power supply and performance

[Insane]

right now i have a pretty good computer.
asus P4P800Deluxe mobo
2.6ghz cpu OC'ed to 3.12ghz
All in Wonder x800xt 256mb
1.5gigs of ram
antec350watt CPU

right now, my BF2 performance is just unacceptable. first time i run it after an install and it will be 40-60FPS on mid-high settings, as in dynamic shadows, dynamic lighting, lighting on medium, and the rest on high. and this is running on a 64 player server. after i reboot my computer i see a severe performance drop. with the current settings i will be running 15-20 FPS on a regular 16-32 player game. it was 15-20 fps in singleplayer. i then turn off shadows and dynamic lighting off and turned lighting down to low. i also changed the "high" settings down to medium. now in a 64 player server i STILL run at 15-20 sometimes when looking in some areas, 30 FPS.
this is a problem with BF2 and BF2 only. i can run other games fine. i can run HalfLife 2 with MAXED settings with 4x AA and 8x AF(or is it the other way around?) and everything on high and it will run at a steady 40+ FPS. i can also run Doom3 on high at 40-60 FPS, 60FPS is the max. BF2 however performs like crap.

can a power supply be effecting my performance and underpowering the card, i need to connect a power cable to the card so can that be causing it? if i get a better power supply, will i see a performance increase? and if i do, what explains why i can run so well on the first time after reinstalling.

i have reformatted my computer already and it didnt work, i also freed my comp from adware and viruses. turning off AGP acceleration doesnt help, using old drivers doesnt help (using omega .53s, newesxt ones). i have tried almost everything and nothing works.

i REALLY need help on this, so please if you think you know, please speak up, and dont just let this thread go to the 3rd page in one day.

[5bjoshua]

Yeh you need a new PSU, that should be an acceptable one but for todays hardware you should have at least a 500 watt PSU. I found a PSU software on the internet that shows you what PSU is acceptable, search around for it?! Sorry cant be much more help.

[toxik]

PSU does not effect perofrmance. The main diference between a good PSU and a bad one is stability. With a bad PSU you will be crashing, rebooting, freezing, etc. Also a good PSU can give you more overclockability. I don't think a PSU would make your FPS lower though.....

You can check your rails with Sandra or Speedfan, if your 12V rail is well belowe 12 on idle/load... then you might have a bad PSU. If its around 11.60+ then it's more or less stable.

[NoSoup4You]

#1 - Not everyones view is the same on the forums, so although it may appear your thread is on page 3 to you, it maynot be to others.

#2 - Re-install your drivers and use driver cleaner 3, also update your sound and motherboard drivers as well.

#3 - Yes you need a bigger PSU, I believe the recommended with X8xxx series is 400+, I have a 450watt PSU, works great.

#4 - I'm assuming you're watching your temps on your CPU, that is quite a bit to OC, especially a P4 as they run hot already. If they start hitting 70*C or higher Intel has programmed them to throttle back, aka, slow down, as to reduce heat and the potential for damage.

#5 - Double check your AGP Apature in your BIOS. Sometimes it will only got to 128, so double check its set properly to 256.

#6 - If you're using onboard sound then either switch it to medium with hardware, or switch it over to software rendering.

[5bjoshua]

Yes ! what he said! :-)

[Umi.Ryuuzaki]

I got a feeling overclocking might be the problem, since the PSU might not be strong enough to handle anything above stock spec. Try getting a more power PSU, at least 430+ watts to ensure it can run better and if possible, it being ready for future upgrades. Or, unclock that CPU and see how it goes.

Do everything else as people said ^

[Insane]

i have tried without the overclock, and the reason for the overclock is because i needed a better performance boost.

my temperature never goes above 50, so i dont think thats a problem.

i also heard that AGP aperture settings dont change performance and are only necessary for low memory cards. i am currently running my AGP aperture at 64.

[NoSoup4You]

Well if you don't try it, then how will you know if it fixes your problem?

[HellRåzor]

can a power supply be effecting my performance and underpowering the card, i need to connect a power cable to the card so can that be causing it?

LOL! Yes the psu is the problem man. 300 watts with all that other hardware plus the video card? On top of that, if your card requires the extra power cable, it not only needs it, it ****ing requires it. You can burn out your video card without having it in. I suggest you get a new psu FAST. Here's one that should do the job perfectly.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817104154

[Insane]

i have a cable connecting to the card, i was just wondering if i needed a better PSU to power it. right now i dont really have stability issues, and my comp wont reboot itself, crash, or other good stuff. its just that the FPS problem is bs and doesnt make sense in my opinion.

[openheimer]

Its all about the 12v rail. Why hesitate get a 500w PSU... Go on do without a vice for a week, save your shekels... (sheesh easily the cheapest soloution and you argue)

[neo265]

Just get a decent 450Watt PSU thats capable of sustaining a high ampage on the 12v rail. No need for getting a cheap 500 - 600 watt PSU as 450Watt is more than enough.

The Targan TF480-U01 is one of the best ones going and can supply a constant 28amp on a single 12v rail and only costs £55 (ABout $100).

[imported_Davis]

Insane, the name fits well, if your running your Pentium 4 overclocked beyond it's normal running specs and the x800xt, your asking to kill your system off the bat. Your power supply greatly reduces system performance and stability.

In short yes it's your PSU. You do not need to do the other crap other's advised you to do. You are correct about the aperture rating... it means nothing. Aperture was commonly used back when PCI (not PCI-e) and AGP cards equiped with less than 128megs of memory, these cards needed the extra boost / cache, which creates more texture memory for your GPU. It's no longer needed these days and basically obsolete technology.


Just a future note, any type of overclocking you need to have a power supply larger than 400watts to even be considered a stable system.

and if i do, what explains why i can run so well on the first time after reinstalling.

Answer to your last question, this is why everyone needs to learn to burnin their hardware! People seem to believe they can buy hardware and just slap it in and expect it to run smoothly, above all on gaming rigs, workstations there is hardly any threat.

Burningin your system runs a series of hard stress tests for most of your hardware, which most software will display warnings, failures and successful passes once it completes. These tests determine the systems configurations stability and the output will display the results. If you lack enough power the Burnin will eventually detect the failure and log it as well as many other's.