Bioshock Demo and Performance

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JoeM076

- I know this is a long post, but just hang in there. :) :) :)

I recently downloaded the Bioshock demo through Steam and everything about the game is beautiful. My concern is that the performance of the game, frames per second wise, is not very good on my computer. Paying a lot for high quality computer parts and not recieving good performance from those products is my concern, and frankly it makes me mad. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to increase the performance of the games I play, especially in preperation for the release of Crysis? If I can only play Bioshock at a maximum of 30 frames per second, Crysis will be a slideshow.

- I currently have an average of 40 processes running in the backround according to the Task Manager, is this too much? It's hard not to have this many programs running when you have Windows Vista.

- I regularly defragment my hardrive, cleanup my disks, scan for viruses and spyware, and error check. My computer is clean as far as I know. :)

- Everything is up-to-date and working, except my DirectShow.(My computer has a problem accessing it when running 'dxdiag'.)

My computer specifications are:

- Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 2.66GHz
- Nvidia XFX Geforce 8800GTX
- 2GB of RAM - Viking(Is this bad?)
- 140GB 10,000RPM Hard Drive
- 300GB 7,200RPM Hard Drive
- Windows Vista Home Premium

- Should I get a new and more trustworthy brand of RAM? Is this contributing to my poor framerates?

*** I shouldn't get poor framerates in Bioshock, so why do I?***

- If some noble TechSpot member can answer these questions I have and provide some suggestions( 1, 2, 3 ..it doesn't matter), that would be great!
 
Ok, I updated my drivers, and read the other thread. I performed the System Requirement Lab and I passed everything in all catagories, but I am still getting an average framerate of about 17 with everything on "High." This shouldn't be and I do not know why it is.
 
What does your computer do when you run dxdiag? Does it not do anything or does an error messge pop up? Also 40 processes seems like ALOT. Try to cut those down, maybe that would work. But i do not know that much about vista, so maybe all of those processes are needed. Also try turning your video settings on medium and see if there is a drastic change.
 
- When I run 'dxdiag' a message pops up saying this: http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u318/PCRYJ/sdfsdfsdf.jpg

If I click Yes it just bypasses it and I can't do the display tests in the Display tab. If I click No it says that dxdaig has stopped working and then it closes. It says that my computer has a problem accessing DirectShow.

- I have tried for a very long time to get rid of as many processes as possible, but Vista just has SO many system processes that it is very difficult to do so.

- When I ran Bioshock on 'Medium', which by the way was ------ ugly, the average framerate was about 25. Not a big improvement for such a big graphical change. Hmm..

**May I also mention that I have had DirectX issues with Steam games, where I had to run CS:S and HL2: D using -dxlevel 70 as the launch option. I only had to do this though because I recieved a black menu screen upon startup of the games. I did not have this problem with Bioshock.
 
It is probably one of 3 things. Your CPU is going slower then it should (not very likely), something is going wrong with your RAM (run memtest if you really think this is it), or the video card's driver is not working properly. Did you have to take out a video card in order to install your new 8800GTX card? If you did, did you completely uninstall your first video card drivers? Or it just maybe because 8800GTX is a new technologym, so expect there to be things wrong with it.
 
When I reinstalled my drivers I first uninstalled it from the control panel, then I deleted it from my local disk, and then I deleted it from my registry. I don't think it's my CPU, because I have a gadget that tracks my CPU activity on my desktop, and it is not that high. It could be, and probably is a little bit of my RAM's fault, considering I have about 40 programs running in the backround. Also, the DirectShow problem probably has some negative affect on my computer.

- I didn't have to take my video card out to install it.
 
Id say its you OS or a driver issue. I can play Bioshock at 1600x1200 with a single 7900GT. I dont know what the frame rates are but I dont have any complaints.
 
I'm thinking it is a DirectX issue, but i do not know how to reinstall DirectX. :( I haven't found any information on the topic yet.
 
JoeM076 said:
I'm thinking it is a DirectX issue, but i do not know how to reinstall DirectX. :( I haven't found any information on the topic yet.
Click to expand...

You say you have a device tracking CPU usage?
This wouldn't happen to be the Vista Sidebar widget? If it is you should uninstall it since it has a memory leak. I had that on my sidebar when I first installed Vista and was wowed by the sidebar. Eliminating it brought down my memory usage considerably.
 
vegasgmc and supersmashbrada are right,vista is the obvious culprit,run the same game on xp,u'll get a great result,vista is not for gaming,i doubt whether vista is for anything...
 
ani123, there are about 3 other active threads where you can go bash Vista, do it there if you must. I'm running the game on Vista with a lower graphics card without any problems. The OS is no more responsible for his problems than XP is for the other 95% of the threads in this forum.
 
In response to heavyhebrew I'm going to run the game without Windows Sidebar. I'll see if that makes a difference, and if that is what's using a large amount of RAM.
 
Ok well I started my computer up without Windows Sidebar and I STILL got an average framerate of about 17. At this point what else could it be?!
 
Well, get the latest drivers, and also the hotfix for vista from the nvidia.com website.

also, when you say "RAM - viking".. are you talking about generic ram from this company or is it any good, have you researched the parts that you bought?

At what settings/resolutions are you playing that you are getting 30 fps?

im getting smooth fluid gameplay without any lag whatsoever,
check my pc, and your pc is better, so 30 fps.. that sounds like something is messed up.

You can always go to the store with your computer and explain your problem, they should do something about it, unless maybe you bought it off the net?
 
- Yes I have Viking RAM from the company and I believe it is of good quality.
- Also, I play Bioshock with all of the settings on "High", and the resolution at 1280 x 1024.
- I have the latest drivers and I still seem to be getting poor framerates. :(
 
JoeM076 said:
- Yes I have Viking RAM from the company and I believe it is of good quality.
- Also, I play Bioshock with all of the settings on "High", and the resolution at 1280 x 1024.
- I have the latest drivers and I still seem to be getting poor framerates. :(
Click to expand...

Only one question then, does this happen in all the games/most the games?
low fps?

if the answer is yes, I strongly suggest taking the pc back to the store and ask for new parts because you are not getting the performance for the hardware you bought, its probably low-quality hardware, or defective, if i was in your position thats would I would do, if they won't do it then ill return the computer for money and buy it from another store.
 
TimeParadoX said:
After I read this: http://www.tweakguides.com/Bioshock_1.html

It said that the DX10 videocards might actually decrease performance compared to DX9 videocards, he also shows a animated .gif picture with the diffrences between DX10 and DX9... nearly no difference except a more shiny picture :|
Click to expand...

you mean dx10 cards running in dx10, that may be true, because there are more effects, detail textures in dx10.

but as far as dx10 capable cards offer lower performance in dx9...
thats just a matter of graphics card power .vs. graphics card power...
thats it.
 
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