During Cod:uo and cs:source/HL2, my fps drops in lighted areas. I have a PNY 6800, and there is a slight upgrade in performace, but I believe my 2.4ghz P4 and my PC 2700 ram is bottlenecking my card, as many of you have told me earlier. So what I'm asking is, is my comp running to my ram and processor potential, but not to my video cards potential? Would this be why my fps still sucks in those games I mentioned? RED

It depends on what you mean by a drop in FPS. Are you actually experiencing lag or are just expecting a consistent 100FPS (or whatever the number is) at all times, but it drops occasionally under certain conditions? I don't remember if your P4 is a 400, 533, or 800FSB version? If it's 400FSB, you should have your RAM in dual channel mode at 100MHz...if it's 533FSB, it should be in dual channel at 133MHz...if it's 800FSB, it should be dual channel at 200MHz. Your PC2700 is only a problem if you have the 800FSB CPU. Asus A7N8X-X 1800+ @ 8.5 x 200MHz 1280MB PC3200 2.5-3-3-7 Asus A9550GE/TD 128MB WinME/WinXP Pro

In the games mentioned, in dark areas I get 70-100fps, while in lighted areas with some actions, moving vehicles, gunfire ect...I get 25-40. My cpu is a 533mhz processor, which means I should be running my PC 2700 in dual channel at 133mhz. I definately know that I have not messed with dual channel at all. I assume I need to go into my bios and set it? I have never done this before... Here is my processor if you want more info on it. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819116140&ATT=Processors&CMP=OTC-pr1c3grabb3r RED

"I definately know that I have not messed with dual channel at all. I assume I need to go into my bios and set it? I have never done this before..." If your board supports dual channel mode, you have to have the RAM in the correct slots. I assume your 1GB is actually 2 x 512MB? Usually, the RAM slots are colored...if you have 4 slots, there may be 2 blue & 2 black slots. As long as you use 2 slots of the same color, dual channel mode will kick in (provided your RAM sticks are the same)...but if you're using one black & one blue slot, you're running in single channel mode Asus A7N8X-X 1800+ @ 8.5 x 200MHz 1280MB PC3200 2.5-3-3-7 Asus A9550GE/TD 128MB WinME/WinXP Pro

Ok, then they are automatically in dual channel...Now, I have to make sure I have the mhz set to 133 since it is a 533mhz processor? RED

Hmmm, everything was already set as you said it was supposed to be...I guess my system is giving me the fps that it should, but it does seem like it struggles a little to much...weird...any more suggestions would be helpful:) RED

Hey Red, I remember you mentioning that you had a 400w PSU that came bundled with a case right? I'm not implying that it is a power prob (or that you have a problem at all), but it my a good idea to monitor the voltage output on the 12+ rail, cause I know for a fact that if any PSU drops below say 11.5v things will go wrong. So perhaps you should download "EVEREST Home Edition". http://www.lavalys.com/products/overview.php?pid=1&lang=en click Computer-->Sensor, then monitor the Voltage Values while you are running a processor, GPU, memory intensive application. If I may recommend a very cool app for you, its a very demanding visualization (reacts to music)that throws alot of infomation at your system. It produces intense 3D graphics in real-time. Its a very effective way to see how your computer handles stressfull situations, by that I mean monitoring cpu/gpu temps, voltages, overclocks...ect http://www.rabidhamster.org/R4/ BTW: Were you able unlock the pipes? My PNY's 6th vertex shader was damaged, but the quad unit is intact and seeing some action. abit is7 i865pe Prescott 2.8ghz @ 4004Mhz 286x14 FSB @ 1144Mhz 512x2 in dual config @ 430mhz PNY 6800 16x1,5vp