My specs
AMD Sempron(tm) 2800+
NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT by TweaksRUs Driver 6.14.10.9792
Memory Info
Total Physical Memory 1.00 GB
Free Physical Memory 594 MB
Total Pagefile Memory 4.90 GB
Free Pagefile Memory 4.59 GB
Motherboard Info
Supported Slot Types ISA, PCI, AGP
Manufacturer Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
Model nVidia-nForce2
Version x.x
BIOS Vendor Award Software International, Inc.
BIOS Version FG
BIOS Release Date 12/23/2004
BIOS Properties Plug and Play, Flash, AGP
AGP
Revision 3.0
Rate 4x, 8x (4x enabled)
Available Rate 0×0000000c
Selected Rate 0×00000004
Aperture Size 0 B
Sideband Addressing Supported (disabled)
Fast Write Supported (disabled)
I have an arhefacts problem 
My settings are all low…
here are some screens of my prob
http://www.xfire.com/screenshots/panzer1993/ss_file-a21cceeb3fa2299d8b91855209ec229d9db5d662.png
18 Comments
You must be logged in to post a comment.
LOL thats not a system spec. Whats the mainboard ?
Is this Sempron 64 CPU or SocketA Sempron?
Are you crazy ? 5GB pagefile? Set it 1024-1024mb.
You tried 3dmarks? Whats the results, are there any artifacts?
Comment :: April 5, 2007 @ 6:37 pm
Hello Andrew. From what I heard in the past, your AMD Sempron 2800+ is from the XP (K7 Family), correct?
The thing is that with all the updates in the past ~3 years the minimum sytem requirements became higher. I got another PC in Portugal which is almost identical to yours: AMD 2800+ XP, 6800GT@Ultra, 1Gb of RAM. When I started to play CSS (about 1 year after its release) in almost every situation I had 100fps (cause I capped them with fps_max 101) with all settings maxed out. Then I had a break for 9 months cause I went to college. After I came back to Portugal (summer 2006) and tryed to play on the same PC I realized that my fps was down to 30. Recently I was in Portugal again (January 2007) and my fps went even lower, I had to disable all CPU relevant settings to have 40-60fps. The graphical settings had like 0 influence on my fps. Resolution, shadows, shader quality, texture, etc, nothing helped. Just like in your case…
Stating the above I came to a conclusion that AMD K-7 family processors suck balls in CSS, you need to get either an AMD-M 2600+ and overclock it to 2.5Ghz or completely update your motherboard and CPU to AMD64 socket939 or am2 (the first in question is very cheap right now, you can get decent cpu+mb for around 100€) or if you got some cash a Conroe (C2D) from the lower series E6300/E4400.
which is a completely different core architecture than a Sempron XP (K-7).
Martech mentions that EDEK plays with a Sempron64 (K
I hope I could be of assistance in providing info about the “root” of your problem xD
Comment :: April 5, 2007 @ 6:42 pm
martech yes i had arthefacts on 3dmark
Echo I forgot to tell that i’m a total n00b about hardware and plz explain me better
Thank you both for helping me. I’do the test in 3dmark again but in wich one and i would need a Cr@l<
Also what settings can I higher and not affect performance except res?
Comment :: April 5, 2007 @ 7:38 pm
@Echo
I know all that, but he didnt mention earlier is it semp64 or Sempron SocketA.
But, still on AthlonXP Barton 3200+ with 6600gt you can run this game with ease.
I think he should start with eliminating this crazy artifact problems, and then think about other components.
@Andrew
in my opinion buyin athlon Mobile right now is waste of money, its more expensive than Athlon64 \ Sempron 64. No mention heating and your OC skills. And this Gigabyte MB is useless… you cant OC it to 2,5 with it. For OCing SocketA ABIT NF7 or DFI, Asus a7n8x eventually.
And install whql certf. drivers from nvidia, none-moded ones. Whats the 3dmark03 score?
When you go to the visual settings in CSS, what is your default DX level, its written in advenced… ?
Comment :: April 5, 2007 @ 8:29 pm
OK, hey again.
First: “NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT by TweaksRUs Driver 6.14.10.9792″ I see you use modified X Treme-G Drivers.
Have you tryed to install official NVIDIA drivers instead of teh modded ones? I had bad experiences with modded drivers so I only use official ones since then, even if I might be loosing 5fps in the course.
2nd: If you are getting artifacts in both CSS and 3DMark then your hardware is seriously screwed up. Check temperatures too high (http://www.lavalys.com/products/overview.php?pid=3&ps=UE&lang=en), you overclock, card is correctly mounted into AGP slot? At last take the card back to where you bought it if you think its defective.
3rd: To summarize what I previously posted: From your specs I now see you have Sempron XP, what means it sucks, as I told you I own a 2800+ which is almost top model for that kind of processors and I still get shitty fps. Get a new one, preferrably a new generation (amd64/c2d); or suck it up. Most of the settings in Options->Video->Advanced don’t have nothing to do with CPU, play with those settings. Look at this http://whisper.ausgamers.com/wiki/index.php/Source_Autoexec_Tweaks .
ktnxbye
Comment :: April 5, 2007 @ 8:30 pm
Hm, my last post turned into ashes for no reason..whatever.
Ya Martech you are right, I got carried away with overclocking and its not a task for Andrew as he would screw up even more. Well the fact is: you can’t play Source on an Athlon XP and expect stable FPS. 2800+ to 3200+ is what? 2 vs 2.2Ghz, I don’t think its going to be a huge difference.
To Andrew: qft (quoted for truth) Martech, if you getting artefacted in both CSS and 3DMark then install official drivers from NVIDIA, check your temperature, is the card mounted right into AGP slot? At last take the card where you bought it from and let them change it…
As to your FPS only thing you can do is get a new setup (CPU+Motherboard, possibly ram) or apply some config tweaks (dont know if you know this page http://whisper.ausgamers.com/wiki/index.php/Source_Autoexec_Tweaks).
Comment :: April 5, 2007 @ 8:39 pm
I think Barton core has double cache compared to Sempron (which is Thoroubred B if i remember right), maybe this is the reason. And runs 11×200, sempron 2800+ is 1833 and runs 11×166, so the memory is set higher too, it shouldn’t be a factor because AMD likes low latency, nut still… 366mhz i think it makes a differnce.
I don’t know but i tell you i run CSS on heavy OCed&moded 5900xt with Barton 3200+ and game run good in medium settings. That was during winter holidays.
MITAC posted today he can play fine with new barton 3000+. (for 50euro sic!
)
Andrew open case, and try to cool your GFX with fan. Look on capacitors, they should be perfectly flat.
@Echo
Damn, my english sucks, i must practice lil’bit in high school i was pretty good with it.
qtf what does it means ?
Comment :: April 5, 2007 @ 9:15 pm
Yep the 6600GT is the problem. uhm… i know it sounds silly and stupid but here it goes
… i’m stuck here http://www.nvidia.com/content/drivers/drivers.asp I don’t know what to chose 
Do you guys now any tutorials or something to help me understand this hardware stuff better?
PS: Played Biohazard 4(had arthefacts offcourse) really cool game
PS2:what 3dmark to use 2006 or older??
Comment :: April 5, 2007 @ 9:43 pm
3dmark03m will be fine. Mother nature test.
Grpahic Driver > TNT2 and Geforce > 2000\xp
Comment :: April 5, 2007 @ 9:46 pm
Result with nvidia driver : 6293 ( what does that mean?) I had arthefacts at “Troll layre cpu test”
mature nature 1 time it was fucked up arthefacts, no water, strange models
2 time was ok !??
Comment :: April 6, 2007 @ 12:08 am
AGP
Revision 3.0
Rate 4x, 8x (4x enabled)
The 4x speed is the problem, I think. Press “delete” in the boot to get into BIOS. Then go through the menus and search for “AGP speed”, or anything where you see 4x (I can’t say for sure under which menu it is, but it’s there somewhere). Change the value to 8x. Save & exit.
Then use the diagnostic software to check if it says “8x enabled”. Then run 3dmark and see if you get better results.
Sisoft Sandra (non-free program) is quite advanced diagnostic tool. There’s option to scan the system for problems. It will then suggest you what to do to get your system faster. There are stupid instructions like “buy new comp”, “delete cookies” etc, but there are also some good advices. I think it would tell you to change AGP 4x to 8x at least. It can find something else quite as obvious problems too.
Comment :: April 6, 2007 @ 1:33 pm
with Gigabyte MB, probably you need press ctrl+f1 to find advanced options in BIOS.
Result with nvidia driver : 6293, you should have smth around 8k. (probably agp4x fault)
Comment :: April 6, 2007 @ 3:11 pm
Only thing I found is agp 8x support-enabled and where is the option in sandra?
Comment :: April 6, 2007 @ 7:09 pm
Enable the “agp 8x support”. Was it disabled? What does the diagnostic tool you used in the first place tell you now?
The option in Sandra is in Tools - Analysis and Advice (Get advice on how to improve…).
Comment :: April 6, 2007 @ 8:41 pm
Too many variables in you problem Andrew. Narrow it down. If you haven`t done so already, find another graphic card (from your friend or smth) and see if you have the same problem. Try your graphic card on his PC. And if it`s OK, check the other hardware, one by one. Its an endless list of stupid small things that can fail and cause annoying problems.
And if you don`t know how to handle PC hardware, well… it`s about time to learn
Comment :: April 7, 2007 @ 4:33 am
Well I tested it with a FX 5200 or FX5600 (don’t remember) my fps whas bad but no arthefacts.
And I would apreciate some tutorials to help me understand hardware better
Comment :: April 7, 2007 @ 10:36 am
www.tomshardware.com covers almost everything you need to know about hardware, from basic stuff, like plugging your dvd rom, to extreme overclocking
But don`t expect that you`ll understand all the hardware over night 
As for your problem, it may be that the 6600GT is not supported well by your other hardware (i suppose that you had the problem since the first time you inserted the card?). Try it on another setup (with official NVIDIA drivers) and if the problem still occurs, then the 6600GT has some malfunction. A possible solution to that is to get the 6600GT to some PC service and let them try to fix it.
Comment :: April 7, 2007 @ 8:31 pm
6600GT AM SI EU ,MERG CU DETALI HIGH FILTRI ACTIVATII ,ARTEFACTE CRED CA AI ORI DE LA SURSA TA DISTRUSA,ASTA CONSUMA 73W ,ORI TI SE INCINGE PREA TARE ,MAI PUNETI NISTE VENTILATOARE DE CARCASA
Comment :: September 23, 2007 @ 10:15 pm