Just upgraded to Radeon 9600pro - now 5fps less !!!

[garydpoole 183]

HiNow i'm totally miffed...Just "upgraded" my geforce 3 ti200 to a radeon 9600pro and to my utter dissapointment, i'm now seeing 5fps LESS when in spot view - from 21 to 16fps !!! with similar results in other views.Initially, the results were even worse with directx 9, restoring to 8.1 did "improve" things though.Though not cutting, edge, i believe my system is no slouch - the mobo and graphics card having full agp8x functionality.Any one got any thoughts as i'm now feeling a bit gutted !!!ThanksGary

[gosta 0]

Hi Gary,that should not be happening :).Try uninstalling the card, then physically remove it, restart the computer, and let it detect your onboard graphics. Look for any remnants of your old nVidia driver (I think there's a utility out there to take care of it for you - it's called 'Detonator Destroyer', or words to that effect). Also, make sure your ATI driver is removed completely. Then restart, reinstall DirectX 9 (use Windows Update to get the most recent version) and shut your computer down. Install the Radeon again, start your computer, and go into the BIOS and check if it's detected correctly. Then install the ATI driver (I found the Catalyst 3.7 to give the best performance, but other people had better results with older drivers). Hopefully, it should work now. Cheers,Gosta.http://hifi.avsim.net/activesky/images/wxrebeta.jpg

[Guest SoarPics]

This works pretty well at removing both ATI and nVidia drivers.http://www.driverheaven.net/cleaner/I also went into the registry and cleaned out all the nVidia stuff... there were a number of entries for various drivers I had tried on my 4600.My system is very much the same as yours... I get very nice framerates and great image quality with my 9700 Pro. There is definately something wrong with your system.

[garydpoole 183]

Thanks for the advice...Before installing the new 9600, i ran a program could "nasty file remover" to clean out all of the old nvidia stuff. However, how do i go about checking my registry files for unwanted nvidia data ???Just one thing, i ran 3dmark2001 after installing the 9600 and my score went from about 6900 to 9700 so something has happened:-hmmm (does 3dmark2001 use opengl as apposed to direct3d ?)Gary

[gosta 0]

Hi Gary,not sure about your 3dmark score - I just ran the same test on a system a bit more powerful than yours and got a substantialliy lesser score (5971). I'm not quite sure what it measures, but from what it displayed on the screen, I wouldn't put too much faith in it. Anyway, it's a DirectX dependent program by the looks of it, which means Direct3D as opposed to Open GL.Cheers,Gosta.http://hifi.avsim.net/activesky/images/wxrebeta.jpg

[garydpoole 183]

Hi GostaAm i right in saying that fs2002 uses direct3d ? If this is the case and 3dmark2001 is also using direct3d then if the radeon 9600 improves 3dmark2001 but NOT fs2002 then could the problem be software related and not hardware, ie, some thing in fs2002 is preventing the card's true potential from being realised - just a thought...Gary

[gosta 0]

Hi Gary,yes, FS200x uses DirectX. The problem may indeed lie somewhere in your software, but no neccessarily FS, it could also be a driver isuue etc.Cheers,Gosta.http://hifi.avsim.net/activesky/images/wxrebeta.jpg

[Guest]

what are your AA and AF settings? these will drop your fps pretty quick if they are maxed. how abotu settings in fs itself?

[garydpoole 183]

HiUnfortunately, i'm writing this from work so i can't remember the exact settings, however, they didn't change between removing the old card and installing the new one. Just to confirm things, i removed the new card and using system restore (it actually works !!!) i got my system back running with the geforce 3 and sure enough, the frame rates were approx 5fps more...Is it possible that a registry setting for fs2002 is still applicable to the geforce 3 ? In which case, would it be worth removing and reinstlling fs2002 ?Gary

[gosta 0]

Hi Gary,>Is it possible that a registry setting for fs2002 is still applicable to the geforce 3 ? In which case, would it be worth removing and reinstlling fs2002 ?http://hifi.avsim.net/activesky/images/wxrebeta.jpg

[garydpoole 183]

Hi GostaThanks for your continued interest in my problem !!!Unfortunately, deleting my fs2002.cfg file was one of the first things i tried - no difference...Last night i had a bit of a "session" on it and discovered that turning either AA or Filtering on or off made absolutely no difference on the fps - the quality of the graphics suggesting that AA wasn't on anyway. Swapping between 1028*768 16 bit and 1028*768 32 bit had no effect on fps either.I removed the ATI control panel s/w to allow fs2002 complete control over the graphics and feel that not only is the performance poor, the graphics quality is as well.I installed directx 9 and saw my 3dmark2001 score got up to a respectable 9900 so i'm still sure the card is working as it should (approx 40% improvement over gf3) just not in fs2002 !!!RegardsGary

[gosta 0]

Hi Gary,>I removed the ATI control panel s/w to allow fs2002 complete control over the graphics and feel that not only is the performance poor, the graphics quality is as well.http://hifi.avsim.net/activesky/images/wxrebeta.jpg

[garydpoole 183]

Hi GostaI've now tried everything i can think of (and your suggestions) and i've seen absolutely no improvement what so ever. I've tried various driver versions, both ati and omega but no go.The only thing i can think of is that the card's faulty. The main reason i say this is that if i perform three consecutive 3dmark2001 tests, each score is roughly 500 less than the preceding one (even if i reboot my machine after each test) leading me to believe that there may be a temperature related problem with the card (the case side is currently off as well). If i leave the pc for a couple of hours then re do the test, the first result is (approx) back up to its original value.Any thoughts ?Gary

[gosta 0]

Hi Gary,it sounds like a temperature problem, and it may well be a faulty card. My first two 9700 Pros were faulty, but I got the card shortly after it came out, and at the time ATI seemed to have a lot of teething problems with the new cards. Changing the card is worth a try. If the shop you bought it from won't do it, go to the ATI website and put in an RMA request (it's somewhere in the support section). They will charge a deposit to your credit card, then send you a new card via overnight delivery, then you send them back your old card, and once ATI received it, your deposit will be refunded.Cheers,Gosta.http://hifi.avsim.net/activesky/images/wxrebeta.jpg

[steffenpelz 0]

Gary,Welcome to the club.....Today, because another poster on one of the avsim forums claimed that the 9600Pro beats just about all Nvidia cards except the 5900 Ultra, I went and bought the 9600Pro, uninstalled all old drivers and software, installed all the ATI components and software. Then I went to FS2K2 and dadah! much lower frame rates. I tweaked all settings and since that still didn't work, I uninstalled all ATI compnents and started from scratch. I did pretty much the same punaround as you. Finally, after 4 hours, I had enough, returned the damn piece and reinstalled my GEforce FX5200 successfully. Now I'm playing at nice FPS again. Needless to say that my next card will definitely not be an ATI card.SP