Jumps in FPS, with new graphics card

metomeyametomeya New
edited May 2004 in Hardware
I was using my old 32mv nvidia mx 400 and was getting about 15 to 30 fps in a game i use.

I bought a 128mb radeon 9200 (128-bit pipeline) to improve my framerate. but now i'll get between 60 to 80 then it will drop at times to for awhile 20 then usualy go back and forth between 50 and 20 and sometimes back to the 80s.

While the framerate is better, the jumpiness is causing me to get killed in my first person shoter game (its online and my ping is constant and fine).

What could be causing this?

I just downloaded the latest drivers from ATI (6.14 i believe)

I have a
Asus P4P800-e deluxe - motherboard
Intel 2.0ghz celeron - CPU
256MB 233DDR - RAM
128mb Radeon 9200 - Graphics Card

Comments

  • danball1976danball1976 Wichita Falls, TX
    edited May 2004
    Its your Celeron Processor, plus the fact that you don't have enough RAM.

    Your sig says 233DDR Ram, Are you sure thats right?

    I know of the following:
    200Mhz DDR (100x2)
    266Mhz DDR (133x2)
    333Mhz DDR (166x2)
    400MHz DDR (200x2)
    466MHz DDR (233x2)
    533MHz DDR (266x2)
  • beatzbeatz i am a hamburger Member
    edited May 2004
    Hi metomeya!

    The first thing I would check is, if any programs are running in the background. There could be something running which is sporadically using some of your system ressources thus causing the frame rate drop.

    Also you can try to close all the apps in the tray that you don't need. If the problem remains, open up the task manager and check what processes are running. Maybe you find something running there that you don't need. If you are not sure what you need, just post a list, maybe we can identify something you won't need.
  • shwaipshwaip bluffin' with my muffin Icrontian
    edited May 2004
    when you upgraded your graphics card, did you uninstall the old drivers and all the nvidia programs, then install the radeon, and install the radeon drivers?
  • metomeyametomeya New
    edited May 2004
    I uninstalled the nvidia programs, but not the old driver, but now i've installed the new driver, and don't konw how to uninstalled the old one (if its even still there).

    My background programs are clean as can be (all that are running take 0% CPU), yes it was 266DDR.

    But what i hear from tomshardware is that a celeron equals about 4/5 of its power. In other words my 2.0ghz equals about a 1.6 P4 and i had a 1.5 P4 before (blew it out). with 384mb ram.
  • MedlockMedlock Miramar, Florida Member
    edited May 2004
    shwaip wrote:
    when you upgraded your graphics card, did you uninstall the old drivers and all the nvidia programs, then install the radeon, and install the radeon drivers?
    Yeah definitely try and remove ALL TRACES of your old nVidia drivers and ATi drivers, and reinstall. I hear nVidia and ATi don't really like being on the same computer. ;) Try and upgrade the processor and RAM as well, if you can. I think a new processor would help more at this point.
  • ArmoArmo Mr. Nice Guy Is Dead,Only Aqua Remains Member
    edited May 2004
    make sure those nVidia drivers are totaly gone, they make a prog help me out guys detonator destroyers or somthing like that

    it shouldnt be ur cpu, cellerons arent the greatest, but they shouldnt be that bad, if u do want to upgrade since i have the same board ill recommend a p4 2.4c or greater
  • ginipigginipig OH, NOES
    edited May 2004
    I second the "remove existing drivers" notion.

    Follow this guide.
  • mmonninmmonnin Centreville, VA
    edited May 2004
    You need more RAM prolly. I had 512 and I lagged in UT2k4. I got an extra 512 and I no longer Lag because I was swapping with the hard drive.
  • metomeyametomeya New
    edited May 2004
    Its the RAM

    Ya i got two programs to remove all traces of nvidia, followed their steps exactly and i had a regseeker program that found anything called nvidia and deleted it. So its all gone for good.

    I guess i'll have to order some more ram.


    A little update on the framerates, while in my game when i'm in a small enclosed area its about 80 to 90, but when i move out in the open (really open map) it can go as far a 15fps, but it will get up to the 20s while outside.

    I guess this is the computer having to read the hardrive for extra textures since i don't have enough room in my ram?
  • kanezfankanezfan sunny south florida Icrontian
    edited May 2004
    which game is this. you do need more ram for sure, especially if it's something like farcry or ut2004
  • metomeyametomeya New
    edited May 2004
    Wolfenstien: Enemy Territory, there are alot of big open outdoor places.
  • GHoosdumGHoosdum Icrontian
    edited May 2004
    What resolution are you running the game at? Any options like Anti-Aliasing or Anisotropic Filtering turned on? You can basically expect a frame rate drop on any card when you go into an 'outdoor' area, but as long as it stays above 30 when it drops, you won't notice it. Perhaps lowering the in-game resolution, or turning off AA or AF might keep you above 30FPS without causing you to purchase any new parts.
  • kanezfankanezfan sunny south florida Icrontian
    edited May 2004
    i don't know, with those specs, I think your system should be able to handle wolfie handily. check out ghoosdum's recomendation, and also, do other games run slow?
  • Straight_ManStraight_Man Geeky, in my own way Naples, FL Icrontian
    edited May 2004
    metomeya wrote:
    Its the RAM

    Ya i got two programs to remove all traces of nvidia, followed their steps exactly and i had a regseeker program that found anything called nvidia and deleted it. So its all gone for good.

    I guess i'll have to order some more ram.


    A little update on the framerates, while in my game when i'm in a small enclosed area its about 80 to 90, but when i move out in the open (really open map) it can go as far a 15fps, but it will get up to the 20s while outside.

    I guess this is the computer having to read the hardrive for extra textures since i don't have enough room in my ram?


    Kinda maybe. IF the game is fully installed on HD, it is using HD for graphics data. HOWEVER, if the game is not fully loaded on HD and virtually mounted with CD virtualizing software running then it is using the CD-ROM or DVD drive and reading update graphics data maps from that. And that read time, then, will be determined in part by the CD-ROM drive speed or DVD drive speed reading CD or DVD for data. THIS kind of optical media reading of large qty's of data can be real slow and might partly account for what you are seeing. Wolfenstein used CD data reads a LOT.... When you are moving inside, it can prebuffer graphics maps in RAM or on HD, and it looks like with the frame rates you are getting inside that it is doing so. OUTSIDE, you have a huge landscape to calc every time you move from inside to outside and when you move rapidly outside.

    More RAM will help some (maybe double what you have now if you have less than 348-512 MB RAM on motherboard and you can put double that in box or more than double that), faster CD-ROM drive if you have an older one, or playing game with the game CD in a CD burner drive might help speed of reading data and save having whole game virtualized on HD and taking up huge amounts of HD space. Try some of each if you have two optical drives and one is older (use newer optical drive if you have two and both work)....
  • metomeyametomeya New
    edited May 2004
    The entire things is on the harddrive. Anti-Aliasing or Anisotropic Filtering are off i check in the ati's property page.

    Its the ram, its gotta be the ram, once i go from 256 to 512 it should be fixed. I"m going to wait for my next pay check before i buy it. I"ll tell ya what happens when i do (also my motherboard can do dual ram when i put them in the right slots :)
  • MedlockMedlock Miramar, Florida Member
    edited May 2004
    Make sure both sticks are the same if you wanna do dual channel.
  • CreepCreep Hell Icrontian
    edited May 2004
    metomeya wrote:
    128mb radeon 9200

    What games are you trying to play? That is an old graphics card after all. Odds are that's the most your going to get out of it.
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