Problem with my new 4850 ICEq Turbo

[Zeating]

Hi, i recently purchased a brand new HIS ATi Radeon 4850 ICEq4 Turbo. I installed it fine, disabled my onboard graphics (hd3200) from the BIOS. The performance is OK, but it isn't NEAR what it is suppose to be. My friend has a regular HIS 4850 and can get 250-300 FPS on F.E.A.R. Me, on the other hand can get near 40-60 and can drop down to 30. On highest, that is. We both have the same prosesser, and RAM. My motherboard is a Gigabyte one, with onboard ATi 3200. I'm sorry that i cant give much info at the moment, i'm not at my house right now. My only question is why is the preformance so much worse than my friends? the only thing i can gather is my Harddrive. i have a very old 80GB around 5400RPM, could that really effect about 6x less preformance than if i had a very good one? its a IDe one, once again i can't give much info because im not home.. We both have the same OS, XP Pro SP2. I have disabled my onboard graphics!!! I also downloaded the latest HIS drivers for the card.

Can someone give me some insight to why i get so much worse performance than him? and no, it isn't just F.E.A.R. He gets atleast 5x better performance on games like Crysis, Farcry 2, Mirrors Edge, ect.

All help is appreciated, thanks

 

[klepto12]

im sure the HDD has something to do with it but also sounds like a problem with drivers maybe uninstall all the video drivers take the card out then put it back in and make sure you disable the onboard video then install new drivres and should be good. also did you plug in the 6 pin power adapter?

 

[Zeating]

I have the latest HIS drivers like i said, the graphics card works. the 6 pin power adapter is in. Here is some more accurate info..

XP Professional SP2
DirectX 9.0c
CPU Type: DualCore AMD Athlon 4850e, 2500 MHz (12.5 x 200)
Motherboard Name :Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H (2 PCI, 1 PCI-E x16, 4 DDR2 DIMM, Audio, Video, Gigabit LAN, IEEE-1394)

BIOS Type Award Modular (06/18/08)
Video Adapter ATI Radeon HD 4800 Series (512 MB) (HIS Iceq4 Turbo)
Monitor Samsung SAMTRON 75(M)E (Plus) [17" CRT] (HCFN102503)
Audio Adapter ATI Radeon HDMI @ ATI RV770 - High Definition Audio Controller
Audio Adapter Realtek ALC885/889A/890 @ ATI SB600 - High Definition Audio Controller

Field Value
Computer
Computer Type ACPI Multiprocessor PC
Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Professional
OS Service Pack [ TRIAL VERSION ]
Internet Explorer 6.0.2900.3311
DirectX 4.09.00.0904 (DirectX 9.0c)
Computer Name ZACK-3A8E9DBA37
User Name Zack
Logon Domain [ TRIAL VERSION ]
Date / Time 2009-03-20 / 16:32

Motherboard
CPU Type DualCore AMD Athlon 4850e, 2500 MHz (12.5 x 200)
Motherboard Name Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H (2 PCI, 1 PCI-E x16, 4 DDR2 DIMM, Audio, Video, Gigabit LAN, IEEE-1394)
Motherboard Chipset AMD Hammer
System Memory [ TRIAL VERSION ]
DIMM1: Patriot Memory PSD21G80081 1 GB DDR2-800 DDR2 SDRAM (5-5-5-15 @ 400 MHz) (4-4-4-10 @ 266 MHz)
DIMM2: Patriot Memory PSD21G80081 [ TRIAL VERSION ]
BIOS Type Award Modular (06/18/08)
Communication Port Communications Port (COM1)
Communication Port Printer Port (LPT1)

Display
Video Adapter ATI Radeon HD 4800 Series (512 MB)
Video Adapter ATI Radeon HD 4800 Series (512 MB)
Monitor Samsung SAMTRON 75(M)E (Plus) [17" CRT] (HCFN102503)

Multimedia
Audio Adapter ATI Radeon HDMI @ ATI RV770 - High Definition Audio Controller
Audio Adapter Realtek ALC885/889A/890 @ ATI SB600 - High Definition Audio Controller

Storage:
Disk Drive Maxtor 6Y080L0 (80 GB, 7200 RPM, Ultra-ATA/133) (Could this be why??)

Also his processer has 200 more FSB speed..

Could it be some kind of thing i should change in the BIOS? All i changed was i disabled my onboard.. is there anything else? is my card underclocked? I'm just confused at why his comp although almost the exact same as mine, gets like 5x better FPS on high end games.

Any help is much appreciated..

 

[Zeating]

I just tried fallout 3.. i get 30-50 fps, with a LOT of bad drops. sometimes down to 20.. and i noticed that when im not playing a game my clock is at 160.. but when i play a game it goes to 650, what could be the problem for the lack of performance.. anyone? :S

 

[Zeating]

I found the problem.. i have a shitty 400w power supply..

I'm thinking of buying this.

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817339025

Will it work with my Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H Mobo?

 

[EXCellR8]

^That PSU will work with any ATX motherboard with either 20 or 24 main power connector pins.

I do recommend getting a better quality one though, PC Power & Cooling, Corsair, Thermaltake, OCZ, and Ultra all make good units. You will be better off buying something mainstream to work with your components. The power supply is often overlooked and is often considered the most important device in the computer, so choose wisely.

 

[Zeating]

I just found out my friend has the exact same PSU as me, i'm thinking its definitly my HDD or CPU. His cpu is 3.0ghz and 255fsb i think. So he told me to try overclocking my CPU (And i did because the temp on my CPU is awesome, even when i overclocked it to 3.1ghz 248fsb i get 40-50C even while IG) So i overclocked, and i'm getting much better FPS. I've asked around, and aperently its definitly my HDD. So i'm going to buy a 350g hdd (SATA)

Think thats a good idea?

 

[Rage_3K_Moiz]

You OCed the CPU, got better performance out of it, and concluded that it is the HDD that is the problem?

Your video card is being bottlenecked by your CPU. Either get a new CPU or OC your current one to as high as possible with a good aftermarket cooler while keeping temps in the 50-60C range.