Vista - Bad Graphics

I just built a new system and I am getting bad graphics when i try to play games like Assassin's Creed, Hellgate:London and COD4. I am running the following.

AMD 4850e X2 2.50Ghz
Corsair 4gigs DDR2 667
GeForce 8400GS ( latest drivers )
xFx Mobo Geforce 8200 ( Hybrid SLi is off )
Vista Home Premium 32bit

Now when I got to play the games even when the settings are on the lowest setting they still run like crap. I have done 2 clean installes on the system. I did however notice this little message when I was running some small tests:

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System Information
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Time of this report: 12/26/2008, 03:10:55
Machine name: SYS1
Operating System: Windows Vista™ Home Premium (6.0, Build 6001) Service Pack 1 (6001.vistasp1_gdr.080917-1612)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
System Model: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
BIOS: BIOS Date: 10/20/08 17:12:23 Ver: 08.00.15
Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) Dual Core Processor 4850e (2 CPUs), ~2.5GHz
Memory: 3262MB RAM
Page File: 1570MB used, 5178MB available
Windows Dir: C:\Windows
DirectX Version: DirectX 10
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
DxDiag Version: 6.00.6001.18000 32bit Unicod

This is honestly the first time i have ever seen this as long ans I have been building pc's. So i went and updated my DX and still no change. I thought my 8400 was supposed to be DX10. I even tried the Hybrid Sli and to my surprise nothing. Any one with an ideas let me know.

these games all usually run dx9 (know COD 4 does)

have you had windows updated???

did you disable the IGP from the bios???

i want to eliminate as many variables as possible
have you updated your games??
do you have any programs running in the background you can disable??
services you can disable (meaning not MS or critical (such as av)??
can you also disable the aero and try to see if that works???


BTW you should invest in 64 bit vista (or if not in windows 7 64)
you are not using all of your memory as you can see here (the OS can see it but cant access it)
also a IGP will eat up memory that you may need for other tasks....
(such as gaming)

Hi Sathel and welcome to Vista Forums

Your problem would seem to stem from the performance of your graphics card. The only way of improvement would be to upgrade the card.
Have a look at the following table taken from NVidia detailing the GeForce 8xxx series of cards. Your card is at the bottom of the list. In particular, note the Memory Interface for your card. This is only 64-bit, and as such, will severely limit the performance of the card. Compare this card with the one listed immediately above it and you can see the difference. My current card is the 256MB version of the one highlighted, i.e. 8800GT. Although this is a mid-range card, it still gives good performance (my WEI scores for the graphics sub-section are both 5.9 with this card).

i agree, if hes running an 8400 gs hes not going to play anything, i had a 7300gs and that barely run Call of duty 1 never mind call of duty 4 and that was on xp.

Thanx! How would a GeForce 9500GT 1GB GDDR2 card work out for me. IGP is off and yes I have considered 64bit (the jury is still out on that decision)

from what i see you will be able to run said games good enough

the bottleneck though is going to be gddr2....

Why do people buy these cheap ass cards and expect to play games well?

In the nvidia series anything below the x600(8600, 9600) series is going to suck for gaming. x800(8800, 9800) series is highly recommended, and its not like they are that pricey anymore

Agreed. Check the specifications in the table from my previous post and you will see the values shown for the Memory Interface. You should choose a card with 256-bit or greater.

while i know it still low he will be able to play older games to some extent...
just dont hope to play these (or newer ones) games in native resolution...
if remember correctly this card has a 128-bit memery interface...

I also fogot to add that I had the same problem under windows xp pro. I think imma just switch to an ATI setup.