poor 9600 pro performance

[kr4zy goat]

i recently upgraded my geforce 4 mx 420 video card to a gigabyte radeon 9600 pro. i have a dell dimension 4550 2.4 ghz 512mb ram computer. i tried to run counter-strike:source at the same low settings and low resolution as i ran it on the old video card, but the fps was just as bad, if not worse. also my mobo only supports up to agp 4x and the card goes up to agp 8x. could this be the reason why my new card is performing so bad? also, the overclocking program (v-tuner 2) that came with my 9600 pro has the default CORE CLOCK: 400 mhz MEMORY CLOCK: 406 mhz......BUT the advertised memory clock for the 9600 pro is 600 mhz! is this again b/c my motherboard doesn't support agp 8x?

 

[Digisol]

Problem is your wasting the 8X capabilities of the 9600 card, I have an older 9600LE on a spare box and it will play any game thrown at it, but it is on a MSI 8X capable board.

Far Cry NP at 32 bit 1024 X 768, but let the game decide what the best video defaults are, either way it's best to stick with the best 4X card or it's time to upgrade the board, most of which now are all either 8X AGP or dual PCI capable.

Even the smaller 2 PCI slot Asus boards run 8X AGP, and they are < $100 AUD, the difference with a good board is huge.

Grab a Asus A7N8DX-E Deluxe v-2 (XP-3200 400mhz capable out of the box) before they are gone ( perhaps the best before going to 64 bit gear), or even get the older A7N8DX Deluxe (XP-3000+ max), they will run all games out now with ease used with a 9600 Pro and both have the onboard 6 channel soundstorm sound, which is more than fine for most folks unless your a purist for sound.

NB, a 9800 card will run nearly twice as fast as the best 9600, my game box uses a 9800 Pro and it has NP with any game made, allbeit a 64 bit system / 3200, the 9800 video makes a FX-5700 Nvidia look rather sick.

Drop the colour down to 16 bit @ 85 Hz and run your games at 800 X 600 that may help smooth the game down somewhat until you can upgrade.

 

[vegasgmc]

It sounds like you might have gotten a 9600 Pro EZ. If so return it. What brand is it and where did you buy it? Newegg tends to be really bad about mislabeling their video cards.

 

[kr4zy goat]

thanks for the reply, and your suggestion to put the color to 16-bit and mine only had the option up to 75 hz, but i did that and it did raise my fps quite a bit...any other minor tweaks i can do to get more fps out of my card?

 

[kr4zy goat]

hello vegas, i have never heard of a 9600 pro EZ. i purchased mine from zipzoomfly.com for $101 USD. it's manufactured by gigabyte. the advertised memory clock is at 600 mhz, yet mine is only set at 406 mhz. the core clock is where it should be, at 400 mhz. i'm guessing this memory clock decrease is due to my lack of agp 8x support on my motherboard as it only supports up to agp 4x. but please, let me know about this 9600 pro EZ you speak of, im curious if i was jipped...

 

[Digisol]

Your monitor would be holding it back at 75 Hz but it should be OK, My guess is that it's an older 15" version, most 17" monitors will manage 110 Hz or higher depending on the quality of it, any less than 75 and the eyes will suffer, 85 would be a base Hz for easy viewing for most people.

A 64Mb MX400 will run at 85 Hz NP.

The ATI based 9600 Pro is designated the All in wonder 9600 Pro, there is also a version simply called a 9600, my bad.

Your Nvidia based cards start at the LE, Pro and XLT versions, generally price shows the quality of whatever card, these days of 5 disk games that require a minimum of a FX-5700 to work at a half decent viewing, but a 5200 will run the same game allthough there would be a considerable loss in picture quality and jerking.

Unfortunately once you have used a top end 9800 256 Mb card the price fades into "worth every cent class"

Running the 8X card at 4X is somewhat pointless in reality when most any board made now days all have 8X capabilities, the smaller versions are worth a look if cash is a problem, as they have many onboard goodies so the lack of 6 PCI slots is not a problem, most have the exact same N/B and S/B chips as do the larger full ATX versions, plus they also take a 3200 with no messing about with changing BIOS versions.

Changing memory settings in order to get better frame rates can / is a time consuming job, write down EVERY setting and it's benchmark test and you will find a sweet setting that will give more than the others, on one board I tried every setting possible, oddly enough the fastest was the stock default memory setting, so never assume that changing the settings will increase the speed, it may not, but try it anyway.

Running the 9600 at 4X and possibly having settings set at high will have the opposite effect your after, I have several 9600 cards, but none run on a 4X max board, upgrade time I'm afraid, Even cheaper boards like A7V8X-MX or a A7V600-X and even the A7V400-MX are not expensive @ around $50 USD all are 8X and all should accept a 400mhz -XP3200 cpu, all being backwards compatible with memory to 266 speed DIMM's, so long as your PSU is a good quality one around 350 - 400w, it's too easy.

David.

 

[kr4zy goat]

that's what i wanted, to get a new motherboard for like $100 that supports agp 8x and not have to dish out another $1500 for a new pc. but, there is one problem, i have a dell and everyone has been telling me that it's a huge hassle to replace the motherboard on a dell b/c it's propreity and i would have to buy a new case and new fan and new copy of win xp. i was wondering if dell has motherboards that support agp 8x for sale that would fit the case i currently have, a dimension 4550 2.4 ghz 512 mb ram. if not, does anyone know of any aftermarket motherboards with agp 8x support that would fit right into my current dell without having to rewire or completely rebuilding it?

 

[Digisol]

Having the cpu and memory and your drives gives you the guts of it all, as to if Dell and hard drives of any brand will plug in without special plugs etc ? never used Dell or HP etc systems, just heard bad things with name systems and having to buy the named part to fix em is a real PIA.

Remember a system needs no box, having had several running on the table top it makes no difference to em and cooling is not a problem.

They do make 8X systems for sure, but if they will part with a new board for a cheap price could be a worry.

If cash is a worry there will always be problems, if not lash out on a 64 bit system which will make the 2.4 look sick indeed.

Check out, http://www.kamcom.com/dell/dell83.htm and see what ya can find.

With generic based systems that will out do the 2.4 for less than a grand for the lot including O/S, it is yet another option to consider.