for now I am just going to stick with 32 bit because I checked that some of the software I have are only compatible with 32 bit version of vista. so probably it's a good idea to wait a year or so until most of the things are compatible with 64-bit.

I'm running Bioshock maxed out with a geforce 7900GTX, XP 32bit and 2 gigs of ram


everythings running perfectly smooth.. no problems...


so its probably something to do with vista... maybe 2K have yet to release some drivers for vista support? maybe something to do with DX10?

I doubt it has anything to do with 32 bit/64bit

unless you DO upgrade to 4gigs or ram, you should stick with 32 bit


there shouldnt be any trouble.

Do you even have vertical sync on ? because that makes a big difference in performance. I get good performance with vertical sync off but the screen tears a lot. And with on the fps stays at about 30 when there is lighting, fire and you know that kind of stuff. If there is a dark and narrow corridor the fps stays at 60 even with vertical sync on.
I am just worried about Crysis, wonder how that will run? The demo is coming out on Sept. 24th so I will find out soon.

yeah, vsync does that.

The reason is that D3D can't start drawing the next frame until your monitor refreshes (until the vertical sync happens in a VGA signal). So if it takes even a microsecond longer to render than for your monitor to refresh, the program ends up waiting for the next vsync and FPS halfs. So as a result, your FPS on a 60Hz monitor can only be one of 60, 30, (or 20, 15, 12, 10) when you use vsync.

A solution is either to up frequency (if your old crt was running at 120hz, dropping down to 60 or 40 wouldn't be so bad). Or to turn on triple buffering. With a third buffer (in addition to the front and back) D3D doesn't have to stop working. However, extra buffers introduce lag. After you move your mouse, you'll have to wait an extra frame before seeing the response. At 55FPS, this isn't so bad. At 20, it can be pretty annoying. It also really depends on the game.

vsync is sometimes more trouble than it's worth, but tearing is really fn annoying. it's too bad most people don't really know what it is.

Actually, EA said they'll discontinue the demo because Halo 3 ( I hate that game so much ) is coming out the same day

It said it on G4TV.com

Bioshock needs a lot of help at the moment. Hopefully, much of it will be addressed in future patches.

VSYNC, as already mentioned, doesn't seem to work properly with triple-buffering.. which causes poor performance.

The DX10 path also causes largish drops in performance with very, very little improvement in visuals (slightly sharper shadows, some slightly improved fog effects, etc.).

Even though you're on Vista with DX10, I strongly recommend using the DX9 path in the game as this should almost double your framerate with little loss. The DX10 additions are very small and not quite optimal yet.

Good luck and enjoy the game! We're all keeping our eyes open for game patches and driver patches to help address the two issues above.

triple-buffering works fine on my win2k3+8600gt (and i assume xp) when forced in the nvidia panel.

dx10 hurts performance a lot only on ati cards. nvidia 8x00 actually improve a tiny bit. but vista sucks.

Dude
here is my spec

AMD 6000 3GhZ x 2
2GB Kingston RAM
SB X-Fi
8800GTS

I have been gettign really low FPS myslef

Can i ask... are you using xfire?

For the Record Vista doesn't suck, you just need to know how to adapt to its changes.... 64x has a lot more problems than the 32bit but the 64bit will be more stable with the SP1 release towards the end of the year.
going to 4GB RAM will increase performance but wont really whack any real FPS to your gameplay......
V Sync OFF! i agreee with for the fact if you have it on it locks your FPS to what ever your monitor can knock out....... The Tearing effect is annoying to start with but you will get used to it .... are you getting 50FPS on Bioshock maxed out!!! what are you worried about?

I got better visual and blooming effect, and the clarity of the environment when i turn V sync on xD

maybe i was running on a 1.7 yr old car [The x1900XT 512mbDDR3]

Read this about low fps on the 8800 series
http://www.beyond3d.com/content/news/349

It's probably with certain versions of the cards, as stated in witekdk's link. I have a similar setup with XP x64 and it works silky smooth in DX9 mode. How about you? Have you tried running it in DX9 mode at all?

ok i don't know if this will help but as i see the minimum cpu speed is 2.4 GHz(i have seen my friend playing bioshock on a 3.0 GHz processor and i looked like it ran perfect ,he has all the same specs as you except for the cpu speed , yours is 2.4 GHz his is 3.0 Ghz,maybe that is your problem...But i don't know.

I have a QX6700 overclocked (and STABLE) at 3.2 GHz
Dual 8800 GTXs
2 GB RAM
On XP

And it seems to jump on max settings if I move my mouse quickly. More than a little disappointed (Iwas expecting it to be COMPLETELY smooth)! I've tried downloading the latest drivers from nVidia and was goign to download the latest drivers from Dell's website (it's an XPS H2C) but the warning message stated that the nVidia drivers were newer so I didn't. For some reason I can't select whether to use DX10 or not. I am running it through a DVI to VGA adaptor (waiting for decent cables) but I can't see how this could be a cause for the problem. Also it was on a Samsung LE32R87 but this should only cause motion blurring, not this poor frame rate. How can I test my frame rate whilst playing the game?

If you're running XP as you stated, you won't be able to select DX10 mode. It will be shaded out and unavailable to select.
I haven't had a problem with the game or low frames. Just installed the 163.75 drivers and it runs just a tad better than the drivers recommended during installation and activation.

Guys,

Wouldn't you think monitor resolution an essential thing to mention?? Running Bioshock maxed out doesn't necessarily mean the same thing in ever circumstance, does it?

After reading this thread, I would agree that upgrading to 4 gb on Vista 32bit will offer no significant increase in performance.

Also, had you considered a dual boot? Running 32bit on one HDD and 64bit on another.

Raz

Almost the entire game I had to play with vertical sync off because with it on the performance was bad so I just beat the game with vs off. The game is so great, I beat it twice, one time I rescued all little sisters and one time I harvested them all. It was fun. Best FPS so far after half life 2.

well Bioshock aren't up to my expectation :S
Got to lvl 2 and i stop playing this game. Its basiclly killing the same AI, same appearance enemy at every turn. The only good part is the graphic. It never give me motion sickness unlike TimeShift : D

Hey guys I have: Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3P, Samsung SyncMaster 226BW, Antec 550 watt, Intel Core 2 Duo E6750, 4GB 1333mhz DDR2 Corsair RAM, Inno3D 8800GTS, Antec 900 case, 750GB HDD WD, and Logitech Speaker and I get around 65-70 fps in Bioshock with everything maxed out and it runs so smooth everything on high detail aswell. ps: with directx 10 enabled aswell, its totally awesome.

If you have the game running with DX10 textures it'll have a slowdown, with DX9 enabled it's fine, I read about it on www.tweakguides.com and in the compare pictures there is almost no difference, so try doing Dx9 textures instead of dx10

Yeah but there is hardly any difference in fps when i tested it with fraps. also I have had no errors with the game, It runs so good