Graphics still not right-help please

Sorry, what is normal, the temp, or the blueing?

Cheers.
Dig.

 

The Blueing.

 

What about the temp? is that normal?

I am considering buying a new chip, am I wasting my money? or does it sound chip realated?

I found after playing CMR2 for half an hour solid, then the reaction to the joypad becomes unstable, sometimes some of the buttons don't work, then they work but there is a delay, but there other buttons that always work, does this go some way to confirming the chip is at fault?

 

Unfortunately, I can't give you an accurate answer regarding the integrity of your current CPU. I think the operating temp of your chip is on the high side but its certainly not in the danger zone. Based on your earlier comments I am suspicious of your chip but can in no way give you a definative answer. Your current problem could be caused by several things and it would be speculative for me to give you a list based on generalizations.

As to my 2 cents - I'd throw a 1.2 ghz TBird in there. With the cost being in the sub $100 range, it would be well worth it if it was my system. You can also sell your duron on an "as is" basis to recoup a little money.

 

Yeah, may aswell, cheers for your time.

Could you list the things you think could cause my problems, no matter how far fetched, or are there just too many?...could be absolutely anything?

Cheers.
Dig.

 

Regarding your temp running at 42 degrees, I see no problem with that.
I do see a problem with putting too much HS compound on there though. I understand that you should have only "Just enough ". Nice and technical response for you. ;-) I might follow the instructions for using the Arctic Silver or buy a new Heatsink and fan from a local store, it comes with the proper amount of compound.
As to the instability, WOW, that could be many, many things. But, I don't believe it has anything to do with the temp you are running at now.
I also wonder about the system temp running so hot. Did you install the case fans yet? My XP1600 runs at about 40 degrees C (fully taxed) but, my system temp is quite a bit lower at 26 degrees C. Maybe the video card, and not the CPU is running too hot??
Dale

 

The video card only came with a heatsink fitted (big enough though) - but as mentioned in an earlier post, I have already fitted a fan to this heatsink, and I am powering it off the "System Fan" plug on the board, it hasn't made any difference.

Could this be a Mobo problem - if it is system temp?

 

The system temp, as I understand it, is the temp within the case that houses the motherboard.....ect....and everything else. My thought was that your temp sounded high to me. Hence the reason I asked if you had installed the case fans as of yet. That should hopefully lower the system temp. I would like to hear more from others regarding their system temps.

Dale

 

The system fan I have been waiting for hasn't materialised. I may order another one this weekend

I have now seen my temps up to:

CPU 46°C (with arctic silver 3)
System 40°C

I agree that it is getting hot, but can't understand why, nothing has changed inside. Is it the heat of the chip that's heating up the whole system? My power supply gets rather warm too, but aren't they supposed to?

Dig.

 

OK, perhaps it's not the chip, the temps are starting to look a bit odd now:

CPU: 34°C
System: 37°C

the above figures are with NO LOAD. just idling, then restart to look at the BIOS. It would seem my system is getting hotter than my chip. Does this mean anything to anyone? Power supply maybe?

Dig.

 

Ok, here it is.

I borrowed my friends pc, and swapped the components from his into mine one at a time.

It isn't the graphics card, chip, power supply or memory.

The pc runs at the same temp with his chip & fan, and I have installed SpeedFan and according to that, these temps are ok.

I tried running the game without the joypad, and the keyboard stops responding just the same as the joypad, at exactly the same point.

I can only assume that the problem is my mobo. I am currently looking into getting a new one, with the emphasis on budget. It has to be socket A, at least 3 PCI slots, 1 AGP and on board USB.

I would rather a board with no onboard sound/vga, if anyone has any suggestions/comments on anything related to this post, please do.

Thank you to everyone for you attention, time, and knowledge.

I will post back as soon as I have decided what board to go for, and the results later.

Cheers people!!!

Dig.

 

I've been quiet for a while but after reading your last post, I can certainly empathize. If it were me, I'd try something that would improve air flow inside the case - what this is ??????? You need to experiment with fan placements - intakes and exhausts in addition to what you've already done with your video card and CPU.

As to the questioning of your motherboard, I'd be more inclined to suspect memory. Something like OCZ, Mushkin or Crucial runs flawlessly, while less expensive stuff can do funny things especially under load.

If you want to spend some more money on a new MB - Abit is my preference, but they can be tricky to set up when you first start.

Good Luck

 

I have been browsing for boards, and I have come accross this one, AOpen AK73 PRO .

Does anyone have any information, good or bad about this manufacturer, or even the board itself?

Cheers.
Dig.

 

Well, to me, you have a nice motherboard. No need to spend your hard earned dollars for very little (actual) performance. I can understand this seems like a NON ending problem. But the solution is there. We just haven't found it yet.

Is there any other problems with your PC besides the gaming issue??

I hate to see good stuff scrapped.

Dale

PS.......Could you post both your CPU and System temps for us again?

Dale

 

My temps are:
(app)
No Load:
CPU 31-36°C
System 28-30°C

Under load for 30 minutes:
CPU 42-46°C
System 36-40°C

These temperatures are ok'd by that speedfan program, and I know my system ran hotter than this in the past-way hotter in fact-and it performed well.

I see what you're saying about the solution being there waiting to be discovered, but I have replaced all components with known working substitutes, and the problem persists.

The actual slow down of graphics is minimal, but frames do "jump" to a later stage, which is like a "Speed up" if you like, and the hotter it gets, the worse it gets.

But I suppose the telling fact about this problem is that when the game is at it's most intense, the controllers stop responding, be it keyboard(PS/2 (onboard)) or joypad(USB (onboard)), and it happened just the same everytime I repolaced a component for a reliable one, it isn't just this one game either, I have noticed strange things happening in all other games I have.

I know it isn't software based, as I have formatted & reinstalled twice trying to solve it, the last time I only ran windows and the game, with just the graphics card installed, no other hardware or software, and it was still the same then.

If you have anything for me to try, I would be pleased to hear from you, I am going to wait a wee while before I buy my board, as I mentioned in my last post, budget is a current problem too.

Although I am convinvced that it is my mobo that is at fault, I am open to ideas, if anyone agrees with me though please let me know, put my mind at ease.

Cheers.
Dig.

 

Have to agree with Dale442, hold on before you run out and buy a new MB.

Glad to hear that you are a little more comfortable with the heat issue, but am not sure that it is related to your stated problem. As said previously, its on the high side but not dangerously so.

I may be off base here, but it sure sounds to me like your memory itself or some of your current bios settings could be the culprit. You said your memory is fine, but what are you running for memory? Brand, type, speed? Any mixing between different mfg's?Size of modules and total? Rated latency - and, current bios setting for latency? Current speed settings for memory- turbo, fast, medium, normal, 7ns? 4-way interleaving enabled? Also, do you have your MB setup for Bus or Bus+clk?

We can come back to look at other settings in your current bios setup and that well could be the issue, but lets start with memory if you don't mind going through the excercise.

 

I have no idea what these numbers mean, but I have included everything printed on the labels of the DIMMs that I have:

2 x PC133 Modules @ 256Mb

Memory in DIMM slot 1:

Crucial MT200136 CT32M64S4D7E

MT16LSDT3264AG-13EE1 PC133U-222-542-A

256Mb. SYNCH. 133MHz CL2


Memory Module in DIMM slot 2:

TA (?Possibly ATA?) PC133 SDRAM

32MX64 256Mb

DIMM Module

E13869 82877 MED-2563

Although they are from different manu'fs, I have tried them one at a time, and there is no difference, so compatability problems don't seem likely. If it could be a BIOS setting, then I'm afraid I, again, have no idea what is involved here, so here is a list of all settings I can find related to your last post:

(All settings below are taken from "Chipset Features Setup" (AMIBIOS v 1.24))

*******DRAM TIMING*******
TOP PERFORMANCE : DISABLED
DRAM FREQUENCY : 133 Mhz
SDRAM CAS# LATENCY : 3

DRAM DRIVE STRENGTH : AUTO
MD BUS STRENGTH : HIGH
CAS BUS STRENGTH : HIGH
DELAY DRAM READ LATCH : 1.0ns

MEMORY DATA DRIVE : 8 mA
SDRAM COMMAND DRIVE : 24 mA
MEMORY ADDRESS DRIVE : 24 mA
CAS# DRIVE : 12 mA
RAS# DRIVE : 24 mA

The above is exactly as displayed, I have no idea what it means.

I can't find anything related to "4-Way Interleaving ", and I am not sure what is meant by "Bus or Bus+Clk ", but I hope that all you need is here.

Cheers.
Dig.

 

Time for a little test here. Pull your generic memory out of your machine and make sure your Crucial chip is in the first memory slot. Now reset 3 things in your bios pertaining to your last post.
Top performance - enable
SDRAM Cas - 2
Delay Dram read - auto
Now, try your machine for a while and see if you still get the same "freezing' after 15 minutes or so of high load conditions. Me thinks the culprit could be that memory chip that is sitting next to you watching. Let us know what happens.

 

Did as you say, although the "Delay DRAM read latch" doesn't have an auto setting, the options in this section are:

No Delay
0.5ns
1.0ns
1.5ns

I tried them all, sadly it stays the same. However, I do remember the last couple of times I have reinstalled my pc, I have had to load the drivers for the onboard sound, although it has always been disabled, I definitely didn't have to when I first built my machine.

I went in the "Intergrated peripherals" section in th BIOS, and found :

AC97 : Enabled
ACModem : Enabled

I disabled these, and the the "VIA PCI to CPU controller" disappeared from device manager (listed below Sound, Video and game controllers) but again it made no difference, but the drivers for these things are still present, yes? would the conflict (if this is it?) still happen if the device isn't started on boot?

 

I don't know if this has already been suggested, or you've already tried it or what, but here goes.

My graphics card came from Cardexpert. It came with a CD of drivers. When I installed these drivers, my computer would either crash on startup, or if it made it through startup it would crash as soon as I tried to play a game. I know your computer isn't crashing, but if the problems only occur during games, and with graphics, it might be the problem. The Cardexpert drivers also came with an overclocking device which may have been causing the problem.

My suggestion is to just get the nVidia drivers for your card. I've had problems with every single 3rd person and manufacturer driver I've used with any of the cards I've used, but the nVidia drivers are easy to download, install, and have always worked perfectly for me.

As for possible problems with the sound card, make sure that for whichever sound card you are using, the newest drivers are installed, and any software is also installed. My Audigy also managed to crash my computer once while installing the drivers, and caused problems in games when I installed the driver without the software.

I don't have much experience dealing with problems with hardware (except getting things replaced when they break), but maybe tis'll make a difference.