Issues with my graphics card?

Hey there,
My current rig is running 2 GB of DDR2 RAM, an Nvidia 8500 gt 512, and an Intel dual 2.5 processor

For some reason, my FPS is absolutely tanking on basically every game I try—I'm getting maybe 10-15 frames per second, and I honestly can't figure out what's causing the bottleneck.

The GPU is up to date with the latest drivers, and everything seems to be installed perfectly fine.

Any ideas on what might be going wrong here?

The big question is—what kind of games are you actually playing, and what resolution is your monitor running at? By the way, doesn't look like you're rocking much of a gaming rig...

What kind of games are we talking about? I guess older titles might still run okay, but anything recent is probably going to struggle since you’re running low on RAM, a pretty weak GPU, and likely some older, slower processor

Look, I get what you're saying, but even on the lowest settings, there shouldn't be this much lag—I mean, it's barely chugging through games from 2007! It's hitting maybe 10-15 fps. And that's while running at a 600x800 resolution, which is basically half of what the recommended specs actually call for.

Games like... CoD 4?

I’ve been running a Pentium 4 (3GHz) paired with an 8600 GTS on medium settings at 1280x1024, which gets me about 40-50 FPS. Since the 8500 GT is basically half as powerful as the 8600 GTS...

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Z...Force_8500_GT/

Emily Walker2 said:Hey there,
My current rig is running 2 GB of DDR2 RAM, an Nvidia 8500 gt 512, and an Intel dual 2.5 processor

For some reason, my FPS is absolutely tanking on basically every game I try—I'm getting maybe 10-15 frames per second, and I honestly can't figure out what's causing the bottleneck.

The GPU is up to date with the latest drivers, and everything seems to be installed perfectly fine.

Any ideas on what might be going wrong here?

Just get a new card, man. Scour eBay for a 5770, 6770, 7750, 7770, or 7790, because you likely have a weak power supply unit.

You should also consider looking for a 4870 or a GTS 450; you can find those on Craigslist for about $200-$167 which would be a lifesaver.

Furthermore, add a little more RAM—maybe another 2 GB or at least 1 GB—and things should stabilize. These upgrades will essentially revive the machine.

The 8500 gt was mediocre even back in its prime, let alone by today's standards.

It’s honestly not worth throwing money at this anymore. Time has already done its thing, and frankly, it's better if they just save up their $1000 and move on to something completely new.