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Low Performance with 6800GT. Power issue?

R

Rathe

n00b
Joined
Jan 9, 2005
Messages
4
I recently built a new PC, fairly high end, but I'm not getting near the performance I think I should be getting. My basic system specs are as follows:

AMD 64 3500+
Asus A8V Deluxe Motherboard
2x512 of OCZ Performance PC3200 Dual-Channel RAM
BFG Nvidia GeForce 6800GT
160 GB SATA Hitachi HD

I play CS:Source, HL2DM, and WoW with a friend of mine with an overclocked barton and a 9800 pro. He outperforms me in everything FPS wise. Getting double the FPS in WoW, and usually about 80-100 above me in Source. I just ran 3DMark03 and got 10979. I know that's not too bad, but it's ingame that I notice this. I was told it could be a PSU issue. Mine is 450w. I have 3 case fans, all with LED's, one cathode light, a few USB devices, and my ipod in drive mode, connected via firewire. Could my video card not be getting the power it needs? Or is there some other problem, like driver related?

Driver Version 7.1.2.4
Driver Date 12-15-2004

If anyone could give me some insight on to why I'm getting the low performance, I'd really appriciate it :). Thanks in advance.
 
It isn't a PSU issue. A bad PSU would give you instability issue, not make your system run slower. Also, 450 watts is plenty.

Check your driver settings. Make sure Anti-aliasing and Anisotropic filtering are set to "application preference." Make sure vsync is disabled.

Make sure your BIOS is up to date (1009.7 final I think), make sure the latest chipset drivers are installed (VIA 4-in-1 I think). Run Driver Cleaner, follow the instructions that come with it for nVidia cards, and install the 67.03 drivers. Defrag your hard drive, scan for viruses and spyware.

Download and run Aquamark 3 and report the score. If you aren't getting over 60,000, something serious is wrong.

Are you sure the guy just isn't running at way lower settings than you?
 
What kind of cooling have you got? It maybe that your GPU is throttling itself in games, i know if i overclock mine too much it does that, but it doesnt hit the 3dmark scores very badly cos it cools down quite fast on the loading screens, in game you wouldnt get that. Also, is cool n quiet on? theres no chance your cpu is overheating and throttling itself?
 
u forgot to mention that ur friend is running 320x200 and u at 1600x1200 :D I'm kidding but really. u have to compare FPS at the same res and quality settings (AA/AF in particular).
 
just on a side note...

the LEDs in your fans are powered by the fan's motion to spin, its no different power wise than a normal fan
 
Right now my Aquamark score is 55,126....

GPU: 8,370
CPU: 8,070

FPS: 55.13


I'll do all of those things you said, run it again, and see if it helps. Thanks a ton.



edit: Yes, the only reason I posted the comparison is because we were running the same exact sattings. 1024X786 Max everything.
 
UltimaParadox said:
just on a side note...

the LEDs in your fans are powered by the fan's motion to spin, its no different power wise than a normal fan
Click to expand...

The energy has to come from someplace, so ethier those fans are spinning slower or they consume more power.
 
Herulach said:
What kind of cooling have you got? It maybe that your GPU is throttling itself in games, i know if i overclock mine too much it does that, but it doesnt hit the 3dmark scores very badly cos it cools down quite fast on the loading screens, in game you wouldnt get that. Also, is cool n quiet on? theres no chance your cpu is overheating and throttling itself?
Click to expand...

I have 3 case fans, a stock CPU fan, and a second edition 6800GT (The one with the dual fans). Cool and quiet is off I believe. Would it help to turn it on? My GPU runs about 70c gaming. For this performance decrease, would the graphics card or my CPU have to be running hot?
 
Okay, after making those changes, I just got 61,735 in Aquamark.

GFX: 9153
CPU: 9481
FPS: 61.74

Does that seem to be more on target? I'm gonna try some gaming and hopefully it'll be better :). Thanks again, everyone.
 
That sounds like it is in the right ballpark. I've got a 3500+/6800 GT OC, and at 400/1100 (vs. 370/1000 stock) and the 67.03 drivers, I get about 66,000, over 70,000 at 435/1.15 with the 61.34 drivers (which inflate your AQ3 score by about 2000 points, but aren't good for much else).
 
p4 2.8c@3.4ghz 6800gt @ 400/1020 got a lil over 67k on aquamark.

as for the psu being 450w it really depends on the model. most of the psu were good in the past however nowadays they cant keep up with the demand of the newer hardware draining the wattage. usually the signs of a bad psu would be sudden restarts, freezing, and artifacts. i even read you could get bad cd writes and bad hdd sectors off a bad psu. in the end put down some moeny for a good psu. pcp&c would fit the bill quite nicely.
 
i had very bad performance with the 71.24 drivers, i hated them, so i gave them to a dude on another forum and he had even worse performance than me :D

after that i switched to 71.20's and they seem to be better(ALOT)
 
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