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Terrible performance problems.. Help wanted

N

Neticule

n00b
Joined
Aug 4, 2005
Messages
21
My friend pointed me to these forums to get some help...

Ok, so I was getting fed up with my slow gameplay and fps with my old videocard, a geforce 4 mx. So, I decided to upgrade it to a Geforce FX 5700VE - Still was very slow, so I figured it was my old pc/mobo/ram, so I upgraded them as well, still very slow (practically unplayable!)

I upgraded from a athlon xp 1400/512 ram/gf4mx to an athlon xp 2900/1gig ddr/Geforce FX 5700VE 256mb

I know the graphics card is not high end by any means, but the performance gain was next to nothing. I figured it was just because the card was pretty cheap (129$) but decided to do a benchmark and compare it with other people that have a FX 5700VE - The results, suprised me...

I used Aquamark 3 - Average FPS was 7.7, with a GFX score of 828.

So, I compared with other users of the same video card, and the LOWEST score (besides mine) is 1911 with 13.95fps, that users pc had specs far below mine as well (he had Xp 1800/ 300 ram)

The higher scores were upwards of 3000 and 30 fps.

So, I am dying to know if anyone can help me solve these performance problems, most of my games are nearly unplayable, even after 600$ worth of upgrades to my pc. Im not asking for great performance, just playable! I know that games should be playable at the least with this graphics card, but the improvement was next to nothing from my old pc.

I beg of you folks to help me find out what the problem is!

Some things I have tried are:
3 different nvidia drivers for the card as well, all with marginal differences. (the ones on the cd, 71.89, and 77.76 (suggested from someone).
I have made sure my BIOS is setup correctly, 8x agp
I have checked my temps, and everything is running as cool as should be expected.

Here are my PC Specs:

Operating System: Windows XP Home Edition (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 2
System Manufacturer: VIA Technologies, Inc.
System Model: KT600-8237
Motherboard: Abit KV7
BIOS: Phoenix - AwardBIOS v6.00PG
Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) XP 2900+, MMX, 3DNow, ~2.0GHz
Memory: 1022MB RAM
HDD: 250GB Western Digital SATA
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)

Video:
Card name: NVIDIA GeForce FX 5700VE
Display Memory: 256.0 MB
Driver Version: 6.14.0010.7776 (English)


Im willing to try just about anything to get this problem fixed, there is no reason that I can see for my FX 5700VE running as awful as my Geforce 4 MX... I will keep a close eye on this thread and try whatever you folks can think of
 
updated motherboard drivers?

set agp to 8x or auto in bios?

check cpu and memory settings in bios?
 
Yes, I flashed my Motherboard BIOS just the other day, and upgraded all the drivers for it. AGP is set at 8x and the setting for cpu/ram are all configured like they should be.
 
I think part of your problem is the video card. For your $129, you didn't get too much value for your money.

For example: The most expensive 5700 at newegg.com is about $107. It has 256mb of RAM wich does nothing for you because the card cannot utilize it. Using this website as a reference:

http://graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20050705/vga-charts-pcie-02.html#3d_mark_2005

You can see how the 5700 scores. Now to get to my point. The 6600 costs about $112 and is about 3 times as fast in the benchmarks.

So, I think it was just poor planning on your part. The video card is most likely the cause of your woe. ;)

I hope this is helpful. :)
 
did you read my post? I know the video card is a sucky card, HOWEVER I compared my scores/fps with OTHER OWNERS of the same video card, and they are getting much, much better marks. That is my problem.

Here are the scores, #5 is the lowest score after mine, with a much slower setup, yet a much better GFX score. My scores are #6 - I know the card sucks, but there is a problem somewhere, that is keeping the card from running like it should.

#5 AquaMark Score: 13951 (CPU: 2585, GFX: 1911) FPS: 13.95
CPU: AMD Athlon(tm) XP processor 1800+ CR: 1533 MHz SRAM: 384 MB
GFX: NVIDIA GeForce FX 5700VE CM: 50 / 86 MHz VRAM: 128 MB

#6 AquaMark Score: 7700 (CPU: 5559, GFX: 828) FPS: 7.70
CPU: AMD Athlon(tm) XP 2900+ CR: 2008 MHz SRAM: 1023 MB
GFX: NVIDIA GeForce FX 5700VE CM: 95 / 86 MHz VRAM: 256 MB
 
Try a few utilities such as CPU-z and make sure the processor and ram and vid card are running at the corect speeds.

Yea, I did read it, but for some reason I missed that part. Sorry long day. :D
 
"Try a few utilities such as CPU-z and make sure the processor and ram and vid card are running at the corect speeds."

Alright, well I tried CPU-z (if you can think of any others let me know the names)
Everything looks normal in CPU-z (there is no video card section in the program) and my CPU got an expectable score in aquamark.

I dont know what utilities are out there to test video card speed, never checked any of them out...
 
Shmuckety said:
For example: The most expensive 5700 at newegg.com is about $107. It has 256mb of RAM wich does nothing for you because the card cannot utilize it.
Click to expand...
Actually I had a 5700le 256mb and I was surprised to find out it could use the video ram, I could play BF2 smoothly on all med-low settings except I could run textures on high(1024x768 no AA of course).
 
Yeah, Battlefield 2 is unplayable for me most of the time... There has to be some problem here.. All of my parts are brand spankin new, oldest part in my PC is the video card, that I bought about a month ago. I know I shouldnt get great framerates, but it should be atleast somewhat playable...

I checked my clock/memory speed and it was what it should be, overclocked it just a tad, and my score is still awful in the benchmark... arrrrgg... any friggin suggestions would be more then welcome!!
 
looks to me like your CPU score is right on..... your a bit over twice the speed of the guy with the 1800+, and you have a 2900+; it's def. a problem with your graphics subsystem...... make sure your mobo AGP drivers are correctly (if at all) installed..... also check the performance mode in the control panel, and make sure AA/AF are both disabled......
 
"make sure your mobo AGP drivers are correctly (if at all) installed"

I "assume" they are installed, nothing I have found is labeled agp drivers, are they part of the Via 4in1 pack? I installed everything on the drivers CD for my motherboard, flashed the bios, and installed everything on this page: http://www.abit-usa.com/downloads/driver/drivers.php?categories=1&model=230

so it should all be up to date, unless there is some agp driver im missing, i assumed it was already installed in one of the driver packages (Either on the CD or the website)

The AA/AF are indeed disabled, i messed around for a bit in the nvidia control panel and it all seems good.

If you know of an "AGP driver" that wouldnt be on the CD or Website, let me know, otherwise I am still at a loss...
 
Download the latest via 4in1s. Install them. 90% of the time this problem is an AGP driver.
 
Did you use Driver Cleaner before you installed the new drivers for your new card?
 
With FX cards on VIA mobo's you have to set the AGP Driving Value manually in order to get correct performances. You should find this option easily in the BIOS. The options are in hexadecimal numbers, try EA, and if your card starts getting too hot, try DA.

Hope it helped...
 
Demi, thanks for the suggestion, the MOBO is an Abit, but I still tried that, both DA and EA, and neither made a difference. I do appreciate the help though!

Nobi, no I didnt use Driver Cleaner, I will try it out and see what happens.

Anyone else that wants to take a stab at this, it would be much appreciated :)
 
Well, I ran driver cleaner and reinstalled my drivers, still just as slow. :(

I hope someone can help me get this figured out!
 
Dude, did you check the hardware acceleration slider. Its in the display properties>settings>advanced>trouble shoot tab. Make sure its pushed all the way to the right. and make sure you have write combining enabled(i donno what it does. thats the way it is on my pc)
 
I'm surprised that nobody has suggested to run a virus scan or a spyware scan. Also, try disabling other parts of your computer... For example, try taking out your soundcard, CD/DVD-rom drive, floppy drive and see if that makes a difference. Usually disconnecting the IDE cable is enough. Try disabling any hardware monitoring software you may be running too.
 
Have You done reinstall of Your Windows when You have done upgrade?
Have You checked on Viruses and spyware?

If not doo it.

BTW allthough I'm nVidia whore :) 5xxx series where big disapointment. Even "mighty" /edit insert irony /end edit 5900 Ultra what ever 256 MB card was damn slow specialy in direct X 9,0 apps. It was like Direct X 9,0 card but not direct X 9,0C !!?????
Well for games made for Direct X 8,0 5700 should be fine. For everythign else it sucks big time. But You know that allready.

Doo a clean install without beeing connected to internet. Then install via 4in1 latest version. then install 77,76 drivers. then connect to internet and gett all updates allthough SP2 makes PC slower. Doo not use more then one antivirus. Doo not use more then one firewall or pop up or anti spyware scaner. Install programs that You realy use on dayly basis and one You realy doo not doo not install (you can install those when You realy need them)
If You browse I-net a lot use Hitman Pro 2 once dayly www.hitmanpro.nl . It will use few best natispyware programs to kill all background spyware proceses and connections. It works good. It even update it self those programs and clans automaticly for You.

Get Your drivers and utilities from www.guru3d.com
Use forceware drivers they are tweaked out for better preformance and even better quality.

Keep Your hard disk clean and defragmented. Use Disk Keeper to keep HDD in good condition. Even defragment just after install. You will see that it will be worth the time.

When You have done it and everything works fine and everything is updated make a image with Norton Ghost and burn it on bootable DVD so if somethign goes wrong next time You can bring it back in shorth time.

Also check out memory count. With 1 GB RAM it should show more then 1022 MB (actualty in MB it's 1024 and in Kb it's more and in b it's even more :) )

Good luck




MD
 
Neticule,

When using a via chipset I like to make sure my agp speed is full speed in windows. I remember owning a via chipest and the bios said 4x but in windows it was stuck in 2x mode, I never could get it into 4x. Use 3dmark 2001 or 2003-5 to check your agp bus speed. I have a nforce2 chipset now so that is no longer a worry as I am up at 8x now!:) wee! I also brought my 133mhz pentium 3 bus upto 400mhz athlon xp bus:eek:!
 
"Can you link us to the exact model of card you got, please?"
Indeed
Video Card: http://www.pny.com/products/verto/mainstream/5700ve.asp
Mobo: http://abit-usa.com/products/mb/products.php?categories=1&model=230

"When using a via chipset I like to make sure my agp speed is full speed in windows." I have no clue how to find the windows setting for this, looked around. I checked the nvidia control panel and it is set at 8x, I would assume that control sets windows. But if anyone knows an exact place that I can check for my AGP speed in windows, I will certainly check it out.

"Have You done reinstall of Your Windows when You have done upgrade?"
Yes, I reinstalled windows, I did not format my drive before I did however.

"Have You checked on Viruses and spyware?"
Yes, I regularly run a spyware cleaner and am careful about what gets on my pc (I use firefox)

"Doo a clean install without beeing connected to internet. Then install via 4in1 latest version. then install 77,76 drivers."
I will try out some of the other suggestions, and if nothing works I will do a full format and reinstall windows like this.

"Also, try disabling other parts of your computer... For example, try taking out your soundcard, CD/DVD-rom drive, floppy drive and see if that makes a difference."
Alright, I will try that out. I have 3 IDE HDD's, DVD Burner, and 1 Sata HDD. I will try disconnecting everything but the C: drive and see if that helps at all (Sound is built in though)

"did you check the hardware acceleration slider"
Of course ;) its set at full.

Well, I will try the suggestions everyone gave, I still would like to know where to check the AGP speed in windows if anyone knows.

So, wish me luck with all my disabling and reinstalling I may need to do.
 
OldPueblo said:
The VE part scares me, it might be 64-bit crippled. You need to get the specs on it, but I bet its just a sucky card all around.
Click to expand...

Like I have said several times in this thread, i know its a sucky card. but other people with the same card are getting 2-4 times the performance I am.

As well, the box does say 128 bit, so I doubt its a 64.
 
Download NVTweak and run it then check "AGP Settings Page" then go into your video card settings and you will see that page there. That will give you the AGP speeds.

Hope this helps.

Miller
 
Sad to see the problem still isn't solved :(

Maybe you could convince a friend with a video card of the same level to try it on your comp? Did you check every BIOS option, like VGA Share Size, AGP Aperture Size, Fast Write etc. etc.?

Good luck!

(I made the mistake of buying an fx 5xxx card too, and it was quite painful, I never saw a card that needed such an amount of tweaking to get to correct levels of performance, thankfully I'm enjoying my 9800 pro now :p )
 
millers_35 said:
Download NVTweak and run it then check "AGP Settings Page" then go into your video card settings and you will see that page there. That will give you the AGP speeds.

Hope this helps.

Miller
Click to expand...

Thanks Miller, I have done that and it indeed reports 8x in the control panel.

"Maybe you could convince a friend with a video card of the same level to try it on your comp?" I wish I could, none of my friends really do pc gaming though so nobody has a good vid card :(

well, im backing up my important stuff at the moment before i try the reinstalling of windows, and disabling of hardware.
 
Neticule said:
Like I have said several times in this thread, i know its a sucky card. but other people with the same card are getting 2-4 times the performance I am.

As well, the box does say 128 bit, so I doubt its a 64.
Click to expand...


I wasn't sure whether or not you were saying "Others with 5700's get more performance while missing the "VE" difference. Didn't mean to be insulting. Honestly, the LE/VE or whatever letters are ever used to denote a card is "the budget version" is never worth it. Stick with an official product line. That's not for you, its for everyone. :D
 
ok pueblo, noted. However, it will be a few months before I have funds to upgrade to a new card so I still want to get this problem fixed... I just hate making a thread and stating "i know this card sucks" and have half the people tell me "dude, that card sucks" LOL.

Either way, there has to be a problem somewhere, so hopefully this format and reinstall will help...
 
Hey just use photoshop and edit your 3dmark results and trade your computer with your friends computer and the problem is solved for you :) Hehe anyways ok for real make sure you have your drivers installed for every device mainly your video card and your motherboard. Also check your bios to make sure your settings in it are correct for aspect ratios depending on your setup. If you do not know how to properly edit your bios for optimal results just do a google search on bios and read up on the how/to/do etc etc
 
Ok, well, I formatted, reinstalled windows, disabled all un-needed hardware, installed all updated drivers, via 4in1, good nvidia drivers, etc. and its still running just the same... UGH.

I guess that means i am giving up, unless anyone else has some suggestions! It will be a while before I can afford another video card, so if its possible I want to get this one to work correctly...
 
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