Windows Vista Win vista strange performance

[behnam]

Hello folks

well first of all sorry for bad english,

Ive just upgraded my pc to q6600, DFI LT 680i, 4gbs Mushkin memory and 8800 gts vga (eVGA brand) and Samsung(8mb) 250 gb hdd for two puposes of rendering with 3d max and playing nextgen dx10 games. Ive ran 3D mark tests and everything is A OK in xp, scores are above recorded ones in Tomshardware and games run perfectly fine and so is with rendering times, but so far ive been having strange problems, like low performance with OS activities (copying files, loading explorer and etc) its like i'm using end task all the time
as for Vista, all my 3d mark scores are dramitcally low(spercialy CPU test score), performance is funny and games frame rate is awful, Ive already tried new drives, different versions of vista (ultimate, home premuim, home basic) also their 64 bit versions, but still problem remains
I'll appreciate any suggestion, I paid my butt of for this system and having it run like crap is just painful!

PS: you guys have any idea whats "OS :Windows Vista Enterprise Version 6.0"?!
saw it on system test setup in Tomshardware thought i might try it but found it no where on my vista windows set up options.

 

[kemical]

Hi, welcome to vista! Typically 3d 06 scores are around 2-300 different to XP (lower) but as drivers improve this is starting to get better. First off, make sure all your drivers are the latest (Nvidia is now at 169.04 altho' this is a beta and I'm getting my best scores yet with 3d 06 with this driver). Vista is also known for not being the best gaming OS but again this is starting to 'slowly' change. Have you got the latest 'Hotfixes'? If you go to the main Nvidia site for drivers
http://www.nvidia.co.uk/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-uk you will see a link for the updates (these help specifically in gaming). They really do make a difference so make sure you get them. Also I go to the actual update site for Vista :Link Removed due to 404 Error and using my update history as reference get all the updates I've missed (quite a few) you will find quite a few that relate to performance and compatability.
Vista is awfull for copying files! Again there is a update that improves things but its still way slower than XP.
I use a defrag utility which is free
Link Removed due to 404 Error its far faster than the one supplied with Vista and makes a hell of a difference. Your HDD does do a lot of indexing when you first upload Vista although it does get better with use and doesn't seem to thrash as much.
I use a better version of 'Disk Cleanup' too, its called CCleaner (crap cleaner) and is brilliant. Not only does it remove temp files but you can clean the registry too, get it here Link Removed.
To defrag the registry I use a utility you can get free here Free Registry Defrag.
Try to keep your system running as clean as poss as Vista runs much better used like this (as does any OS), programs such as Adware and AVG will take care of Spyware and Viruses.
You could also check out this guide, its the Tweakguides Vista companion Link Removed and is well worth a read ( the site itself is very usefull for further utilitys too).
On the hardware side, how are your temps? If your CPU is getting too hot it may be throttling back. Also check your memory one stick at a time using Memtest Memtest86+ - Advanced Memory Diagnostic Tool. Is your PSU up to the job? You didn't say what your running but with that type of system your going to need something in the order of 600-700W at least.
I hope this has been a help. Good luck


Not sure about the 'Enterprise edition' why not check out Microsofts website?

 

[behnam]

Hey,
Thanks a lot for links those 3 programs are a must be as i can see what they're doing with my pc now
well my temps are all above 48, cpu and system temp hit 52 when I render heavy scene 3-4 hours render job , and i use 550w Power supply(extreme power) which i think it needs a change based on what u posted,i could use suggestions about brand tho
Ive already upgraded my os with those hotfixes, when i did new things happend like if i run games in "windowed mode" yet maximized, frame rates improve great deal, that was so with WoW and crysis demo, there must be something wrong with full screen options in vista,
anyway, what do u suggest for cpu fan?Ive heard zulman 9700 or something suits the best for quad-core but all i can find is "cooler master", does it suite either?

 

[kemical]

Hi, glad to see you have some improvement PSU wise you can find a good calculator here eXtreme Power Supply Calculator Lite v2.5 just enter your CPU, graphics, RAM ect and hit calculate. I actually did this for you based on a system with your set up with 2 DVD/CD drives and a few USB items and it gave a total of 571W. Even if you don't have all the items I put in your still cutting it fine. As for recomendations... Good names to go for are Enermax, Corsair, Seasonic,Tagen and Hiper (Hiper did have a bad name but recent PSUs are of good quality and I use one with no problems at all. I also used one in my last system). Remember if you want to have some future use out of the PSU or your going to overclock, try and get the biggest you can afford. Temps wise your doing fine but if you want to change from stock cooling. Coolers are many and varied. The one you suggest will do the job but if you want to look at anything else then go for Scythe Scythe USA Inc. I use a Scythe Samurai, a mid-range model but it copes really well with my dual-core 3.2GHz chip and temps are really low (good for quads too, my temps range from 29c idle to 54c under load) don't forget though, if your going to overclock then get something heavy duty. I find the best way to find info on a certain piece of kit is to Google for a review. I just type in, say 'Zalman 9700 review' and I get lots of reviews (usually. Sometimes their just isn't a review out there). Coolermasters are good too, as are many others on the market just use the method I mention on getting reviews if your unsure but if in doubt, please do ask.

I've just read your post again concerning running games in 'windowed mode', please tell me what resolution are you running the screen at?

 

[behnam]

Hey,
I really appreciate ur suggestions and information you provided, I'll look up stores for PSU brands you wrote, I use external HDD and tablet and other usb devices which I guess will cause problem in future. changing psu might fix the unstability problem i have with overclocking aswell, even with slightest increase in values my pc acts crazy. Ive already checked reviews for hardware flaws of brands I'm using, but seems I'm using good match.
well as for running games, I run games with 1280 x 1024 @ 60 hertz, thats best my xerox monitor can handle. with crysis I only get 7-15 fps on 1280x1024, so i was playing with options to increase fps then discovered windowed mode added 5-10 frames to game, that was so with WoW which frame rate hit the cap in busy city Orgimmar. I just hope just because crysis is demo it has such a crappy performance unless i gotta be saving for 8800 ultra
oh and yes u were right, new beta nvidia driver (169) did fix couple of things, in crysis its fixed the frame rate drop when in water or looking at it, and volumetric lights in world in conflict which was really heavy to render.
Thanks again
BTW, hows crysis running on ur pc? u can try r_displayinfo 1 to record fps

 

[kemical]

Hi, I use a little utility called Fraps. FRAPS show fps, record video game movies, screen capture software Again its free and it lets you benchmark, record movies of your gameplay and also gives you a running frames per second counter (this appears in the corner of the screen). I'm on 1024x768 and get between 25 at busy moments and 60 to 70 at quiet moments. I have run the game at 1280x1024 without much difference to FPS. Why your getting such low frames per second is weird. Which 8800 do you have? The 320MB version like me or the 640? What settings are you running Crysis at? Do you have AA or AF enabled? I run Crysis with all the settings on high apart from Textures and Object Quality which I keep on medium as you can't really tell the difference anyway (visually). If these settings are set to high then they are real frame rate killers. I do not run any AA or AF either as again I feel they are not needed. I also use Rivatuner 2.06. If you've not heard of this app, it can control the fan speed as well as overclock your card ( I have mine set to 600MHz on the core and 900MHz on the memory). Another handy tool is that you can check your card temperature, which, again if running too hot will cause problems. You can get Rivatuner here:
Link Removed

As for overclocking, I think we have already discovered you PSU might be the cause of the problems. Another cool utility for testing when overclocking (along with memtest,which I told you about earlier) is PRIME95. This is a utility to find prime numbers but it also contains a torture test. This test is used by overclockers to see if the machine is stable after overclocking, get it here
Link Removed - Invalid URL
it is a really cool utility but don't forget to read the text supplied.
After reading your last post again I would say that its your PSU for sure. All those USB items, big graphics card and a quad core chip is going to suck power like crazy. Also you should easily be getting at least smiliar frame rates as me... Just out of interest what do you score in 3d 06? (with Vista).


Just thought I'd mention.. Have you visited the Crysis forums? Lots of tips on running the game there too (my username is 'burninblade' so say hi if you drop in), you can access it here:
Link Removed - Invalid URL

 

[behnam]

Hi there!

dude that Fraps rocks! >< its so imba lol! i finaly found what i was lookin for,
well anyway i guess all my problems with vista came to an end, ofc with your help and those programs my vista is working really good, I installed x 86 ultimate version of vista, first updated it with hot fixes, then installed drivers and now games are acting better, now i can run crysis at 1024x768 everything set to high + pp very high with 20-40 fps which is quiet playable. however i still hope just bcuz its demo things are heavy to render.
and I set my vga clocks just like yours 600/900 with rivatuner and i can sense big difference! I tell ya i just became one of vista's fan, having it running different heavy programs simoltaniously with no OS freezing or lags is just lovely.
big thanks to you
cheers!

 

[kemical]

Thats great news. One last little tip though concerning Rivatuner. After you have updated your graphics driver to the latest version you may find Rivtuner won't work anymore and you'll have to see if there's a updated version. If there isn't don't worry as it is updated eventually to work with the latest driver sets. Enjoy..