CPU bottlenecking?

I can get an ATA/100 controller card for $25, so I think I'll give that a try and see if it works.

Shaft,

Intel made 2 versions of the 1Ghz PIII FC-PGA > one @ 100 FSB & one @ 133 FSB. If you have the 133 running @ 100 = 750mhz. Just a 'heads up' to check on.

I'd suggest applying the 'tips' on SiSandra. Some (splash screen, animated windows, etc.) won't matter much, tho'. Here is what I see tho':

"Warning W2207: MSI MS-StarForce GeForce4 Ti 4400 (NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti
4400) (\\.\Display1\U1) : Video card does not have 3D
accelerated hardware. Consider upgrading. What!?
Tip T2212: MSI MS-StarForce GeForce4 Ti 4400 (NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti
4400) (\\.\Display1\U1) : No hardware stretch support.
Tip T2213: MSI MS-StarForce GeForce4 Ti 4400 (NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti
4400) (\\.\Display1\U1) : No hardware overlay support.
Tip T2216: MSI MS-StarForce GeForce4 Ti 4400 (NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti
4400) (\\.\Display1\U1) : No Z-buffering support.
Warning W2211: MSI MS-StarForce GeForce4 Ti 4400 (NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti
4400) (\\.\Display1\U1) : No hardware colour-space
conversion support. "

Where is all the hardware support? SiSandra says: "Tip T2207 - Your video card does not support any hardware 3D functions or they are not implemented in this version of the video driver.
Fix: If you do have the latest video driver consider upgrading the video card if you play 3D games.
SiSoftware Sandra Help File"

It doesn't say the driver doesn't support it > says the card doesn't. ??? SiSandra is a respected benchmark/program. I'd get ahold of MSI (or your retailer) & try another card.

I agree: you should be on fire! :hotbounce

PS: FWIW, my GF2MX400 doesn't have any of these 'warnings' & shows everything is supported & working.

My processor is 100 FSB, I know for sure. As for the SiSoft reporting, I've had a number of programs reporting things wrong, and I believe SiSoft said something about inaccurate info when I ran the tests. If the card actually didn't support these functions the games wouldn't run, which they do. My hard drives are transferring data at ATA-33, but with the controller card they will with ATA-100, which should make a difference.

Shaft,

I missed the ATA-33, card couldn't hurt.

I'm sure you've done this, but gotta bring it up anyway just in case: you have gone into 'Control Panel" > 'Display' > 'Settings' > 'Advanced' > 'Performance' & set the slider at full? Might set it lower > reboot > set it all the way up & reboot, too to check its 'function'.

Have you ran: "dxdiag.exe" in 'Start' under 'Run'? I should have mentioned that sooner. Have you checked w/Western Digital for a driver update? Might get lucky ...

HTH,

Yes performance is all the way up and DirectX supports it's direct3D/directdraw. The problem isn't with the vid card, as I believe I had slowdown in large areas with my Geforce 2 as well (I figured it would go away with the upgrade).

After doing some more tinkering with FreshUI and my video drivers, I've raised my 3dmarks to 6701.

Shaft,

Things *are* looking up then, good.

Great having these software programs to help figure things out & improve performance. I personally like 'Fresh' UI & Diagnose: they're small, but packed with info. :grinthumb

Seems like the ATA-100 card is a logical choice: if it isn't getting from the HD to the card fast enough, doesn't matter how fast the card is. :rolleyes:

Let us know how it works & your new benchmarks, please.

This is the card I'm looking at, tell me if you have any problems with it or would recommend something else.

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/...search&page=search.asp&instock=0&refurbished=

Shaft,

Since that card is from Dell, as your computer, & since they have it on their website & it is so reasonably priced: I *think* it is a wise investment *IF* it will fit & the cables will hook up. :grinthumb

I think it's nice that Dell offers the card as an upgrade instead of just leaving you to your own sources as so many other companies do. Nice warranty offered too.

I also noticed it supports Ultra DMA, too.

Enjoy!

Well I got my card today and installed it flawlessly. I did some hard drive benchmarks and was amazed at the improvements (3DMarks improved to 6751 and the Freshdiagnose HD benchmarks shot up dramatically), but it didn't help my original problem . There is still noticible slowdown in the same areas.

Shaft,

Glad the card installed & has made a difference. Shame it didn't solve your problem entirely, but I'm sure it is $ well spent! :grinthumb

Could you do me a favor? Run FD 'Graphics Adapter' benchmark & 'Processor' benchmark > save > copy & paste them here? I'd like to see the pixels & flood fills on the card, among the other items, & the CPU info ... please.

The HD's are moving the data, the PIII should process it just fine (IMO), the vid card is more than capable ... what is left? AGP & RAM? Seems, based on what you are saying, that 'in close' it is rendering fine. Complex polygons (CPU's job) aren't the problem then. Wide open spaces (lotsa texture, right?) is. Texture can be allocated to *system* RAM. Could the ECC be too slow & you need to allocate more texture to the card & less to the *system* for textures? Just a thought.

I want to upgrade to that (or the 133) PIII, so I'm interested if it is the CPU or memory or AGP or ... :rolleyes: You've seen improvements on getting the info to the PIII quicker already. It appears to be doing its job.

Hang in there,

ECC is turned off and my AGP aparture shows no diff. bet 256 and 64.

CPU Bench Result
WhetStone FPU 1,564 MWIPS
DhryStone ALU 2,839 MDIPS
Speed 1007 MHz

Benchmark Result
Random Pixels 700 KPixels/s
Lines 438,333 Lines/s
Circles 9,244 Circles/s
Rectangles 21,035 Rectangles/s
Texts 309,553 Chars/s
FloodFills 3,775,840 KPixels/s
Draw 34,678 KPixels/s

Benchmark Info
Device Name MSI MS-StarForce GeForce4 Ti 4400 (NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4400)
Device ID \\.\Display1\U0
Benchmark Mode 800 x 600 pixels
Color Depth

Shaft,

Thanks.

Your CPU looks to be where it should be compared to mine & the 'reference' CPU's FD furnishs, IMO. Here's my Celeron & you smoke me on FPU (no SSE 4 me) as you should & you nearly dbl my ALU w/less than dbl my mhz.

My CPU Bench Result
WhetStone FPU 480MWIPS
DhryStone ALU 1,523MDIPS
Speed 566 MHz (oc'd 500)

The card looks killer (compared to my GF2MX40064) in everything but floodfills, to me.

Benchmark Result
Random Pixels 433 KPixels/s
Lines 314,666 Lines/s
Circles 4,828 Circles/s
Rectangles 13,066 Rectangles/s
Texts 192,956 Chars/s
FloodFills 2,972,480 KPixels/s
Draw 19,046 KPixels/s

Benchmark Info
Device Name NVIDIA GeForce2 MX/MX 400
Device ID \\.\Display1\U0
Benchmark Mode 800 x 600 pixels
Color Depth 16 Bit

I realize FD isn't 'perfect' & these #'s can change slightly each time FD is run, but hopefully someone else can see this & will run their Ti & let us know if your FF's are 'normal' or not (& anything else) & maybe figure out what is the hang up.

Sorry I don't have any answers.

Helluva week.

Sorry for my late reply, but I had a rather nasty registry error that knocked my internet connection down for a week. I completely formatted my HDs and installed XP, so when I get all my software installed I'll run some more tests/benchmarks.

Shaft,

Glad ya made it back. Hopefully all goes well.

The problem is still there. It must be a limitation of my mobo or something to that extent. I really am enjoying XP and it's stability though!

Shaft,

You like XP huh? I've heard its a: 'love it or hate it' thing, but Win98SE has been excellent for me for yrs so I haven't even experienced XP yet. Glad it is stabile for ya & we know that ATA card is helping things too. :grinthumb

BX chipsets are kinda old. They were screamers in their day but ... That & the AGP2X ... ??? Maybe XP has a 'work around' or something to help.

Have a good one,

If I find anything that works I'll let you know. Thanks for all your help.

My pleasure.

hmm.

Well here are my thoughts after reading the entire thread. AGP 4x offers little real improvement over AGP 2x, about 5-10% I believe it is. One thing I didn't see posted here, though you very well may have done this is check over for the latest patches for the games themselves, and windows xp. It seems that you should be screaming hardware wise. Though the BX chipset itself is long in the tooth, it is advisable to upgrade that mobo, processor, and ram.

Also one thing I just thought of. The Geforce 4 cards are starting to become known for slowing under heavy load. It appears not to be brand specific as well. I have been reading some boards to see if anyone else has had a similar problem to yourself and it seems this is becoming a more common problem. I think that this might be caused by a power supply unit that just can't cut it. What is the rating on your PSU? if its 250W then that could very well be the problem right there. I have read of people having this problem even with 300W psu's though. The Geforce 4 is one power hungry bugger it seems.

I hope some of that helps, it is nearly 2:30 am for myself so if I am not making sense please forgive me.

Good luck!

Ayasha

I always keep everything up to date (OS, games, hardware drivers, etc.), so it can't be that. From reading on the Delltalk message board, I believe the stock PSU is 200W. I read a few of the posts and it seems that many people have used all the system's power outlets without any problems. Replacing the PSU is really a last-resort option for me (aside from a new mobo, which isn't gonna happen), so I hope there is something else I could do.

Here is an excerpt from one of the posts:

The Dell PS can actually supply more 3.3v and 5v power than many 300 watt PS (they just have less 12v power, however your video card does not use 12v power).