8500GT issues, please help

[tomscott2008]

Hi guys,

i recently bought an 8500GT online and installed it into my system, installed new drivers, booted, and it started to work, however i have had 2 issues within an hour now. First of all, when i booted the second time it said that my card was running in x1 instead of x16, i THINK i have solved this now with simple re-seating, however i have a second problem. I tried to play NWN2 today and the frame rate is DREADFUL, MUCH WORSE than the card i had in their previously. My old card was an ati Radeon x1600XT 256mb DDR, and my new(er) one is the Nvidia 8500GT 512MB ddr2. im running xp with 3.0ghz and 305w psu.

i used gpu-z and it gave very strange results, it says that my card is only 128mb, not 512, the card has 512 stickered onto it and everything, im very confused.

any ideas?

 

[tomscott2008]

may i add,

DX diagnostics recognises that its 512mb, but this doesnt

 

[ShadowFold]

Sorry to say but the X1600XT is about as fast as a 8500GT. But if you ordered a 512mb version and you got a 128mb, call them/email them and get your money back for it! Save for a 9600GSO or HD 3850 if you want to do some major gaming!

 

[tomscott2008]

ok thats absolutely fine, im replacing the x1600 becuase it died on me after a few years of good use.

but this new card is really really slow, doesnt match the 1600xt atall.

 

[ShadowFold]

Because the 8500GT is low end, 64bit. And the X1600's were 128bit and that makes a huge difference. A 128bit 8500GT might have been a bit better but they are generally very weak, the DDR2 is killing you too, they have high latencies and dont go very high. And NWN2 is a very demanding game.

 

[tomscott2008]

ok then last thing, if DX thinks is 512 but gpu-z thinks its 128, what does that mean?

 

[ShadowFold]

You got ripped off

Like I said, send it back for a refund because its the wrong product and start saving for one these bad boys!
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121251

 

[tomscott2008]

but my computer is saying its 512. so why does that say one thing ang gpu-z another?

 

[ShadowFold]

Oh nvm DXDiag lol ask W1zz in the GPUZ forum maybe its reading your system DDR instead of the video cards!!
And what brand is your PSU?

 

[tomscott2008]

start>>>run>>>dxdiag

 

[tomscott2008]

my x1600 kicked the a** out of NWN2, but this just doesnt wanna know

 

[ShadowFold]

Yea I skipped that post sorry. I edited my above post. Still tho return it, you will be much happier with a 9600!

And like I sad, 64bit vs 128bit man. The 8500GT is a really weak card.

 

[tomscott2008]

shamed to say it, but its Dell

 

[tomscott2008]

lol it was an ebay item, i guess ill sell it-on

 

[Darren]

Hi guys,

tried to play NWN2 today and the frame rate is DREADFUL, MUCH WORSE than the card i had in their previously. My old card was an ati Radeon x1600XT 256mb DDR, and my new(er) one is the Nvidia 8500GT 512MB ddr2. im running xp with 3.0ghz and 305w psu.

The 8500 GT is a low end card (extremely low end) and was designed for casual users who are happy with watching the occasional DVD opposed to playing high end games; performance wise the 8500 GT is equivalent to your old x1600 XT maybe worst.

I'd recommend you purchase a ATI 4850 if you want to play games at high settings for another two years or alternatively one of the following cards if your on a budget but still want high detail an high frame rates: ATI 3870, ATI 3850, Nvidia 8800 GT, 9600 GT, 8800 GS.

Obviously the performance one achieves with a new GPU is dependant on your processor, ram etc, could you post your full system specification?

 

[ShadowFold]

shamed to say it, but its Dell

Does it say PC Power & Cooling anywhere on the psu? If it does then that thing can power a 8800GT if you wanted it! PCP&C psu's are incredibly stable and push out more than they are rated to do!

 

[tomscott2008]

3.0ghz single core
1.5gb DDR RAM
305W PSU

anything else?

 

[tomscott2008]

no, it doesnt...

i see a re-sell coming on

 

[ShadowFold]

You should start saving up for a complete overhaul if you want to play the latest games.. If you just want to play NWN2 just get a 9500GT. They are supost to be pretty good, faster than 8600GTS.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130378

 

[tomscott2008]

tis very annoying, i cant help thinking im missing a trick here though. DX thinks my card is 512mb, but gpu-z thinks its 128mb, that just doesnt add-up to me. and you said that the 8500GT is about the same as the x1600, so why is its performance so much worse in my system. argh

 

[Darren]

3.0ghz single core
1.5gb DDR RAM
305W PSU

anything else?

3.0 Ghz (I'm guessing it's a Pentium Perscott or equivalent) single core processor will restrict performance heavily. 1.5 GB of ram is the minimum for gaming, 305W PSU would barely support a decent graphics card. Even the fastest graphics card wouldn't perform at 50% of it's intended power on this system.

I'd recommend you buy one of the following graphics cards I mentioned in my previous post and in addition you'll need a new PSU rated between 550-700w. Also remove the 512 MB stick and put in a 1 GB stick bringing the total to 2 GB total.


----
Edit:

tis very annoying, i cant help thinking im missing a trick here though. DX thinks my card is 512mb, but gpu-z thinks its 128mb, that just doesnt add-up to me. and you said that the 8500GT is about the same as the x1600, so why is its performance so much worse in my system. argh

hang on,

ive just read the side of the box and it says 128bit. not 64 like gpu-z states

GPU-Z makes mistakes it is not 100% accurate all the time. But who cares the 8500 GT sucks donkey balls and it's one of the worst graphics cards you could pick up with the DX10 name tag. If you want to play games at high settings, high frame rates take our advice and return it. Take your pick: ATI 4850, ATI 3870, ATI 3850, Nvidia 8800 GT, 9600 GT, 8800 GS.

 

[tomscott2008]

hang on,

ive just read the side of the box and it says 128bit. not 64 like gpu-z states

 

[Nick259]

Maybe it has 128mb dedicated and the rest hypermemory (sharing with the system RAM)?

 

[Deusxmachina]

Can't you just count the memory chips on the card to see how much memory it has?

Can't you search for some of the numbers on the card on the internet to see what description comes up?

I have an 8500GT and just hit it with GPUZ. Comes up exactly how it's supposed to -- BFG 128bit 256mb. The most interesting numbers that stick out between our GPUZs is mine says 3.7 pixel fillrate (double what your GPU says), but bandwidth is 3x as much at 12.8. Your memory clock is 266mhz while mine is 400mhz.

Check out the specs in this ebay auction. (I'm having a hard time finding a regular website with specs). http://cgi.ebay.com/nVIDIA-GeForce-8500-8500GT-512MB-PCI-E-Video-Card-NEW!!_W0QQitemZ290249914970QQcmdZViewItem?IMSfp=TL0808011188r11029

Everything matches up with your card except your box saying 128bit. I'd guess either there's some weird driver/bios issue going on, or you got a weak card in a not-quite-as-weak box.

As for games, a 128bit 8500GT isn't the worst thing in the world. It's at least around a 6600GT, maybe even a 6800, and I've played plenty of games at solid resolutions on a 6600GT. Pretty sure I had the 6600GT back when messing with NWN2. It's not going to max out Crysis anytime soon, but an 8500GT isn't a complete dog. There are youtube videos of 8500GTs showing what they can do at something like 1024x768, and they're not too bad.

 

[PuMA]

why buy a crappy card , when good vid cards are cheap as hell nowdays