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Terrible Doom 3 performance with 9800 pro, need help!

A

anthropas

n00b
Joined
May 5, 2003
Messages
24
Hey all,

I have a Abit IC7 with a 2.4c and 1gig of PC3500 ram and a 9800 pro. I just got the video card and Doom 3 the other day and it won't play at "playable" speeds regardless of the settings I use. E.g. about 20fps on 640x480 at low quality settings. Moving up the resolution doesn't slow it down much either though. I've turned vsync on and off, tried the 4.7's and 4.9 drivers. I degfragged the hard disk. I'm pretty sure the dual display isn't on since I never turned it on. I used a tweak guide to set my video ram inside D3 to 128. I"ve ran everything at stock speeds and overclocked with only minory differences. My good friend has the same system and his plays fine. I can't figure out what's up with mine. I've had both DX9b and c on, no difference. I turned my monitor's refresh rate down to 60, no difference. I'm totally lost. Do you think I might have gotten a bum 9800 somehow? Please list anything and everything I could try. This is frustrating to have the game and it plays like a slideshow. It acts like I'm trying to run it at Ultra quality or something. Mucho frustrato.

Thanks,

Anthropas
 
sdk said:
when did motherboard come out with agp drivers?
Click to expand...

Umm, many non-Intel boards use AGP drivers. For example, the VIA based boards use the 4-in-1 driver that contains AGP drivers.

However the original poster has a board based on the Intel 875P chipset, so AGP drivers are not needed (other than what comes in the .inf update from Intel's web site).

HB
 
The motherboard has the newest bios, and the AGP aperature settings are normal for the amount of system ram I have. I think you may be off on the motherboar AGP drivers for an Intel chipset. I'll run the card through a couple of 3dmarks and see if they come back normal. Oy! 3Dmark 2001 = 7539. I'd say we have a problem here. Interesting.
 
anthropas said:
The motherboard has the newest bios, and the AGP aperature settings are normal for the amount of system ram I have. I think you may be off on the motherboar AGP drivers for an Intel chipset. I'll run the card through a couple of 3dmarks and see if they come back normal. Oy! 3Dmark 2001 = 7539. I'd say we have a problem here. Interesting.
Click to expand...
If you haven't done so, you should try a complete driver uninstall using Driver Cleaner located at driverheaven.net. Be sure to follow the directions (it recommends booting into safe mode during the driver cleaning process). Then reinstall the Catalyst 4.9's.

HB
 
sdk said:
when did motherboard come out with agp drivers?
Click to expand...

From the abit's IC7 intel inf update readme.
************************************************************
* 1. OVERVIEW
************************************************************
The Intel(R) Chipset Software Installation Utility installs
to the target system the Windows* INF files that outline to
the operating system how the Intel(R) chipset components will
be configured. This is needed for the proper functioning of
the following features:

- Core PCI and ISAPNP Services
- AGP Support
- IDE/ATA33/ATA66/ATA100 Storage Support
- SATA Storage Support
- USB Support
- Identification of Intel(R) chipset components in
the Device Manager
Click to expand...
 
anthropas said:
The motherboard has the newest bios, and the AGP aperature settings are normal for the amount of system ram I have. I think you may be off on the motherboar AGP drivers for an Intel chipset. I'll run the card through a couple of 3dmarks and see if they come back normal. Oy! 3Dmark 2001 = 7539. I'd say we have a problem here. Interesting.
Click to expand...

Yep that score points to a serious problem. You mentioned you just got the card ? Is it 256 or 128 bit memory bus ? Honestly at this point I would just format C: and start fresh.
 
So I spent the majority of yesterday trying different little and big things trying to figure out the problem. I took the card back to best buy and exchanged it for a different one in the hope I might have just gotten a lemon 9800pro. No luck, it still plays slow. So I tried the driver cleaner program mentioned earlier. No help. So then I decide to bite the bullet and reformat. After the clean instal, put on the motherboard drivers, DX9c, 4.9 beta's and give it a whirl, still slow! Now I'm really starting to worry its a different system component. I can swap ram easily enough with a buddy to test the ram, but that seems unlikely to me. Makes me wonder if its my mobo somehow. I don't have the resources to test that easily so I'm hoping you guys have suggest some other ideas. I even tried that little file that came out this morning to boost ATI performance. No joy. Any ideas or game/driver settings I should be checking?

Thanks,

Anthropas
 
Like Mitolo said, check the driver control panel and make sure it's set a balanced or whatever the middle is so everything is application preference on the aa and af.

And are you sure you got a 9800 pro and not a 9800 se?
 
if aa and af aren't on, just reformat c and start fresh

hold up, maybe its a 128bit 9800 pro? That makes sense, since they perform at half the normal cards performance. Think about it, with my old ic7, 9700 pro, and 2.4C, i hit 13500 3dmark 01 stock. A 9800 would be in the 14's. Castrate half of its performance, and you get 7k. Dude, i bet you bought a 128bit card without knowing it. where did you get it and what did you pay for it?
 
computerpro3 said:
if aa and af aren't on, just reformat c and start fresh

hold up, maybe its a 128bit 9800 pro? That makes sense, since they perform at half the normal cards performance. Think about it, with my old ic7, 9700 pro, and 2.4C, i hit 13500 3dmark 01 stock. A 9800 would be in the 14's. Castrate half of its performance, and you get 7k. Dude, i bet you bought a 128bit card without knowing it. where did you get it and what did you pay for it?
Click to expand...

Thats what I meant by the SE. I thought the SE were 128bit memory bus....but anyways, check it like computerpro3 said. If it is a 128 bit card, that's about all your gonna get out of it.

EDIT: Just checked Best Buys website. They say the the 9800pro they sell is 256bit.
 
Just out of curiousity....


Do you have onboard sound? are you using it? do you have a sound card? if you have a sound card, is onboard sound disabled? All drivers for sound card installed?

(not that it probably is it, but ive had FPS problems before because of freaking sound card issues.)
 
Hey All,

The video card is the regular 9800pro with 128megs of memory and the 256 memory bus. I got it from Best Buy because of their return and exchange policy which I use liberally. I didn't mess with the driver settings after I reformatted and everything is set to application preference by default so it shouldn't be that. Even if they were on I shouldn't get 20fps at 640x480 at low quality. I guess I just thought that the only thing I haven't tried is reinstalling Doom 3 again. God what an embarresement that would be if it solved the issue. Tell me this though, am I right in thinking that it would be very strange if it was my motherboard or ram? I usually think of these components as either working or not working at all, not just sort of half-working like this situation. As for sound, I'm using the on-board sound on my IC7 which has never been a problem with the 9800's I've had in there in the past. Just all of a sudden these last two 9800's are running like turtles.

Anthropas
 
is there a way for you to check to make sure that your AGP slot is running at 8x AGP? at had the same problem and i was able to make it run at 8x speeds by changing it in the BIOS. might have an option somewhere inside of windows to change it. good luck
 
I thought you said that other things like 3dmark were running slow also.

What did you have on this system before and how did it perform? Is there a chance that your P4 is clock throttling? I don't have a P4, but have heard that they do that to keep from burning up.
 
DirtyApe said:
is there a way for you to check to make sure that your AGP slot is running at 8x AGP? at had the same problem and i was able to make it run at 8x speeds by changing it in the BIOS. might have an option somewhere inside of windows to change it. good luck
Click to expand...

In the driver control panel there is a panel that has that information on it. But going from 8x to 4x is not much of a performance penalty at all, if any. I have seen cases where turning off fast writes with help a card run more stable, maybe give that a try...it's in the driver panel in the same place as where it states what agp speed your running.
 
who me?? i fixed my problem..just trying to give some tips. ive never had a problem with my OC'ed P4. i OC'ed this puppy right off the bat without any problems. largley due to the SP-94 heatsink and the smartfan 2 i have on the CPU. :D
 
no, original poster. Just answering your question to him about where he could check.. Sorry......
 
Hey all,

The video card is running at 8x AGP speeds in the SmartGart thingy on the driver section. I wondered about the CPU throttling question as well since it gets pretty dang hot in my upstairs apartment, but I ran tests on it in the morning as well as the night and there wasn't any difference. I have a pretty well cooled case with the doors off and fans blowing directly the CPU, so my tempts aren't out of normal range. My new EXOS case is supposed to come today as well which I was all excited about, but this other problem is taking the pleasure out of waitng to play with my first water cooling setup. As for other cards, the last card in the system was essentially just a place holder until I got something new. It was a super old Hercules brand Kyro 2 video card I had back in the day and stands in for 2D duty now when I'm between video cards. I was buying and returning Radeon 9800pro's from Best Buy before that waiting for the new ATI cards to show up in stock, but I got sick of waiting for 3 months so I just returned my last one a few months ago and put the old Kyro back in. When Doom 3 came out I decided to "borrow" another card from Best Buy and play it. Now I've ran into this new problem. Feel free to flame away for my liberal use of Best Buy's return policy. I know I'm a cheap b@stard.

Anthropas
 
Well now I don't feel so sorry for ya since your abusing the return policy :rolleyes:

Get WCPUID and verify your CPU is running at full speed.

Whatever you figure out, post here to let us know.....this has me stumped.
 
anthropas said:
Hey all,

The video card is running at 8x AGP speeds in the SmartGart thingy on the driver section. I wondered about the CPU throttling question as well since it gets pretty dang hot in my upstairs apartment, but I ran tests on it in the morning as well as the night and there wasn't any difference. I have a pretty well cooled case with the doors off and fans blowing directly the CPU, so my tempts aren't out of normal range. My new EXOS case is supposed to come today as well which I was all excited about, but this other problem is taking the pleasure out of waitng to play with my first water cooling setup. As for other cards, the last card in the system was essentially just a place holder until I got something new. It was a super old Hercules brand Kyro 2 video card I had back in the day and stands in for 2D duty now when I'm between video cards. I was buying and returning Radeon 9800pro's from Best Buy before that waiting for the new ATI cards to show up in stock, but I got sick of waiting for 3 months so I just returned my last one a few months ago and put the old Kyro back in. When Doom 3 came out I decided to "borrow" another card from Best Buy and play it. Now I've ran into this new problem. Feel free to flame away for my liberal use of Best Buy's return policy. I know I'm a cheap b@stard.

Anthropas
Click to expand...

Have you installed the Intel chipset drivers? Your problem sounds like a classic "didn't install the motherboard drivers".
 
Yep, I install the motherboard drivers first thing after I format, but good suggestion. I believe that I have fast writes and all video cacing turned off in the bios although I should probably check to be sure. I'll try the CPU ID to make sure I"m running at full speed, but it would suprise me if it wasn't. Although the way its acting in games does suggest the video is being bottlenecked by something and there isn't much left to look at other than the CPU, ram or mobo. I'll see if I can't put some time into it tonight. As for abusing the return policy...guilty as charged. :rolleyes:

Anthropas
 
How do you know you're running at 20fps? Try the game at 1024x768 with Medium settings and play for a few minutes while using Fraps. Make sure AA and V-Sync are disabled in the Doom 3 control panel.
 
I know how slow its running because I'm using Doom 3's timedemo to test my frame rates. Yes, I'm running the demo more than once. Pluse I also have the on screen FPS counter up. It doesn't matter if I'm running at 640x480 or 1024x768, I get around 20 FPS. quite an annoying problem. I did instal the WINCPUID program and found something interesting. My real time clock was 2400, but when I used the ID part it was showing that I was overclocked to 2.8ghz, which is where I usually overclock to. I thought I might have found the problem, so I went to the BIOS and manually set the clock speed to 2.4 and restarted. It now shows to be 2.4 with both the clock counter and the ID program, but no difference in Doom 3 speed. Odd incident though.

Anthropas
 
i get 32.x avg fps in timedemo 1 with 1024x768 high quality settings with my 9800 pro. Check my sig for comp specs.

You shouldn't have a problem.
 
The fact that you get the same 20 FPS performance accross all resolutions means that it is not the video card causing the problem. Somthing else is bottlenecking your system.

Run some CPU and RAM benchmarks to see if there is any weird results there. I would suggest using Sandra since it includes the baseline results to give you something to compare to.

Here is the link to Sandra if you don't already have it on your system

http://www.sisoftware.net/

I'm pulling in high 40's with my system in my specs. This is at 800x600 medium.
 
I had a customer with the same problem on a shuttle an35n ultra(NF2 ultra mobo) with a 9800 pro. It turned out that the SP-97 he installed crunched a tiny capacitor on the mobo. Replaced mobo with the same model and voila 16,000 3dmarks instead of 5,000.

If I were troubleshooting your system I would examine the mobo with a magnifier. The kind of damage that could be causing your problems may not be visible to the naked eye.
 
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