Extremely low performance for a new rig.

I should start off by saying thank you to everyone here for being the best OC community I've ever come across. Six months ago I knew absolutely nothing about OCing, other than the uninformed 'its dangerous, don't do it'. I built a new rig, my first rig I've ever put together myself, and have had a hell of a time doing it. But the past 2 months since I've built it have been hell. I noticed that the performance, however good, was not what I was expecting. Copy/pasted from futuremark forums:

A while back I posted requesting help with my system, received a little bit of help but nothing that actually solved my problems. My compare link (not sure if this is the correct link, inform me if it isn't):

http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm05=1262452

My rig:

AMD 64 bit 3800+ Venice, OC'd to 2.76 (from 2.41)
XFX 7800GT, OC'd
2x512 Corsair DDR3200
Asus A8N SLI Deluxe mobo
WD 74 gig Raptor HD, 10,000RPM

My score is about half of the average score on the ORB for similar CPU/GPU configurations, and it is, in fact, the lowest score when I searched for similar configs. I've reformatted, installed all software/drivers in smart orders, cut down all other processes, tried everything I can think of. My FPS scores are extremely low for my hardware, and I'm completely out of ideas as to how to fix this on my own. I've been trying for a few months now to get it working, but failed. If anyone can offer any help, it'd be greatly appreciated... This rig should be screaming, but it isn't even close, Battlefield 2 maxed out is chugging.

Click to expand...

I've done all the usual checks... all drivers (motherboard, graphics card, sound, everything) updated to their latest, and even tried going back a version for most of them. AA/AF/Vsync are off, on, tried everything. I ran tests before I overclocked my CPU, and they were even lower than what I'm getting now. Battlefield 2 should be running extremely well at all high, even with AA on 4x, but I'm finding it having issues with high with no AA at all. Can anyone give me suggestions? I'm completely lost, and totally out of options here. I've had a lot of helpful people try their best for a little while to solve my problem, but only to have the help fizzle out when all the usual questions didn't solve my problem.

Nothing is overheating. I bought a new PSU, 500watt w/ more than enough power on the 12volt line, still didn't help. If anyone has any ideas, please, PLEASE let me know, respond here, or even hit me up on AIM/Xfire:

AIM: pseudocu1ture
xfire: millenn1um

Thanks a lot, I know there's people on these boards that know their hardware and can help me out.

The only thing I can think of is getting another gig of RAM, which may be bottlenecking your system. Not to mention, Battlefield 2 is one of the most RAM dependant games out right now (Among other things.).

another gig of ram will make BF2 smoother, and if you can afford it then id go for it (i played a LOT with 1gb, and 2gb blows that experience out of the water)

did you make sure that your vid card is in the top PCI-e slot? it should not be in the bottom one.

at what timings are you running your RAM (i.e. 2-2-2-5, etc) and what speed?

did you make sure to turn off cool'n'quiet in your BIOS?

Thanks for the response so far.

I have more RAM, actually, just not in the system. I have 2x512 sticks of DDR3200, and I have another gig stick. When I add in the gig stick, it puts all my RAM in single channel mode, and I get even worse performance. Do I need to buy two more 512 sticks? (i actually already have one more 512 stick, so I'd just need one more 512)

I'm not sure which 4 numbers make up my timings, so here's all the cpuz info I have:

frequency: 230mhz
FSBRAM: cpu/12
CAS# latency: 2.5
RAS# to CAS# delay: 3
RAS#precharge: 3
Cycle time (tras): 7
Bank cycle time (trc): 22
Dram idle timer: 16 clocks

I assume that means i'm 2.5-3-3-7, but just wanted to make sure I don't give you the wrong info.

My graphics card *IS* in the bottom slot. Oops. First time building a rig, is that 8xPCIE or something? Should I shut down, swap it to the top slot and retest?

Mill said:

My graphics card *IS* in the bottom slot. Oops. First time building a rig, is that 8xPCIE or something? Should I shut down, swap it to the top slot and retest?

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Rgr that.

yes, and when you boot up try lowering that TRC to something like 8 or 11... and make sure your cmd rate is 1T

you really bought a 3800+ venice...? knowing this forum, i don't think anybody would recommend that.

-1cem4n

Why's that?

I just retested, and holy crap, thank you so much. New score:

http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm05=1288830

3100 more points, nearly doubled my old one. Thanks a lot.

Last question: Can anyone recommend what RAM configuration I should run in? Here's a list of all the RAM that I have access to:

3x512mb Corsair DDR3200
1x1024mb Hitachi DDR3200

I don't know how to run 3 pieces of RAM in dual channel mode (2x512 I can do in dual channel, but as soon as I add the third piece, it all goes single channel). Any recommendation would be great.

2x 1gb of PC4000 OCZ Gold Edition is what i think is the BEST ram out there. it isn't as affordable but OCZ makes awesome ram and this one overclocks extremely well.

-1cem4n

you can't run 3 sticks of 512 in dual channel. It needs equal numbers of the same size stick to run in dual channel (ie 2 or 4 sticks all the same size)

Mill said:

Why's that?

I just retested, and holy crap, thank you so much. New score:

http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm05=1288830

3100 more points, nearly doubled my old one. Thanks a lot.

Last question: Can anyone recommend what RAM configuration I should run in? Here's a list of all the RAM that I have access to:

3x512mb Corsair DDR3200
1x1024mb Hitachi DDR3200

I don't know how to run 3 pieces of RAM in dual channel mode (2x512 I can do in dual channel, but as soon as I add the third piece, it all goes single channel). Any recommendation would be great.

Click to expand...

np, glad i could help

To answer the question regarding the bottom PCI-e slot; the bottom slot is usually set to 2X at default, as opposed to 16X on the upper slot.

Dual channel refers to the relationship between 2 similar memory sticks. Therefore, it will only work with 2 or 4 sticks. 1 or 3 sticks will not work in dual channel. Not only that, but the sticks have to be the same size.

For now, I would suggest running all 4 sticks at once. It won't overclock for crap, but you've got 2,560MB of physical RAM.
If you get 4x sticks of identical 512MB sticks however, you'll be able to run dual channel and it will OC better.

Thanks a lot. I just ordered a 4th 512 stick.

Quick question: Can lowering CAS cause random restarts, or if its too low,will it just not boot? My memory is rated at 2.0 CAS, but if I bring it below 2.5 I seem to be getting random restarts.