Upgraded Graphics Card But Still ULTRA LOW FPS

[The Stig]

Hello All!

I've just upgraded my graphics card from an NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GTX+ (Yeah, I know...Ancient) to a GTX 660 Ti 2GB Model. I primarily play Counter Strike Global Offensive and Garry's Mod but in EVERY GAME I am getting choppy performance with frames well under 60 FPS and at times under 10 FPS. I thought it was just my old graphics card wasn't keeping up anymore but installing the new one still yielded the same unplayable experience.

System Specs:
--------------------------------------
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 OC'd @ 3.00 Ghz
EVGA nForce 780i SLI FTW Edition Motherboard
8 GB OCZ 1066 Mhz DDR2 Gold Series RAM
Western Digital 500 GB HDD 7,200 RPM
620W Seasonic M12II Evo Edition PSU *BRAND NEW*
EVGA NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 Ti 2 GB
Windows 7 64 Bit OS
ZALMAN CNPS9500 CPU Cooler


Currently Tried:
---------------------------------------
✓ Properly Powered w/ Quality PSU
✓ Every Connection Was Checked Countless Times, Reinserted, Ect...
✓ Only BIOS Update Is For "CPU Compatibility On The Motherboard"
✓ Windows 7 64 Bit Up To Date On ALL Drivers
✓ Motherboard Up To Date On ALL Drivers
✓ Removed Old Drivers (Prior To New GPU) & Installed Current NVIDIA 385.41 Drivers
✓ VSYNC Off
✓ Played Around With ALL In Game Video Settings With No Significant Improvement
✓ Set Power Management To Performance Oriented
✓ All Temps Under 55-60 Degrees Celsius Under Heavy Load (Everything Dusted Too)
✓ Cleared CMOS

I'm at a loss on what to do next...I'm well aware of the age of my hardware but CS:GO is the newest game I own (2012) so bottlenecks should be near non existent.

**Thank you for taking the time to read this in advanced! :)**

[Muppet among Puppets]

Did it ever run better?

[Forcen]

Can you do this:
In Steam click Help>System Information. Then right click the text and click "copy all text to clipboard" and then paste it in here.
If you don't use steam in english then please switch to english first.

You can also test your PC here and compare it to other tests of the same hardware, you can also link the results in the thread.
http://www.userbenchmark.com/

[The Stig]

I used to be able to play CS:GO in competitive matches with ease and slowly performance just got worse and worse until it was unplayable. Just did Firestrike Benchmark

Graphics score
6 093 Total
Graphics test 1
28.75 FPS
Graphics test 2
24.56 FPS

Physics score
4,663
Physics test
14.80 FPS

Combined score
2,281
Combined test
10.61 FPS

TOTAL SCORE 5,022

[The Stig]

Processor Information:
CPU Vendor: GenuineIntel
CPU Brand: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q6600 @ 2.40GHz
CPU Family: 0x6
CPU Model: 0xf
CPU Stepping: 0xb
CPU Type: 0x0
Speed: 3000 Mhz
4 logical processors
4 physical processors
HyperThreading: Unsupported
FCMOV: Supported
SSE2: Supported
SSE3: Supported
SSSE3: Supported
SSE4a: Unsupported
SSE41: Unsupported
SSE42: Unsupported
AES: Unsupported
AVX: Unsupported
CMPXCHG16B: Supported
LAHF/SAHF: Supported
PrefetchW: Supported

Operating System Version:
Windows 7 (64 bit)
NTFS: Supported
Crypto Provider Codes: Supported 311 0x0 0x0 0x0

Video Card:
Driver: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 Ti
DirectX Driver Name: nvd3dum.dll
Driver Version: 22.21.13.8541
DirectX Driver Version: 22.21.13.8541
Driver Date: 8 21 2017
OpenGL Version: 4.5
Desktop Color Depth: 32 bits per pixel
Monitor Refresh Rate: 59 Hz
DirectX Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 Ti
VendorID: 0x10de
DeviceID: 0x1183
Revision: 0xa1
Number of Monitors: 1
Number of Logical Video Cards: 1
No SLI or Crossfire Detected
Primary Display Resolution: 1680 x 1050
Desktop Resolution: 1680 x 1050
Primary Display Size: 23.35" x 14.57" (27.48" diag)
59.3cm x 37.0cm (69.8cm diag)
Primary Bus: PCI Express 16x
Primary VRAM: 2047 MB
Supported MSAA Modes: 2x 4x 8x

Sound card:
Audio device: Speakers (High Definition Audio

Memory:
RAM: 6910 Mb

[The Stig]

UserBenchmarks: Game 26%, Desk 28%, Work 20%[www.userbenchmark.com]
CPU: Intel Core2 Quad Q6600[cpu.userbenchmark.com] - 32.2%
GPU: Nvidia GTX 660 Ti[gpu.userbenchmark.com] - 36.7%
HDD: WD Black 500GB (2008)[hdd.userbenchmark.com] - 38.9%
RAM: Unknown 4x2GB[ram.userbenchmark.com] - 13.7%

[Forcen]

That ram benchmark is hard to compare with since it doesn't know what ram it is.
Still, that harddrive is not that great, thought trying a new one? Maybe ssd?
Or just defrag it?

If it doesn't work then you could save that ssd for a future PC someday.

[The Stig]

The hard drive definitely needs a reformat or perhaps a replacement but "SHOULDN'T" effect in game performance (minus loading times). May have a friend give me an SSD for Windows so I am awaiting on that to determine whether or not I reformat now or wait until I get his SSD.

[Forcen]

You should NOT do some kind of image of your old harddrive to your SSD. if you put windows on it then make it a new fresh windows.

[Ocsabat]

First thing, make sure drivers or motherboard setting is not trying to run in SLI mode.

Most likely it's not a hardware issue if the new graphic card didn't help, Start by reinstalling your graphics software without all the tagalong crap that gets loaded as part of the driver install package.

Unistall the Nvidia software then reinstall using custom option and uncheck everything but drivers and control panel. Especially do not include GeForce Experience. That always causes me problems with performans and crashes. Rule that out first before you start trying random things.

[Hanomaly]

OP also says they have DDR2 ram, that is pretty old, like 2004 old. So slower than modern ram, even with 8GB. Ram is cheap. Swapping to 8GB of DDR4 (instead of 8GB of DDR2) wouldn't be that expensive at all.

Altho, i suppose that motherboard might not be able to take DDR4, so...

[The Stig]

Will try reformatting windows tonight to eliminate conflicting software. DDR4 RAM means a new motherboard...which means a new CPU. That's a bit more money than I am willing to spend at the moment.

[Ocsabat]

Originally posted by The Stig:

Will try reformatting windows tonight to eliminate conflicting software. DDR4 RAM means a new motherboard...which means a new CPU. That's a bit more money than I am willing to spend at the moment.

Just try what I suggested first. takes 10 minutes as opposed to formatting and reloading everything. I don't understand why people are so quick to choose the nuclear option over the simple options.

Well, it's your time. Good luck.

[Muppet among Puppets]

Originally posted by Forcen:

Still, that harddrive is not that great, thought trying a new one? Maybe ssd?
Or just defrag it?

If it doesn't work then you could save that ssd for a future PC someday.

You dont need a ssd for gaming.

Defrag the hdd.
By hardware, csgo should run playable. Especially with new card. It looks like a software/data mess up. Before thinking of getting hardware, make sure first, that os install is fine etc.

[The Stig]

Hi All!

I would like to thank you for taking time out of your day to chime in on this post. I reformatted the HDD and ran CS:GO again on the default settings and FPS is very smooth (60+ FPS). It's a start but not what I should be getting...oh well....

UserBenchmark Scores Now:
-------------------------------------------------
UserBenchmarks: Game 29%, Desk 31%, Work 22%[www.userbenchmark.com]
CPU: Intel Core2 Quad Q6600[cpu.userbenchmark.com] - 38.8%
GPU: Nvidia GTX 660 Ti[gpu.userbenchmark.com] - 38.3%
HDD: WD Black 500GB (2008)[hdd.userbenchmark.com] - 42.8%
RAM: Unknown 4x2GB[ram.userbenchmark.com] - 20.7%

[Muppet among Puppets]

Originally posted by The Stig:

Hi All!

I would like to thank you for taking time out of your day to chime in on this post. I reformatted the HDD and ran CS:GO again on the default settings and FPS is very smooth (60+ FPS). It's a start but not what I should be getting...oh well....

Is vertical sync on and a 60hz monitor?