Hello.

My PC (DELL GX280) specs are:

Pentium4 3,06 GHZ
3 GB RAM DDR2
Zotac GeForce GT 430 with 1GB RAM DDR3 - Latest Nvidia Drivers for it (260.99)
160GB HDD 7200RPM
Windows XP Home SP3 (no windows update patches)

Windows is a completely clean install - no programs, data, running services etc. - just only clean windows - purposely for the best oblivion performance.

So i have installed the GOTY UK version of the game, plus 3 unofficial oblivion patches (oblivion , shivering and for the knigts)
I dont use any mods except of 3 unoff patches.

I have make defragmentation of course and shut down unnecessary windows services using a GameBooster program.

Oblivion is set on 1280x768 resolution and 4x AA + Bloom Light and V-Sync. The rest of graphic options are set to max.

OK when i play the game i notice FPS drop (quite drastic about 10-15FPS) when i'm in cities or some shops/gildhouses etc.
The strange thing is that FPS drop occur when i look straight. When i look down on the ground/floor or up on the celling/sky - the performance is Flawless (minimum 60FPS)
On the exteriors performance is Flawless/good or sometimes FPS drop a bit but nothing serious.
And another strange thing is that when i'm in interior area, where drastic FPS drop occur - when i look at the walls, the FPS is good - but when i see some people around then FPS drops dramatically.

So i've come to conclusion that drastic FPS drop occur, when i have more that 1-2 persons on the view.

Is that even possible on my extremely powerfull graphic card?? (powerfull for oblivion ofcourse)

I believe this is not a graphic card have too little power because my PC can and must run oblivion on FULL details + 4xAA , V-Sync and Bloom Light without any problem.

What do You think about that?? Is there some problem with the game itself?? Maybe there is a patch or something to fix that??

Sorry for my Simple English and Thanks for the future.

Greetz.


PS: I almost forgot - the problem with low FPS near NPCs happen regardless if i lower the AA settings or even lower the graphic settings.

Your 430 card is much slower than the Geforce 230 / 330 cards were previously. It's maximized for HTPC type uses, not for games, and is more in the "20" class this time around when it's gaming we are talking about.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2370591,00.asp

http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=625&Itemid=72

http://www.anandtech.com/show/3973/nvidias-geforce-gt-430

Also, similar conclusions: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gt-430-gf108-fermi,2766.html

You will need to set your image quality sliders much closer to "Low" than to "High".

You didn't read my post carefully. I have moved sliders to the left of course but there is no difference.
I can get much more than 60FPS when no NPCs are around, but when there are some NPC - it drops drastically (10-15 FPS)
So if i can get much more than 60FPS with MAX DETAIL on my card - You can't say it is too slow for oblivion.

So lowering the sliders and other graphic options gives me no changes.
Problem still occur only when more than few NPC are on screen - especially when fighting.


PS: I have read a Polish TES forum and i have found people having the same issue with game. Their PC's are much more powerfull than mine and the FPS drop near NPCs still occur. But there was no clear solution for the problem.

PS2: Which program is the most popular graphic card benchmark/performance tester for gamers??

If you're getting slowdowns with several NPCs around, then it becomes more of a problem with your processor. Any Pentium 4 is regarded as inefficient old technology and yours certainly isn't one of the faster ones that were made. The GT 430 is a bit faster than the GT 240, which is around the 9600GT performance range.....simply put, your processor is a bottleneck for this card. The card can handle high settings for this game for sure, but can't maintain it when heavy CPU instructions occur.

While it is possible that the CRIPPLED DDR3 version of the GT240 is slower than this new HTPC specialty part, the regular GT240 with normal GDDR5 is well above it, and the HD 5570 is running right there with it.

http://www.guruht.com/2010/10/geforce-gt-430-vs-radeon-hd-5570-vs.html

I did miss the P4 bottleneck situation, though, although with Oblivion's advanced age (four months short of five years now), I tend to forget that it does place far more strenuous demands on old CPUs than other games its age.

nVIDIA did not CHOOSE to produce this particular card to compete with the HD 5670, or its imminent replacement, and so far has not offered any middle of the Mainline ranks Fermi graphics card to replace the full-power GT 240. .