ATI low fps issue, help!!

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john12345

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Here's the problem... I recently bought a sapphire x1600 pro 256 MB 8x graphics card (AGP) and i had been getting low fps. I first thought it was the card, but then my roomate tried it in his computer and it ran beautifully. At the same time i ran his card (9700 pro) and got the same drivers. i tried the new omega the new ati and the version before. i have tried reformatting but nothing seems to work. It seems to lag or jerk when running. On the "stress test" for CS:S i get 30-40 fps average, my roomate got 100 when he ran it. i have had problems on BF2, CS 1.6 and CS:S. 1.6 runs worse than my nvidia geforce ti 4200. I get around 60 fps (in cs 1.6) It would seem i have issues on just ATI cards. I have used a Geforce FX 5700LE and did not have this problem either. My system is as follows:

AMD Barton 2500+
MSI k7n2 Delta -ILSR
Corsair DDR 400 (512) and Kingston DDR 400 (512)-Single Channel -(1 GB total)
Sapphire x1600 Pro AGP 256 MB

If someone could figure out why im having this issue it would be great, also if more info is needed let me know.
 
Maybe ur PC doesn't have enough space for air to circulate? That might be causing the card to overheat.
BTW, u have to uninstall ur old graphic card drivers from safe mode and then install the new ones when windows boots up normally, assuming u had a standalone video card before.
 
thanks for da post

thanks for the post, i appreciate your input, yes i did uninstall drivers from safe mode numerous times even using driver cleaner pro. That did nothing, then i reformatted and installed drivers, still same result. Also, the side of my case is completely off, and i have a beep warning in bios for system temp, so i dont think that is the case. Also, im not overclocking, just running at stock speed. To iterate the problem just largely irregular and erratic fps. Not only can i see it visually the numbers are jumping, even offline. In CS 1.6 my geforce ti 4200 (99 fps solid) outperforms my ati x1600 pro (20-60 fps) big time. That should not happen! If you have any other suggestion that would help, thanks!
 
My PSU is a Thermaltake 480 Watt...
other components inculde:
Liteon DVD-RW drive SOHW-81s
Sony CD-RW CRX220E1
Western Digital HD 120GB Special Edition with 8MB buffer
PCI NIC
PCI USB
PCI Firewire
...i think that is pretty much everything... any ideas?
 
I would say it is a problem with the AGP slot or the PSU, coz it seems the card is getting insufficient power to run properly. This seems to be the most likely problem, because of the fact that all ur other components are in order and that u tried it in ur mate's PC where it works fine. Overheating is also out of the question. So it's either ur PSU or ur mobo. Try a new one of each if possible. It'll help u diagnose what's giving u the problem.
 
Thanks a whole bunch rage, i appreciate the help. I'll troubleshoot both things you suggested. if i figure it out for sure ill post back, but im 90% sure its mobo.
 
i agree the the card might not be getting enough juice to run properly. it might be ur agp slot but i doubt it.
 
ok...update....

I just tried another psu i have on hand that is a 430W (which is known to be a good PSU), and no change. Also, i removed a few pci cards closest to the AGP slot, just to humor the overheating idea in order to remove any doubt, also, no change. So now unless there are any other ideas im about 99% sure the problem is the Mobo. Again, any further suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
 
thanks webaib for the suggestion... did you mean anisotrophic filtering? i tried it and it got a lot worse, the frame rates stayed about the same, but it got extremely, extremely laggy....i couldnt see how you could get better frame rates with it on...thats weird. hmm...
 
1).What are the specs of your friend's machine?
2).Did you adjust the AGP aperature size in the BIOS??
3).Try enabling/disabling fastwrites in the BIOS. With some motherboards, fastwrite causes instability.
4).How many case fans do you have?? You should have at least two: one in front sucking air in and one in back blowing air out.
5).Have you tried updating your BIOS? Version 7.8 is the latest version for your motherboard.
6).Your processor might be the culprit if all else fails. AMD athlonXP Barton 2500 right?

cheers
 
thanks greenmachine for the suggestions.....

my friend has a Asus A7N8X Deluxe (or the -E Deluxe, not sure which), AMD xp-m 2400+
-My aperature is set to 256, because i have a 256MB card, i tried it set it at 512 and 128 as basic troubleshooting when i first had this issue, but not a whole lot of difference either way...but it is and has been set at 256.
-One of the first things i tried was enabling and disabling fastwrite in software, but i just changed it to disable in bios and no change.
-I have a 3 case fanse...two in and one out, but the side of my case has been off for the past few weeks rendering fans almost irrelevant in this particular case.
-My BIOS is version 7.8 and has been.
-And last...why would 2500+ be a culprit of this issue, what could the cpu have anything to do with it? im asking because i cant think of a reason, and therefore, obviously, you know something i dont, so what could a CPU do beside be too slow as to cause a bottleneck, which i wouldnt think a 2500+ would.

thanks greenmachine for the suggestions...if you have anymore or have intuition into my problem, that would be great! Also thanks again for everyone is who trying to help i appreciate it greatly!
 
***UPDATE***

So many people never update once they fix their problem, so i decided i wasnt going to do this. So for those of you who care and/or helped me try to fix my issue here goes....

I had a MSI K7N2 Delta-ILSR mobo, which i thought had become defective, i replaced it with a brand new MSI board (K7N2 Delta2-LSR). I wanted a different brand board since i have seen so many problems with my friends boards who got MSI and since the problem could be an MSI issue (even though i couldnt find evidence of this on forums), but since this was the best quality board that i could find still available that had what i needed, i went ahead and bought it anyway. After installing this board i reinstalled nvidia mobo drivers and *poof* the problem went away. Now my computer runs beautifully. THANKS so much to all who took time to try to help me fix this issue!!!
 
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