Low FPS...

[Reacher]

Hi I was wondering if anyone can give me some advice.

I am having problems with stupidly low FPS in most games inc : BF2, COD2 and WoW. Im usually have around 50-60 fps but sometimes it drops below 5. This happens at different times and not in the same map/location.

My machine is :

AMD 3500XP 64
Gigabyte GA- K8n Pro - Sli
3 GB Ram
120BG HDD
80GB HDD
2 x 256MB 6600GTs
Audigy 4
and Im using a Hiper PSU

I cant see what Im doing wrong or where I need to go. I have the latest drivers for Mobo, Gfx cards and sound card.

 

[easyrider]

Why have you got 3gb ram?
This is not running in dual channel harming performance.

 

[axer]

The loss of dual channel is only going to account for a max of a 5ish% performance drop though, isnt going to make a big difference!

 

[easyrider]

The loss of dual channel is only going to account for a max of a 5ish% performance drop though, isnt going to make a big difference!

I know the % loss but the question remains why he has 3gb ram?
He can take 1gb out and have a faster pc.

 

[Goksly]

I'd do a full uninstallation of all the drivers -> driver cleaner -> reinstall the latest drivers.
Im pretty sure you can setup the nvidia display drivers to show you what the SLI load is during the game. Give that a go to make sure that the load is being distributed as its meant to be.
Run task manager in the background and when you get spikes have a look at the cpu usage and see if maybe something is consuming the time that should be - such as a background processes.

Dont suppose it happens in HL2? As that has an excellent debugging function (type +show_budget) which will point you to the biggest limiting factor in terms of reducting your fps.

hth.

 

[Reacher]

I dont have HL2.

The reason I have 3GB is that I do a lot of rendering of 3d studio max stuff so it takes less time. The GB is running in duel channel. The problems are still there if I take out 1GB

 

[pastymuncher]

Not being funny, but as it happens at different times i don't suppose it could be your virus scanner/antispyware scanner kicking in. Have you tried turning all non essential programs and services off while gaming? Not if you are gaming on line though!

Dual channel ram does'nt make much of a difference at all. I have'nt got it and i can still play anything i've got maxxed out at 1600x1200 with no performance loss.

 

[Audioslim]

Where as this 5% increase on dual channel ram come from?
It's a load of rubbish.

http://www.m-techlaptops.com/specifications/MKF_520DDRwhitepaper.pdf

If you dont believe me read that.

In some respects the memory bandwidth is doubled with dual channel ram, as you would expect considering how it works (eg as 1 stick is refreshing the other is in use, therefore twice the speed). Dual channel ram effectivly gives double the bandwidth between CPU + Memory, so in theory it could make things twice as fast on CPU based apps. So all in all 5% is the least you could expect, more like 15%, and depending on app up to 50% increase.
Example, you try unzipping a large file on a dual vs single channel PC with the same spec. You'll see it unzip much much quicker on a dual chan machine.

Slim

 

[Goksly]

5% is the fps average gain.
I also think you wont get a 50% increase when unzipping a large files as the hdd will be the limiting factor and even single channel memory bandwidth isnt used that much....