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Terrible 7800 GS performance - help!

Associate
Joined
20 Oct 2002
Posts
1,127
Location
Redcar
Got the BFG 7800GS OC to replace my 9800 pro and its terrible if not worse

System spec
NF7-S 2.0
XP1700 @ 200*12
1GB Twinmos 2.5-3-3-8
461W Enermax PSU

I have the nForce 2 drivers installed

I found that forceware 81.98 did not recognise the 7800GS so I used the drivers on the CD, this was terrible, I got 487 in 3D mark 2006

I then updated to forceware 83.60 and they would install but seemed to give only mediocre performance. I did manage 2844 in 3D mark 06

Games performance still seems to suck, Far Cry is much worse @ 1024x768 and HL2 is only faster if I disable all the new affects.

Is this just a driver issue? What do people recommend driver wise for 7800GS cards – I’m honestly thinking of getting rid and going back to my 9800pro and saving the £240
 
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OP
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20 Oct 2002
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Redcar
Yep, I did a full reinstall last night. SP2, nvidia drivers, forceware and it gave me another couple of 100 in 3D mark but not a lot else.

Is this just a driver issue? I can’t believe some of the reviews of this card and in game performance on similar aged systems (2Ghz 754 machines)
 
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OP
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Redcar
That’s what I’m thinking right now, its like flogging a dead horse. It’s a shame because my 1700 is such a sweet chip.

If someone wants to post their install procedure / process I’ll give it one last go before I get rid. I don’t really want to sell it a few days old without exhausting all options
 
Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
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11,038
Location
Romford/Hornchurch, Essex
i really dont understand why people cling on to AGP

a 7800gs is quiet expensive. for a extra £50-70 you can get a PCIexpress board and a 7800gt!!! :o

however i see your still using a XP cpu, not a A64.



id have to say you have a CPU limited setup, that the 9800pro was fine with, and a good mix... Now having a 7800gs, its just sitting around waiting for the CPU to give it instructions.
 
Soldato
Joined
24 Dec 2004
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11,353
Location
Knowle, Solihull, UK
I agree with Phil99

It's still a quick CPU and this is no reason as to why your 7800GS is performing under par

Do you have any benchmarks from games at all? Have you tried enabling/disabling fastwrites in the BIOS? What have you set your AGP apeture size to?
 
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OP
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8x AGP, and fast write is on, 128mb aperture, the same settings I had the 9800pro on.

I did some quick benches on far cry but the other machine is off now I can't check but low quality the 9800pro was 90-100fps medium about 60fps where as the 7800 on low was 80fps and medium only 30fps!

This was very noticeable in game, all the same settings for both cards @ 1024x768 and the 9800pro was a good 25-30fps ahead.

I’m strongly thinking of getting rid now, I don’t feel the need to play over 1024 anyway as I still have a great Mitsubishi 720 17” CRT.

Maybe I was expecting too much from the 7800 GS, all I wanted was a faster frame rate about 80-100fps but all the 7800 seems to be able to do is give nicer looking graphics at half the frame rate of the 9800pro

Thanks for everyones help
 
Soldato
Joined
24 Dec 2004
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Location
Knowle, Solihull, UK
Five_Star said:
8x AGP, and fast write is on, 128mb aperture, the same settings I had the 9800pro on.

I did some quick benches on far cry but the other machine is off now I can't check but low quality the 9800pro was 90-100fps medium about 60fps where as the 7800 on low was 80fps and medium only 30fps!

This was very noticeable in game, all the same settings for both cards @ 1024x768 and the 9800pro was a good 25-30fps ahead.

I’m strongly thinking of getting rid now, I don’t feel the need to play over 1024 anyway as I still have a great Mitsubishi 720 17” CRT.

Maybe I was expecting too much from the 7800 GS, all I wanted was a faster frame rate about 80-100fps but all the 7800 seems to be able to do is give nicer looking graphics at half the frame rate of the 9800pro

Thanks for everyones help

Hi!

Try a 256MB aperture size and try turning fast writes off (it theoretically improves performance but can have the opposite affect in some cases!)

You should notice a large improvement when going from the 9800Pro to the 7800GS - I don't think you were expecting too much there

Maybe it's an issue with some bits of the old ATI drivers being left behind? Try uninstalling both the ATI and nVidia driver sets from the Control Panel. Boot into Safe Mode and run Driver Cleaner to completely get rid of all traces of both driver sets and then try installing the nVidia drivers again
 
Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
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11,038
Location
Romford/Hornchurch, Essex
back on topic for me.........sorry ;)

i must admit that the 7800gs should be miles ahead of that 9800pro. my only guess is what ajgoodfellow mentioned. Fastwrites cause cause massive improvements, AND also negative effects too, so its always the first thing to look into.
 
Soldato
Joined
8 Dec 2005
Posts
10,535
Check to see if vsync is on on the nvidia control panel as that can even bring a 7800GTX512 to its knees in some games. AA+AF should also be adjusted for performance to suit your system as they can also cause slowdowns (especially if vsync is on).

Your 3dmark06 score is about right for that card. Until recently I had an AGP6800GT256 and that got about the same score.
 
Caporegime
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8 Sep 2005
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Utopia
Lol lots of dodgy info in this thread. A 2.4ghz AXP IS a slow CPU by todays standards there's no two ways about it. It sucks for gaming compared to A64, just look at this mass of CPU tests and judge relative performance http://www.tomshardware.com/2005/11/21/the_mother_of_all_cpu_charts_2005/page28.html

The 7800GS should be faster than the 9800Pro though anyhow, and I note you have changed from an ATi card to an NVidia one. One word: reformat. Twice I have changed from ATI to Nvidia and twice I had shoddy performance until I did a clean install. It should always be done when changing vid card brands imo and I bet if you did you would notice a boost in performance.

Also make sure you are running higher res with more detail so that the GPU is used, or you will be CPU-limiting it even more than it already is.

If I were you i'd upgrade to an Asrock 939 SATA2 board that has both the AGP/PCI slots and get a cheapish Skt 939 Venice, you'll notice a world of difference.
 
Soldato
Joined
18 Aug 2004
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6,739
Location
The Toilet
think he might have already formatted, as why would anyone bother waiting until they upgraded gfx card to install sp2?
Your best bet is to play about with BIOS agp settings, the fast writes could be the thing thats messing you about, failing that you should try and test it on an A64 setup if you know someone whos willing to let you test it out, as it might be your card being funny with the nforce2 chipset
 
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