Dog slow 8800GTX

Hi guys,

After it appeared as though I had some weird compatibility problem between my monitor and my Radeon HD 2900XT, I decided to replace it with a GeForce 8800GTX. Previously I was getting a bit under 12000 points in 3DMark06, so I expected to get a little more from the 8800GTX. Here's where the problem started. I cleaned out the ATi drivers using Drivercleaner and installed the latest nVidia drivers fresh from their website and ran 3DMark06. When I came back, I was met with the rather disappointing score of around 3000 points (or a quarter of what my HD2900XT was getting).

Thinking there may be a problem with the driver install, I removed the drivers, re-downloaded them and ran the whole procedure again. Still no change. I then downloaded the latest beta drivers, only to find that as I'm running Vista Home Premium x64 edition, I couldn't install them. So I created a dual boot with the 32-bit version of Vista, downloaded the 32-bit drivers and installed those. I then confidently ran 3DMark06 again and found that I was still only getting about 3000 points.

So what is there left for me to try? I don't think it's a power thing, as I have a 1000W PSU (Antec Quattro) which powered the HD2900XT perfectly. I dropped my over clock on my Q6600 down to stock speeds, but that has made no difference either. I've tried the latest released and beta drivers on both x64 and x86 versions of Vista to no avail. The clock speeds on the card are correct, according to the nVidia control panel and I'm not over clocking the card.

Do 8800's have 2D/3D clock speeds? Is it getting stuck in 2D mode? I don't hear the fan spin up when I am running 3DMark06, which I am surprised by, as I would have thought the card should be getting warm enough for that to kick in (it certainly did with my HD2900XT)? Is the card faulty? Is there something I am missing?

It's driving me mad, please help!

Cheers,
Stephen

If you install nTune you can change/create your own fan profiles and set the 2D and 3D speeds independently.....although I don't think this is the problem when you have a clean install doing the same.

The first thing I would check is CPUZ - One of the pages (Mainboard tab iirc) tells you how fast your gfx card has negotiated with PCI-E.....Maybe its running at 1x? Do you have any other PCI-E cards in the other slots?

have you checked that the settings are set to "let application decide" ?

also it certainly dosnt sound like a power problem considering the x2900 uses more juice.

what motherbaord have you got? make sure the settings are full speed pci-e not x2 x4 etc

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Pie_uk

have you checked that the settings are set to "let application decide" ?

also it certainly dosnt sound like a power problem considering the x2900 uses more juice.

what motherbaord have you got? make sure the settings are full speed pci-e not x2 x4 etc

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Yep, it is set to application decide and I've also tried the performance setting too.

Motherboard is an Asus P5K Deluxe and according to CPU-Z the PCI-E slot is running at 16x.

Full system specs are below my username
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Weird...

Cheers,
Stephen

Did you fiddle with any of the PEG options in the BIOS or are they all set to AUTO?

Can you publish your 3d mark score? I could compare to mine to see if its one area the card is falling down on or if the hit is across the board....might be helpful in troubleshooting.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by shaithis

Did you fiddle with any of the PEG options in the BIOS or are they all set to AUTO?

Can you publish your 3d mark score? I could compare to mine to see if its one area the card is falling down on or if the hit is across the board....might be helpful in troubleshooting.

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I will do, but generally speaking, the scores are low across the board. I think the only thing dragging my score up as high as it is was the CPU score. e.g. the first one was netting about 15fps in the shuttle, dropping to about 7 when the fire fight begins.

And I haven't changed any of the peg settings, not that I can remember anyway.

Cheers,
Stephen

yeah sorry i tried clicking your system to view the spec but its not working? i get about 25fps when the fire fight starts with an x1950xtx !

this is most bizarre, have you thought about doing a re install. trying it in a different machine?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Pie_uk

yeah sorry i tried clicking your system to view the spec but its not working? i get about 25fps when the fire fight starts with an x1950xtx !

this is most bizarre, have you thought about doing a re install. trying it in a different machine?

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I have done a reinstall, did a clean install of 32-bit Vista and tried that. I just loaded up Medal of Honor Airborne and it's very jerky, totally different to how it was with my HS2900XT.

Cheers,
Stephen

As you have another windows install and have the same score(ish) under that, its almost certainly not a software issue (although could try an older driver?)

How hot is the card mate? If the cooling is playing up, it could be throttling? (long shot, but worth checking).
Also, clear your BIOS (with the jumper) and reset everything from scratch. Its not been unknown for a BIOS to have a rogue setting that it doesn't display :)

*If* you have the space, you could boot into a XP install to make 100&#37; sure its not a software issue, as its far more mature than Vista in that respect.

Yeah, I agree with mr.baldy:p Also maybe it's worth checking with rivatuner what the card is actually doing while running 3d applications in realtime. Hardware monitoring section in rivatuner will give you a nice graph so take a good look at each item and monitor if there is any suspicious activities going on.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by notsobig

Yeah, I agree with mr.baldy:p Also maybe it's worth checking with rivatuner what the card is actually doing while running 3d applications in realtime. Hardware monitoring section in rivatuner will give you a nice graph so take a good look at each item and monitor if there is any suspicious activities going on.

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What hardware monitoring section in Riva Tuner? I don't see one, or anything about overclocking?

Cheers,
Stephen

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Agent

As you have another windows install and have the same score(ish) under that, its almost certainly not a software issue (although could try an older driver?)

How hot is the card mate? If the cooling is playing up, it could be throttling? (long shot, but worth checking).

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Extremely NOT hot. The air coming out the back when running any 3D apps is quite cool and the fan doesn't speed up at all.

Cheers,
Stephen

What card is it? Just a reference cooler?

You should defo hear the fan spin up when its doing 3D work - no doubt about it. The air also gets fairly warm when its being stressed.
Whats the temp of the card? (idle & under load)

Card is an Asus EN8800GTX. Cooler is the reference one.

The temps don't vary between load or idle, being around 60°C.

I tried running ATi Tool to overclock it and set it off running an attempt to find the max stable GPU speed. The frequency is not changing at all, nor is the card getting any hotter.

Do you get bios updates for these things? It's like it's not waking up and going into 3D mode!

Cheers,
Stephen

Quote:

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Originally Posted by fat jez

What hardware monitoring section in Riva Tuner? I don't see one, or anything about overclocking?

Cheers,
Stephen

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You see that magnifing glass icon in the picture? Just click there and you'll see a graph like this one.
http://img125.imageshack.us/img125/6...rd01ey0.th.jpg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by notsobig

You see that magnifing glass icon in the picture? Just click there and you'll see a graph like this one.

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Hmm, don't remember seeing that, guess that's a bad sign?

*edit* All the graphs stay as a straight, flat line.

Cheers,
Stephen