Too Greedy? (Gaming question)

[Helixxxer]

So where to being... Well, you can see my comp specs down at the bottom so I won't bother typing them again. My question really is whether or not there is something limiting my computer when I play HL2, Doom3, and other games because I haven't seen much of a difference after upgrading from an Athlon XP 2600+, and 512mb of cheap ram. Before I upgraded I could get away with playing HL2 at about an average of 45fps with everything on medium, and some things like shadows on high (No AA/aniso filt). Now, it runs at about 42fps with everything except texture detail on high (no AA/no aniso filt). I expected that I could change everything up to high just due to upgrading the ram, but I feel like there hasn't been any sort of improvement with the processor. (The same happened with Doom 3, although it's worse cuz I messed up the config file). Anyway here's what I've done:

-Updated ALL drivers (bios, geforce, processor, on-board sound)
-Played around with the settings, turning everything down (resolution and stuff) and then up again. There is hardly any difference in performance or fps.
-Made sure everything is compatible with everything else. It all looks good (in theory).

I'm not sure I did the driver updating stuff right (it just installed and said it was done, I restarded the comp and assumed it was finished). It seems like I should at least be able to play at a higher fps or turn on AA with the new processor. (If I turn it on now, it slows down to 20 fps, even at just 2x). Is there something else that I missed either when upgrading the hardware or updating the drivers, or anything at all that anyone can think of? It may just be that I'm wanting too much from it and maybe the gpu is holding it back.

I appreciate anyone who has gotten this far down in the post and THANKS in advance for any advice whatsoever.

 

[AND_YOU_ARE]

Try wiping the hard drive and then installing the new software for your new hardware. When ever you make those big changes you should consider installing windows on a new clean hard drive. This is so you dont mix up the drivers for the old and new hard ware.

 

[Helixxxer]

Actually, there was this thing on Windows XP home that asked for me to register for an installation number and stuff and I guess when you change hardware it creates a new image and a different number so it didn't register, so I had a friend wipe it out and put a copy (licensed for five computers, mine being the fourth) of XP Pro on it, so it was a clean starting point.

 

[AND_YOU_ARE]

Hmm, are you sure your cpu is clocked right?

 

[Wall7486]

Games like Doom 3 are more video card dependent. The Geforce 5900 you have is a decent card, but it does not hold well in DirectX 9 games.

 

[The Merlin]

Possibly because the CPU underclocks itself to save power I think...its called Speedstep I believe. Dunno if its the cause, but just a possible enhancement to what he said

 

[Helixxxer]

Yeah, that's true, dx9 kills the darn thing.

What's the easiest way to check the clock speed?

 

[AND_YOU_ARE]

Google the program cpu-z. That will tell you your hard ware properties.

 

[lokivn]

those games don't require a faster processor than you had so you got no benefit to them besides perhaps faster loading times. i was playing the games on a Athlon XP 1500+ with everything on high.

more RAM + an even better videocard are about all you can do for todays games.

 

[Ace No-Money]

Man I really think it's the video card. It looks like fx 5900's get their butts whopped in Dx9 games especially. Ya need 9800 pro or 6600gt agp probably. The 9800 muscles 106fps at 1024 x 768 in the HL2 benchmark demos. I would think that the extra bandwidth your getting from your athlon 64/pc3200 upgrade should help! What do ya guys think about the bandwidth, is it important in gaming?