StarDestroyer.Net BBS

Well, Ive had it with my piece of junk. Before I get to the point, I'll list my config. It aint exactly top notch but it should still handle MOST games at least in minimal detail levels:

AMD Athlon 2000XP+ @1,67Ghz
Radeon9500 64MB
512DDR
Gigabyte GA7VA Mainboard
Fujitsu 20GB HDD
LG 52x CD and 8x CDR (almost vintage)
Directx 9.0c
Newest Omega (25.90)
Windows XP

The problem is, that the games that involve 3d graphics sometime run crappy. For example: I ran Vampire: Bloodlines. In minimal settings the game runs crap, but my friend who still struggles with an Athlon 1.2 and a GeForce 440 says the game runs fine for him in the same detail level. WTF? I had a similar problem with the Full Spectrum Warrior. It sometimes ran flawlessly, but most of the time when I panned onto some open terrain with more details the game started to give me 2-3FPS. Funny things is, that sometimes after rebooting the game ran with a flawless 30+FPS ON THE SAME SETTINGS AND IN THE SAME SITUATION. Then its a lottery, because at one time it runs ok, but one reboot later I get a slide show.

I know my comp isnt exactly up to date, but it should still manage most games, at least on a medium/low detail level. NFSU2 runs great. Deus Ex 2 ran great. But FSW and Vampire: Bloodlines does not.

Im using Omega drivers since they support softmodding...funny thing is that both normal and softmodded modes have no problems when running, but I see no difference or increment in running speed. If I remember correctly my score on 3dMark 2004 was around 8000 which sounds about right.

As for now upgrading my hardware is not an option. My friend suggests the problem lies somewhere on the software side.

Right now I'll try to revert back to the original ATI drivers and see what will it change...

But if you have any thoughts or ideas then please shoot. I can post dxdiag results if needed.

"Help me Obi Wan Kenobi..."

Video card and cpu are your limiters there and/or your drivers are most likley forking you up

The hardware should run much better than it does now. I dont expect stellar performance, I just expect average performance of the equipment I have installed now.

So what do you suggest I do with the drivers? Im gonna revert back to the original ATI Catalyst and see what happens.

Back on original Catalyst, newest version. Didn't change anything.

How're your heat levels? You don't exactly have a space-heater of a system, but if, say, your video card only has a passive heatsink, it may be getting too warm when at full throttle. How many fans you have? What's your airflow like? You may want to get a PCI slot cooler and place it underneath your video card.

8000 on 3dmark03(there is no 04), sounds way to high, you may talking about 01'.

Probebly Omega drivers tried to softmod to 9700 and screwed up.

Heat is OK, I got an active cooler.

I turned off all the fancy Windows GUI effects and the comp runs much smoother now. Games run better too.

Wow; thats only slightly worse than one of my systems, and it runs everything fine. Try a reinstall; XP seems to rot faster these days. Also, have you been removing and installing ATi drivers properly? If you don't performance can suffer, apparently.