Poor Frame Rate - Very Poor

[38ruk]

I have a 480 GTX laying around that isnt doing me any good if you want it.   I dont know what dell is using for Power supplies in you current rig but a decent 550W psu with 35-40 amps on the 12 rail should suffice. The 480 falls between a gtx 760 on the high side and a gtx 660 on the lower side . Here's a site that has benched a GT 720 (837pts) and GTX 480 (4350 pts)  on the same list . Take it for what its worth.  http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/video_lookup.php?gpu=GeForce+GTX+480
 

[neodad]

38ruk, thanks for the offer but I'll pass.  Not convinced yet that the card is the real culprit.

In an earlier post I wondered why the frame rate fluctuated so wildly.  I should have expanded the post to mention that it went from 83 to 1 and back while sitting in the tower well removed from any activity on the map.  That should have been a very low graphics load.  Yet in Friday's combat challenge it stabilized at 59 fps in what I would consider a high load situation.

[Skuzzy]

Start the task manager and select the "Processes" tab.  Watch the CPU usage and see if it is spiking, when nothing it running.  Might have to watch it a few minutes.  It should never go above 1% and only then it should do that very briefly.

[neodad]

Skuzzy,

The CPU usage is below 1%, probably averaging .5 - .7%

[Skuzzy]

If the CPU usage is not showing anything unusual, then the frame rate variation is due to the changing loads.  Frame rates are going to vary, and can do so wildly.  Simply having to load a texture can cause the frame rate to drop in that card.
Just because you are in the tower does not mean there are things not being loaded into the video card.
Aces High preloads everything you *might* see if you change views.

I sent you an email with some suggestions.  Have you tried them?  Did it make any difference?

[38ruk]

also ... sometimes I have to change the update speed in task manager to high... to catch what might be hitting the cpu .... at normal refresh speed it could look normal but on high it could show the offending process or processes

[neodad]

Skuzzy,

I did not get the email.  Perhaps earthlink blocked it, please try again using charles.willmer@pharma.com.

[Skuzzy]

Oh, earthlink might be blocking email from us again.  I give on them.

Basically, I asked you try turning down the "Maximum Texture Size" to 512.  Then uncheck all the advanced options, in the "Graphi Details", except for "Detailed Water" and "Detailed Terrain".

Also make sure you have the "Anti-alias" slider in the "Video Settings" set to 0/none.

See what that does for the performance.  If things smooth out, then try adding things back in to see what breaks it.

[neodad]

Skuzzy,

I applied your suggestions and they had no effect, still jumping from single digits to over 60 fps.  The videomem is 4019.0m and used = 7.9m, the CNT parameter is usually at 0 but occasionally will jump to 1. The frame rate issue is happening in the main arenas, FSO, and the Offline Practice area. 

If I did replace the video card what would you recommend?  The PC has a 460 watt power supply.

[Bizman]

Other than the wattage, it's also important to know how many 12 V rails the power supply has to determine whether it would be suitable for a high end video card. Also notice that your current video card only takes power through the pci-e slot whilst more powerful cards may have even double six- or eight-line power connectors, or a combination of them. If your power supply doesn't have a at least one dedicated 6+2 video power connector, you'll have to buy a power supply, too. Something like a GeForce GTX 760 or 770 should serve you good for several years, in the price ranges of $200 and $300. A good PSU usually costs something around $100, making this quality example quite tempting: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151119

[Skuzzy]

Skuzzy,

I applied your suggestions and they had no effect, still jumping from single digits to over 60 fps.  The videomem is 4019.0m and used = 7.9m, the CNT parameter is usually at 0 but occasionally will jump to 1. The frame rate issue is happening in the main arenas, FSO, and the Offline Practice area. 

If I did replace the video card what would you recommend?  The PC has a 460 watt power supply.

If you ever see the CNT change from zero, it means the video card is having a hard time keeping up with the loading of data for any given frame.

The "Video Memory" is not going to be accurate for any Windows OS, passed XP as Microsoft decided to stop supporting that particular function.

[38ruk]

Looking at what I think is your PSU spec, it looks like it has 42 amps on the 12+ rail . You might want to verify that by pulling the side off and checking the sticker on it .  You could prolly pull off running a 760 gtx on that PSU . Nvidia calls for a 500W psu but  your prolly close enough as is  to at least try it out before spending the money on a new PSU.  Also .... make sure you research what PSU will fit into the dell before buying one .... I've seen in passing people having issues with certain one fitting. 

[neodad]

I have been working with the technical support folks at Dell for the past few days. They have not been any help at all and after the first call have not been really interested in pursuing the matter.  What a joke.

Tonight I removed the GT720 and started using the on-board graphics chip.  Aces High tells me it's an Intel HD Graphics 4600.  Videomem is 1792.  The frame rate is now stable at 60 - in tower, in MA, in a custom arena, in a furball.  I then set the Max texture Size back to 1024, checked bump map terrain and bump map clouds to go along with detailed water and detailed terrain.  And the frame rate is still stable at 60.

You gentlemen were correct from the gitgo.  My skepticism was unfounded.  That GT720 card is crap.

I've gone back to Dell looking for some concessions.

Thanks to all for the help, advice, and patience.

<S>

[Bizman]

Nice to hear of your improved playability.

Just so you'd know, Intel video chips don't quite mix with AH. Although your frame rate now seems good, you may notice some anomalies. Althoug Skuzzy has explained it several times, I can't remember the exact problems. Simply put the Intel chips handle certain code commands differently than AMD and nVidia.

[neodad]

Well guys, I'm back.

The on board chip started to have the same problem - wildly fluctuating frame rate, but not all the time.  So I bought a GTX 750 Ti card with 2GB of DDR5 memory.  And guess what, the frame rate is still all over the place.  But not all the time ....

Sometimes after a few minutes it will stabilize in the low 60's.  Other times, like tonight it won't.

All of my in game settings have been reduced or turned off.
- Video resolution is 1920x1080 (I have reduced it without effect)
- MaxTexture Size is 512
- Anti-Aliasing is None
- Graphic Detail
   - Object Detail is set in the middle
   - Ground detail is set in the middle
   - Display Horizon is checked
   - All other not checked
  Advanced
   - All boxes are NOT checked
   - Shadow texture is 512

I use Ventrilo for in game squad communication

CPU utilization is <1%

All the usual suspect processes have been turned off / disabled.

I have run out of ideas.

Any help would be appreciated.

Skuzzy, feel free to drop me an email at neodad53@gmail.com since earthlink keeps blocking you emails.