Help Newbie not sure why game running so slow

[waldo]

Hi - hope someone can help. Recently upgraded my machine for a Athlon 3Hhz; 1gb Memory, Windows XP Pro, 128Mb FX5200. Initially I noticed a big improvement over my old 1Ghz Athlon machine, but I think it should be a lot faster. I've run 3D mark2001 and got a score of 4688. Also ran 3dmark03 and got a score of 936. I really noticed things were bad when I tried to play Halo (even with setting low) and it was totally unplayable which was when I looked into the benchmarks. Question is do I need to change video card or is there something more at fault ? I was thinking of changing to a Radeon 9600XT. Hope someone can help because I think machine should be performaing better than this. Many thanks

[SearanoX]

Your problem is most likely the FX 5200. That card is complete crap, even a Ti 4200 beats it in alot of cases. The only FX worth getting is the 5900 Ultra, and even then, the 9800 Pro is better in most instances. So yeah, return the FX and get the 9600 XT. You'll see a big increase, not to mention you'll have full DX9 capabilities with your card, as the FX series doesn't use DX9, they're only compatable with it.

Though your scores seem a little low even for that card...might want to check your AGP speed. Should be 4x or 8x. Your AGP aperature size should also be at least 128 MB.

[waldo]

Many thanks - looking through the forums it seems that the 5200 really is a poor card. I'll wait to see what price I can get in the January sales for the 9600. Thanks for the quick reply.

[SearanoX]

Hey, no problem.

Anyway, though I'm not sure where you live, you can usually find the 9600 XT for around $160 - $180 USD, though the Pro is going to be a little cheaper, maybe 20-30 dollars. It's not quite as fast, however.

[minibubba]

the 9600xt is a great card for under $200 US.

although for generall performance increases you really should go though our windows XP tweaking guides. perhaps someone with more time can provide the links for you if you do not find them yourself :)

[Mubbers]

Ti 4600, P4 1.8 GHZ, 896 MB PC-133 ram, XPP.

3DMark03 - 1450.

It's amazing the difference a card makes over processor speed.

However once Waldo has his 9600 I expect to be thoroughly Own3d!

[PrairieDawg]

Although I am forced to agree that your bottleneck is prolly the FX5200 you should still be getting a little better scores with that system I would think. My scores were (at default settings - before overclocking) 4666 for 3d2001se and 1040 for 3DMark03 with the system in my sig . Halo plays quite nicely on my system, and, in fact, also works on my sons' Duron 950 with 448mb sdram and a GeForce4 MX440 with some of the eyecandy turned down. It should be well worth your time to check out the tweaking guides that minibubba mentioned: http://www.tweaktown.com/document.ph...review&dId=324 and http://www.tweaktown.com/document.ph...review&dId=434

[waldo]

Just installed my brand new Sapphire Radeon 9600XT 256mb card. My machine now rocks. What a difference a new card makes - turned up all the setting on HALO and it plays fine. 3Dmark2001 benchmark 12246 without any further tweaking or clocking. Thanks for the advice to all those who contributed.

[Mista K6]

Glad your happy with your choice :cheers: . Make sure to check out the XP guides here as they will shoot your system performance through the roof :thumb: . : peace2: Mista K6