So I play a lot of games, and what could be better for a hardcore gamer than the best graphics card on the market? I watched it like a hawk, I read up on it, and I waited.

Finally, I could resist no longer. I wanted to know the power, I wanted to play my games on the very highest settings possible at 60FPS, and finally, after making sure the card had been out long enough to have ironed out most of the incompatibility creases, I bought one.

I put it in my rig (see signature) I connected everything properly, I wiped all my old drivers, installed the drivers on my CD, and played some games.

Call of Juarez with massive shadow tearing issues? Quake 4 FPS drop with ANY anti-aliasing on in 1280*1024 with ultra settings on? Oblivion unable to run HDR & AA at the same time? Obviously I was not happy. The only game I had no problems with was F.E.A.R. which ran on the highest possible settings flawlessly.

I changed drivers to the latest from nvidia site. Still the same. Finally, today I formatted and reinstalled the whole system, installing only the drivers, all Windows updates, and my games.

Still no ******* luck! All my benchmarks are fine (near the 11000 mark for 3DMark06), and in F.E.A.R. the lowest framerate was 37fps with only 4% not in the 'above 40 FPS' section.

I've tried over and underclocking my rig, I've reinstalled everything, it's still like this. Oblivion seems to work with forced 16x AA in control panel and HDR on in Oblivion options, but still Quake 4 has problems. With my old 7950GT I could run with 4x AA in Ultra settings and got less slow down than this...

I've looked everywhere else, I see many people reviewing the 8800s with Quake 4, and all claim "This card is fantastic, immaculate FPS with ultra settings, 16x AA and 16x AF!!!

I KNOW my rig is capable, why these problems?

To summarise:

Quake 4 can't run in ultra with ANY anti-aliasing (irrelevent of vsync being on or off, although off makes a difference).

Oblivion in it's own settings box can't run HDR and AA at the same time.


Call of Juarez can't has MAJOR shadow flickering issues no matter what settings I use.

Any ideas, my trusty ol' pals?

I know you're a really hardcore gamer so dont feel offended when I say this: are your games up to date with the latest updates?

Quote: Originally Posted by Nav I know you're a really hardcore gamer so dont feel offended when I say this: are your games up to date with the latest updates?

I wouldn't say 'really' hardcore but... thanks anyway ^_^

Yeah man, everything is up to date. In fact I've tried reinstalling games and using different update patches to test.

Try some other drivers, newest aren't always the best. Could try google to see if you can find info on what other people are using, preferably with similar setups.

Well by the sounds of it, you've eliminated OS, driver and other such software related problems so I would start looking at hardware.

Sounds like you either have a bad card (unlucky, RMA) or that Tagan PSU aint cutting the proverbial mustard.

See if you can get your hands on a higher quality PSU, if that doesnt affect anything then id RMA the card and pray you were just unluck

Quote: Originally Posted by Dex Well by the sounds of it, you've eliminated OS, driver and other such software related problems so I would start looking at hardware. Sounds like you either have a bad card (unlucky, RMA) or that Tagan PSU aint cutting the proverbial mustard. See if you can get your hands on a higher quality PSU, if that doesnt affect anything then id RMA the card and pray you were just unluck

But my card is fine in 3dmark06. It's temps are fine, it plays most games fine (Prey, BF2142, HL2, Oblivion (now with forced AA+HDR), Dark Messiah, F.E.A.R. etc etc), it's only a few games that it struggles with, and even then, it's only with certain video option combinations.

Through a little research it turns out almost everyone with Call of Juarez on an EVGA 8800GTX is having the shadow problems, and plenty the Oblivion problems. It just seems I'm the only one with Quake 4 unable to pull 8/16xAA with ultra quality.

On the power supply note:

Yeah it's crossed my mind. However, I know someone with the same set-up as me, plus more hard-drive and another DVD drive using the same PSU. It's only a few months old, and should easily be enough for one single 8800gtx.

What sways me from settling on a power supply issue is that plenty of other games, even of the highest of high end games, play perfectly. It's only the small few games.

Hmm OK fair point, I totally forgot you mentioned that benchies were fine... now im as stumped as you are...

Quote: Originally Posted by Dex Hmm OK fair point, I totally forgot you mentioned that benchies were fine... now im as stumped as you are...

well it seems like you have covered almost all the bases

the only thing i could think of is maybe you oc may be unstable... esp if you are running Q4 with the SMP patch- its stressing both cores and im pretty sure its the only game that does that (yet)

have you tried running the game at stock???

you could also bump your voltages and make sure your cooling is straight because it should be fine at 3.2, my new rig is at 3.2 too and its stable although i havent gotten Q4 running on it yet

if you still get the same issue my opinion is to RMA that card

Quote: Originally Posted by thachamp05 if you still get the same issue my opinion is to RMA that card

Aye, do you have another PCI-E card that you could use to test that your problems are definitely due to the card? It sounds faulty to me as well.

Usually I would RMA, but I know a loooot of people have problems with the 8800s and certain games.

I'm sure it's not faulty, as MOST games work. Now narrowed to only Quake 4 and Call of Juarez that don't work properly, and Call of Juarez is a problem everyone is having with the 8800s. I tried all my old games, got other new ones, and have no problems.

Regarding your advice, thechamp, I've tried going to stock and entirely reinstalling. Still no luck.

So yeah, if anyone else is having problems with Quake 4 on an 8800GTX with 8xAA 16xAF, vsync on, 1280x1024 res, ultra settings, then lemme know. I'd be happier knowing it's another driver conflict or something... It would make more sense.

thechamp if you have the same spec as me and an 8800, would you try running quake 4 on MAX settings?

Edit:

Well guys I found two links:

AA and Quake 4 = 1/2 framerate?! - nV News Forums

and ...oh, I lost the other one, but it showed the same thing. Interesting though.

i dont have an 8800 lol, i wish... i just have the same chip

you should try another video card so you can narrow it down and make sure it realy is the 8800 causing the prob

Quote: Originally Posted by Mr. Fiddles So yeah, if anyone else is having problems with Quake 4 on an 8800GTX with 8xAA 16xAF, vsync on, 1280x1024 res, ultra settings, then lemme know. I'd be happier knowing it's another driver conflict or something... It would make more sense.

I notice you are running with vsync on. I *never* use vsynch. Ever. It usually limits your FPS to the max refresh rate of teh monitor and I have heard of people having issues with visual quality like you are having.

Try it with vsynch off. I have an 88000GTX and all my games work fine.

Quote: Originally Posted by DickNervous I notice you are running with vsync on. I *never* use vsynch. Ever. It usually limits your FPS to the max refresh rate of teh monitor and I have heard of people having issues with visual quality like you are having. Try it with vsynch off. I have an 88000GTX and all my games work fine.

Yes but with vsync off I get horizontal tearing that is unbearable (to me). With my previous card I was able to use vsync with no performance loss. In any other games, it also works with the 8800, it's only Quake 4.

Quote: Originally Posted by thachamp05 i dont have an 8800 lol, i wish... i just have the same chip you should try another video card so you can narrow it down and make sure it realy is the 8800 causing the prob

Tried my old 7950GT. Works better, even with vsync on.