Looking for some help, since Tech Support is terrible.

Hey all, don't post here much but have been a member for a while now.

I got a new computer last March, and it hasn't worked properly for quite some time now.

The specs are as follows:

Thermaltake 800w Toughpower
eVGA 8800GTX (Two on SLI)
MSI P6N Diamond
Corsair XMS2 (2gb(DC))
Intel Extreme QX6700
Two 150gb Raports on RAID
And case, cdrw drive, floppy, etc.

Anyway, I'm getting framerates that aren't what the system should be getting. In COD4, running on 1680x1050, my framerate dips below 50 frames, and sometimes goes into the 20framerate range on maps like Ambush. In Team Fortress 2, most of the time it's virtually unplayable. The thing I noticed in the games is that even when I'm getting good framerates, like 60 or higher, the game still looks choppy. If I don't use Vsync in COD4, the game is so ugly, it doesn't flow, it's like image blur, or something I can't describe. Basically, the game looks like its playing at say 30fps, when the actual framerate is 70 or higher.

The warranty ran out, and the BBB can't do anything. So, I'll just start building my own computers from now on again, but I'm not quite sure what this is or what can be causing it. The drivers are up to date on the system, it's on Windows XP as well, so there isn't any Vista Driver issues. Also, my 3DMark06 score is 13206, if anyone can use that score as help.

I've done virtually everything to trouble shoot this problem now except for getting new video cards, I'd get the GX2 if I had the money just for the hell of it, but I don't have the money... yeah.

First off, you're better off with two working 8800GTXs than a 9800GX2.

Have you tried switching monitors?
Have you tried reformatting/reinstalling drivers?
Checked all cable connections?

GameSinewPCs said:

First off, at some resolutions, you're better off with two working 8800GTXs than a 9800GX2.

Have you tried switching monitors?
Have you tried reformatting/reinstalling drivers?
Checked all cable connections?

Click to expand...

I fixed that for you..

Are you forcing 16xAA in the driver or something?

for 3dmark reference rig in my sig does 14000+

Did it start messing up after a change in drivers? Have you checked to make sure SLI is actually working?

Another far off possibility, this use to help a lot with older hardware back in the radeon 9800 days and before. if you download I think it was powerstrip? you can set the timing for each device in your computer. It more or less sets a "timer" each device gets along each bus in the computer for processor time before it moves to the next device. This is a far off example but say each device is supposed to have 30 seconds of processor time. Sometime drivers for products mess up that timer and give something like a full minute of processor time to the graphics card and then 10 seconds to the sound card and same for other devices which would cause jittering and bad hardware response time. It's been years since I have used it but if all else fails and you want I can download powerstrip and write a fast tut on how to do it. May or may not be the problem but it used to help a lot with different drivers back in the day.

I would also try driver cleaner and kill the drivers in your system all together and install the latest and greatest. This might help.

As mentioned check if your SLI is working all right but even one of those 8800's should be able to keep up great unless your settings are maxed out. if SLI is working you should have no problem with that.

who build the computer ?

ratbuddy said:

I fixed that for you..

Are you forcing 16xAA in the driver or something?

Click to expand...

The point was, would any increases justify an upgrade. Of course there are exceptions and situations where each configuration will have their advantages/disadvantages.

Are you sure that 800W PSU has enough amps on the 12v to run those cards?

The Thermaltake 850Watt Toughpower is more than capable of running twin 8800GTXs (quad 12v rails, 18ampsx2 30ampsx2). However, verify that the connections are on the higher amperage rails as LilBuddy makes a good point. If one of the 18Volt rails becomes over stressed, it may be holding back the card or causing problems.

Do you have the power connections plugged in to the video cards?

Also, how good is SLI with XP? I thought it really was best for Vista.

GameSinewPCs said:

First off, you're better off with two working 8800GTXs than a 9800GX2.

Have you tried switching monitors? Err, no. I don't think switching monitors would help framerates.
Have you tried reformatting/reinstalling drivers? Yes, on multiple occasions.
Checked all cable connections?Yep.

Click to expand...

Answers in bold.

ScottinIndy said:

Did it start messing up after a change in drivers? Have you checked to make sure SLI is actually working?

Click to expand...

I'm honestly not sure. I've reinstalled and installed both Beta, and Release WHQL drivers. How do I make sure my SLI is actually working? It's set to enabled in the nVidia Control Panel.

GameSinewPCs said:

The Thermaltake 850Watt Toughpower is more than capable of running twin 8800GTXs (quad 12v rails, 18ampsx2 30ampsx2). However, verify that the connections are on the higher amperage rails as LilBuddy makes a good point. If one of the 18Volt rails becomes over stressed, it may be holding back the card or causing problems.

Click to expand...

How can I make sure that the voltage is set correctly. Through BIOS? And if they aren't, what should the voltages be set to?

Thanks for the replies everyone.

Edit: Here are some screenshots of the performance in some games which should be running at maximum framerates, but do not on my current system. Reason for the problems is still unknown.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare


Team Fortress 2

The monitor could be causing having problems and is sometimes the cause of visual distortions as noted in your first post "the game looks like its playing at say 30fps, when the actual framerate is 70 or higher."

maybe a need to reinstall the OS. or possibly do a clean wipe of the video drivers. Use drivercleaner (http://www.drivercleaner.net/) or a variant of and completly erase the old drivers, restart with VGA drivers, installed new drivers and restart.

GameSinewPCs said:

The monitor could be causing having problems and is sometimes the cause of visual distortions as noted in your first post "the game looks like its playing at say 30fps, when the actual framerate is 70 or higher."

Click to expand...

The only problem I'm seeing with this is that I can play anything else, even COD4 on my 360 since I use the VGAHD cable for it through my monitor and not have a problem. COD4 on PC, for some reason while not using Vsync, looks very bad, but with Vsync, the problems sort of go away, in fact I get better framerates with vsync enabled in COD4, then without it.

Not sure what's going on here, and jstutman, I have reformatted my hard drive quite a bit now, I've installed WinXP and Vista and wiped the drivers clean with drivercleaner and the problem still persists. I think it's a hardware problem, but I cannot pinpoint what's causing it.

Edit: One more question, whenever I try to put my computer into StandBy, the computer (Motherboard,CPU,etc.) turn off, but the towers fans keep on running. Anyway to turn them off when the computer is in standby?

Try running one GPU at a time without SLI and see how it performs.

Run Memtest and check the state of your memory.

If it's hardware related, It's going to be a process of elimination, I would do as suggested and run each card alone and see if they are both working properly.

It would also be worthwhile IMO to test the 12v rail on the powersupply, You will need a digital multimeter, They have some inexpensive ones at radio shack like this one.
http://www.radioshack.com/product/i...ters&kw=digital+multimeters&parentPage=search

You can find the information on how to test in the power supply sub forum here.
http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=403837

As far as making sure SLI is working properly, I can't be of much use since I have never run in SLI, I know we have some very capable SLI experts on the boards, So you might ask in the Nvidia section of the forums for information on how to troubleshoot SLI problems.

ScottinIndy said:

If it's hardware related, It's going to be a process of elimanation, I would do as suggested and run each card alone and see if they are both working properly.

It would also be worthwhile IMO to test the 12v rail on the powersupply, You will need a digital multimeter, They have some inexpensive ones at radio shack like this one.
http://www.radioshack.com/product/i...ters&kw=digital+multimeters&parentPage=search

You can find the information on how to test in the power supply sub forum here.
http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=403837

As far as making sure SLI is working properly, I can't be of much use since I have never run in SLI, I know we have some very capable SLI experts on the boards, So you might ask in the Nvidia section of the forums for information on how to troubleshoot SLI problems.

Click to expand...

Well, another thing is that this problem I am having I had with another PSU as well. A Tagen(sp?) 1100w PSU, and this is a new Thermaltake 850w ToughPower. I don't think that would be a problem with the PSU though, maybe with the motherboard? Even though I was having a similar problem with
a different mobo as well.

Honestly, There is no easy answer, You just have to eliminate what you can from the equation when trying to troubleshoot a system. You can test the PSU, You can check the video cards, Memory, It could be a bad motherboard, (ie) one of your PCI-e slots could be bad, No easy way to tell without just going through the basics and testing the components that you can test. I would start with the basic things like driver issue's and software issue's to make sure SLI is working properly and then if you eliminate those as possible culprits you can start on checking the hardware out.

Firstly do the easiest and remove one of the 8800GTX's. This will eliminate SLI and PSU issues.

Then update to latest drivers (assuming you have done that already).
Then update your motherboards BIOS. (possible conflicts sometimes). I know with my old Biostar motherboard, I needed a BIOS update before it would post with my 8800GT.

Then post us up a GPUz picture lastly.

That should give you a start.