Just installed a 6800GS... and UT2004 still plays like CRAP.

Okay, for my first post... a plea.

I recently had the pleasure of playing the Unreal Tournament 2004 demo on a friend's Dell Lattitude D810. A laptop with a Pentium 4M 1.7 GHz CPU, 1GB of RAM and an integrated Radeon X600 graphics card. It was also a widescreen laptop, so playing in 1280x1024 with all graphics options on (texture options all set to normal), looked gorgeous and - most importantly - was SMOOTH. 40-50+fps regularly, and this was playing Onslaught online.

It's not my laptop, so sadly it's had to go back to my friend (I was repairing it ;)... and I decided that enough was enough and that I would replace my old Geforce 5500 FX with a nice new AGP 6800GS. :)

Now, I've tried this card in an Athlon XP 2200 (1.8GHz)-based PC (Asus KT800 mobo, Kingmax RAM), and a 1.9 GHz P4-based PC (SiS 948 chipset or something - it's an MSI P4-MAM mobo, generic RAM). Both with 1GB RAM. In both PCs, Onslaught UT2004 plays like crap. 20-25fps at the MOST. Only with less than 4 players, or when not playing online would I get anything over this, and it's always been like this. Deathmatch is fine, but... I don't like deathmatch! :rolleyes: In fact, even in deathmatch and invasion, the moment you get a lot of action on screen the framerate tends to take a nosedive. I really don't remember this happening much at all on the Dell!

I realise that both CPUs I've mentioned above are hardly cutting edge, but they're both - supposedly - faster than the P4 M CPU in that laptop. I now even have a graphics card which is supposedly also much faster than both my old Geforce, and the X600. Yet it hasn't made the slightest bit of difference.

PLEASE HELP!
:bowdown:

(P.S. Yes, I'm using Forceware v81.98, and have turned off antialiasing and aniso filtering.)

Edit: Well, thanks to MSIC I've been convinced of what I feared the most. Old, slow CPUs that just cannot run the game fast enough. *now waiting patienly for his new Athlon 64* ;)

is it xfx? if so my 6800 gs was clocked too much that it wasnt smooth id using toolbits and lowering the mhz from 485 mhz to 450 mhz if its fine leave it on that for a few days then clock it back up mine wldnt play well so i underclocked it then day later clocked it past 485 to 520/1.2 and runs fine

Edit: yes it is the XFX card. All I have done is slow the clock DOWN in 2D mode (using Rivatuner) *edit: to 305MHz, in an attempt to get away with lowering the fan speed in 2D mode (which didn't make much difference to the noise either). Haven't touched the 3D mode speeds.

What motherboards for a 1.9 P4 have a PCI-Express interface? The P4 is surely a Willamette!
Something sounds wrong there... And the motherboard you suggest is this one, which has an AGP interface, suggesting that you don't have a 6800GS - maybe a regular 6800 AGP?
Anyway, did you fully un-install the graphics drivers before you put the new card in there? And then, did you select 'cancel' when windows tried to install the drivers itself?

The other issue is that a quick google search shows that a Dell Latitude 810 does NOT use a P4M chip - it uses a PM CPU, a world of difference. A PM at 1.7 will be quite good, especially if on a 533 bus as i expect. So with the above processors you reference there may well be evidence that you are CPU limited.

Hope this info helps, i reckon some of your post might need to be re-explored.

Ah, just realised MY mistake, apologise for that, there does exist a 6800 GS AGP, but didnt realise you could buy one yet.

Thanks for the reply MSIC. It was a PM 1.7GHz CPU in that Dell, sorry for the confusion. And yes, all of my systems are AGP, including the P4.

Do I take it then that this PM CPU was unceremoniously blowing both of mine out of the water, and that I really should upgrade them? I know where to get hold of an Athlon XP 3200 new, and that's really my only option. I don't want to have to start building a PCI-E system just for games. My PCs are otherwise fast enough for what they are used for. I just want Onslaught UT2004 to be playable, darnit!

(Tried Thief DS briefly and that plays perfectly well at 1024x768. Couldn't do that with my 5500 FX :P)

I think that is most likely. At a given clock speed (eg 2 Ghz) the Pentium M would be regarded as the best / fastest CPU available. A Pentium 4 (especially a Celeron variant) would be the slowest, with an Athlon in the middle. If it really IS the CPU that is holding back your framerates, even lowering your screen resloution wont help too much.

For interest (and sorry, dont think this will really help you much), i build a new machine using a Athlon 64 3200+ (overclocked from 2Ghz to 2.3Ghz), 1 GB of RAM, and using onboard Geforce 6100 graphics (no card plugged in!), it played UT2003 at 1280 x 1024 really well!!! I am not joking! i was shocked. Just goes to show what a good CPU does for you...

Just had a thought - do a benchmark on the Athlon machine at stock CPU speeds, then overclock the CPU as much as you reasonably can, and benchmark again - don't touch the graphics card, and it should show you the difference. If you get for example a 10% overall improvement for a 10 - 15% CPU overclock, you know the CPU is limiting you. Does this sound do-able?

Looks like I'll have to go for a socket 754 motherboard if I want to go down the Athlon 64 route, so I can use my 6800GS. I've had terrible luck with nForce boards though; either being flaky or - in the case of my Shuttle SN45G - heavy CPU usage and audio glitching during heavy network transfers, amongst other things. I've generally had better luck with VIA chipsets. Any recommendations (754 chipsets, of course)?

Edit:
This looks appealing, as it would replace the mATX board in my P4 case:
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=134179
with one of these of course:
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...roductID=80303

Another edit. I'm almost sold on getting an Athlon 64 with that motherboard (or another KT8T800 based mATX board), if I can find a 3200 in stock, AND it plays UT2004 well. Onslaught, especially. CPU-hog though it seems to be. 1024x768 is the max res I can do with my monitors, so if it'll play at around 40~ fps at that res, I'll be happy.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by chis

Looks like I'll have to go for a socket 754 motherboard if I want to go down the Athlon 64 route, so I can use my 6800GS.

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Why?

Just get the ASRock Dual SATA2 939.

Firstly, I'd rather stick with brands I know: MSI and Asus. And secondly, my 6800GS is an AGP card.

I've gone for an MSI K8MM-V ( http://www.msicomputer.com/product/p...8MM-V&class=mb ), and an Athlon 64 3400+. I hope I don't have to upgrade THIS for a while!

Nice one. Where did you find an Athlon 64 754 3400 processor in stock? I thought AMD had stopped making them? I recently built a 754 based A64 with AGP for my brother and things run really nicely - i know that 939 and PCI-E are the current/future etc, but if you have a machine that does the job, good for you.

http://www.pcnextday.co.uk

Not in stock any more though, wonder who caused that? ;)

The main reason I'm sticking with 754 is because I just shelled out £180 on this AGP 6800GS! I don't want to have to buy new DDR2 RAM either. I already have 2 512MB PC3200 sticks which will work in this "new" system nicely. As long as it plays UT2004 well, I'll be happy!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by chis

Firstly, I'd rather stick with brands I know: MSI and Asus. And secondly, my 6800GS is an AGP card.

I've gone for an MSI K8MM-V ( http://www.msicomputer.com/product/p...8MM-V&class=mb ), and an Athlon 64 3400+. I hope I don't have to upgrade THIS for a while!

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If you haven't bought the mobo yet, I really would urge you to consider the ASRock. It's s939, so CPUs are easily available, including the fabled Opteron 144/146.

It uses DDR RAM.

Also, as a double bonus, it has an AGP slot AND a x16 PCIe slot, so you can use your 6800 now and upgrade to something better in 12/18 months' time.

Edit: chis: you posted your last message whilst I was writing this - but if you can cancel your order I really would recommend it.

Well, I did look at a few 939 motherboards to see if ANY of them had AGP. I must have missed ASRock... I have never used ASRock boards, so I tend not to consider them. MSI or Asus, usually. ;)

Thanks for the recommendation Schmunk, but I put the order through for both the CPU and the motherboard quite a few hours ago. Again, as long as this is fast enough to play UT2004 at a reasonable speed (I'm not asking for 200fps :P), I'll be happy.