Thread: kickass machine = poor gaming rig?

Recently I've tried some pc games on my rig

Intel Core i7-2600 @ 3.40
8 gigs of RAM
64-bit Win 7 home premium
ATI Radeon (I wish it came with a nvidia) 5450 512mb

And even on somewhat older games such as Oblivion this poor things just barely chugs along at lower resolutions.

The system requirements for Homefront as an example were met by this thing but even with lowered settings I made it to the second area and decided to play the PS3 version instead. Does anyone know why even though I meet beyond the recommended requirements I cannot play a single game with maxed settings?

All drivers are updated (to my knowledge and yes, I keep trying) my system's new so registry errors, loaded HDD, typical but minor slowdowns are at a minimum - including useless system services. I just don't get it.
(Unless my gut is right and I need to get a real video card like a nvidia?)


edit: I've also been looking at some cards and am getting confused. can anyone suggest an efficient single pci-e nvidia graphics card?

its the graphics card mate, it is a media centre gpu **** for games trust me , get a ati hd 6770 for £80 will run anything you throw at it,

what made you get the 5450 ? as all over the net it is a media centre card not designed for games

Unfortunately it came with the system. I forgot to reconfigure the order when I purchased it so I ended up getting this PoS. Thank you for the advice man - out of curiousity do you know the 6770's nvidia equivalent? I've had those cards and they never disappointed so I was hoping to stick with them. Thank you big time though!

A small update - I ran a driver finder program and it updated the cpu's, video, and other things and now the games seem to be running better albeit not at max - AA certainly can't be maxed but it is getting closer.

yea not working, get a better card
but also make sure nothing is hogging the CPU, it should be at 0-4% doing nothing

the GTX550 = HD 6770 (go ahead with the gtx560, there on sale)

just curious, how many FPS do you get in oblivion (it has a fps command)

Ahh, I was reading about the GTX550 too, will do. Haven't checked the CPU usage in a bit, going to tweak that again tonight.

Actually after the driver update program with completely maxed settings (including AA) I'm getting from 8-14 fps in exterior cells, interior runs just a bit smoother. This is the norm for this pc I imagine?

The reason I really started to question the pc's ability was in part due to the mods slowing oblivion down at fairly low resolutions (not with graphics mods either) so I deserved that - BUT Homefront ran like absolute garbage at 1200 x 800, disabled AA and fancy things so I really didn't get it. Last night I tested The Witcher Enhanced Edition w/ completely maxed settings (trying to force the pc to chug like it did in Oblivion) but to my surprise it was barely chopping up and only due to the extra AA. Maybe with the 550 I'll be able to play present day releases in HD???

Originally Posted by braidedsin

Ahh, I was reading about the GTX550 too, will do. Haven't checked the CPU usage in a bit, going to tweak that again tonight.

Actually after the driver update program with completely maxed settings (including AA) I'm getting from 8-14 fps in exterior cells, interior runs just a bit smoother. This is the norm for this pc I imagine?

The reason I really started to question the pc's ability was in part due to the mods slowing oblivion down at fairly low resolutions (not with graphics mods either) so I deserved that - BUT Homefront ran like absolute garbage at 1200 x 800, disabled AA and fancy things so I really didn't get it. Last night I tested The Witcher Enhanced Edition w/ completely maxed settings (trying to force the pc to chug like it did in Oblivion) but to my surprise it was barely chopping up and only due to the extra AA. Maybe with the 550 I'll be able to play present day releases in HD???

of course, less to render = more FPS, inside you will double in FPS.

don't go into advanced config, just get the damn card.

will the 550 play the game? it will **** that game in the *** MAXED
the 560 is more typical for running crysis2 or crysis maxed, you dont really need it but its nice to have the 560

Awesome! I've been waiting to **** games in the *** maxed and now I'm close to achieving it!!!! Thank you! And thank you both for the support!

Originally Posted by braidedsin

Awesome! I've been waiting to **** games in the *** maxed and now I'm close to achieving it!!!! Thank you! And thank you both for the support!

ever heard of the +rep button? I swear im going to put an image of it in my sig :/

Uh actually I've been looking for it :\ Ohhh the scales!!

powerful cpu paired with a weak-*** gpu
the usual story with these pre-built pc
learn to assemble your own pc
and you'll never ever have that problem again