I recently built a whole new machine almost from scratch.

AMD 9500 Phenom quadcore @2.45ghz
9600gt oc to 760mhz
gigabyte ga-ma78gm-s2h motherboard
3gb pc6400 DDr2
Vista 64bit

The only thing that i kept from my old machine was the hard drive which is a 7200rpm sata 250gb. I forget what brand. Anyways I was pretty pleased with the way it ran (i am posting scores in 3dmark 06 of about 9400), that is until my friend bough a phenom combo from frys yesterday with one of their new 9750 processors. I helped him build it with the new MB/Processor and his old 8800GTS 320mb everything stock. He posted a score of almost 11000 right off the bat! And i know that 3d mark does not equal actual gameplay so we threw in crysis. Right from the first battle in the daylight at the ridge overlooking the water i could tell that his machine was beating mine hands down, even at much higher settings. He was running everything at HIGH 1650x1080 while i struggle to run 1280x720 on medium. I was under the impression when i bought the 9600gt that it was a faster card then the 8800, and has more on board memory.

Is it the card bottlenecking my system? Or could it be something else completely? I figure our processors are clocked almost equal. He is using a WD 74gb raptor drive, but everything ive read says that HD have no factor in the performance in gaming. Any advice?

Welcome to the fabulous world of sensational marketing.

Hmm on second thought, could be something else... I just don't know what. I don't own a phenom.

Ya im starting to get the feeling that ive been pretty much had with this card. So should i return it and get a 8800gt or gts?

it's not the GPU for sure it is the CPU that your friend has that is better and since you have a B2 Phenom which limits your cpu's full potential.

Really? That much of a difference between the processors even though they are at the same clock?

If that B2 bug fix is present in BIOS it could be. If not then it needs further investigation. The B3 phenom isn't magically faster at the same frequency.

Nooooooooooooooooooooo..........

The 8800GTS IS a faster card than the 9600. It has more pipelines and a wider memory bus. It will always be faster than the 9600. You should have done more research into the cards before buying. A higher number does not necessarilty mean a better performing card. You haven't been screwed, you just didn't do enough research.

What are you doing buying a Phenom anyway? You should have known better and bought a Core 2 Quad because the Phenom is a turd....

It's okay to be a newb... You need to quit shopping at Fry's too... go to Newegg.

I tried to tell them! But they wouldn't listen

i have an x2 6000+, 2gb ram and an 8800gt.
getting 10300 in 3dmark06 and playing crysis all settings high at 1280x1024. must be the card.

Ha ha... someone talking about fanboys. Silly.

@OP:

What is your friends:
OS

And is your 9600GT the 512MB? or the 256MB (ie like this one : http://global.msi.com.tw/index.php [...] at2_no=136 )

and your friend has a better CPU so that could also be the reason. OC your card and then try.

Yes yes. I am aware that just because its a 9 series does not automatically mean a faster card. I gotta admit that in my ignorance i was putting more focus on the fact that the 9600gt had more ram. But after looking things over the GTS is clearly a faster card.

My CPU definitely isnt helping either.



Looks like ill be making some returns. I got a good deal on the phenom, but i shoulda known better than to settle for something i didnt really want in the first place. THX for the help guys even if u did make me feel like a complete ass.

The 9600 GT is faster than the 8800 GTS for sure. There is no questions ask. Every benchmark provided on the web shows it as being faster.

The 8800 GTS can be compared to a stock 8800 GS thats it.

The line goes like this

8800 GTS 512 > 8800 GT > 9600 G > 8800 GTS 640/320 ~ 8800 GS (which oc like crazy)

this is addressed to the OP and halfassed lol

please look for benchmarks before you post search google, they are everywhere.


I'm a user of both cards, I had 2 8800 GTS 320 and then 2 9600 GTs now 1 9800 GX2.

This all happened from AUg- March lol

I was going to say CPU, but it looks like you guys already figured it out. I didn't think that B2 vs B3 would have that big of a difference.

-mcg

Dpwnload the AMD overdrive utility. Running with the yellow or red dot means the tlb patch is disabled. And overclocked, your CPU is about the same than your friend. And don't get sad because you get a phenom. They are good CPU. As good as Intel, not just as fast.

The two cards should trade blows with the 9600GT winning more than it loses.

3dmark06 is cpu limited. Your cards are close, so his higher clocked cpu should give a higher 3dmark06 score.

As far as Crysis... Your friend was not playing crysis at 16x10 all high on a 320MB 8800GTS. That card can't come close to handling those settings. Crysis made me ditch my 320MB GTS after seeing how lousy it did. Look at this link, 15 fps average and that may even be just the GPU bench, not the actual gameplay. http://www.legionhardware.com/docu [...] id=710&p=2

You are running Vista 64-bit. By chance is your buddy running Win XP? If so he is running DX9 and you DX10. From what I have seen even both on high, DX10 codepath runs slower than XP DX9.