Replacing 8800GT with a GTX 460 - FAILURE

[blitzo999]

I was using an XFX 8800GT 512, and just replaced it with the EVGA GTX 460 768MB. Testing with Modern Warfare 2, and Age of Conan, my framerates actually dropped severely. They weren't great to begin with, but at least playable using the 8800gt, but they are actually performing much worse at the same settings, as low as 10 fps for extended periods. My method of installation was this: I uninstalled the 8800gt drivers first. Then replaced the card. Yes, both power plugs are plugged into the card. I then installed the new drivers from the EVGA support site. Tested the games, horrible results. Then I uninstalled the drivers again, and this time used Driver Sweeper. This time I installed using the drivers from the CD, as well as reinstalling DirectX for the hell of it. No difference, still horrible framerates. I tried installing the beta version of the latest drivers from the Nvidia website, and same results, mostly. For about 10-15 minutes I was getting about 30 fps on Conan after installing the beta drivers, now today it's back to about 10. Modern Warfare is still unplayable as well.

Even though motherboard and processor are pretty ancient, why would I actually be getting worse performance? Shouldn't it at least be equal or better? Everything I read about this card indicated to me that going from the 8800gt to the GTX460 was a huge impovement. Please help!

EVGA GTX460 768mb
Intel core 2 duo 6600 2.4 ghz
Intel DP965LT motherboard
4 gigs ram (3.5 usable), ddr2, unsure of the brand
Coolermaster 450w PSU
Windows 7 ultimate 32 bit

[nickslick74]

You may need to update your mobo drivers for your new gpu to fully perform.

If your board was really made by Intel, go here: Support for the Intel® Desktop Board DP965LT to see if your boards drivers are up to date.

[blitzo999]

Thanks for the reply... According to the Intel website, they've detected my motherboard drivers are complete and up to date.

[nickslick74]

Hmm, maybe check to see if your BIOS is up to date then? On the left side of that page there is a link to the 'Drivers & Download' sections. You can check to see if your BIOS is at the most recent version. Otherwise, the only other thing I can think of is that there is some setting in you bios that is not quite right.

Of course, you could have received a bum 460 as well...

[blitzo999]

Oddly, they don't have a bios update for windows 7. But it does show to be the up to date version for vista. I am waiting on a reply from EVGA support. I don't know what to do at this point other than wait. Thanks for the suggestions.

[nickslick74]

No problem! A few other members my stop by with ideas other than the ones I've had.

[Aaron_8015]

Do you have any performance test software like 3dmark? Does EVGA precision show the cores running at the proper speed? Have you mabye tried reinstalling the games?

TBH sounds like a graphics driver issue....

[KarmaKiller]

Out of curiosity, what power supply do you have?
I'm with Aaron though, sounds like driver issues. The only other thing I could think of is maybe the PSU isn't supplying enough power for the card? Not sure what else it could be besides a bum card really.

[Aaron_8015]

Well look who it is...

Hai.

[blitzo999]

450w coolermaster RS450ACLX is the PSU

I don't have 3dmark but I'll look into that. Evga Precision shows the GPU usage at about 35%. I"m not sure how to tell if the cores are running at proper speed.

I just noticed that while Conan is running, my CPU is going from 75% - 100% maxed out, sometimes maxed fully for a while. I'm sure thats not good. Memory usage is showing about 75-80%. I'm also getting audio clicks and glitches. I don't know if that helps or not.

[Aaron_8015]

Do you have anything that could be running in the background like antivirus? Have a look if its just the game taxing resourses.

[blitzo999]

A couple people mentioned the cpu could be bottlenecking the gpu. Not sure what to do at this point. Gonna try a clean windows install, and replace the power supply when I have the money. Would anyone recommend overclocking the cpu?

[KarmaKiller]

A couple people mentioned the cpu could be bottlenecking the gpu. Not sure what to do at this point. Gonna try a clean windows install, and replace the power supply when I have the money. Would anyone recommend overclocking the cpu?

Overclocking the CPU would definitely help. Your GPU is being bottlenecked, I have no doubts about that. BUT, you shouldn't see any less performance then what you had with the 8800gt, so that's what I don't understand.
A clean install of windows WILL NOT help a bottleneck. And honestly, I doubt you can OC with a Intel branded board. Normally Intel chipsets overclock very well, but with it being a Intel made board, I don't think you'll have options to OC.

[ShyguyXPC]

The Board has PCI Express 1.0a... Though the original 8800GT's were some of the first PCIE 2.0 cards and had issues with some boards with 1.0 slots, but was fully compatible with 1.1 slots. If the 8800GT was running fine before, then one would think the GTX 460 would as well.

But that got me thinking, could there be some sort of issue like this with the GTX 460, just not really compatible with the older PCIE 1.0a slot, or possibly an issue with not enough voltage through the slot and running a bit under powered as a result, despite the external Power connectors?


Also in case it is a Bios Update issue, peruse through this PDF file, its for the "Latest" Bios update for the board, and shows all prior Bios Versions and Fixes/Changes for each.

See if anything in the listing pertains to PCI Express, and then see if you already have that version of the Bios.

if not, might need a Bios Update.

http://downloadmirror.intel.com/1752...leaseNotes.pdf



As to Overclocking, I saw several mentionings of Fixes in Bios updates in that link pertaining to Overclocking options and what not, so its possible the board has minimal/basic OC settings and options, which if it does, is at least something to go on for OCing should you want to do that.

[blitzo999]

Now i'm just having overall bad windows performance.... weird stuff

[ShyguyXPC]

if thats the case, could try for a complete reinstall of the OS, and drivers updates etc, see if that boosts performance?

[blitzo999]

I've reinstalled windows. I decided to reinstall to XP because I had better performance there anyhow and needed it for some audio programs. Anyways, I'm currently downloading the games I had tested with before, but I tested with a new game I have, Darksiders. Still completely unplayable framerates, below 10 fps. I'll look into BIOS updates, but I don't know if there's anything I can do that doesn't involve replacing parts that I can't currently afford. I'm thinking I'll just be sending this card back since it has no use for me.