Problem with new graphics card, need help

[shalashaska123]

I just bought a new Sapphire ATI Radeon 9600 and i need some help. Whenever i am running any game the graphics in the game always slow down to a horrible pace. This happens in ANY game, even simple games like the sims or in World of Warcraft. My processor is an Intel Celeron 2.00 ghz and i have 768 mb of RAM in my pc so i dont think those are the problems and i have downloaded all the current drivers for the card and i uninstalled the onboard graphics card on the motherboard. PLEASE HELP!

 

[kirock]

Slowing down while gaming usually means CPU overheating. Clean the HSF of all dust and debris. You can dwnload Speedfan for TS dwnloads to monitor your CPU temps. You might also need to remove the HSF from the CPU and clean-off the old thermal pad/thermal compound and install a fresh layer of Artic Silver.

For a quick check, clean out the HSF as best as possible, leave the side off and put a table fan blowing in the case.

Cheers.

 

[shalashaska123]

Thanks, ill try that right now and get back to tell if it worked.

 

[shalashaska123]

ok i cleaned it out and im using the speedfan application but im not sure which one is my CPU temp because its says temp 1(around 23 degrees Celsius) and temp 2(around 35 degrees celsius). if u could just tell me which is which

 

[shalashaska123]

it doesnt seem like the cpu is the problem, any other suggestions?

 

[kirock]

Did you try the table fan yet? Does Speedfan not list your gpu temp? You should have a reading like 55 or 60C, this will be the GPU. Run a game for awhile until the fps rate slows down. Close or minimize the game and immediately open Speedfan and check your gpu temp. It's not unheard of that a brand new video card has a defective HSF on the GPU.

Also check for any processes running when the fps goes low during gaming. Ctrl-Alt-Del to open the task manager and click on the process tab. See if anything that doesn't look right is running alot of CPU usuage.
Scan for spybots and other malware.

Did you update your mobo chipset drivers to the latest release from the manufacture's website?

BTW, does the fps start out ok, then after some time it drops? That really is a sign of CPU or GPU overheating. If it is just slow right from the start then you might need to turn of some Windows services, lower the resolution and any AA and other special video effects. The Celeron is not known for a kickazz gaming CPU and might be the bottleneck. But I assume the problem is these games all worked fine with your old graphics driver and card.
Maybe completely uninstall the card and driver in the Device Manager, reboot and let windows reinstall it and then direct it to the latest driver file you download from ATI's website.

Cheers.

 

[shalashaska123]

I did try the tabletop fan blowing on the cpu but that didnt help

With speed fan, there are only three listing (temp 1, temp 2, and HD0)
When running the game the highest temp i get(out of the three)is about 45 C, which i figure is the cpu. I dont think speed fan is reading the graphics card.

I have the latest drivers installed for the card.

The thing that occurs in any game is when i am in a small area vs a big area , or when there is alot of action vs little action. It doesnt slow down gradually overtime. But, i did notice when i opened the case there was some dust in the Graphics card fan, ill clean that out and see if that helps.

One last thing, should i have paging on the hard drive on when im playing games?(if it makes any difference)



Thanks for the help with this problem, please offer anymore suggestion.

 

[kirock]

The thing that occurs in any game is when i am in a small area vs a big area , or when there is alot of action vs little action. It doesnt slow down gradually overtime.

Ok this is a cpu thing, the cpu is the master of the game. It processes all the calls to the video card. The video card shines with the speed it can paint the picture and how much ram it has to take the next frame etc. But the cpu has to process all the physics of the game, i.e. big area or lots of action, no matter what video card you have. If you turn up all the resolutions and effects then the gpu spends all it's time painting, but the cpu needs to process a little more information when the resolution high. So the effect is the video card is working hard at it's max and the cpu is most likely over maxed and you have very low frame rates.
Another factor is the speed of the system RAM. All signals to the video card from the cpu goes through the RAM. If the RAM is a little slow, then the video card gets the signal a little late, and then when it's done painting the frame it tells the cpu it's ready for the next frame etc. If the process is slowed down by the RAM then the end result is low frame rates when the game gets processor intensive.

Paging is always a good idea. You should set it to 1.5 X the systems ram size. Definately turn off your AV program while playing games. You can try GameXP (freeware) which turns off unnecessary WinXP services which take up resources.