P4GPL-X and X800XT

[JohnR]

My system was upgraded to be able to play games. The performance of my setup
is utterly disappointing and I can't help thinking something is wrong.

P4 3.2 GHz Prescott S478
Asus P4GPL-X
Corsair 2 x 512MB 2-2-2-5 DDR400
ATI X800XT (sapphire)
SATA C: and D: (2 physical HDDs)

I play WoW and the framerate is truly awful in some situations. Also I get
FPS spikes and the X800 fan sounds to be constantly speeding up then slowing
down.
Screen res is 1280 x 1024 and even with all the detail turned down to
minimum I still get FPS dropping into 4-7 FPS in some situations. Surely
this isn't right.

Any thoughts or information would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Mercury]

how are you CPU temps?
If the CPU is getting to hot it may throttle back and so cripple
performance.

Could you have conflicting CPU cooling setup EG a smart temp sensing fan (IE
not the stock) changing its own revs contrary to what the motherboard wants
to do?

Try taking the side off the case - check the motherboard temp before doing
so and after - if there is a marked drop in temp and the game becomes more
consistent then this is an indicator of temp problems.

when you post back, include details on ambient temp, idle case / motherboard
and cpu temp, along with the same after running WoW for a few minutes, then
again with the side off. This will indicate exactly where the temp issue
is - if tere is one.

Paul has provided detailed answers on such issues on several occasions so
have a look for responses from him and follow through the temp
relationships, heatsink efficency formula and so on...

HTH

 

[JohnR]

how are you CPU temps?
If the CPU is getting to hot it may throttle back and so cripple
performance.

After running the game for some time

CPU temp. approx 52-53 C
Mainboard temp approx 42 C
CPU fan speed 2636 (third party fan)

The computer never ever had a side on, I have always left the PC's side
cover off.

The only game I play is WoW so it's difficult to make any comparisons. The
way i'd describe it is FPS spikes (and big troughs) where the display seems
to freeze or stick at fairly regular intervals, most perplexing especially
given the spec on the hardware. The X800XT card driver package installed is
5-10_xp-2k_dd_cp_wdm_27256.exe

I'm starting to think it could possibly be a harware conflict between gfx
card and MB but if standards have been adhered to then I don't quite see
how.

 

[JohnR]

how are you CPU temps?
If the CPU is getting to hot it may throttle back and so cripple
performance.

Could you have conflicting CPU cooling setup EG a smart temp sensing fan (IE
not the stock) changing its own revs contrary to what the motherboard wants
to do?

Try taking the side off the case - check the motherboard temp before doing
so and after - if there is a marked drop in temp and the game becomes more
consistent then this is an indicator of temp problems.

when you post back, include details on ambient temp, idle case / motherboard
and cpu temp, along with the same after running WoW for a few minutes, then
again with the side off. This will indicate exactly where the temp issue
is - if tere is one.

Paul has provided detailed answers on such issues on several occasions so
have a look for responses from him and follow through the temp
relationships, heatsink efficency formula and so on...

the fan assisted heatsink on the GPU is probably ok - that isn't too hot to
touch the problem possibly is the heatsinks on the back of the X800XT card
(which face upwards in my tower case) these are far too hot to touch for
more than a second.