Low fps, even with new graphics cards

[Ciera]

I've been playing games such as Allods Online, Perfect World, and Runes of Magic (all mmorpgs) lately and decided that it was time to upgrade from my integrated graphics to a Nvidia graphics card. I've tried both the GeForce 8400 GS and the GeForce 6600 overclocked. Neither of these graphics cards have improved the performance of my games much at all. I'm getting around 7-12 fps on high settings and around 30 fps on low settings on all these games. I'm not sure if I'm missing something here, but it seems like my computer should be running these games a lot smoother.

System Specs:

Operating System
MS Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit SP1
CPU
Intel Pentium E5200 @ 2.50GHz 36 °C
Wolfdale 45nm Technology
RAM
4.0GB Dual-Channel DDR2 @ 332MHz (5-5-5-15)
Motherboard
LENOVO LENOVO (CPU 1)
Graphics
Acer P191W @ 1280x800
Acer P191W @ 1440x900
512MB GeForce 6600 (BFG Tech) 51 °C
Hard Drives
488GB Western Digital WDC WD5000AAJS-08A8B0 ATA Device (IDE) 35 °C
Optical Drives
HL-DT-ST DVD-RAM GH10N ATA Device
OPKB 4HQZSPIBS9U7 SCSI CdRom Device
DILOXSL 9MBO1MFC SCSI CdRom Device
MagicISO Virtual DVD-ROM0000
Audio
Realtek High Definition Audio

 

[Fat.Clown]

the 6600 is a medium performing card... back when it was released in 2004-08-12
think of how far we've come since 2004.

the 8400gs was not meant for gaming at all.
both card probably perform equally bad for gaming. (for sure bad for gaming, but probably suck as much as the other card.)

 

[95BlackGA]

It may also help to disable the secondary monitor while playing games too. But, as Clown said, those cards are not for performance. They're basically external cards, that performance at the same level as integrated, and only meant to give basic functionality to computer with no integrated video. I would suggest returning the cards, if you can. Then, get at least an ATi Radeon HD 4670, or nVidia 9600GSO. You could probably go with a 4650, I had one, and could almost max out Modern Warfare 2 with it.

Those cards will run you right around $60, but well worth it, in my HONEST opinion. The 4670 is closer to performance with an 8800GTS than, a 9600GTS, but the 8800 cost double what the 9600 does. The 9600 is also faster than the 8800.

http://www.techist.com/forums/f76/graphics-performance-list-212331/