Anything else I can do here? Seems slow (9800pro)

Ok, to start off with

System:
Epox 8K5A2+ XP2100 @ 2150 (166fsb) 1.7v
512mb ddr
Powercolor 9800 pro 256mb

I keep it minimal when it comes to background processes, MBM 5 being a necessity.

after quite some time, here's what I've got so far.

Max core speed 400 Max mem speed 356, anything over these and I get artifacting.

3D Mark 05(free edition) shows a score of 2006

All of the test show lousy framerates.
Looking at some of the other comparable scores, I'm getting the idea that i should be in the 2300-2700 range.

The driver I'm using is 6.14.10.6553

I think thats all the info.

Thanks in advance

05 is a serious benchmark even for newer cards. A radeon 9800 pro is 2003 era gaming card. I would recmommend u first grab another 512 of memory. Most games these days eat right thru 512. My roomate just made this upgrade after me telling him for a year that 512 wont cut it and now hes totally wowed by his new found performance from a lousy 30$ 512 stick.

Also your cpu is pretty dated compared to even slower cpu's these days.
Even the cheapest Athlon 64 combo (125 cpu, 85 mobo) will give u so much more performance in todays latest games. I can personally tell u this from experience since i did the whole mobo/cpu upgrade last december. I also had a 9800 pro like your back then too. Plus i went from a athlon xp like you too! Keeping the 9800 pro and just swapping the board and cpu I gained worlds of performance. I couldnt believe how much slower my Xp was.

I would suggest just to bite the bullet and spend some cash. Tweaking that setup is only gonna yeild very slight gains in performance in todays games that are power hungry.

This is what i would do.

1. Buy a new video card. Referb x800pro's are like 200 buks on new egg. Also u can swap that xp for maybe a barton core Xp. ANd add another 512.

2. This is the smarter choice. Buy a new mobo/cpu combo. Probably a 3000 venice and a cheap 939 board and keep your card. Although making the switch to a new board thats agp is unwise since PCI-E is pretty much the standard now..If u want to do this right u would have to buy cpu/mobo/vidcard. But if ur not looking for super long term investments just a 939 agp board and a 3000 venice will really blow u away with performance in games and windows.

But the first thing u should do is run to the store and buy another 512 stick fast.

I had that exact same setup a couple years back, your CPU is seriously hindering your 9800pro for sure.
Pick up a 2600 mobile barton and crank it up and you can breathe some new life into that setup for awhile but like Chris64 said you should try to upgrade to the 64 if you want some real performance.

Another vote for more ram, faster cpu here. I used to get a score for 1500 with my 9500pro :S

A few things, when you're benching turn of MBM5
Make suer your system is defragged using a program like Disk Keeper
When was the last time you formatted?

Another 512 ram is step one. The cpu is not ideal but will be ok if you have the ram.I'm talking real games here not benchmarks.

Yeah, get more ram, even if its value ram. ITs what happened with me and UT2K4. Even my x800 pro was doing poorly with that game. Ram made it better

Yeah, I do need some more memory. As for upgrading my cpu/mobo, it's not going to happen, the funds aren't there. Something about building a house that'll do that to you.

honestly, everything I play works well. Doom3 and guild wars are probably the biggest thing I play, and both at 1024 X 768 since I have a 17" and see no difference with higher settings.

I can remember when 515mb was a big hard drive, lol now it's not enough for regular memory.

Thanks