Is my system being bottlenecked?

[Rayzerwulf]

I got a new video card which should be giving me really good fps in games but it's like something is making it stay in the low 15-30's, even sometimes for a second or 2 it would show 90-200fps. Is something bottlenecking my computer? Here's some of my system specs:

Processor
Model : Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.40GHz
Speed : 3.40GHz
Cores per Processor : 1 Unit(s)
Threads per Core : 2 Unit(s)
Internal Data Cache : 16kB, Synchronous, Write-Thru, 8-way set, 64 byte line size, 2 threads sharing
L2 On-board Cache : 1MB, ECC, Synchronous, ATC, 8-way set, 64 byte line size, 2 lines per sector, 2 threads sharing

System
Mainboard : Intel Corporation D915PBL
Bus(es) : X-Bus PCI PCIe IMB USB FireWire/1394 i2c/SMBus
Multi-Processor (MP) Support : 1 Processor(s)
Multi-Processor Advanced PIC (APIC) : Yes
System BIOS : Intel Corp. CY91510A.86A.0012.2004.0609.1806
Total Memory : 1022MB DDR2-SDRAM

Chipset 1
Model : Intel Corporation 82915G/GV/GL/P/PL/GL/910GE/GL Grantsdale Host Bridge/DRAM Controller
Front Side Bus Speed : 4x 200MHz (800MHz data rate)
Total Memory : 1GB DDR2-SDRAM
Memory Bus Speed : 4x 133MHz (532MHz data rate)

Video System
Monitor/Panel : F-417
Adapter : NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT

Physical Storage Devices
IC35L040AVVA07-0 (ATA) : 38GB (F
WDC WD2000JB-00GVA0 (ATA) : 186GB (C
HL-DT-STDVDRAM GSA-4167B (ATA) : N/A (D

Logical Storage Devices
Hard Disk (F : 38GB (33GB, 86% Free Space) (NTFS) @ IC35L040AVVA07-0 (ATA)
Hard Disk (C : 186GB (74GB, 40% Free Space) (NTFS) @ WDC WD2000JB-00GVA0 (ATA)
CD-ROM/DVD (D : N/A @ HL-DT-STDVDRAM GSA-4167B (ATA)
3.5" 1.44MB (A : N/A

Operating System(s)
Windows System : Microsoft Windows XP (2002) Professional 5.01.2600 (Service Pack 2)
Platform Compliance : Win32 x86

 

[gurusan]

You made an excellent choice on the 8800GT....excellent card.

As for the occasional skips it's because you only have 1gb of memory. Also your processor is pretty slow and only single core.

I highly recommend selling the motherboard and CPU...then buying a new mobo, ram, and cpu.

Otherwise just throw in another 2x1gb ramsticks. They are pretty cheap at the moment.

 

[Kisskerven]

"pretty slow" @ 3.0Ghz+ makes me laugh and cry since mines 1.35Ghz

Newegg has some beutiful e6700 going on sale (or may be already) and LGA 775 mobos for sale- you can get them, and 2 gigs of RAM for less then 400 dollars U.S. - and with sales you might be able to get them for around 300.
So you'd be going dual core, and 64 bit, and 2 gigs RAM, and a new mobo to sprucen up your rig.

 

[bazzer55]

hi rayzerwulf, just wondered what game you're playing...and what settings?

 

[Rayzerwulf]

Thanks for the suggestions.

I mainly play Team Fortress 2 at all high settings with full anti-aliasing and anisotropic. The fps is around 20-50, but at times it goes as low as 9 fps. Sometimes when i die or just join a game after turning on my computer i get like 90-110 fps for less than a minute. I have no idea why.. I don't have the money for a new mobo/cpu/ram yet so I can't do much.

I've tried playing Call of Duty 2 at all high settings and it runs great but I don't know how to check the fps. The gameplay is very smooth though.. I wish my TF2 was like that.

All my other Valve games run pretty much like TF2. I did the video test check on CS:S and it averaged 114 fps, but it doesn't do that when I actually play any Valve game.

Oh and my resolution is 1280 x 1024 (most my monitor can do)

 

[gurusan]

Well at least invest in more ram. I recommend a 2x1gb kit that you can swap over later to a new mobo/cpu setup. Ram is very inexpensive at the moment so it's a good time to buy.

 

[bazzer55]

according to this link:
Team Fortress 2 System Requirements at FreakyGaming
...your system is A ok! are you confident that your online requirements are being met by your provider? if they are like mine, they go from good to awful in no time at all!
have you got 'FRAPS' to test your frame rates?
FRAPS show fps, record video game movies, screen capture software

 

[Rayzerwulf]

I plan on getting 2x1gb dual channel kit RAM. It could be my 2x512mb single channel slowing me down.

Nice link, my system does seem to fit all the ideal requirements but I guess it's not as smooth of gameplay as it should be. My internet's fine, no problems at all with that. I use 'net_graph 1' in the console when I play Valve games to find out my fps/ping, but I'll use FRAPS to check out my fps in CoD2 and Battlefield 2.