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Is my CPU causing a bottleneck?

Gimpymoo

Gimpymoo

Gimpymoo

Soldato
Joined
31 May 2005
Posts
15,640
Location
Nottingham
My Current Spec is:
AMD A64 3000+
ATI X1950 PRO 512MB
Geil Value 2 x 1GB RAM

Installed the OcUK ATI X1950 PRO 512MB yesterday expecting to be "BLOWN AWAY" by the difference and althought the difference is noticeable, it just doesnt seem "Right".

For example, I am only running a cheap CRT so am gaming at 1024x768 and am unable to run HL2 at max settings smoothly which I thought this card would do for breakfast?

Also, MS Flight Sim X runs Terribly on Medium High settings.. again, I thought this card would handle OK at this res.

Many people say that nowadays games are more GPU than CPU intensive, is this definitely the case or are the games im playing more CPU intensive, I can understand Flight Sim being CPU intensive.

Any advice or tips welcome.

Thanks all.
 
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Have you installed the ATI drivers? You should be able to play half life 2 at that resolution very easily. Try runing 3dmark06. You should be getting just over 4000
 
Hmm.. strange. Sounds more like there may be something interfering with performance as that card with a 3000+ and that amount of memory should be fast at that resolution?

Check to see what else is running in the background, how many icons in the taskbar etc, and have you done an av/trojan scan lately?

You could always try overclocking the cpu, as the 3000+'s are generally good - got my old one from 1.8g to 2.6 on stock volts. :D
 
Sorry to hijack, but thought I'd post here rather than starting a new topic with the same name..

How much of a bottleneck do you reckon my CPU is? It obviously is to an extent, but do you think I'd see much of an increase going to a higher clocked dual core?

I currently have an A64-3500+@2420, which I believe is 3700+ speeds. Just installed an X1950pro the other day. 2GB PC3500 (CAS2) RAM. Gaming at 1360x768.

Edit: To the OP. Did you use drivercleaner when installing your new card?
 
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To see if it's the CPU, try turning down the resolution and see if you get the same FPS. That could be a problem.

As for FSX, that game's different. It cripples pretty much every system going, even a top end system deliver average performance. Your CPU will definately be a bottleneck for that game so changing the graphics settings may do very little performance wise. Have you install FSX Service Pack 1?
 
jpmonkey69 said:
he says he has an AMD A64 3000+ on the first line of the spec. :confused:
Click to expand...

To be fair, i'd forgot to include that in my original post so had to do a Ninja style edit, at the time though, there was not a post.

Mame said:
Have you installed the ATI drivers? You should be able to play half life 2 at that resolution very easily. Try runing 3dmark06. You should be getting just over 4000
Click to expand...

I uninstalled the drivers using the ATI uninstaller, restarted the computer in safe mode and used Driver Cleaner.

I will try 3dMark06 and report back what I get.

Check to see what else is running in the background, how many icons in the taskbar etc, and have you done an av/trojan scan lately?

Fizzy said:
Check to see what else is running in the background, how many icons in the taskbar etc, and have you done an av/trojan scan lately?

You could always try overclocking the cpu, as the 3000+'s are generally good - got my old one from 1.8g to 2.6 on stock volts. :D
Click to expand...

No viruses and limited apps running in the background, one of my pet hates is un-needed apps running in the background - Grr.

Have posted in the Overclocking thread about overclocking the CPU, did it a few years ago and achieed 2.7Ghz with a Arctic Cooling fan but the fan has since broke and ive forgotten how to Overclock :(

Lonz said:
Have you install FSX Service Pack 1?
Click to expand...
WIll try that. Do you know if it includes performance tweaks?

Thanks for everyones help.
 
Yes, there's a significant amount of performance improvements, but mainly for multicore processors. It's worth giving it a try though.
 
My 3000+ was bottlenecking my 6800gt in games such as cs s so i dare say it is holding the 1950 back, go for the x2 3800+ if you can! Also 2gb of ram would help in newer games, there was some quality stuff on the ocuk clearance a while ago but that may have gone now.
Just had a look on the site and they also sell the geil stuff you already have.
 
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A couple of questions to the OP: What's your PSU? Is it the infamous source engine stutter bug?

If it's the stutter bug you should generally get smooth performance but every so often the game will go into jerk mode, with sound stuttering as well as framerate problems.

That setup should own HL2. I used to have a 3000+ and it was fine for HL2 at stock. Don't worry about the CPU testing in 3DMARK06 - it's supposed to be laggy.

Some people report that having 2GB RAM helps with stuttering. Not sure if that's the case. I used to get it badly but I've had so many upgrades since then that it's difficult to pin down what improved it. It may even have just been a steam update and very little to do with my hardware changes.
 
Have disabled my Sound card (AC'97) and FPS is now much better.

I guess it was just an audio driver issue. Silly me.
 
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