8800GTS|Need Advice & Help

Hi everyone!
I just recently built a new PC. My first time. Here's the skinny on it:

-OCZ GameXStream 700Watt PSU (Max Amperage of 36a on a particular rail)
-BFG NVIDIA GTS 640MB GDDR3 Graphics Card
-abit AW9D (The regular, not MAX version) Motherboard
-G.SKILL DDR2 SDRAM 800 Dual channel kit
-Lian Li PC-65B Case Mid Tower
-Sony DVD read/write combo driver (stock from an old DELL system a yr ago)
-basic 3.5 floppy drive
-Intel Pentium Core 2 Duo e6300 @ 1.86 stock speed
-new (hasnt arrived yet) DELL 20" Widescreen LCD-HDI-D 5ms Response time Monitor, max res. of 1680x1050 (But currently running a 17" Digital LCD Flat panel DELL Monitor 20ms response time, max res. 1280x1024, max refresh 75Hz)
-New O/S (I didn't want VISTA, cause not stable yet) so I got XP Pro Edition SP2 (but currently running an incompatible DELL branded XP Media Center Edition...)
-Western Digital Raptor X 10K speed HDD

Now, the aspect I need help with & am most concerned, is my FPS in game. I have tried adjusting different settings, doing stress tests, and I have the help of a good tech friend...
He took me in BIOS, and had me adjust RAM and such + other settings...

(NOTE: that I am running a DELL branded-version of WinXP Media Center Edition atm{because it came from my old PC, I didn't realize it was for DELL PC's only}, but will soon be reformatting + installing Win XP Pro...So my problems might be due to the incorrect O/S)

But anyhow, I would still like to get this thread going, and see if anyone can help me understand more about these new 8800 Chipsets. See, currently, IN GAME , I am having this issue where the FPS seems to lock at 60. It will not go up, nor go down most of the time. I have the latest drivers 97.92 Forcware, and I have tried adjusting settings in the Nvidia Ctrl. Panel...
But to NO avail, whether running the card in performance mode or quality mode with settings MAX, I am still getting a locked FPS at 60 in most maps, and it even dropped down to 35-40 in very detailed official maps (we are speaking of DoD:S here ONLY)

Does anyone have any ideas, advice, or solutions to get this card and setup working at what it should be? This card is big time. With that kind of VRAM GDDR3 at 640MB, and combined with the new core2duo (even the lower one e6300 like I got) it should be giving me much, much better performance than a locked 60 max fps. Again, this could all improve when I install my new O/S and get rid of conflicting DELL files/registry + maybe it is due to poor drivers atm. Please, any help guys is appreciated. Thanks.

go in the drivers and force v-sync off

you know, i had this same prob when i first got my 8800gts here a couple of weeks ago. i was using the 97.92 drivers. i went a little reformate crazy that weekend - one thing i did notice when i went with the 97.02's i didnt have that prob. i could set my max FPS in COD2 to 150 and i would actually get 150 instead of the 60 i had been getting.


i can't help you with the dropping in fps. i play COD2 @ 1440 x 900 in DX9 with all settings on max and never see the lower side of 100 FPS. well on a map called "big red" it drops down to 85+ when i am in some heavy undergrowth.... but aside from that she runs great.

Rattle said:

go in the drivers and force v-sync off

Click to expand...

Correct, the v-sync is enabled and is limiting your frames per second to 60. This might be an in-game setting also, depending on what game your playing. Here is where the setting is:

sounds like vsync to me. Its meant for CRT monitors(although no one uses it), so turn it off. Untick application controlled and leave the slider at off.

Thanks guys, I actually did try the 97.02 drivers (the BFG tech guy recommended them as the best atm), and it seemed to fix a few issues...
It's weird though, I know about Vsync, and I did force it off, then all of a sudden I was getting over 130fps in Day of Defeat: Source on a particular map called: Grubbenvorst. BUT, then when it changed to a more complex map, I was getting fps around 40-50. It didn't make sense. I hadn't changed any settings from map to map. So, after that, I figured I'd mess with the Vsync again. But, ya I did figure out that if I had it forced on, then my fps could NOT exceed my screens refresh rate. That didn't occur to me at first.

Keep the advice coming though guys. It's greatly appreciated. I will proli keep Vsync off then.

foreverFLASH said:

Thanks guys, I actually did try the 97.02 drivers (the BFG tech guy recommended them as the best atm), and it seemed to fix a few issues...
It's weird though, I know about Vsync, and I did force it off, then all of a sudden I was getting over 130fps in Day of Defeat: Source on a particular map called: Grubbenvorst. BUT, then when it changed to a more complex map, I was getting fps around 40-50. It didn't make sense. I hadn't changed any settings from map to map. So, after that, I figured I'd mess with the Vsync again. But, ya I did figure out that if I had it forced on, then my fps could NOT exceed my screens refresh rate. That didn't occur to me at first.

Keep the advice coming though guys. It's greatly appreciated. I will proli keep Vsync off then.

Click to expand...

The reason it dropped to 40-50 because it is a more complex map, it requires more GPU power to show it. This caused the video card to drop below the refresh rate because it takes longer to render each frame.

thideras said:

The reason it dropped to 40-50 because it is a more complex map, it requires more GPU power to show it. This caused the video card to drop below the refresh rate because it takes longer to render each frame.

Click to expand...

Thanks Thideras. I figured that was the case, but I hope I can eventually configure XP, and all my other settings (BIOS, GPU, CPU, RAM, etc) to optimize my FPS in game to it's fullest potential. This is what I hope for.