Whats slowing me down?

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Hi all,

I recently upgraded my machine with a Nvidia GeForce 8800 GTS and am still suffering some preformance issues, primarily while playing Company of Heroes. I run the game at maximum settings but at a reasonable resolution of 1024-1280. For the most part the game runs fine but during intensive scenes my frames can drop as low as 4-5 fps and from what ive read this graphics card should preform considerably better. Anyways id just like to know whats slowing me down at this point. Im sure its either my power supply (only 460W) or my physical memoy, 1GB DDR2 533Mhz. I believe the rest of my computer is up to date.

I would simply like an opinion on which of the two is most likely responsible for the poor framerates and which would be best to upgrade.

1.) 460W power supply
2.) 1GB DDR2 533Mhz.

Thanks for your help!
 
Your power supply probably has adequate power unless it is a junk brand. Power supplies are seldom the causes of slowdowns. Memory should be adequate, but performance will likely improve with more.
Since your speed was apparently ok until you upgraded the video card, you might want to take a look at possible updates to the drivers, as well as the BIOS for the computer.
I assume you have looked for junk, but it not, don't ignore the possibility of an infestation. Spyware, Rootkits, Adware, etc. are frequent causes of slow downs.
Have your operating temperatures gone up?
 
Thanks for replying, ive looked into the drivers and they seem to be properly installed, as for the operating temperatures it may be that theyve risen. The air coming out of the back of machine is quite hot and as for the graphics card itself when i went to check the temperature i found that the diagnostic software was not installed so maybe there is something else missing. Spyware/adware isnt the probelm.

My processor is an Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.40GHz hyperthreading enabled

One other thing id like to mention. I just tried oblivion and i can run it at maximum settings and at the same resolution with which i run CoH and achieve consistent framerates of 35-40 in outdoor areas where as CoH can drop as low as 3-5 fps. Is CoH really that much more demanding or is it possible theres something wrong with the game itself?
 
Well that 1Gb of ram is definitely bottlenecking that video card. I could also see your CPU bottlenecking the CPU as well. You may want to invest into a new 1gb stick of ram, or just get a new set of 2gb (2 x 1024mb). If you do have the extra money to spend, maybe go with a Pentium D, they are crazy cheap now that the Core 2 Duo has been released.
 
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