Computer gamer at a loss

[skarmory2002]

OK so, I am very competitive with my brother. His system specs are:

AMD Athlon FX-60 S939 Dual Core
MSI K8 Diamond Plus.
2GB OCZ High Performance DDR400 Ram
XFX 8800GT 512mb

My system specs are:

AMD Phenom 9850 X4 Socket AM2+
ASUS M3A32MVP Deluxe Wifi
2GB OCZ High Performance DDR2800 Ram
BFG 8800GTS 512Mb

As far as I am concerned, I built this system specifically to be better than the hardware he has, yet it seems that there are some problems.
My computer lags in games and jitters like crazy. I don't know if I built it wrong or something. But as it turns out, my computer only scores about half as my brothers in 3d mark 06, but I dont think it should be like that. Any suggestions?

 

[LinkedKube]

Most games aren't designed for multicore systems yet. I would think that his 3D mark score would be higher than yours being that his video card is better, and his cpu is designed a little more around the enthusiast market.

 

[skarmory2002]

Most games aren't designed for multicore systems yet. I would think that his 3D mark score would be higher than yours being that his video card is better, and his cpu is designed a little more around the enthusiast market.

I figured the multicore would perform better than his however. I understand his proc is an enthusiast processor, but unlike him I cannot spend over $1000 on my processor alone. So quad core was the option.

On the mark of the video card, according to BFG website, the GTS is a better card or I would have went for the gt.

8800GT = $169-$189
8800GTS = $249

This confuses me lol, but thank you very much for your quick reply!

 

[Obi-Wan Jerkobi]

Today's games love Dual-Core processors, that's why lots of gaming pc's come with Core 2 Duo E8400's. And games also love high clock speeds, that's why overclocking works so well in games. If your brother has 2 high clock speed cores, that thing is going to be a monster for games. I am suprised, though, that that DDR400 is not bottlenecking the system.

The GTS512 is the better card, though, considering it's running the G92 Chipset.

The quad-core is more for media and stuff like that. Up until games finally take advantage of all the cores, they'll kind of be useless for games.

 

[LinkedKube]

On the mark of the video card, according to BFG website, the GTS is a better card or I would have went for the gt.

8800GT = $169-$189
8800GTS = $249

This confuses me lol, but thank you very much for your quick reply!

ok yes I see, you two are right about the video card.


You know you could have spend 250ish on an intel processor and raped his benchmarks.

 

[skarmory2002]

Today's games love Dual-Core processors, that's why lots of gaming pc's come with Core 2 Duo E8400's. And games also love high clock speeds, that's why overclocking works so well in games. If your brother has 2 high clock speed cores, that thing is going to be a monster for games. I am suprised, though, that that DDR400 is not bottlenecking the system.

The GTS512 is the better card, though, considering it's running the G92 Chipset.

The quad-core is more for media and stuff like that. Up until games finally take advantage of all the cores, they'll kind of be useless for games.

So going with the fact that I have a better video card, is there any way to drop the amount of cores that games see to 2 so that it will optimize the performance I receive from games.

And also, I realise that I could have spent the money on an Intel proc, but I have been an AMD fan since I bought my first PC. Although it may be the way to go if I HAVE to beat my bro lol.

Any suggestions as to what I can do about the poor performance?

 

[Rage_3K_Moiz]

Your poor performance may be because you may have a B2 revision CPU, which has the dreaded TLB bug. Have you tried using the patch for that from Asrock's site?

 

[Obi-Wan Jerkobi]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103194

This AMD Dual Core has an unlocked multiplier, so you can overclock the most out of it. If you have an aftermarket cooler on your rig (Like the Zalman 9500) you could use it on this CPU as well, so you can overclock without having to worry much about cooling.

@ Rage_3k: Isn't the patch for the pre B3 Phenom disabling the L3 cache on the processor?

 

[skarmory2002]

How would I be able to tell what revision I have? Is it listed in the BIOS screen?

 

[Rage_3K_Moiz]

Yes Obi, the patch disables the L3 cache, sacrificing some CPU stability for better performance.
@skarmory2002, the revision number would be listed by CPU-Z. Google for it.

 

[skarmory2002]

Yes Obi, the patch disables the L3 cache, sacrificing some CPU stability for better performance.
@skarmory2002, the revision number would be listed by CPU-Z. Google for it.

Does the B3 revision still have the L3 cache enabled?
I would prefer not to lose the stability if I can help it.

 

[LinkedKube]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103194

This AMD Dual Core has an unlocked multiplier, so you can overclock the most out of it. If you have an aftermarket cooler on your rig (Like the Zalman 9500) you could use it on this CPU as well, so you can overclock without having to worry much about cooling.

@ Rage_3k: Isn't the patch for the pre B3 Phenom disabling the L3 cache on the processor?

I heard the overclock was'nt substancial with those things, average about 20-25% stable on overclock?

 

[Rage_3K_Moiz]

Does the B3 revision still have the L3 cache enabled?
I would prefer not to lose the stability if I can help it.

Yes, it does. You don't need to apply the patch in that case.

 

[skarmory2002]

Yes, it does. You don't need to apply the patch in that case.

ok so if i have a B3 processor (will need to chek when I get home) then there has to be something else that is slowing me down, or is 4800 3dmarks sound about right for my system?

 

[Rage_3K_Moiz]

4800 3DMarks is okay for a CPU score, but if it's the system score, something is seriously wrong. The system score should be at least 10000 3DMarks with your specs.

 

[skarmory2002]

I thought there waqs a problem. I am only getting 2200 for cpu and 4800 as a whole system. So aside from the B3 revision of the processor, or fully up to date drivers. Is there anything I can do to improve performance. Could the VC be faulty, as I am getting fairly low framerates in most games except WoW, and even then is only at about 25 - 30 wheras it should be about 60.

 

[Rage_3K_Moiz]

The only thing I can think of is that maybe your PCI-E bus is being throttled somehow. Check the information in CPU-Z to be sure. That seems to be the only thing I can think of.

 

[LNCPapa]

I don't think CPU is the problem - I'm only scoring 27xx on CPU but I'm scoring just shy of 14k - so I really think the problem here lies on the video/video driver side. I don't have any additional help I can provide other than a comparison to what I'm scoring. I'll run the benchmark on my daughter's computer which is a Q6600 + 8800 GT - that should be very similar to what you're scoring. If I remember I'll post back tonight.

 

[skarmory2002]

ok so instead of using a cracked version i went and got the demo from the site, didnte realize that it was freely available, and my system scored 12280, a heck of a lot better than I expected. However, I have yet to test the games and see hiow they perform. As it turns out I do have the B3 revision of the processor. Thanks for all your help guys, Ill keep you posted as to how my system performs in the games.