Bad FPS in any game - help needed

[jamespoacher]

system specs:

P4 1.6ghz dinosaur
512mb pc2700 DDR
Sapphire Radeon 9550 256mb
20GB hdd <--- due to previous HDD failiure
Win XP SP2 inc

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Before i express the problem, a hardware upgrade is out of the question at the moment...

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well here we go..

i play cs:source, mohaa spearhead and BF2 but i get really low fps, unbareable sometimes,

i get about 30-40 in mohaa, settings default, but it's still bad considering i used to play mohaa on this system (Geforce 440mx in the past) with 60-80 fps in the past,

i get about 10-15 fps in cs:source, all settings on low, no aa/af, HDR off, which is what the game defaults to when i installed it, which in my experience is bad, very bad concidering i play competitively for a clan and this impacts my gaming quality and i die at critical moments most of the time (When theres lots of polygon registering and gun fire) also i used to get a good fps when using my geforce 4 for this game too.

i get about 10 - 20 fps in BF2, all settings low, no aa/af which doesnt bother me much as i know my system can't handle this game well anyway


i've used a range of display drivers (ATi Catylyst 5.0 through 6.3), and overclocking tools (RivaTuner). i have set everything back to default and am using the 5.13 driver at the moment as that seems to run the games the best.

i've even used console commands in cs:source to set EVERYTHING to low, and turn anything un-necessary off, this usually raises my fps by a mere 1-3 points.

would upgrading my bios be a good thing to do, i know it's outdated (year 2002) I'm not sure unless i had someone next to me walking me through it as i have no idea how to use DOS.

can anyone help me with this problem,

any help is greatly appreciated,

if someone wouldnt mind donating an ultimate gaming rig to me i'd be much abliged to take it off thier hands /jk

---------EDIT----------

i have just recieved the latest BIOS for my motherboard in an email from the maufacturer but i don't know how to apply it to my motherboard.

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[kirock]

i die at critical moments most of the time

What's your gaming name and what servers do you play on. :slurp:
Just kidding.

Just some basic stuff here to start with. Have you defragged lately. What's your temps? CPU's slow down on over temp automatically (some ppl forget this, I'm hitting all the basic points). Have you scanned for spybots/trojans/viruses?
Any new software installed? How full is your HDD?

Welcome to TS btw. :wave:

 

[jamespoacher]

clean install of XP after format, 2 days ago, installed everything just after format, defragged 4 times about 2 hours ago to get it as close to defragged as i could, and cs runs choppy still, i havn't installed BF2 due to the 20gb HDD and mohaa is a little better but needs some work..

can you reccoment a good temp probe util for my pc? as i think it's getting hot too.

no spyware/viruses/trojans or the likes,

thakns for the welcome... i'm sure i registered a while ago but couldn't remember my details

 

[Ural_]

How much watt is your psu?

 

[jamespoacher]

400w generic piece of crap.

i believe that cs source runs bad because of steam... it used to run fine until about 2 months ago when steam was updated and now it runs really bad, mohaa is ok now since i've installed DirectX 9.0c Feb release, and i still havn't installed BF2 which im going to do once my downloads have finished

 

[kirock]

You can dwnload Everest Home Edition or use the 30day trial Pro version, to check your temps. Have you updated your northbridge chipset for your mobo? Just go to the mobo maufacture's website/downloads/motherboards..blah blah.
Use CPU-Z to determine your exact mobo and chipset.

Put a great big giant house fan on it with the side off and see if that helps.

Cheers.

 

[jamespoacher]

i know what mobo i have and is "Upgrading my northbridge" upgrading my bios?

i already have the newest bios but not used it yet cause i don't know how.

 

[kirock]

No BIOS is is an instruction set in the ROM memory of the mobo and it's not the same thing as mobo drivers. The drivers I'm talking about will be installed into Windows and they were installed already when the PC was built. But like any driver there's usually updates. This is the part where CPU-Z can tell you the exact make/model of your motherboard and chipset. Now you can go to the manufactures site and under downloads find the right drivers and install them.

Cheers.

 

[jamespoacher]

i have all the newest drivers from jetway via email...

my bios is over 4 years old now, but i have been sent a newish one from jetway i think its dated 2005, but anyway, would upgrading my bios be a good step? cause most of my hardware is new apart from my motherboard and processor so there might be compatibility issues...

how would i flash my bios..

oh and i know what bios is, i've been creating/flashing xbox bioses for 2 years nearly but thats all a case of slipping in a dvd and pressing flash... i have no clue how to flash a pc's bios...