up getting screwed.

I can tell that it is an awsome piece of hardware. Its just that when I cant get more then 30 FPS in a game that recomends a FX series card. (KOTOR 2). I know Im not CPU bound in a game that requires a 2.0 P4.

Thanks for the help and thanks for not calling me an Idiot and flaming me in my haste
Click to expand...

I just upgraded from a Venice 3000+ to an Opty 165. Could only get 2250 out of the Venice, but right now, the Opty's Prime95ing at 2700. I'm sure as fuck happy. :)
 
I don't know who says an OC'd Opty 170 is "not enough" its silly, its more then enough, to play pretty much everything out at a smooth Frame rate with that card, I've gone from a 2.6ghz opty to a 2.8ghz Core 2 Duo and while things do go faster, games don't really make big diff in REAL WORLD experience
not the difference between 280 and 350 fps


DeChache said:
Im going to run driver cleaner tommorrow and see if i can iron out some of the issues. I think i may of botched somethings when I uninstalled the 7800 mainly that I forgot to uninstall it in my excitment.

Ill try the new drivers. I just got threw the teething with my dual core opty.

For everybody that is tell me I need a Core 2 at 3.0 or better. Ill start to take a collection from anybody that is willing to help me upgrade the opty is an upgrade from a 3200+. Im a college student and 200 bucks for a new CPU was enough. I cant swing the full system upgrade right now and I dont want to do another piece it together as I get the money computer. Thats what my main rig is now and you always end up getting screwed.

I can tell that it is an awsome piece of hardware. Its just that when I cant get more then 30 FPS in a game that recomends a FX series card. (KOTOR 2). I know Im not CPU bound in a game that requires a 2.0 P4.

Thanks for the help and thanks for not calling me an Idiot and flaming me in my haste
Click to expand...
 
Digital Viper-X- said:
I don't know who says an OC'd Opty 170 is "not enough" its silly, its more then enough, to play pretty much everything out at a smooth Frame rate with that card, I've gone from a 2.6ghz opty to a 2.8ghz Core 2 Duo and while things do go faster, games don't really make big diff in REAL WORLD experience
not the difference between 280 and 350 fps
Click to expand...


Thanks for giving me a comparison I can understand.

Ill try Driver Cleaner and the new Forcewares tommorrow when I get home and get done with work.
 
Yeah that cpu is not holding you back THAT much in real games.....especially at high res and high IQ settings. Hope you get your issues ironed out, my GTS is rocking, and I "only" have a 2.6ghz X2 pushing it....:p


With your current cpu, you get "free" AA and AF, and being able to set the in game settings WAY up as well....
 
DeChache said:
I think the main reason for my underwhelmedness (not a word I know) is my 19" in LCD doesn't do this card justice.
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QFT! The 19" native resolution of 1280x1024 is your bottleneck. But think of it this way: In the future, more demanding games will be released. And you will still be able to play them on max settings at your max resolution! You've future proofed yourself for awhile!
 
JackAshley said:
QFT! The 19" native resolution of 1280x1024 is your bottleneck. But think of it this way: In the future, more demanding games will be released. And you will still be able to play them on max settings at your max resolution! You've future proofed yourself for awhile!
Click to expand...

In other words you've spent extra money for no reason at all..:D
 
Cowboy420 said:
In other words you've spent extra money for no reason at all..:D
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The Card was FREE. Thank You Ubisoft. Im hopping with this card and my current system will hold me until I get out of school in 2 years and have an income.

lowrider007 said:
wow that's bad :-(, I wonder if there will ever be a decent driver release, I'm starting to feel these problems are more than just software issues, this card just does'nt feel right to me, not like the rock solid nvidia cards I'm used to too.
Click to expand...

Thats my impression to. Im going to fight with it a little more tonight when I get off work but Im thinking my 7800GT is going to go back in until some of these problems are ironed out. It seems like the games I want to play are the ones that are having the issues.
 
That's wierd, I have the 8800GTS and the 97.44 Drivers and my card runs flawlessly in Oblivion, and other games with 4x trssaa forced on and 16x AA, haven't had a single problem, nor graphical anomaly.
 
Glyphic said:
That's wierd, I have the 8800GTS and the 97.44 Drivers and my card runs flawlessly in Oblivion, and other games with 4x trssaa forced on and 16x AA, haven't had a single problem, nor graphical anomaly.
Click to expand...

I don't graphics problems. Everything works great its just that some games ran better on my old card (7800GT) then they do on the 8800GTS.
 
gamejunkie said:
With my 8800gts @ 550/1800 I'm getting 250-300fps in Goldeneye: Source at 1280x1024. That's with every single thing maxed.

I'm planning to get a new display sometime after CES. :cool:
Click to expand...

Is that on water or stock cooling?
 
Proxy said:
Is that on water or stock cooling?
Click to expand...


550/1800 on a GTS is practically a "gimme" overclock. No need for water. Mine runs 625/1950 all day long and never breaks 78c under the worst loads....provided I bump the fan speed to 80% or better...
 
TheRapture said:
550/1800 on a GTS is practically a "gimme" overclock. No need for water. Mine runs 625/1950 all day long and never breaks 78c under the worst loads....provided I bump the fan speed to 80% or better...
Click to expand...

My memory wont go over 1700 :(
 
u should change your thread title to "fed up and underwhelmed with my computer".

you're lucky to have one such a beautiful card. Congrats.
 
Pkirk618 said:
u should change your thread title to "fed up and underwhelmed with my computer".

you're lucky to have one such a beautiful card. Congrats.
Click to expand...

I know I should stop complaining I'm very lucky to have what I have and should be thankful. I have a computer that most people only dream about.
 
Proxy said:
Is that on water or stock cooling?
Click to expand...

Naw, that's just with the stock cooler. I saw XFX just released the XXX version of the 8800gts, so I figured why not? It seems to run fine because I haven't seen any artifacting in game yet. This isn't a real scientific overclock atm because I've been focused on trying to get my Opteron 165 to 3ghz. I'm planning to do some testing after I put a side fan in my Antec Nine Hundred.
 
Lol, these things can get quite high on stock cooling...

Most dont hit a wall till the 660mhz barrier @ 90% fan.

Even on water... you're lucky to get a few more mhz than 660 @ stock voltages.
 
Well I just ran driver cleaner and cleaned out anything Nvidia and reinstalled drivers.

My 3Dmark 06 score jumped about a 100 points so I guess I'll see what happens now.
 
The only complaint I have about my GTS is that it is making me build a OC'ed C2D 6600 machine now. After that it will be forcing me to replace that 720P HDTV I use for that computer system to a 1080P HDTV. Bastard card! I used to run a now-lowly 800XT in my Dell XPS 3.4 P4, I did notice a big boost in Oblivion and various versions of BW2 (and I can run maxed out now too), so it definately works great, too bad it is making me buy high end stuff now to take full advantage of it, LOL. I'd probably do this upgrading anyway as the C2D is such a big improvement over previous technology. Hmmm, now I'm wondering if I should do the EVGA step up to the GTX while I'm at it too...
 
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