High end computer, poor performance.

[Exce]

Hey fellas, i hope this is the right forum. I recently built a computer and its not performing up to par. Heres the sepcs:
AMD X2 4200+
2 gigs of ddr (unsure of brand at the moment)
Powertek 750W PSU
MSI 8800gts
100GB Maxtor SATA HD.

I have all the latest drivers, I dont get near the amount of frames other people brag about. I never get over 40fps in most games. Average FPS is about 35, and i figured with this kind of machine, i should be well over 60 fps. I dont have v-sync enabled by the way. My main concern is that i have been trying to play vanguard, i get about 35-45 fps outdoors (which my sister with almost identical system gets 60) and when i go into cities it can drop to 11 fps, sometimes even 4!.

Im not sure what ive done wrong with my system, i thought this would be a machine that could handle any game at max settings, am i wrong?

Also, this is with me running dual core optimizer from amd's website, and the MSI utility that dynamically OC's your pc under stress. which brings it to a 2.5ghz dual core.

 

[piako]

what res and game and OS and drivers and settings?

 

[Exce]

Resolution, 1280X1024
8800gts 97.28
4200+ is 1.3.2.0
windows xp
NFS:Carbon gets 35fps
Oblivion gets relativly good between 30-60
vanguard 5-45
RVS6 Vegas 30-45.

 

[Dunan]

make sure you have the dual core fix for XP from m$

you'll need both the dual core patch and the AMD dual core optimizer for it to run the best it can.

install the patch first, then the AMD optimizer. )

 

[RogueTrip]

There is a Dual-core driver from AMD, did you install that? Then the Dual-core optimizer which you have, then there is a fix for cool&quiet through microsoft.

get 97.92 drivers for you 8800 card:
http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_2k_97.92.html

First remove drivers through add/remove programs, then restart and install new drivers.

Other than that, make sure v-sync is also disabled in control panel, along as well as in the game.

If that doesn't work, try setting affinity through the task manager.

 

[Exce]

what does, setting affinity through the task manager mean?

 

[tiamatu]

he means alt-tab out of your game and set the affinity of the game to one of the two cores.

 

[MrJR]

what does, setting affinity through the task manager mean?

As ^ he mentioned, you Alt-Tab out of the game. Ctrl-Alt-Delete to bring up the task manager. Processes tab. Right click on your game executable and click "Set Affinity". Uncheck "1" and close the task manager. You are good to go!

 

[Dunan]

if you have the AMD driver, dual core fix and the M$ dual core patch installed, you dont have to worry about setting the affinity at all.
if you're getting that poor of performance, i'm willing to bet one or more of these fixes are not installed.