7800GT Low performance in games

[Stryker]

I've been using an XFX 7800 GT in the following system for a bit now:

Antec P180
Enermax Noisetaker 485
Abit AN8-Ultra
AMD Opteron 148 (stock speeds)
2 x 512 Crucial Ballistix Pc3200
250gb Western Digital SE16 HD (SATAII, 16 mb cache)
XFX 7800GT (factory OC)
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS
Windows XP Home Edition

And I've been getting some disappointing gaming results compared to what reviewers of the card noted in their benchmarks. It honestly seems as though the card is nowhere near as powerful as it should be - for example, I'm getting ~60 FPS in Doom 3 at 1280x1024 w/4xAA whereas reviewers were getting upwards of 80 and 90. In games like Call of Duty 2, the lack of performance is even more noticeable.

Everything is fully patched. I have all the updates downloaded for Windows, the latest drivers, et cetera, and I can't seem to place my finger on what might be causing such a performance handicap. Is it possible that my CPU might be bottlenecking the performance? Would getting an X2 help?

 

[RicoDirenzo]

The CPU might affect 1-2 FPS but not 20! Run 3dMark5 and post the results. xFx cards a famous for problems right out of the box!!!

 

[thebleakness]

What are your temps for your 7800? XFX are known to overheat and it might be and thus downclocking itself to lower speeds. Post your temps when under load.

 

[KryptoKnight]

maybe it is your processor... if its not overclocked...

 

[Stryker]

3dMark '05 registered a score of 7116 at 1024x768.

Initially, the temperatures were in fact extremely high. They peaked somewhere around 70-72. But after running the card for a few weeks, the temperatures seemed to slowly lower themselves and for the last few days that I used the stock cooler, the temps were around 46 idle, 55 load.

I thought that maybe a Zalman Vf-700 might help, so I went out and bought one. I installed the Zalman and the temps initially were actually worse than the stock cooler. I figured that may have been because I had set all of the tri-cools in my case to low, so I turned them up to medium and now I'm getting temperatures basically the same as the stock cooler. During an intensive gaming session playing a game like Half-Life 2 (which actually runs pretty well), it peaks around 55. I would have thought I'd get temperatures at least a few degrees lower, considering I put the HSF on with Ceramique.

I have noticed one difference, though. On the stock cooling, I used to get bunches of artifacts in Half-Life 2 in particular. When I'd switch to the pistol, for example, there would be neon-blue pixels on it in certain places. With the Zalman, I no longer get that. That's about the only difference, though.

 

[RicoDirenzo]

7116 is pretty dang good! The artifacts are definitely heat related. Did you put new thermal paste on the heat sink and GPU after the new HS install?

 

[thebleakness]

It could be overheating then. When you put on the new HSF, it didnt yeild immediate temp drops because it had to first go through the burn in process. Wait alittle while longer and the temps should drop alittle more.

I need a new heatsink for my 7800gt becuase when its oced slightly, it overheats and i get massive performance decreases.

Im not sure if this would make a difference but do you have the correct drivers for the gpu?

 

[Stryker]

Yeah, I've got the right drivers. I installed it on a new system so there aren't any other driver traces that might be mucking it up.

Artifacting is no longer a problem. It's the framerates that are troublesome. I had artifacting all the time with the crappy stock cooler, but it's no longer a problem now that I have the Zalman on it. Heat will probably become less and less of an issue as the Ceramique cures. If heat's the issue, I guess all I can do is wait. But for a 7800GT, I don't think a peak temp of ~55 is all that bad.

Could it be anything else?

 

[RicoDirenzo]

Probably not...just make sure you monitor the GPU core temp fairly closely for awhile.