GTX 295 problems

[JackMomma]

I just bought a BFG GTX 295 gpu from a friend, and i know the card is fully functioning. saw it run a 20k+ on vantage before i brought it home. Anyway, my problem is that the card isnt running how i was expecting, in that i was getting nearly equal performance out of my previous 9800GTX. I formatted my PC, installed newest drivers (191.07), and have used rivatuner to monitor performance and overclock (although have only tried a little due to issues). The new GTX 295 has only ran a 16k in 3dMark06 (not vantage, i dont have it), and i had actually ran up to a 17k with overclocking on my 9800GTX.

Basically, I'm not getting the outstanding performance gains i should be from such an upgrade. I have played games, and can see some improvement, but i still feel there is something missing. I have read countless forums, and have possibly found it to be my power supply, but i have heard arguments both ways if that would be it or not. I'm looking to format once more here soon and try again to see if i ran into any random errors along the way. My specs will follow. Thank you all very much for any help!

-DFI BloodIron P35 MOBO
-Q6600 @3.2Ghz (Tuniq 120 Tower cooler)
-2GB G-Skill DDR2 1066mhz RAM (Getting more soon, just moved to 64-bit)
-BFG GTX 295 (Version 1 with two PCB's)
-Samsung 250GB SATA HDD
-OLD SoundBlaster Live! 24-bit 5.1 Sound Card
-Antec 600w PSU

The PSU i cant remember the exact specs of... I bought it when i was working at best buy 2 years ago. I'm farily sure it is not the "earth" one they sell on newegg or at Best Buy now, but it looks exactly the same... and it might be 650w total too... think it has two 12v rails.

 

[JackMomma]

few other little details i forgot. im running Win 7 Pro x64 on a 1920x1080 monitor right now. the 3dMark scores were achieved with the trial version at 1260x720. games tested would be crysis, gta IV, and farcry 2 at the moment

 

[shubham1401]

IMO The ram is the problem.
2GB is not enough for newer games.

Also check temps.

 

[JackMomma]

Temps are all good, i have an antec 900 case with 6 total 120mm fans in my case... cpu never goes above 45 or 50, and psu never went above 80. 2 more Gigs of RAM is definitely in my list of things to get though

 

[JackMomma]

new question would be a way to test this. i bought the 1066 mhz ram to make overclocking a bit easier, and replaced 800mhz ram with it. would downclocking the CPU and testing with the 800mhz memory back in (for a total of 4GB RAM) be worth a try? pretty sure the memory clock and the cpu clock were always linked in my bios for some reason, so I would probably downclock the cpu to 3ghz

 

[hellraiser06]

See, there is no such RAM as DDR2-1066. Its basically a factory overclocked module of DDR2-800. So as long as they are the same brand (for the sake of convenience) and are running at proper voltages (check the manuals), they should be fine. 1066 would downclock itself to measure up to 800.

Now, I suspect your powersupply. Is it possible for you to check your card on your friend's PSU fitted in YOUR computer?? Or, just ask your friend what PSU he has and let us know. Please dont downclock anything till we eliminate the PSU as the possible culprit.

 

[jay2tall]

1) The 295 requirements are a 680w PSU with 46A. I have a feeling your PSU can't give it the proper juice

2) Your board is PCI-E 1.1 not 2.0. A 2 GPU card probably does not have enough bandwidth on a PCI-E 1.1 bus alone. What motherboard does your buddy have?

You are probably looking at 2 issues. I would solve #1 first.

 

[JackMomma]

The board is PCI-E 1.1, not 2.0, which i had in mind as well. The card was tested on a 680i board with DDR3 RAM, and a stronger PSU, not sure what it was exactly. I'm going to throw in the old RAM tonight to see if i get improved performance. What would some good deals on LGA775 MOBO's that work well with older 65nm processors, like my Q6600? I had considered upgrading in the past, but I really like my BloodIron... And i figue ill end up getting a new PSU sooner just to alleviate my worries of being underpowered and possibly hurting my card

 

[jay2tall]

I would upgrade your PSU first and see what happens. No sense in getting a new mobo until that is solved.

2nd, most LGA775 boards will support your CPU. they aren't defendant on the die size, ie 65nm.

 

[JackMomma]

I put in the extra 2GB of RAM and moved my CPU to 3ghz with the 4GB total of RAM at 800mhz. got the same 3DMark06 results... pretty much nailing it down to the PSU. Game performance did seem to increase, i think the resolution of distant objects improved a bit, i had noticed that issue in crysis. Hopefully I'll be able to pick up a better psu this week. I know that most LGA775 boards would work, i meant more along the lines of a specific reccomendation on a motherboard. I'll probably upgrade here in a month or two, and if anyone has a reccomendation on a specific mobo that might work particularly well for me. I dont plan on adding another gpu at any time, and id like to stick with DDR2 memory for the sake of saving money

 

[shubham1401]

I don't think you 600w Antec is the issue.

Just compare your gaming performance with the benchmarks for GTX 295 on different websites.

 

[JackMomma]

so i got a new psu today with the best buy employee discount today, good to have lots of friends that work there! anyway, it is a corsair 750w psu with a 60a rail. put it in and didnt get a 3dmark boost... not disappointed at all with the purchase, but still have the issue at hand. the score isnt what really bothers me, its that it doesnt shatter frame rates during the simple tests... so system now is as follows with the same problem:
q6600 @ 3ghz
4gb DDR2 RAM @800mhz
Corsair 750w psu

 

[JackMomma]

another thing i just thought of: my bios has a setting in the overclocking area for the PCI-Express slot. the setting ranges from 0-250mhz in value. it defaults to 100mhz no matter what card is in. should i adjust this value? and this is the first time i have ever used forums for my own personal help, and i just wanted to say thanks to everyone for their help and input!

 

[cjl]

3dmark06 is quite CPU dependent. I can change my score from as low as 16k to as high as 27k just by changing my CPU clock (no graphics changes at all). I wouldn't worry too much about it unless games are underperforming as well.

Oh, and don't mess with the PCI-e clock. 100MHz is fine.

 

[shubham1401]

I told you PSU won't be the issue.
Anyways just compare your FPS with the ones on the hardware benchies on reviews.

You'll get a idea whether your card is under-performing or not...

 

[JackMomma]

pretty much figured out that the GTX 295 isnt a beast in 3dMark06... old benches on reviews show this too i guess. Installed Vantage and ran about 21k with the cpu at 3ghz, 4gb RAM at 800mhz, and the card OC'd a little bit. Still think i can do better down the road, but the card is functioning at its correct level of performance.