CPU or video card - which needs upgrading?

[Striken]

Recently, Rainbow Six Vegas and BioShock have been giving me problems running at (or anywhere near) maximum settings. I assume it's time for some kind of change, even though my PC is only about 15 months old.

Video: NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GT/GTO

-latest drivers
-no overclocking as I have no extra cooling set up

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+

I think my PC is still upper-mid range but it isn't performing as well as I'd like. Any ideas why that might be?

Additional info:

Windows XP SP 2
2 GB RAM (4x512)
Reformatted not long ago

Any suggestions much appreciated.

 

[psp_crazy1]

you need a new GFX, first i think. Maybe getting an 8800GTS 320mb, for around 300.

 

[TheDiceman]

Hm... I find it odd that you are having problems since I run Bioshock on fairly high settings with only an AMD x2 4200 and an x1800xt 256mb along with 2 gigs of RAM.

 

[b1gapl]

It would also depend on the resolution, you guys are playing at.

 

[cwiz]

and some ppl have a better eye for lower frames/sec... anything under 25 drives me nuts, i try to stay over 30... if its a fast past first person shooter, i want 80+ for smoothness while i jerk the mouse around

 

[Striken]

Thank you psp.

I'm doing BioShock (demo) on 1280x1024, my monitor's native resolution. I would expect better performance, too, but it's much less than 30 FPS with higher settings, especially around water... and oh and there's a lot of water in this game.

 

[b1gapl]

On that system and resolution, you should be able to play Bioshock, on reasonably high settings.

 

[AnthraX]

Just don't play at max settings, and save up for a whole new computer in like 6 months. You still have a really good setup.

 

[Striken]

Hmm, so you agree my system is upper-mid end and I should probably be seeing better performance?

I wonder why it could be running less than optimally.

 

[TheDiceman]

I want to say I run the game at 1280x960... my mind is blanking out on it atm. I actaully don't know my frame rates, but the games appears to run fairly smooth to my eyes.