Computer performance processor related?

[pabberz !]

Hey there, 1st post!

So last month I bought a new graphics card for my PC, a GeForce 8800GT 512MB DDR3 card. I fitted it, and it's running way below it should (getting 40fps in CS:S with everything on medium dx9). At first I thought the card may be faulty, but the card is stable and runs fine, it just seems to struggle at times.

I thought I had a better processor than I actually had. The processor is a Intel Dual Core E2200. Could this be throttling my graphics card's performance? The PSU I have is a 500watt. Could this not be helping also?

Would upgrading to a E8400 help?

Cheers
Rich

 

[pabberz !]

The situation is quite odd.

An example is FarCry 2. I can run the game at everything on highest graphics and get an average of 20fps. However, if I turn everything down to low, I'll still get only 20fps. It's the same situation with CS:S and changing the graphics options.

 

[pabberz !]

2GB RAM, not sure on the mobo whilst I'm at work.

What would you reccommend upgrading to? E8200 seems like a good price for the cache size and clock speed. Also would it be worth waiting until after Christmas to buy due to prices dropping a bit or anything?

 

[pabberz !]

I would say something is wrong somewhere, Re-set the BIOS,and check your heatsinks etc. Make sure something isnt overheating. Turn off any CPU throttling things. What drivers/OS?

I'll have a play about later on. I've re-sat the card a few times and it's made no difference, and I've plugged card's power cables in properly. Could the PSU not be delivering enough power?

I also thought that the PCI-E slot might not be running at full speed, but I have no idea how to edit it. In Rivatuner it says it's running at x16, so I'm not sure.

The current drivers are the latest NVidia releases. After seeing I had problems I rolled back to 3 month old drivers, and after having the same problem I also tried the drivers that came with the card. All give me similar results.

What's strange is that no matter what video settings I run games on, I get the same FPS. I actually get worse FPS is I lower my graphics settings.

Cheers for your help guys, it's greatly appreciated
Rich

Edit: And it's XP Pro SP2, forgot to add that. Cheers!

 

[pabberz !]

Is this a new build? If you had an ATI card before did you fully get rid of its drivers?

This rig is about 4 months old, and I've only ever used NVidia cards in this build.
Really stumped about this one!

RMA the card?