3D Vantage Score & FSX

[axel]

My 3D Vantage score is as follows.

Score - P5163
CPU - 3193
Graphics - 6499

System

Processor - AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+
Graphics - ATI Radeon HD 4850 (latest 8.9 drivers)
Memory - 3.0GB

Any comments on the score relative to my system would be most appreciated.

Since upgrading from XP with Geforce 6800XT to Vista with HD 4850 my graphics in FSX (SP2) are dreadful. The were excellent in XP with the 6800XT card and upgrading the card in Vista to the HD 4850 has not improved anything.

If I know the system is OK then I need to start trying to tweaK FSX. The average FPS is currently about 8 FPS and it looks grainy.

Any comments, advice or tips would be much appreciated.

Axel

 

[Alexrose1uk]

Have you completely cleaned out the remnants of the NV drivers, as that can cause conflicts?

 

[axel]

Have you completely cleaned out the remnants of the NV drivers, as that can cause conflicts?

I believe so I uninstalled from Programmes & Features and also from Device Manager/ Graphics Adapter.

Is there anything else I should do?

I take it from your comments the 3D scores are pretty dreadful?

Axel

 

[Greebo]

Not dreadful and the gain to the 4850 may not be as great as it should as your might be cpu limited in games depending on res etc.

As for clearing out the nvidia drivers, I had all kinds of performance problems going from a 8800GTS to a 4870.

In the end, this worked for me.

Uninstall nvidia drivers, programs.
Reboot into safe mode.
Run driver sweeper/driver cleaner
Reboot into windows again and run DS or DC again (just to be sure)
Put new card in and install driver/software.

 

[axel]

Thanks for the reply.

I have tried installing Driver Sweeper but get the message "cannot install drivesweeper.ini - access denied"

My new card is already installed. Do I really need to reinstall my old 6800XT card and the drivers and then uninstall everything and start again, or will Drive Sweeper, if I can get it to work, or Drive Cleaner clear out any remains of Nvidia?

Axel

 

[Greebo]

No need to put your old card back in. The software will remove the traces of the nvidia stuff with your ati card in.

 

[axel]

Hi,

Thanks for that.

Does anyone know what may be wrong with the driversweeper.ini file? I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling to no avail.

Also the Drive Cleaner programme does not appear to support Vista.

Thanks in advance.

Axel

 

[axel]

Also I have not changed any of the BIOS settings as noted in the first sticky above. I am a bit dubious about fiddling with the BIOS. Do these adjustmenst, copied from the sticky, have any affect on performance?

PCI EX Frequency : DEFAULT 100 (105 reported optimal)
Fast Gate A20 Option : Enabled
Video BIOS shadowing : Disabled
Video BIOS cacheable : Disabled
xxxxxx - xxxxxx shadow : All Disabled
IDE prefetch mode : Enabled
Init Display First : AGP or PCIex
Assign IRQ for VGA : Enabled
PCI/VGA palette snoop : Disabled
PNP O/S installed : YES or AUTO
AGP Aperture size : 64 or 128 recommended by ATI
Video ram cacheable : Disabled
System bios cacheable : Disabled
Fast Writes : Refer to ATI SMARTGART FAQ's below
AGP Transfer rate : 8x / 4x (If supported, otherwise 2X)

Again any advice would be appreciated.

Axel

 

[lightning512]

Hi

Run driver sweeper as admin.

 

[axel]

Thanks, I have done that now.

Booted into Safe Mode and used Drive Sweeper to remove a whole lot of left over Nvidia drivers etc. Also run CCleaner in safe mode.

Unfortunately my graphics are no better and my Vantage score is still the same. Hopefully I will get a answer on the BIOS settings, or some other tips.

Axel

 

[lightning512]

as your on a 939 I would put the PCI EX Frequency to 101 as if I recall correctly there was some bug with that on the old 939 boards. you can also ignore the reference to AGP as the shouldn't apply to you, the rest leave as you posted. what version of cats are you using? if 8.7 hot fix then try the 8.9, or if 8.9 try the 8.7 hot fix see if that will help. (edit: just read your using the 8.9 try the 8.7 like said teach to me skim read )

I really think your being held back by that 4400 thou, cause when I had an x2 it held back my 8800GTS 640 and your cards a good 20% faster then that, if not more, but that should not mean you get 8fps in FSX

 

[muon]

3dmark vantage is really good at isolating the gpu for the gpu score, but an x2 at 2.2ghz might be pushing it.

I found that comparing an e8400 at 3ghz and 4ghz, there was no difference in the gpu score for the card. I dont have the cpu anymore, but I suspect if I had run the e8400 at 1.8ghz or so, there may have been an effect.