Underperforming GPU?

[kidzer]

I've just build my new system (specs in 'My System'), and compared to what I used to run, its amazing.

I can't help feeling slightly underwhelmed by its performance though.

I was running the F.E.A.R demo last night (very good game ), and in places it was getting rather jumpy with low FPS (with not much AA/AF, 4/8 IIRC), which I thought was a bit odd for a E6750/8800GTS/2GiB RAM combo, so I downloaded the demo of 3DMark06 last night, to run this morning.

Now, being the demo, it'll only run at 1280x1024, but anyways, I still only got around 6.5k, looking online an 8800GTS should be scoring around 9k, unless I've been reading dud info - I'm running this driver with it, if that helps.

Does Vista really have such a huge effect on performance, or is my GPU at fault? It's a BFG 8800GTS OC, I'm going to try removing the overclock on it tonight to see if it might be causing an issue, unless anyone else has other suggestions?

Cheers,
David

[kalniel]

Something's not right. What temperature is the card running during 3dmark?

[kidzer]

I've checked it before (grr @ having to use nTune, it looks silly! I should try Powerstrip I think), and its at about 76C under load, which is high, but not dangerously so I dont think.

I would stick an aftermarket cooler on it, but I dont know if there are any (decent ones) available for the 8xxx-series cards yet?

[kalniel]

I wouldn't throw aftermarket things on just yet.

Run nTune and have a look at the pattern of how the temperature increases - does it smoothly rise and then plateau at ~76?

[kidzer]

I shall do so when I get home tonight

[d3fiant]

there is a known impact of playin games on vista over XP, MS have released a number of patches not currently rolled out via Auto Updates that address these, let me dig out some links for ya

Copied my post from another forum below;

*** are about to release a new patch that addresses the 2GB barrier problem in 32bit Vista that I know some peeps here are having.

Full info about how and why can be found on Anandtech

Patch is not due to released until Aug 23rd but is obtainable now via *** Customer Support and other locations such as Hotfix Share

x86 (32bit) Patch from HOTFIX SHARE

x64 (64bit) Patch from HOTFIX SHARE - 32bit apps installed on a 64bit OS still need to be patched apparently, a little concerning since they are sayin a 64bit OS is the solution.....not if u have 32bit apps....

This should be installed after the recent performance and compatibility patches;
938979 Vista Performance and Reliability Pack
938194 Vista Compatibility and Reliability Pack

Hope this helps people, solved my inability to run CoH on Vista at medium-high settings. Obviously this is at your own risk, mods if this is inappropriate here please move or delete

Note this doesnt change the 2GB barrier, but it does fix an issue which returns usage to close to XP levels, see the anandtech link above for a MUCH better description


I would also suggest u install the latest beta from nvidia HERE

[tinners]

My 8800GTS card was running at 72-76 idle with no problems.

In FEAR with everything on I get 40 - 60 FPS under XP.

I just added another fan into my case pointing at the gfx card and the temps went down quite a bit

Did you check your gfx fan speed ? I would use Rivatuner to check the temps / fan speed etc.to see what happens with them when you play a game.

[Blitzen]

I've just build my new system (specs in 'My System'), and compared to what I used to run, its amazing.

I can't help feeling slightly underwhelmed by its performance though.

I was running the F.E.A.R demo last night (very good game ), and in places it was getting rather jumpy with low FPS (with not much AA/AF, 4/8 IIRC), which I thought was a bit odd for a E6750/8800GTS/2GiB RAM combo, so I downloaded the demo of 3DMark06 last night, to run this morning.

Now, being the demo, it'll only run at 1280x1024, but anyways, I still only got around 6.5k, looking online an 8800GTS should be scoring around 9k, unless I've been reading dud info - I'm running this driver with it, if that helps.

Does Vista really have such a huge effect on performance, or is my GPU at fault? It's a BFG 8800GTS OC, I'm going to try removing the overclock on it tonight to see if it might be causing an issue, unless anyone else has other suggestions?

Cheers,
David

I agree that is low.
I have a system with slightly lower specs than yours (similar card but i have 4gb RAM) and i am hitting 8519 and thats still a little on the low side. (Im using the same driver aswell).

[kidzer]

Cheers chaps, d3fiant - I'll try installing those beta drivers and if that doesn't work I'll apply that patch you linked to - I already have the performance/compatibility patches installed.

[d3fiant]

Cheers chaps, d3fiant - I'll try installing those beta drivers and if that doesn't work I'll apply that patch you linked to - I already have the performance/compatibility patches installed.

yeah the two perf/comp patches improved vista generally but didnt resolve my gaming issues, mainly company of heroes, however the newer patch has improved my fps to levels that Ive seen when running XP

[kidzer]

yeah the two perf/comp patches improved vista generally

ditto, my Vista install seemed more responsive after installing them, having said that - it might've been because the indexing that takes place over the first few days had stopped then too!

[kidzer]

Right, I've tried that patch and the beta drivers and I'm at around 7828 3DMarks now, it still doesn't seem right to me though, or am I being greedy?

I don't think I am, given this: http://www.nvnews.net/reviews/msi_ge...mb/index.shtml

Different card, but its an 8800GTS too.

[d3fiant]

Ive always found the 3dmark score subjective, and to be fair, a little pointless. I would stick to how it performs in games. Every system is different, and there have been countless changes to the OS and drivers since the above review was written so I wouldnt read too much into it. There are far too many variables to compare what u have with what someone else has at any given time.

One thing I will raise is that DX9 on Vista is poor, its getting better, but its poor compared to DX9 on XP. DX10 is still early days and I hope it gets better cos Im itching to go out and grab me an 8800GTS

[kidzer]

One thing I will raise is that DX9 on Vista is poor,

Aah, that I wasn't aware of.

If I can find my old XP serial I'll install XP and see how it goes on there, and report back.

(Or infact, first I will try running 3DMark in XP compatibility mode, see if that helps).

[d3fiant]

I doubt compatibility mode will make that much difference. There are many theories on why DX9 on Vista is poor compared to that on XP but most agree it may be down to how different driver models are now used. I have a level of faith that things will get better as they have improved significantly over the last few weeks with both MS and Nvidia (no experience of ATI/AMD) producing some good updates after months of stagnation. I havent yet made the leap for DX10 as the current crop of cards and game combos havent yielded exactly great results

[kidzer]

Right, an update:

Back using XP justnow, score went up a bit - but that's of little consequence now;

Now, almost everytime I run a 3D App - the first 2 or 3 times on new drivers seem to be OK for some reason, I get a BSOD citing nv4_disp.dll as causing the error - "The Above file caused an infinite loop, this can be caused by faulty hardware or faulty drivers programming the hardware." Edit: got the error codes: 0x000000EA (0x88B7F020,0x89BD15C8,0xBACE30BC,0x00000001)

I've tried the following drivers; 160.02, 158.23 and 162.18, all with the same symptoms.

The process I use to replace drivers is as follows (incase I'm doing something silly I've not realised);
- Uninstall using the nVidia Uninstall utility
- Reboot in Safe Mode, run driver clearner to remove any remaining nVidia files
- Reboot again and install new Drivers and reboot when prompted

Does anyone have any suggestions to help?

Edit: The other error I sometimes get is a popup window like this:


Now, this fills me with a bit of hope that it's just a driver issue (as does the fact that I got no errors when using Vista).

Another edit: Ignore system spec, I'm back @ stock everything for fixing this issue.
Also, when FEAR did work, it was complaining my GPU didn't have enough VRAM to run FEAR at anything less than Minimum settings, which seemed odd also.