Video card/FPS stuff

[MisterEggs]

i've moved this from a private to public forum in case it helps anyone else having fps probs

single figure frame rates?
ffs what card u running.

Right, Sandra says the card itself is;

NVIDIA RIVA TNT2 Model 64/Model 64 Pro [PCI]
Total Memory  32MB {32MB Memory}
Texture Memory  64MB
{runing NVIDIA Detonator XP drivers}

i bought it new around two years ago, for abour £55 i think.

Today i have mostly been adjusting my settings with a kind of 'ooh wonder what that does...let's turn it up' approach after checking PCMark2002 and noticing that since my last benchmark test the Blit test result (although i know this relates to fps i have no idea what a 'blit' is) had dropped by half. Don't know why.

Now i seem to be getting an fps of between 13 - 40 something. i've also overclocked it a bit and it seems to run ok for now, but i'll test it all out on MH tonight and see how much it's improved.

i might edge the overclocking up by little bits tonight as well, so if you see me spontaneously combust mid-game, you'll know why...  :smokin:

[Gandalf]

What are you running it in? OpenGL or DirectX or Software.

You can find out from...

Configuration | Video | Video Modes.

[MisterEggs]

Open GL. i heard DirectX wasn't good for CS (game designed for use with OpenGL or something..?) but i tried it once, and once was enough.  

Well, i tried all the different settings tonight and it was still not good, pretty low fps again, but one thing i've found is that after turning Vsync off, as is generally recommended, it turns itself back on again. i've got it to stay off now, i think, and it seems to noticeably bounce up the framerate, but until i can test it in battle i won't know if it's all working as i hope.

[Stryker]

good test when on ur own is to keep buying smoke grens in the buy area and letting them off.... that really hammers your graphics card...

[MisterEggs]

Been trying that today, and after 2 or 3 grens, esp if i go into the smoke it drops to about 5-8fps and very slide-showy. The 'smoke detail' setting is already low too (looks like a load of cumulous nimbuses (nimbii?)) instead of smoke.

Looking at it again today and i can't seem to keep the vsync turned off (keeps defaulting back to 'always on') and i'm back to 28fps and much lower. :evil:  :cry:

[JonnyAppleSeed]

i must remember to throw smoke at mr eggs :wink:

[DonkeyCheeseGrater]

lol

[MisterEggs]

i must remember to throw smoke at mr eggs :wink:

Actually i've fixed it now and find that smoke grens raise my fps to 100 everytime! Really. No, really they do. Honest.  8O

But i've also found anyone standing in front of me without shooting drops it back down to 4fps. Tsk.


/me wonders if Jonny will buy that...

[Tutonic]

Theres a program called "Riva Tuner" or something that you mind find usefull, can override all sorts of settings for Riva/TNT/GeForce cards.

Suggest you hunt it down.

[MisterEggs]

Cheers, TuT, but already got it, found it yesterday. It's pretty much the same as the registry-tweaked nvidia driver, and seems to have about as much effect too, although the vsync does appear to be staying off now.

It's very weird this, as during testing i can go on and it'll be racking up about 50fps, but when i go to play for real it drops back to 11-20 again.

Something isn't right, but for the life of me i can't figure out what it is.  :?

[Tutonic]

When your playing (for real) see if you can minmize CS, then hit Ctrl-Alt-Delete and see what else is running in the background (if your using 2k/XP it should also tell you how much memory + CPU time the processes are using). Close anything that isn't needed and see if it helps your FPS....

Oh and try updating your motherboard drivers, if your using a VIA chipset, you can get the latest 4-in-1 drivers here: ftp://downloads.viaarena.com/drivers/4in1/

[MisterEggs]

Thanks, Tut. i'm almost embarrassed to say this again, but yes i do that.
My routine before logging on is;
a) close intellipoint (the orientation is for right hand use when on)
B) mute CD and all line-ins on volume properties
c) ctrl-alt-del and kill but systray and explorer
d) up the brightness (more to do with prefering a darkish screen for everything else than trying to see in dark corners)
e) clean desk and mouse feet for a nice 'slide'.
f) have plenty of field dressings, pre-built cigarettes, and coky cola to hand.

Probably more preparation for dying (frequently) than you'll find in an undertakers...  

The motherboard driver is something to think about though. Unfortunately it''s not a via chipset, as far as i'm aware.

Sandra says it's;

Manuf: Jetway
Model: i44OBX-W977TF
BIOS ID: 09/24/1998-i44OBX-W977TF-2A69KJ1CC-00
Chipset: Intel 440BX/DX/ZX

Ages ago i wanted to update the Flash/Bios..err thing....as it must be very old now, but i was never quite sure if i had the right one, wasn't sure how to go about it and wasn't convinced i wasn't going to screw the whole machine up.

[sheepy]

who is this sandra?

[Tutonic]

Sandra's a diagnostic program Sheepy

I dont know which driver your gonna need Eggs, but I'm guessing it the 440BX table at the bottom (Disclaimer: I accept no responsibility for your PC exploding )

http://www.jetway.com.tw/evisn/download/dr...river/index.htm

[FatBob]

its also the name of my wife!! something you want to tell me about
mister eggs ? 8O