x800XL AGP Performance - Need HELP!

[DAG]

I just put together a new agp based system using an x800xl and am quite
disapointed in its performance in most games, especially HL2 and Quake4,
but also notice problems in FarCry. Gameplay is what I would describe as
"jerky" or random pauses. I think my expectations were realistic as to how
this system should perform. I'm not trying to run it on max setting in any
game. I normally just run it on the default settings choosen by the game
setup. I've even backed them way down to low settings/resolution in HL2 and
the jerkiness is still there, although not as bad. I'm out of ideas and
need help to try anything. My system specs:

Asus P4P800-e deluxe
P4 3.4g (socet 478) w/ zalman HSF
2gig Corsair XMS
Maxtor 300gig SATA HD

I started out with Corsair Value ram and upgraded to XMS with no change.
Memtest runs clean. I tried the X800xl in another machine with an ASUS
P4P800 Deluxe MB and it performed about the same. Maybe because they have
the same chipsets? I have all the latest drivers and even tried some old
ones. Nothing seems to help. Although the graphics weren't as viusally
impressive, my 9700pro ran beter than the x800xl.

ANY opinions or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!! (BTW- the reason
I didn't just build a pci-e system was that I had a couple new 3.4g cpu
given to me at no charge.((dont ask)) As you know, about the only 478 MB
they would work in is AGP)

Thanks in advance to anyone willing to take a stab at it....

 

[kevin weaver]

We have almost the same systems. I have the 850 card and have no problems at
all. Dont know about the 800 so I cant comment on your system. Can you try
another card ? ask ATI about that card. they should be able to help.

Good Luck.

 

[Gringo]

I just put together a new agp based system using an x800xl and am quite
disapointed in its performance in most games, especially HL2 and Quake4,
but also notice problems in FarCry. Gameplay is what I would describe as
"jerky" or random pauses.

I went from a 9800pro to X800XL AGP and I noticed some pauses in Q4
and HL2 but I never played those games on the 9800pro so have nothing
to compare them with. The pausing in HL2 I've read about on many
systems. In Q4 it only happens somtimes when doors open and those
Strogs that hit the floor with the lightning bolt. FarCry I tried on
XP64 with the 64bit conversion and I did notice some pausing when
shooting someone but I figured that was because they upped the
textures in the 64bit version. I haven't noticed pausing in other
games so I figure it is something about those games and not my X800XL.
If it is the X800XL causing it then more the reason for me to switch
to Nvidia besides the CCC driver issue.

 

[JT]

I just put together a new agp based system using an x800xl and am
quite disapointed in its performance in most games, especially HL2
and Quake4, but also notice problems in FarCry. Gameplay is what I
would describe as "jerky" or random pauses. I think my expectations
were realistic as to how this system should perform. I'm not trying
to run it on max setting in any game. I normally just run it on the
default settings choosen by the game setup. I've even backed them
way down to low settings/resolution in HL2 and the jerkiness is still
there, although not as bad. I'm out of ideas and need help to try
anything. My system specs:
Asus P4P800-e deluxe
P4 3.4g (socet 478) w/ zalman HSF
2gig Corsair XMS
Maxtor 300gig SATA HD

I started out with Corsair Value ram and upgraded to XMS with no
change. Memtest runs clean. I tried the X800xl in another machine
with an ASUS P4P800 Deluxe MB and it performed about the same. Maybe
because they have the same chipsets? I have all the latest drivers
and even tried some old ones. Nothing seems to help. Although the
graphics weren't as viusally impressive, my 9700pro ran beter than
the x800xl.
ANY opinions or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!! (BTW- the
reason I didn't just build a pci-e system was that I had a couple new
3.4g cpu given to me at no charge.((dont ask)) As you know, about the
only 478 MB they would work in is AGP)

Thanks in advance to anyone willing to take a stab at it....

I have an AGP X800XL running on a MSI PT880 with a 3.0g P4
@3.2(non-prescott) with 2G of Corsair Value Ram. I haven't had any jerkiness
in Far Cry at all. HL2 runs smooth at 1152x864 with the occasional sound
stutter. I did have a problem with Q4 with jerkiness when I first ran it,
but doing a vid_restart in the console somehow managed to fix it and it's
been smooth ever since. Right now I'm playing Max Payne 2 again and have it
cranked up the 1600x1200 with AA an AF at their highest settings which I
could never do before and it's totally smooth.

I'm not sure what could be causing your problems. The card was installed
fresh in the system before you installed the OS correct? Although, I
upgraded mine from a 9800 and still haven't done a reformat. If you put the
9700 back in, does it still run smooth? I would try that maybe if you still
have it. If you get even worse jerkiness it's probably not the vid card. It
almost sounds like you're having hard drive access from virtual memory, but
with all that RAM that shouldn't be happening. But, if you've you've tried
the card in 2 different systems with the same results, it seems likely the
card is just faulty

 

[johns]

I suspect it is the same old same old ... put AGP to 4x, and turn
Fast Writes off. Also, dial back on the in-game settings. There's
a rumor that some of the new video stuff like HDR and SM3.0 will
auto-start if you have a newer card. And they are both a bit flakey
and use up resources to the limit. So, you should get your best
in-game settings in Far Cry with all video settings on High rather
than Very High ( which triggers the auto-start ). This is also true
for the nVidia 6800s, and makes them run like crap. I have 2 game
boxes. One uses an ATI 9800 Pro 128, the other a nVidia GF
6800 256 pci-e. The 9800 just beats the total crap out of the
6800 in Far Cry. It is not even close. These modern cards have
got serious problems, but I can't pin it down .... yet.

johns

 

[House of Brutus]

I suspect it is the same old same old ... put AGP to 4x,

Does this really help? And if so, how? I thought going into the bios
and setting AGP to 4X only helped on older mb's that were flaky if set
to 8X.

 

[Dr Teeth]

I just put together a new agp based system using an x800xl and am quite
disapointed in its performance in most games,

Did you install the chipset drivers and do so *before* installing the
ATi drivers?

--
Cheers,

Guy

** Stress - the condition brought about by having to
** resist the temptation to beat the living daylights
** out of someone who richly deserves it.

 

[House of Brutus]

Did you install the chipset drivers and do so *before* installing the
ATi drivers?

I'm thinking this may be related to my pauses on the X800XL too. I
have a Uli mb and I used the drivers supplied by the mb manufacturer
but I have since seen that many people recommend the unified Uli
drivers. I'm thinking maybe the AGP driver I loaded is crap.

 

[DAG]

First of all, THANKS to all that have responded.

Great question. I think I loaded the chipset drivers first, but honestly,
I've done so much I'm just not too sure now. Maybe I need to rebuild from
scratch and make sure this time? But before I do that, several people have
made good suggestions I need to try first.

Thanks again....

 

[tod]

Go into bios, turn things off you do not use, like parallel and serial
ports, etc.
Then install the latest version of the motherboard chipset drivers.

 

[John Edmister]

I had alot of problems with my Sapphire X800 GTO 256 AGP card I bought, card
ran fine when I first got it, and it worked real good for the 1st 5 or 10
minutes, but then my FPS dropped from 50-70 to 10-20. I pulled the card and
put my 9800 pro back in, worked great. Fan worked, when I turned the card
over, I saw the PCB board was seperating in 3 different areas, both ends of
the card, and by where the heatsink fan plugged into the card RMA'd it and
got a refund. I've been reading alot about how the 9800 pro is keeping up
with the new cards, and in some instances beating them. So, I'm going to
wait til the dust settles a little bit before I upgrade.
You should check your FPS with fraps, I'm sure thats why its jerky, your FPS
are dropping WAY low like mine did. IF your board is fine, it could be a
power supply issue Good luck!!


MSI K7N2 Delta ILSR
Athlon XP2500 oc'd @ 2.2ghz w/Thermaltake Volcano Extreme hs/f
1gb Geil pc 3200
Maxtor maxline plus III 300gb SATA w/16mb cache
ATI Radeon 9800 pro

 

[farmuse]

still using a soft modded 9500 to 9700 with 8 pipes, runs great. But
my sons X800 pro blows it away, and I agree the chipset drivers are
absolutely mandatory. You don't have to do a clean install, just find
the newest ones and install. Glad to hear the 9800 pro cards are still
serving people well, good card. Really inexpensive on eBay, just make
sure you get the 256 bit version. Sapphire has never impressed me, the
9800 pro I had lasted a few months then quit, suspect faulty heatsink
installation, or poor power management.