Gaming problem

victor

victor

Antediluvian as Feck
Orderite
Well, as some of you might remotely know, none of my 3D games have worked properly for about a year now, as they freeze up after a couple of minutes of play (examples are Call of Duty, Doom 3, Serious sam, UT 2004, Morrowind, Battlefield 1942...). I tried reformatting, taking out some of the default RAM (in your face, DELL), but none of that really helped.

So I got a new video card: an XFX Geforce 6600GT 128 MB AGP, to replace my Geforce Ti4600 128 MB (also AGP), which I suspected to be broken.

Yesterday I installed it. At first the PC wouldn't let me start Windows XP in anything but failsafe mode, it turned out the graphics card was heating up the soundcard, so I moved down the soundcard to another PCI port, freeing up space for the video card.


Now I can get into Windows XP, no problem there, but games are still fucked up. In another way too! After not even a minute of playing the screen just dies. Yes, it goes black. As if turned off. The little green light near the monitor button telling me the monitor is turned on goes orange, and the sound starts stuttering. I even tried a reformat, without any results. Doom 3 and UT2004 still do that at anything but lowest settings, which is ridiculous. I've downloaded latest drivers and direct X 9.0c and so on. Someone please help, I've payed too much for this card for problems to remain.
 
Buy another very large cooler to cool both your soundcard and your videocard, and hope that fixes your problem.
Overheating is the only thing I can remotely think of that could be causing this kind of thing.
 
could you post your entire system specs baboon?
whats your motherboard & cpu temps?
did you install the motherboard chipset drivers?
 
Could you also post what type of environment your machine is in? Both local climate and what's actually around it. If it's stuffed under your desk, sitting on carpet, with fakewood all around it and papers stacked on it... Eheh...

I've actually had to unplug one of the fans in my case because it's unneeded and noise levels. Yes, it's rather large but I have plenty of space and no cooling problems. - Colt
 
I have no idea how to find out what motherboard I have. It's Intel, that much I know. According to Intel's autodetection system on their site, though, I don't have one of their motherboards. I'm very confused. I don't want to buy yet another trillion dollar component to fix it. The video card was expensive enough. I really don't have ANY money to spare. And I haven't found any VGA coolers for my card.


Other system specs.

1 GB RDRAM (that I installed myself)
Turtlebeach Santa Cruz soundcard
80 GB HD


Well that's all I can think of. The machine was originally a Dell Dimension 8200, if that helps.


*EDIT* I used to have 1.5 GB RDRAM, but removed the Dell-installed 512 MB, thinking they were fucking things up.
 
Baboon said:
According to Intel's autodetection system on their site, though, I don't have one of their motherboards. I'm very confused.
Click to expand...

thats pretty standard for Dell motherboards. i'll try to look into it when i'm home.
 
Use this to tell us your motherboard specs, what chip you have, your CPU, and then we can start working on the BIOS and the power, together with agp aperture and so on.
 
Thanks Briosafreak, according to this program I have an Intel 850E chipset. There's a shitload of updates for it on the Intel site though, I don't want to install stuff that might fuck up the PC.

1.jpg


2.jpg


3.jpg



Not sure, maybe you'll get an idea.


Here's the link to the updates for the Intel 850 chipset

http://downloadfinder.intel.com/scr...SFullName=Windows*+XP+Home+Edition&submit=Go!
 
If it's an Intel motherboard that supports RDRAM, then it's probably D850MV or similar. If you are expecting help from Intel, forget about it - they no longer support that motherboard, and they haven't released new firmware for it in years. BIOS sucks, because it has barely any options you can alter.

However, judging by the sympthoms, I can think of five possible explanations:


0)

Cause: Incompetence.

Solution: Like all modern video cards, GeForce 6600 GT needs an external power source, so plug it into your system's power supply unit if you haven't.

1)

Cause: Laziness.

Solution: Dust inside the computer case can cause a lot of problems. Disconnect everything inside the case and remove all the components. Take a vacuum cleaner and vacuum inside the case. After that, take a thin brush or a similar tool and carefully clean every slot and every connector inside, particularly the AGP slot and all power rails. Do the same for all the components you removed. After that, replace the components and see if it works.

2)

Cause: Ignorance.

Solution: It's amazing how many issues can arise due to inadequate power supply. Throw your current power supply unit out the window and get a new one, 450W or better. If your PSU costs less than $80, it sucks and is likely to cause problems.

3)

Cause: Carelessness

Solution: Clock frequencies on your video card aren't always appropriate, even when they are at default value. Try fiddling with the GPU and memory frequencies. Gradually lower the memory frequency. Run a 3D benchmark after each change and see if the problem is solved.

4)

Cause: Cheapskateness.

Solution: Overheating is one of the most frequent issues nowadays, and it plagues pre-assembled systems as much as it does self-built ones. It can be quite difficult to solve, especially since you can never be absolutely sure which component is overheating. However, since your Intel motherboard almost certainly has temperature sensors, install a little application called Intel Active Monitor and monitor temperatures at the CPU, memory and system zone. This simple app can greatly narrow down your search.

It can also be a pain to install new coolers if you have a cramped midi tower case. However, if none of the above solutions work, you have no choice but to produce a few hundred dollars and go cooler-shopping. Here is a list of coolers you should get:

a) As many case fans as possible. At least one intake and one outtake fan. Make sure they are as powerful as possible. When installing them, mind the orientation - the intake fan must blow the air inwards, while the outtake fan must blow it outwards. If your case is large enough, get more outtake fans. If you are feeling particularly venturous, drill a hole or two in the side covers of your case and install additional fans there.

b) If the CPU is overheating, get a new CPU fan. Good brands are Alpha, Thermaltake and a couple of others.

c) If the memory is overheating, get a memory cooler.

d) Get a better cooler for your video card (I don't know what GeForce 6600 GT is outfitted with, but I suspect it's not exactly the best cooling in the history).

e) Equip your system with hard drive fans.

f) If none of the above helps, remove the case cover and keep it open.

g) If that doesn't help, get a portable fan (one intended to cool humans) and use it to cool the inside of your case.

h) If that doesn't help, get rid of your shitty case and buy an Antec or Enermax big tower.

i) If that doesn't help, get water cooling.

Keep in mind that all those fans need to powered from somewhere, so if you plan to get additional cooling, you will absolutely need a new PSU. But if you are reading this, you probably already unsuccessfully tried solution number 2).
 
euhm Ratty, i think you're being a bit too rash... patronising wont really help in this situation.

while most of your advice is valid, some is worth jack shit.

Baboon, don't you have some friend thats into hardware? irl it would be a lot easier...
 
Not really. I had a friend over yesterday, and together we fixed the initial problem, but as said, the games still don't work.

And Ratty, as I've already said, I'm not spending any more money. The Geforce 6600GT doesn't need an external power supply, there would've been a slot for it. And I didn't find any coolers for the card, read my previous posts.
 
Baboon said:
Not really. I had a friend over yesterday, and together we fixed the initial problem, but as said, the games still don't work.

And Ratty, as I've already said, I'm not spending any more money. The Geforce 6600GT doesn't need an external power supply, there would've been a slot for it. And I didn't find any coolers for the card, read my previous posts.
Click to expand...
euhm... as far as i am aware only the PCI-E version of te card doesnt need a molex connector. the agp version does. (PCI-E architecture allows for a lot more power to be drawn from the mobo)

here's a pic: (the black thing to the right)

rev-xfx6600gtagp-boardSM.jpg


however, nvidia cards of this generation give a warning message if they are undervolted...

& no, you probably wont find an alternative cooler for this since the cooler is tilted due to the HSI chip

PS: could someone crop that url... it annoys the hell out of me
 
How do I fix/connect the extra power source then? I didn't get anything with the card.
 
Ratty said:
while most of your advice is valid, some is worth jack shit.
Click to expand...
Like what?
Click to expand...

saying he should buy a whole lot of shit before he can actually pinpoint the problem for example. maybe you've got too much money, but obviously he doesnt.

then there's the 450W PSU. a quality PSU of 300W is enough for his generation PC. a quality 350W would have more than enough headroom to allow him to put a dozen harddrives. ;)

and then there is the brands of coolers you tell him to take a look at. alpha? they had their time, but now they are not the choice for neither price or performance. thermalright? they made some efforts lately, but they are far from good enough to be mentioned as the second in the row of 'good brands'.

Baboon said:
How do I fix/connect the extra power source then? I didn't get anything with the card.
Click to expand...

a simple molex connector.

the thing you plug into harddrives or other drives.
 
Ugh. How do I get one of those installed? And foremost, where do I get one? How much does it cost? Are you sure my card needs one?
 
I think he means a power cable. Look at the cables sticking on your HDDs and CD/CD-R/DVD/DVD-R drive. The broad, flat one is the ATA cable, the other is the power cable. It's got a slightly trapezoid shape.

There should be a few cables like that coming out of your PSU. If you don't have any free ones left, go and buy a Y-cable -- costs around USD 5.00 I think -- and unplug one from your harddrive or whatever and attach it to the Y-link. If you don't get where this is going, I refuse to help you :P
 
The fact you have a Dell really sucks, because they are hard to upgrade. But for amazing speed and picture quality you really, really need a 350/400w power supply and an AGP 8x motherboard. Your nice memory and videocard are underperforming that way, even if you didn`t have the problems you are having.

In the meanwhile see if the molex conector is on and if the videocard fan is working please.
 
SuAside said:
then there's the 450W PSU. a quality PSU of 300W is enough for his generation PC. a quality 350W would have more than enough headroom to allow him to put a dozen harddrives. ;)
Click to expand...
Meh, don't mind me then. I had a problem with a crappy PSU once, so now I always go for an overkill. :)
 
I can hear the videocard fan working.

can someone guide me through installation of a power supply? I only have one cord coming out of my HD.
 
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