Oblivion Low Performance 7950 GTX

Well, as the title states, compared to other people I seem to be getting bad performance in Oblivion with my 2 7950 GTX's, here is my setup below.

2.16 dual core processor
2 gigs of ram
Windows XP
2 7950 GTX's in SLI Using latest drivers from Alienwares website.

I keep hearing people say they get 50-60 fps outdoors with everything maxed, I am currently running it on 1024x768, and I cannot seem to get above 30 FPS outdoors. I have all the sliders cranked and I am using HDR lighting. It seems I still get some lag spikes inside buildings as well. I have few processes running in the background, and in my Nvidia Control Panel I have tried using High Performance mode, as opposed to quality mode, and I see no difference. What seems to be the problem?

 

Thats probably the problem

 

Are the alienware drivers that bad? I can't seem to find a laptop video2go or whatever driver that supports SLI. And if it does, does it void my warranty? And is there a way to return to the previous drivers if something bad happens?

 

You can´t void your warranty by using another video driver (software driver)

By the way look for some Oblivion optimization guides on the net and also download low poly grass, Oblivion Polygon Overhaul that will increase your fps.

 

Yes the drivers are bad. They are ancient old, you can return back to your original drivers if you wanted. No your warranty will not be voided.

 

Interesting, because I remember reading a review from Chaz on the same Alienware I have, the m9750, and he said he was averaging about 54 FPS with the same setup I had, with a slightly faster processor. My 2.16 compared to his 2.33. I believe he was also using the drivers that came with his laptop.

 

But those drivers are (slowly) updated over time. I'm sure that Chaz had a newer version of drivers than you.

There is no harm in updating, and you might get a little extra performance from the update (though not much other than eliminating bugs like you have now).

 

If I recall correctly Alienware has some newer beta drivers for SLI cards. Are you using those? If not try them out.

For those who dont know the only drivers that'll work for his laptop are Alienwares and that's that because SLI laptops need special drivers tailored for them (7 series)

 

if you're using vista you might have problems with SLi anyways...vista sucks. You can download the most recent drivers via either nvidia's or alienwares site i am pretty sure. Dual 7950gtx's should let you play with pretty much everything maxed out.

 

You will find people in this forum very helpful with advice on optimising Oblivion on your system, you will probably need to post a DxDiag.

I post there under the same name.

Oblivion Hardware Forum

edit: Forgot to add that Oblivion does not make the best use of an SLI configuration.

 

7 series laptops with SLI cannot ue the "latest" drivers, the ones that we use, because they need special drivers. The latest for SLI users is v94.23 for XP and v156.05 for Vista.

 

To Reclarify, I am running Windows XP. I have the latest supported drivers for my video card from Alienware.

I know Oblivion does not make use of SLI because it is not supported, but should I try to disable it and see if I can find any performance boost?

 

as it is oblivion should work well on 1 7950gtx so yea, give it a shot

 

In general run a clean boot system, update sound and video drivers Oblivion is especially sensitive with onboard sound chipsets. If you have Nero installed there is a codec that needs renaming as it conflicts with Oblivion. The quiet feet mod can help with stuttering and also reducing the maximum simultaneous sounds in the Oblivion .ini helps.

 

My m9750 came with Nero Essentials installed, what was this file called, and what does it need to be renamed to?

 

Hey Agatius, try this out. Head over to here http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=16035 and give this a shot. Update your SLI profile and see if it helps your performance.

 

How would oblivion perform on a single 7950 GTX?