New graphics card - still performs the same

[Ciaran]

I had a 16 meg tnt2 card, and i changed it for a 64 meg G-Force 2 MX-200 card. There is no difference in speed in any games.
I did not change any settings in the games , and V sync is turned off. I have the latest drivers for the card.

In counter strike i used to get 30-50 fps (at 1024 X 768), i still get the same now. (the max fps setting is 99, it goes up to that when you look at a wall).
This problem is not just with cs, its with every game.

I have a AMD 650mhz processor, 256mb pc133 ram.

 

[paparazi]

Try a proper 3D test instead of guessing, download 3D bench mark from Mad onion.
3D bench mark 2000 would probably be better for you than the 2001 version as you really need a GTS or above for the 2001 to work (it was designed to stress G/force 3's etc)
The problem is it will take the latest games like
Max Payne and Black and White to see the differance in frame rates, Black and White Will be like 3fps on the old TNT2 compared to an aceptable 15-20 on the g/force. Martin Vote if you found this post helpful please!!

 

[SSJpn]

For counterstike you need to make configuration changes.

Start counterstike and:
Go to configuration -> video -> video modes -> (change this tab to "OpenGL" and the resolution to the MAX, i think its like 1280x960)

This should fix your problem

 

[Ciaran]

Changing the res to max lowers the FPS even more. I get around 20 when its 1280x960 . The old card was open gl anyway so i did not need to change it to open gl.

 

[Ciaran]

I ran that benchmark prog and both cards performed exactly the same.

 

[Maruis]

What you did is good!
You forgot something very important...
Any system will run as fast as the slowest component in that system. Irrespective of the make and model.

If you want to see a difference in speed upgrade all the components to run in harmony.

Let me explain..
Its like taking a 486 give it all the lastest harware but you keep the same proccesor. It will only go as fast as the proccesor can handle it. So you wont see a real big difference in overall speeed.

Hope this Helps

Maruis
"I sleep at home not on my Job!"

 

[Ciaran]

Well ur right, a 650 mhz processor is kinda slow, i should b gettin a new 1 in march (my birthday), hopefully 2 gig
Could the motherboard make my comp run slow? I will be getting a new one though when i get my processor cos mine only supports up to 1 gig.
Anyway thanx for the help. I was half thinking the same thing but was hoping that there was an easier way so i dont have to pay out anymore!

 

[JimEkleberry]

Since your motherboard is what ties all of your components together it definitely has the ability to affect your system's overall speed.

The problem that you are encountering is due to your system hitting its limitation in regards to your CPU and RAM. Your CPU is your current bottleneck.

I am not familiar with Half-Life but here are a few ideas that you might try to get a little extra out of your system.

1. Switch to DirectX instead of OpenGL if possible. NVidia has always had better performance through DirectX than OpenGL.

2. Play with lower colors or resolution. Loose the colors first.

3. Make sure that you have hardware acceleration on and to the max.

4. Check for any patches for the Half-Life game specifically for nVidia cards.

I hope that some of that is helpful. Good luck in your gaming!

 

[paparazi]

It is generally considered that if you have a machine above 750mhz, graphics performance is not restricted much.
Your 650 although slighly slower than this break point, is still sufficiently fast to show up the differance between your TNT2 and the newer g/force 2.
So I do find it rather strange that you experience NO differance between the cards.
Are you using the latest Detonator 4 XP drivers for both?
And are you using a proper 3D benchmark like 3D benchmark 2000?
Yes a faster processor and board will free up more of the G/force's potential performance but I wouldn't have thought by much!! certainly you should be seeing 30% increased frame rates even with your slower system. Martin Vote if you found this post helpful please!!

 

[Ciaran]

Yes i am using the latest detenator xp drivers, and the latest half life version, i could not find any patches for NVIDIA cards. Lowering the res does make the framerate increase but that is not the problem. I took the card out of the AGP slot and put it back in again (i thought it may have been a problem with the card eg. dust in the slot, but after carefully putting it back in again and getting rid of any dust, the problem was not solved.

I tried running half life in direct 3d mode - my fps decreased to 7-11.

 

[JimEkleberry]

In your BIOS what do you have your AGP texture size set to? "Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocre minds. The latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices but honestly and courageously uses his intelligence." - A. Einstein

 

[Ciaran]

It is set to 256 meg. What should i set it to (i have 256 meg ram)

 

[JimEkleberry]

32 meg is considered the norm but some people set it to other values. "Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocre minds. The latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices but honestly and courageously uses his intelligence." - A. Einstein

 

[Ciaran]

Well i dont my problem is related to this, i have tied all of the settings and the fps remains the same.(i set it to 2 gig and my comp wouldnt start! i had to reset the bios)

 

[JimEkleberry]

The AGP texture size is telling the system how much of your system RAM is available to use for applying graphics textures. If this number is set too high you have no memory available to your system. The more onboard RAM your video card has the less system memory you need.

What type of card do you have (make and model)? "Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocre minds. The latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices but honestly and courageously uses his intelligence." - A. Einstein

 

[Ciaran]

I have a NVIDIA G-Force 2 MX 200 (64 meg AGP)

 

[JimEkleberry]

Who made it? "Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocre minds. The latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices but honestly and courageously uses his intelligence." - A. Einstein

 

[Ciaran]

Im not sure who made it, thats all the info i can find out.

 

[JimEkleberry]

What motherboard do you have (make and chipset)? "Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocre minds. The latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices but honestly and courageously uses his intelligence." - A. Einstein

 

[Ciaran]

Im not exactly sure how to find out info about my motherboard, but i got what i could.

When the computer boots up it says "American Megatrends", "AMIBIOS A619P2 V 1.3 released 06/07/2000" (i have tried to look for a bios update but i could not find one )

Also i looked on the actual motherboard, i could see two pieces of writing. One was the bios chip, and another was something else that said "Winbond AM, MEGA 87-69" on it.