Dell 1520, Bioshock Demo, 20 fps, help.

I just got my Dell 1520, 2.2 Dual Core Proc, 2 Gigs RAM & 8600m GT vide card. OS is Vista 32bit. I updated drivers to the recommended 163.44's.

I loaded up DOD:Source and it pretty much stuck at 60 frames per second, so I thought all was good.

Then I downloaded the Bioshock Demo and it wouldn't load. Then I updated Directx and now it will load. Problem is, I can't seem to get more than 20 fps no matter what I do.

Right now I am running 1280 x 800 with settings on medium and I've tried various combinations with no luck. What settings do you all recommend and what frame rate should I expect? DX10 on or off? Also, seems like you need to have vsync on with any LCD or you get tearing. That also seems to slow the frames down. Is it just this demo? I thought I'd be doing better than this. Thanks.

 

Personally I have not tried the demo but most people with 8600M GT gddr2 is getting around those frames.

You could turn vsync off, put forced lightning off, run in dx 9 mode, to get better fps. Alternatively you could lower the resolution

 

I would lower the res, if thats still not enough try dropping the lighting.

 

I'm getting between 15-25 fps on near max settings in bioshock on 1280x800. However when turning the setting down to medium I get a 10-15 fps boost. So I don't understand why you can't get above 20fps on medium settings.
Also I don't seem to have any performance difference between DX9 and DX10.

 

Is there AA in that game?

 

i get about 25 on high and 35 - 40 on medium

i also did a reformat and got 163.44 drivers and i'm running retail version