FPS help please...

[ranga]

<p>System:</p><p>AMD Phenom 9650 quad core 4gb ram, Vista home prem, 64 bit (SP1), I am installing SP2 as I write this.</p><p>GeForce 100 sli with some on board graphics chip, DirectX 10</p><p>----------------</p><p>System ran fine from birth until 3 months ago. Was getting a consistent 20-30 fps in all zones, slightly lower but playable in raid zones. If I used the Profit Raid settings the performance was quite acceptable.</p><p>3 months ago, NVidia control panel stopped working, frame rate went down to between 6 and 12 fps even on high performance settings. No changes to UI, always used profit. After this happened, I used reg clean and installed latest nvidia drivers. No change, still 6-12 fps.</p><p>----------------</p><p>Occasionally, if I clean the registry I can log on and get a 45-60 fps for about 1 min then it drops to 6-12 again quickly and stays there. So clearly, the sys is capable of significantly better than it is actually delivering atm.</p><p>I am tempted to go and spend on a new GPU or win7 etc but I don't want to go out and waste my money when something else might change at random and put me back into the same spot.</p><p>I would be very interested to know what FPS ppl would expect from the h/w and s/w set up that I listed above.</p>

[TSR-JoshuaM]

<p>I am unsure what you mean by the Geforce 100 sli with some onboards graphics chip, the Geforce G 100 is a graphics card.  As far as performance in and of itself is concerned, the FPS you are reporting seem about right but not at such lower settings.  It should be higher at that 'raid' setting in most situations. </p><p>However, as a video card ages the ability to maintain consistency and performance deteriorate due to exposure to constant extreme conditions (mainly high heat).  Running a stability/benchmark test of sorts could reveal how well your card can still perform if you have a basis of comparison.</p>

[ranga]

<p>Thanks for the reply.</p><p>SLI is NVIDIA tech. It joins up a graphics card (G100) to a graphics chip on the motherboard (GeForce 9200) to improve graphics throughput and performance.</p><p>CPU-Z indicates that all cores and the graphics card are working well within spec and tolerance.</p><p>After installing Vista SP2 today, I managed to get 58 fps in Gorowyn for 4 mins then it rapidly went to 28. When I clicked the Profit raid button it went immediately to 10 and stayed there even if I switched to Very High Performance setting using Options within the game.</p><p>It all seems very odd to me. I am sure my graphics card is not wearing out. It gives good performance video editing and Photoshopping with some very large files. I appreciate that is not the same load as gaming but even so....</p><p>It would still be nice to hear some numbers that ppl would expect from a setup similar to mine. EG in gorowyn today it was 10-12 after it settled and in UD in tonights raid it was 6.</p>

[TSR-JoshuaM]

<p>I am aware of what SLI is, I just wasn't sure what you meant with 'some onboard graphics chip'. </p><p>In any case, we highly suggest you disable your SLI as it is not completely supported within this game.</p>

[ranga]

<p>Sure, I can try that but it was working fine with SLI for 12 months then 3 months ago bang down to 6 fps.</p><p>Are there any plans to support SLI?</p><p>Edit</p><p>Disabled SLI and no change <img src="/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[TSR-JoshuaM]

<p>Could you also disable the onboard device from BIOS?</p><p>With new updates and the introduction of Shader 3, many things have changed and can interact with Sli in odd ways.</p>

[ranga]

<p>I have disabled the on board graphics chip in BIOS, never check the shader 3 box and still have the same performance.</p><p>Does the game then ignore the shader settings or were you talking about general graphics changes?</p><p>I also checked the motherboard chipset and have the latest available.</p><p>still 13 fps whilst standing still and 4 fps today fighting Kluhbb in the Hole.</p>

[TSR-JoshuaM]

<p>Let's clear out the possibility of file corruption as well.</p><p>You may want to make backups and then delete the following files and folders:cache foldereq2_recent.inieq2_default.iniEverQuest2.exee q2.iniAs well as the character specific files, these will appear as such:Servername_CharacterName_EQ2_uisettings.iniSt ationname_characters.iniTo do this, please follow these directions:1. First look for your EverQuest II directory. You can find the default directory in (for Windows XP): C:Program FilesSonyEverQuest II (for Windows Vista/7): C:Program DataSony Online EntertainmentInstalled GamesEverQuest II2. Click on MY COMPUTER and then proceed into local disk C:3. Navigate your way to the default directory, or your chosen installation directory.4. Next look for any files explained above and delete them. 5. Afterwards, please start EverQuest II to have these files re-downloaded by the patcher.</p>

[ranga]

<p>I tried all of this when I first had the problem but  I tried it again just in case.</p><p>Still no change.</p><p>Thanks for trying but I am about to give up. I can't play this at the level of performance it has degraded to and I am reluctant to spend out on a new op sys, new graphics card, new expansion when I don't even know if anything will change - heaven forbid it might even get worse <img src="/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />.</p>

[TSR-JoshuaM]

<p>How are you temperatures during these fps spikes?  You can view GPU temps with Nvidia's utility or any number of other 3rd party freeware applications like RealTemp.</p>

[ranga]

<p>"CPU-Z indicates that all cores and the graphics card are working well within spec and tolerance."</p><p>I used CPUI HW Mon to check after I had copied down the h/w specs and tolerances from NVidia for the GPU and M/B</p><p>Temperatures are exactly as specced.</p><p>To clarify, I am not seeing spikes just a very quick degradation after log in.</p><p>Typically, I used to get 30 fps in outdoor zones, no change in towns and around 18-20ish in raid zones which was quite acceptable.</p><p>Suddenly, that changed to 12fps outside raids and 6 inside and it changed for no apparent reason. There are ppl in my guild with similar h/w specs (main diff is I am running Vista)</p><p>If I clean the reg for example or just after I installed Vista SP2, I might see up to 58 fps for the first few mins after I log in but that quickly diminishes to 12 fps again. So clearly, the H/W is capable of far greater performance than I am seeing. I really would like to know what is happening between log on and reversion to the low level of performance.</p><p>It's like all of a sudden, the pc clogs up and cannot get free again. Nothing is running in the background, I clean boot each time by unchecking all the non windows services in system configuration.</p>

[TSR-JoshuaM]

<p>I still do want to know the temperatures specifically please.</p><p>Also, what type of power supply are you using?  Brand/Model specifically would be best.</p>

[ranga]

<p>Firstly, apologies, I realise I should have posted this in the other forum.</p><div><strong><span style="color: #0000ff;">GeForce G100 Thermal and Power Specs:</span></strong></div><p><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="600" align="center"><tbody><tr><td width="300"><span style="color: #0000ff;">Maximum GPU Temperature (in C)</span></td><td align="center"><span style="color: #0000ff;">105  C</span></td></tr><tr><td width="300"><span style="color: #0000ff;">Maximum Graphics Card Power (W)</span></td><td align="center"><span style="color: #0000ff;">35  W</span></td></tr><tr><td width="300"><span style="color: #0000ff;">Minimum Recommended System Power (W)</span></td><td align="center"><span style="color: #0000ff;">300  W</span></td></tr></tbody></table></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff;"> </span></p><p>With EQII running the GPU runs at 103c, min 102c and max 104c</p><p>220 W power supply, PC 2001 system compliant</p><p>Thanks again for the help.</p>

[Rahatmattata]

<p><cite>ranga wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="600" align="center"><tbody><tr><td width="300"><span style="color: #0000ff;">Maximum GPU Temperature (in C)</span></td><td align="center"><span style="color: #0000ff;">105  C</span></td></tr></tbody></table></p></blockquote><p>Yikes. You could boil water on your gpu <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" /></p>

[das2000uk]

<p>Man thats crazy it should not be running that hot.  105c Is the max it can handle before meltdown happens. Im guessing even at idle your running hot.</p><p>Also your case needs good air flow, a fan on the front and 1 on the back is ideal with not too many wires obstucting, be careful not to dislodge anything in there though <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />.There is the chance that your GFX card has a problem which is making it overheat, if you can't get it any cooler you may want to think about sending it back if it's still under warranty, or getting a new 1. Easiest thing to change is the surrounding environment. Inside the PC: When's the last time you cleaned dust bunnies out of it? Dust traps air and holds heat in like a fuzzy sweater. Is the fan still spinning? If the fan is spinning slowly or not at all your GPU will not be happy. Is the heat sink falling off? If the cooler isn't making contact with the GPU then it can't very well keep it cool.</p><p>It could also be a problem with Vista Rivatuner or EVGA precision is software available which bumps up the speeds of the fans, however i think vista doesnt allow this.</p><p>You could try to roll back SP2 and see what happens.</p><p>Good luck whatever you do.</p>

[ranga]

<p>Thx</p><p>105c is the specced max, it runs typically at 102</p><p>I clean out the sand dunes regularly and that was the first thing that I did when this problem raised it's head.</p><p>The case has two fans plenty of airflow and there is a fan on the GPU.</p><p>I will try speeding up the fan though if it is poss under Vista.</p><p>I would still be interested in some idea of what ppl reckon my performance should be with a quad core, 4 gb, 2.3 mhz sys with 768mb of graphics mem though. To recap it used to be a consistent 30ish FPS on High Performance settings, now I only get 10/13 on Extreme Performance.</p>

[TSR-JoshuaM]

<p>Those temperatures are meltdown hot and may be the sole source of your issues if you want my honest opinion.  That needs to be addressed as soon as possible.  At those temperatures you may be causing irreperable damage to the card itself.</p>

[Berge]

A card should never get that hot, I try and keep my cards 60 and under 70 is pushing it for temperature.

[ranga]

<p>Well I tried the fan tuners etc and no luck they can't be adjusted in Vista using any that I could find.</p><p>So I opened the case again and yes, the fan on the GPU had stopped. I flicked it and it started again and within minutes the temp had cooled to 37c.</p><p>I loaded it all up again, fan is still fine and got 50 fps in extreme perf and 30 with performance a couple notches lower.</p><p>Given that I had already checked the fans twice after this began to occur, I guess the moral when you get an (initially) intermittent fault is leave the case off until it is sorted <img src="/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> I would have then seen the prob pretty quickly.</p><p>So I will leave the case off and see if the fan continues to work properly (after 6 hrs it is fine) and if not I'll replace the fan.</p><p>Thank you all once again for the help. It is much appreciated.</p><p>Roll on Velious <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[TSR-JoshuaM]

<p>Keep an eye on those temps and it should ensure you get the performance your card is capable of.</p>

[das2000uk]

<p>Yah glad you mamanged to get it sort of fixed, maybe you should try and get a new fan for the GPU if you can.</p>

[Berge]

Yeah I'd get the fan just in case so when or if it goes you are already prepared and doesn't cost a lot either.

[das2000uk]

<p>To be honest your lucky you didnt fry GPU. </p>

[TSR-JoshuaM]

<p>I've "fried" similar GPU's touching 85C+ =( </p><p>You are very lucky it works at all!</p>

[ranga]

<p>Yep I'll get a fan just in case.</p><p>Gonna go see if those eggs 'n' bacon on my GPU are done now <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p><p>Thanks once again all.</p>

[TSR-JoshuaM]

<p>If you run in to issues after having done all that I'll be here!</p>