Graphics I have a GTX480 - slightly underwhelmed - what to do next

seeing as no ones mentioned it yet, is Vsync turned on in the games that run slowly? if so turn it off.

 

If that was me I would first set the computer up right by removing one stick of ram and putting the 3 sticks in slot 1 / 3 / 5 the white ones.

Then going into the bios the MB intelliigent tweaker and manually setting the ram timings to the correct settings and volts.

Once thats done then make sure you have the latest Nvidia drivers.

And see how it is from there.

 

Thanks again for all your input.

I have to admit I am not experienced enough with PCs to appreciate all the advice I'm being given - but thank you anyway.

The system specs I listed in my first post came from running a program called Speccy.

HARD DRIVES

I have Windows 7 and all my non-game programs running on the Velociraptor. There are more details from Speccy here:

WDC WD6000HLHX-01JJPV0 ATA Device
Manufacturer Western Digital
Form Factor GB/2.5- to 3.5-inch backplane adapter
Business Unit/Brand Enterprise/WD VelociRaptor®
RPM/Buffer Size or Attribute 10,000 RPM with 32 MB cache
Serial Number WD-WX51C10S6249
Interface IDE
Capacity 586GB
Real size 600,126,184,960 bytes

All my games are on the slower (I think), but larger Samsung HD103SJ ATA Device.

Two questions please:

:: With the drives I've got, am I using them the best possible way? I could swap Windows 7 onto the Samsung and vice versa if needed.

:: But a few of you have said these drives may not be great in the first place. Is that really the case? The Velociraptor has some great online reviews. My trouble is I don't really know how to interpret all the data and information I'm being given.

RAM

It looks like I have three possible set-ups, as I also have some Corsair RAM which I was going to use in another PC.

:: My current 4x4 Crucial set-up, which I now appreciate is using RAM a less-than-efficient way for gaming purposes. Is this right?

:: Take out one of the modules and run 3x4.

In either case the speed (right term?) may not be optimised. This means going into the BIOS and tweaking it, but if so I don't really know what I'm trying to achieve.

:: Use my 3x2GB of Corsair RAM.

CASE

Not great. It's a CoolerMaster Elite.

I'm currently running it with the side panel removed because as soon as I installed the GTX 480 and started playing some games I was getting some heat alerts!

With the panel off everything is OK.

But I think a long-term solution would be to get a new case with some super-dooper cooling system with plenty of room inside, especially if I do go SLI.

Any recommendations please?

If I come across as a NOOB - it's because I am.

Meanwhile, I have been messing about with the Mafia 2 benchmark. With PhysX and vSync disabled the fps is now 58. Is this the most demanding game ever made? But reading the links a few of you have posted, it may be just lazy programming!

 

Then I would overclock some more. Get a cheaper aftermarket cooler and that would pretty much gaurantee a 3.6Ghz overclock with little to no voltage and still good temperatures. Though you might want to look into a even better cooler for about a 4Ghz overclock.

You may want to turn off PhysX since it runs pretty bad on both CPU and Nvidia cards, unless you have a dedicated PhysX card. In my opinion the extra PhysX card is not worth the noise or heat, not mention the money.

 

Yeah ...get that i7 oc'd first. @3.6 which should be relatively easy, even for a novice, you'll see quite an improvement in everything you do.

 

Ive played mafia 2 with my i7 920 at stock speed and overclocked to 3.8 ghz and cant really say i noticed any difference, if it was me then i would be looking to spend my money on a sata hard drive. I would also try removing some ram and running triple channel mode

 

this.. but not only that- I noticed mafia 2 wouldn't let you launch the game with older drivers.. so they had new drivers which could obviously be rigged to a certain performance depending on the card you used

see I used to use older drivers just for this reason on the 260.. I'd get to play all the new games at full frames while the sli crowd jumbled around with drivers finding which one worked best

then starcraft 2 came along.. and they changed something drastic in the way they render things through the driver because I couldn't use my old driver.. but the game would launch and I could get only parts rendered correctly

so I started thinking about an upgrade.. what I noticed upgrading my driver from a very old version that couldn't lie to me about performance because, (basically the games it was playing were just a glint in a devs eye when the driver was made), was that nvidia had tacked on things into the new driver to slow everything down

also there was funny things going on.. like quality textures in the old was now high quality in the new.. the 16q aa I enjoyed looked about like 8x did in the old.. I couldn't get that sweet 16q aa look in the new

when mafia 2 came out.. I couldn't even launch the game without upgrading the driver- the game forces you to use a certain driver which is very suspicious to me

at least starcraft 2.. and even assassins creed 2 let you use an older driver- and they both played smooth on the 260.. but mafia from the start, I couldn't enable aa or physx without the framerate dropping

now stick in the oc'd 460 and a faster cpu, physx and aa ran without the frame dips, check out the link I posted earlier- removing the pedestrian clothing from physx did help keep the game smooth everywhere

you shouldn't be slowing down indoors or walking.. the game is beautiful full up with aa applied- not so much without, and I think that's whatnvidia wanted- force an upgrade like phazed said while also alienating ati/amd with physx

course you can go sli.. but it's so much money- try the physx tweak and you'll see what I mean.. you can't even tell the difference and your frames will be sweet

 

people have already mentioned, ditch the IDE drives and pick up some sata drives as you are severely hampering your system with IDE drives. But i am fairly confident you already have SATA drives and have just confused yourself and us.

I didn't even know the samsung came as an IDE nor did I know the brand new velociraptor did, i am feeling fialry confident these drives are already SATA and you may be mistaken about them being IDE

Also take a look into getting a nice overclock on that processor, you are more than likely bottle-necking with the processor running at 2.7ghz, a solid push up to 3.6 should sort your out nice and be relatively easy to achieve.

What heatsink and fan are you cooling the CPU with ?

also

16.0GB Triple-Channel DDR3 @ 532MHz (7-7-7-20)

4x4gb is the wrong configuration for the board, you would be better off running the board with 3x4gb in order to enable triple channel memory, you simply need to remove one of the sticks

on that motherboard the three white banks should be populated and the single blue bank should be left free, that will enable triple channel memory.



Once you have done that pop into the bios and head to the "MB Intelligent Tweaker (M.I.T)" option

head down to system memory section, there is an option called "Extreme Memory Profile (X.M.P.)", if your ram has XMP profiles you can enable this and it will auto set the ram speeds for you to 1600mhz, failing that it can be done manually with the options further down the page.

If you require help overclocking and setting your ram manually let us know i am sure plenty of people are willing to help

you mentioned heat alerts, could you clarify exactly what these were, cpu, gpu , mobo or anything relevant

 

Good shout, I never picked up on that

 

if it was me I'd keep all the sticks in there.. I mean for gaming is it really going to matter

he could use the extra ram for things like vm's (heheh well I know it's a stretch but I'd rather have the ram myself) but rep to ly

definitely overclock though.. stock on a i5 or i7 is almost a crime with how much overhead the chips have.. check out the everest numbers-

http://www.ninjalane.com/articles/general_information/dualvtriple/page4.aspx

the ide drives.. not sure what's going on there- definitely go sata

 

You had any luck at overclocking or resolving your issue OP?

 

Guys, I've only just checked back on this thread and seen all the extra posts.

Wow!

Thanks very much for all your help.

It's really late here right now and it's work tomorrow, but I will answer all queries when I get home.

Thanks again.

Mike

 

Clearly he has his SATA drives running in IDE mode on his mobo and not AHCI thus in windows they are reporting as IDE....they're NOT IDE parallel drives. The Samsung drive he has listed IS an F3 so you're all recommending him to get a drive he already has.

 

OK, this has been quite a fun project, sorting through all the options and advice.

It's also made me re-evaluate what I've got, what I think I need and what I actually need.

Here goes:

:: RAM

I've been re-reading the mobo handbook for the Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD3R.

It says of installing RAM: "When enabling 3 Channel mode with three or four modules, it is recommended that memory of the same capacity, brand, speed and chips be used."

So I'm taking this to mean I can happily run all four modules in 3 Channel mode. Does this sound right?

I did some Mafia II benchmarks with 4x4GB, 3x4GB and my 3x2GB Corsair RAM and it seemed to make no difference whatsoever. So at worst I'm left with some spare RAM for my next project.

:: HARD DRIVES

This is the one that's caused me the most confusion. Both drives use SATA connectors. The Speccy system analysis program lists them as "ATA (IDE)".

I'm now taking this to mean this is how the PC is interpreting their spec.

Does this mean they could be performing better if I knew how to adjust some settings in either Windows 7 or the BIOS?

With hindsight, I should have bought an SSD drive to put my OS on rather than the Western Digital Velociraptor, but it's done now and I can't justify another £200.

:: OVERCLOCKING

Hmm, a dark art? I'm certainly willing to give it a go, but in practical terms I don't know which bits in the BIOS to tinker with. I'm sure there's a sticky on here somewhere explaining everything, but if someone could recap, that would be fantastic.

I bought the rig from Overclockers a year ago and it came pre-overclocked, but I recently updated the BIOS as I wanted to install either SLI or 1xGPU/1xPhysX, and had read the original BIOS needed to be updated for this.

Updating it appears to have reset the board to its factory defaults.

:: CASE & COOLING

I have a CoolerMaster Elite, which is kind of cute, but probably a bit too small for serious airflow.

I have a Nero CPU cooler, but I've no idea what the fans are as they were supplied with the case.

I'm guessing I probably need a larger case, with more air circulating, and better fans.

I know the advantages of watercooling, but think that's probably way beyond my expertise at the moment. Unless you can get a case that comes with a WC system pre-fitted.

Any recommendations would be great.

Again, thanks for taking the time to read this - let alone respond.

I hope one day I'll have the experience to help others.

 

agreed that the first step should be to get new HDDs (agreeing with F3s) and 12Gb will run faster in games than 16Gb on an X58 platform, but also getting a decent CPU cooler and OCing to 3.8 or 4 Ghz will be a far cheaper and more effective upgrade than a second GPU. Games tend to require higher clock speeds than more cores/threads. I have an old E5200 at 3.8Ghz which has only 2 threads but is fine for most games.

 

Oh and BTW all hard drives are listed as ATA devices the distinction between the 2 types is (P)ATA and (S)ATA, so i wouldnt worry about the hard drives, they will be fine already. for the overclocking:
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cpus/2008/11/06/overclocking-intel-core-i7-920/1
there will be countless other guides if that one is not clear, just get a good cooler before you start, i would recommend Titan Fenrir or Thermaltake Frio.
And for the case, an antec 900 II, or a Silverstone RV02 have some of the best temps without looking foul or being as big as an aircraft carrier.

 

Just to clarify,

Is OP actually underwhelmed, or merely whelmed?

TSB

 

The more i look at it the more this is the More its the CPU's fault its a good chip but it needs to be overclocked to get the raw Ghz to supply the GPU with information it needs.

Overclock to 3.6ghz or more and all will be well you dont have to hit 4ghz.

this is the right place to go for the basics.

If you want to see Gigabites own guide which i hope will have a very similar bios and the same name on options.
Gigabite.pdf

 

Excellent links - many thanks.