FPS issue

[Hangwire]

To outline my problem.....i'm getting 15-30 FPS at all times in Call of Duty 4. I need help with deciding whether I have: A) Faulty Hardware, B)Hardware that needs to be upgraded or B) Software issues.

Call of Duty 4 Graphic settings(for those who are familiar)
---I have AA and AF OFF with Dynamic Lights, Model Detail, Water Detail, Texture Resolution, Normal Map resolution and specular map resolution ALL ON NORMAL. I have shadows, depth of field, glow, soften smoke, ragdoll and bullet impacts ON. I run the game on 1280X1024 Resolution.

I have had 4-6 "iw3mp.exe"(which is a major executable involved with COD4) errors within the last month due to a monitor cable going bad and having to cold reboot with COD4 running. However this FPS issue has been there since installation of COD4. I have also noticed a 4-8 seconds freezing time every time I load COD4 at the main menu.

Specs
AMD Athlon 64 3500+ 2.2ghz(not overclocked)
ATI Radeon X1650 Pro 512mb PCI-E 16x(not overclocked)
1 gig of generic RAM + 2 gigs of Patriot RAM (3 gigs total)
MicroStar motherboard with Pheonix BIOS version 6.00PG
330 watt Allied Power Supply

I run Desktop on 16-bit color, 60hz and 1280X1024 Res. I also run COD4 on 1280X1024

I've done the following things to clean my system up:
Degragment, Disk Check, Full Disk Cleanup, cleaned all temp files..cookies...spyware, Antivirus, Windows Defender. DirectX Diagnostics says all hardware and software is working properly.

My personal opinion and natural reaction is that my Processor isnt up-to-date with my RAM and/or video card. But i'm not sure. Also.......if my processor is the problem would overlocking it temporarily fix the issue until I buy a new processor?

 

[alisbin]

what speed is your ram? if you don't know get CPUz or something like it to check that all the sticks are the same speed, that can cause some problems.
also, have you tried turning off your virus protection software when you play? in my experience virus protection (some of the more aggressive ones at least) eat resources like crazy.
your processor isnt exactly stellar, true, but its not terrible. i'd try turning shadows off, setting your desktop to 32 bit and running both the game and desktop in 1024 x 768 and see how that works

 

[Hangwire]

All three sticks of my RAM are PC3200. I did see that my Patriot RAM sticks are running 3.0-4-4-8 while my original stick is running 3.0-3-3-8(tCL-tRCD-tRP-tRAS).

Changing my Desktop to 16-bit color was a recent change to see if it would help which if it did it didnt do much, but as far as I know the human eye can't tell the difference between 16-bit and 32-bit. The problem remains at 32-bit. Changing my desktop and game resolution was also a recent change after realizing my monitor was too big for that resolution. 1280X1024 Actually not only looks much better but runs better believe it or not due to my monitor being 20 inches.

 

[alisbin]

try turning off your anti virus software completely.

 

[Hangwire]

I make sure my anti-virus isnt running or up at all when I game. However I just came across what I believe to be the issue....using Motherboard Monitor 5 I found out my +12.00 is only receiving 2.3 volts! I have had to have Allied replace this power supply once and its obvious now its not up to par to handle my hardware...it's simply a basic 330 watt supply. Considering that my power supply is being pushed to its limit......do you think taking out my generic stick of RAM and leaving the two patriot sticks in there would actually improve my system's performance?

 

[aznn3rd]

It could just be a problem with ATI drivers. I run COD4 on an athlon 4400+ X2 2GB RAM Radeon 3850 at all settings maxed, 0 AA, 1440 x 900 and get around 20-30 fps at 45 ping. I tried lowering the resolution to 1024 x 768, but there wasn't a difference in performance.