Vista - guys at the end of me tether here

hello all

ok here's the deal....specs are...

asus a8nsli deluxe motherboard
4gb corsair xms platinum cas 2 (2.5 in vista for some reason it blue screens on cas 2 setting).
asus gtx 260 top gfx card ( 90.38 drivers installed)
amd x2 64 4200 processor
ocz sli 600w power supply
creative xfi extreme sound card ( latest drivers from creative installed)
sharkoon fireglider (upto 3600 dpi) laser mouse

right with xp pro sp3 installed which was my original os all the games run excellently i did put in another twin 2gb of memory (4gb in total) but xp will only see 3gb thats ok i know that fair enough,new sound and gfx listed above also installed, call of duty world at war runs alot better than before almost perfect nice framerates etc.

now then i bought a brand new 250gb sata hard drive and installed VISTA ULTIMATE X64 as this will now see the 4gb of ram i put in the pc updated all the sound and gfx drivers x64 versions obviously installed sp2 first not to cause any probs with hardware or drivers etc so its a clean install with xp2 and all latest drivers.

now here is the problem can anyone shed any light on why i'm only gettin 20-40fps in vista but upto 60-95 in xp? cod 5 being the main problem game

the gfx and effects in vista are much better but its ruined by the almost unplayable framerates ;( i cant see where i'm going wrong the majority of the posts
seem to suggest that they have little or no problems in gaming?

i've tried the nvidia control panel settings at default and a few things tweeked but its not making much difference

anybody had problems in call of duty waw performance wise? or may know what i'm not setting up correctly?

yours hopeful


kris

Kris3uk

Hi and welcome to vista64 forums

The number one reason for slow frame rate in vista compared to xp is driver. What sp is on vista? and what version of the 64 bit driver do you have?

Thanks and dont worry we will figure this out

Ken

hi ken thanks for the reply

vista ultimate x64 sp2

nvidia x64 driver for gtx260 version 190.38

ok sounds to me like a ram problem. how much ram are you using at an idle? To cut down run a startup manager, try updating bios, or alter settings to use built in ram controller on CPU. For high setting gaming I would recommend 6Gb or higher. Even with spartan processes my rig idles at 1.5Gb. so far I haven't needed more than 6Gb during the most intense gaming but better to have and not need than need and not have.

Yes, I have 6GB of RAM and Vista takes around 2GB with IE8, WMP and Adobe Reader open. However, have you taken a look at your cpu? The AMD 4200 isn't the best for gaming.

hi guys ram at idle is at 1.18gb

yes i would loved to have put more ram in but the asus a8nsli board takes 4gb max
and because its a 939 pin board i am limited to what cpu i can have in i think the max is the x2 4800 64bit which isnt a great deal higher than whats in already

its a bummer because i just bought the other 2gb of corsair to bump it upto 4gb but this ram is useless on the new motherboards different running speeds? i think

ram is corsair xms platinum cas 2 ( ddr 400 )

i would basicly have to start all over again with buyin ram, cpu maybe a phenom? and a new motherboard which i cant afford at this moment

1 think i didnt mension is that call of duty 4 runs fine but world at war is disgustingly bad i'm getting 20 fps in some areas

with my limited motherboard at the moment and considering the 939 pin stumbling block is there a processor possibly dual core like whats in already better for gaming do you know?

hey by the way whats this cpu ram controller do you know where to access it?

thanks and best regards

kris

Are your running DDR2 or DDR RAM? The RAM controller is on the motherboard and depends on the chipset. If you are looking for a a cheap motherboard you can check out the M4A7M series from Asus. They vary from a $100 up. Otheriwse I would wait for Core i5.

Look at my build specs and look at your current rig to see what you can harvest off it for a new one. My entire rig sans dvd and with a 285 only (at time of initial build) was just over 1600 from newegg. that was back at the beginning of the year and prices have gone down especially on my processor., Plus newegg's preferred account gives 12 months no interest for larger purchases (1500 is cut off maybe?) Play around with their cart, check for combo deals, hell if ur still in plain DDR and don't want to leap all the way to DDR3 DDR2 is insane cheap right now.

hi fellas

yes i must admit my mobo is due for its pension where computer tech is concerned

i'll take a look at some new hardware and put my stuff like the ram and mobo on ebay

then sit it out for windows 7

at least i know there isnt much that can be done with my current config

at least i have a decent gfx card and sound card to build on

muchos gratz all for taking the time to reply

best regards

kris

Ok, reading your post (and the replies), I personally don't think the amount of RAM you have is the problem!!!

I think you do have an issue with your RAM, specifically the settings as you said...

Sounds to me like you don't have the correct RAM settings...specifically timing and voltage.

Look at your RAM and check the sticker for voltage settings, than manually setting them in the BIOS, do the same with the timings. Do not let the motherboard set these settings!!!

See what happens from there. While I can't say you'll get more frames in your games, your BSOD's should go away if you set your RAM to CAS 2.

As for your frames per second with your current video card...well that could depend on a host of things and not necessarily more RAM so...

Just my two cents.