Performance seems low

[Parn]

I have a 7800GS in a system running Vista business(2nd box in my sig) and when I try to play "Day of Defeat:Source" the performance seems very low.

I often only get average 29-32fps(21fps lowest) in this game. This is with 1280*1024 and every graphics setting turned down to the lowest. I'm using the latest vista 32bit driver 158.24. On my XP box using 7950GT I can get average 60fps(53fps lowest) in this game with 1600*1200 and everything turned to max. I understand that 7950GT is better hardware but I didn't realize the difference could be this big.

Am I doing something wrong or is this the performance to expect for 7800GS in vista?

[fatlazyhomer]

Vista isnt good for games. Newer patches fixed some issues but there are still alot left. Its probably vista.

[TheGlasMan]

Sounds like something else. Make sure it's running the correct 3d clocks.

[Parn]

Is there a program available to check the core/mem clocks of nv cards in vista?

[RatboyX]

Well frst of there IS a BIG difference between a 7800GS and a 7950GT

7800GS
Manufacturer: nVidia
Series: GeForce 7
GPU: G70
Release Date: Never Released
Interface: PCI-E x16
Core Clock: 375 MHz
Memory Clock: 500 MHz (1000 DDR)
Memory Bandwidth: 32 GB/sec
Shader Operations: 6000 Operations/sec
Pixel Fill Rate: 6000 MPixels/sec
Texture Fill Rate: 6000 MTexels/sec
Vertex Operations: 562.5 MVertices/sec

Versus

7950GT
Manufacturer: nVidia
Series: GeForce 7
GPU: G71
Release Date: 2006-09-06
Interface: PCI-E x16
Core Clock: 550 MHz
Memory Clock: 700 MHz (1400 DDR)
Memory Bandwidth: 44.8 GB/sec
Shader Operations: 13200 Operations/sec
Pixel Fill Rate: 8800 MPixels/sec
Texture Fill Rate: 13200 MTexels/sec
Vertex Operations: 1100 MVertices/sec

In EVERY way the 7950GT is superior by a fair amount. I’m not knocking the 7800GS by any means just pointing out the fact of the matter.

And when you factor in that Vista is still not performing up to par with Windows XP in games the problem is magnified. So I would say that a lot of the difference is the card but some is Vista.

[TheGlasMan]

That makes a lot of sense. My x850gto2 (flashed to PE) still runs my old games at the same resolution with quality up, and I expect these new cards to breeze through things and don't know how hard these new games are on equipment.

[elvin]

why not slap that 7950 in there that was not and upgrade or did you think it was going to show any less performance using that 7800.

[fatlazyhomer]

Still, the HL2 Engine is very well optimized...

[Poci]

Theres definatly something not right,my 7600GS runs source engine games with everything maxed out 2xAA 4xAF 1024 x768 res and fps never drops below 42 and average around 60-85 fps

And in any case the source engine happens to be one of the few engines that are very VERY CPU dependant,sure video card plays a part but so does CPU due to the physics effects of the source engine.

Try this,set EVERYTHING to default speeds and settings like driver settings for nvidia.Then run the source video card stress test(make sure Vsync is OFF for benchmarking),I dont know if Day Of Defeat has this but Counter Strike source should,and I assume you have this since it came with Half-Life 2,assuming you have Half Life 2.....
Anyways run the stress test and you should score around 140ish fps or higher average.If you score a lot less then 140 then there is really something wrong with your setup and will need to be adressed

[Parn]

Thanks for your advices everyone.

Now looking at the fill rate spec posted by RatboyX, I can see there is quite a bit of difference between these 2 cards.

I can't put my 7950GT in the vista box because its motherboard is an nforce3 ultra which is AGP only.

I'll try the source engine stress test in CS:S. My CPU is a single core san diego 3700. Could this be limiting the fps since Poci mentioned that source engine is fairly CPU dependent also?

[fatlazyhomer]

I dont think HL2 takes advantage of multi-core. I say its just vista. HL2 runs really fast on anything. I ran on 16X12 with almost everything maxed out on my X850XT back in the day. The 7800gs is suppose to be faster than that.

[Parn]

Just ran the stress test and the system scored 59fps at 1280*1024 2xAA/4xAF with everything at max. However as soon as I join a game in DOD:S, the framerate drops to 30. Now I'm really lost.

[RatboyX]

Just ran the stress test and the system scored 59fps at 1280*1024 2xAA/4xAF with everything at max. However as soon as I join a game in DOD:S, the framerate drops to 30. Now I'm really lost.

Interesting.. how are you connecting to your router? Check your network cable and try a different port on your switch, if your not connecting wireless. Maybe a firewall issue or something with an AV software you have running.

Wish I could be more helpful here but this is just another example of why I have NOT made any move to Vista, still to many bugs and issues.

[RatboyX]

Thanks for your advices everyone.

Now looking at the fill rate spec posted by RatboyX, I can see there is quite a bit of difference between these 2 cards.

I can't put my 7950GT in the vista box because its motherboard is an nforce3 ultra which is AGP only.

I'll try the source engine stress test in CS:S. My CPU is a single core san diego 3700. Could this be limiting the fps since Poci mentioned that source engine is fairly CPU dependent also?

Also, as I don’t run Vista, I’m not sure how well it’s been optimized to run with older chipsets like the Nforce3.

[TheGlasMan]

My CPU is a single core san diego 3700. Could this be limiting the fps since Poci mentioned that source engine is fairly CPU dependent also?

Unlikely unless you are running a demanding program on the side. That cpu will overclock easily to 2.6, and higher, easily, so you can test if you like.