new gfx card performing under par...

[pat2k5]

i had a nvidia geforce 4 not so long ago which i recently upgraded with a sapphire 9600 XT.

since this upgrade my fps in games has dropped 20-30.

could this be because im running it on a 4x agp slot ?

any help would be appreciated.
thanks

 

[MrCoffee]

welll that really isnt much of an upgrade, the 9600xt is 3 years old.

I recon the 9600xt is on par with a mid range GF5 (5700 Ultra). A top range GF4 should spank it, so if that GF4 of yours is a top model I suggest you swap back :-/

 

[pat2k5]

i dont think the GF4 is better it was a GF4 MX 440 SE (64mb)

i know its not much of an upgrade but i still think it should be better than my old card...

 

[MrCoffee]

yeah its alot better than a mx440, I used to have one of those.

So with the same settings you're getting lower FPS in games?

What games? and what version catalyst drivers are you running?

 

[pat2k5]

games are CSS, AA, COD2...

iv even tried in old school games like 1.6 and star wars JK2, its dropped in them all.

CATALYST® Control Center Version 1.2.2405.30455

newest microsoft net framework version aswell.

not sure about that catalyst version when i downloaded it i thought i remembered it saying 6.8

 

[MrCoffee]

Hmm, I think maybe the mx440 was running in DX8 but the 9600XT is capable of DX9 so its running that by default.
This would explain why your FPS has dropped.

try forcing the card into DX8

 

[pat2k5]

how do i do that ?

i searched google for downgrading directx and it came up with results saying it is virtually impossible...

 

[MrCoffee]

no you don't want to downgrade it, just force your card to use it over DX9

for example use this parameter in your autoexec.cfg for CSS mat_dxlevel 81
or use the launch option -dxlevel 81

alternatively you could stick with DX9 and reduce some of your visual settings.

What sort of FPS are your getting anyway?

 

[pat2k5]

im getting fps of about 30-50 ...

 

[MrCoffee]

probably worth moving down to DX8.1 then, should bump you 20 frames at least.