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My card is not getting its recommended performance!


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#1
jackflash1991

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I just got a 8800 GTS 640MB and when I played with it it was not working to its potential. On Tom's Hardware it says that on full quality in Battlefield 2142 I should get at least 79 FPS. But on high in my game it is only like 7-15 FPS. I payed a lot of money for a kick-[bleep] card and I am getting crap. What could be my problem? I know it is not my other computer specs because I have a Pentium D, 2GB of RAM, and a 500 watt power supply. It comes with this supplemental power adapter and I have a feeling that it may be the fact that it may not be getting the extra power for some reason. That is the only thing that I could think that could cause the problem. Or could it be some kind of software issue? I am wigging out!!! :whistling: :blink:
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#2
warriorscot

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Well two obvious things are either the rest of the PC(you made no mention of the PSUs brand/spec so its possible problem and pentium Ds arent very good). I usually do a fresh install of the OS for a major hardware upgrade to clean out the gremlins that accumulate but if you havent you either want to use driver cleaner(not sure how this works on vista havent tried yet) or do a fresh install to get rid of old drivers etc.(if its vista you run a new install might be easier its tied to hardware so might cause an issue).

Toms hardware is also going to be running a much better system than yours to test with which is a big factor you wont get as good as they will on your system, benchmarks on sites dont give guarantees of performance just a rough outline more for comparison to other cards than actually showing a cards performance in itself.
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#3
Adebisi

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7-15 FPS is a classic symptom of an underpowered card. Check your power supply and see what the amp amp rating is on the +12v rail. Also, what is the make of your PSU?
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#4
jackflash1991

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I have Vista but I will reinstall everything as a last resort. I have an Allied Power Supply Model AL-B500E 500Watt. I found it at this website http://www.bigbruin..../allied500w.htm. I think +12V rail is 20A. I bought the video card at buy.com and they said that I only needed a 400 Watt power supply for it. Should I add up how much power each component uses for everything or for just for the +12V rail tomorrow? Also when adding up the power does the motherboard, CPU, and memory use up any power and how do I tell.
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#5
james_8970

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It's recommend that you have at least 30A on the 12V rail to support this card, quality comes before the amount of Watts you have. I'm confirming you do only have 20A.
Pentium D will bottleneck that card, not to that extreme, you'd probably lose 5%ish in FPS.
Tomshardware tests in XP not vista, Nvidia's Vista drivers are still shaky.

The above will contribute to what you are noticing.

If your motherboard, CPU and memory didn't use electricity you wouldn't need to plug them into your PSU.
James

Edited by james_8970, 24 May 2007 - 08:19 PM.

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#6
jackflash1991

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So I guess I have to get a new power supply. I really do not want to spend alot of money, just enough so that I will not complain. How much money should I spend to get enough power? I think that I will need two fans to cool my incredibly hot computer. Should I stick with a 500 watt power sulpply or go up to a 600 watt or something? I am looking at cheep power supplies and I am seeing "+12V1 and +12V2" what does this mean? If you add the two 12V's amps together then do I get the total of 30A or more or are they seperate and you can not add them together? Could you make any sudgetions for a good afordable power supply that will not crap out on me.

Edited by jackflash1991, 25 May 2007 - 10:35 AM.

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#7
warriorscot

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Power supplies are rarely cheap for good ones its the only component you should never skimp on, Antec is probably your best bet for a cheap one that is still decent Hyper are good value as well look around see what you can find but you are looking at getting a 500-700W PSU from a big brand with enough power on the rails for the card which is more important than its overall wattage which isnt going to be all that important.
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#8
Adebisi

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I am looking at cheep power supplies and I am seeing "+12V1 and +12V2" what does this mean? If you add the two 12V's amps together then do I get the total of 30A


Generally you add all the +12v rails together to get the total when determining if the card will power your GPU. That usually works out fine, but to be sure you will want the total of +12v rails to exceed your GPU minimum requirement by say 10%.

Also, it never hurts to see if you can buy your PSU from someplace with a 30 day exchange policy that would allow you to trade up just in case. This is something I always do in regards to RAM, GPU, PSU and motherboards. No 30 day exchange = no money from me.
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#9
jackflash1991

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OK with that in mind I will calculate everything in my computer and look for a good PSU. I will probably check back in by Tuesday with the PSU(s) that I am thinking about buying.

Edited by jackflash1991, 25 May 2007 - 12:47 PM.

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#10
Adebisi

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Generally you add all the +12v rails together to get the total when determining if the card will power your GPU. That usually works out fine, but to be sure you will want the total of +12v rails to exceed your GPU minimum requirement by say 10%.


This should have read as follows:


Generally you add all the +12v rails together to get the total when determining if the PSU (not card) will power your GPU (video card). That usually works out fine, but to be sure you will want the total of +12v rails to exceed your GPU minimum requirement by say 10%.
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#11
james_8970

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Can you double check that you ahve the most upto date drivers as well for vista before you jump on the purchase. Your PSU is under powered and remember if you buy a good one now then you won't have to invest in one on future builds saving you $$$ down the road.
JAmes
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#12
jackflash1991

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I have auto update on on my Vista so I am pretty sure the driver is up to date. Do you know how I can check it manually for when I get back to my computer Monday?
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#13
Adebisi

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You can just get the most recent driver here and install it.

Auto update just updates Windows, not your drivers.

http://www.nvidia.co...ers/drivers.asp
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#14
jackflash1991

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Installed the latest driver and nothing seemed to have changed.

OK I came home early and I am trying to add up everything and I think I need some help. I got the hard drive, CD/DVD drive, and fans totaling to 5V=2.42A and 12V=2.94A. I was looking up my Corsair memory (VS1GB667D2) and I could not find anything about power usage of it but it says on my motherboard at http://global.msi.co...r...70&cat3_no= and all it said it "Supports four unbuffered DIMM of 1.8 Volt DDRII SDRAM". That is the only power related requirements I could find. I could also not find anything about amps for the CPU except for watts so I guess I do not have to factor that in do I? Also my floppy drive does not have anything on it not even a company logo. So for the time being I have only calculated the hard drive, CD/DVD drive, and fans totaling to 5V=2.42A and 12V=2.94A.
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#15
warriorscot

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You can add everything up and your PSU could be capable of powering it all but its still wont because its power distibution isnt correct your gfx card needs more power than the rails can give it and you can redistribute the power so that it will do it. You have a 20A rail and you need a 30 and even if you had 10A available you cant make that rail a 30 no matter how much you add it up.
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