gaming problem, low fps

[shenlingstyle]

Hi, I recently upgraded my computer to this:

Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe
AMD Athlon XP 3200+
OCZ Platinum PC3200 1GB Rev2 Dual Channel
2 x Maxtor 80GB SATA HD in RAID 0
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128 mb

I installed Doom 3 to test my system. I set graphics to Ultra High and started the game. The normal fps when I move around varies from 40-60, but whenever a door opens in front of me, or the game goes into story animation mode, or when I'm in combat, the fps drops to a 10 - 20 and the game sort of freezes and unfreezes. In the case of sliding doors, the second the door begins to open, the game freezes and by the time it unfreezes, the door is already open, so basically I don't see the animation.

I'm wondering if it has to do with my video card because originally I had a Sapphire Radeon 9600XT 128 mb and I experienced the same thing when playing in Medium mode.

Anyone have an idea what the problem is and how I can solve it? Thanks in advance and any help is appreciated!

 

[beedubaya]

It is your video card....the 9800 Pro doesn't quite cut it for Doom 3 at Ultra high. You really need a 6800 or X800 series card for that. Run it at 1024x768, no AA, High settings, and you will be fine.

Just asking, why did you get the 9800 Pro? The 6600 GT these days is cheaper and much better.

 

[shenlingstyle]

Damn I guess that explains. I didn't do a lot of research before I bought, I just wanted the 9800 pro for a long time. How much is the 6600GT? I'm extremely unfamiliar with Nvidia's video card models. Thanks for the reply.

 

[beedubaya]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814150089

Here is a 6600 GT for $146. Sorry about the 9800 Pro, but while it once was a beast, it is no longer a high end card.

 

[shenlingstyle]

Thanks a lot for your help, hopefully in the near future I can earn enough money to upgrade again haha. Hope you don't mind if I ask one more question: often when I exit games such as Doom 3, my computer is extremely slow for a little while and then everything is fine. What hardware could be responsible for this? Thanks again.

 

[beedubaya]

That would be your RAM...but its not a big problem. It just means that Doom 3 uses all or your system RAM and that Windows is stored in the paging file...and its very slow to retrieve from the paging file, causing the slowdown. Upgrading to 2GB of RAM, or terminating some running processes would fix it.

 

[shenlingstyle]

Alright, thanks a bunch for the help. I'll keep all of that in mind during my next upgrade. Cheers!