kony wrote:
> On 29 Jul 2006 09:16:47 -0700, "altcomphardware"
> <altcomphardware@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
>
> >I have an AMD XP 2500+, 1GB DDR333 RAM and a PNY Geforce 6600GT.
>
> What motherboard and PSU make AND model?

Motherboard is an Abit NF7, PSU Antec Smartpower 350W.

>
> >
> >When I test out some games with it, the system either reboots, crashes
> >to Windows or hangs.
>
> These are three distinctly different things and probably
> more than one problem causing them.

One thing I thought of was that - my Sapphire Radeon 9800 Pro died
after I accidentally bumped it on a powered-on system. Could that have
triggered a surge that damaged other components?

Also, despite changing to a 3200+ rated CPU heatsink, my 2500+ still
overheats when I overclock it to 3200+. At the moment, everything is at
stock speed and I will be changing the thermal grease, but could a
partially damaged CPU due to overclocking be responsible, or would I
definitely notice if I had a damaged CPU?

Once, after an mobo overheat (>75 Celcius) inspired shutdown, the CPU
was identified as a 1100+ and not a 2500+!

> You need to not lump all games together, take ONE game that
> is known to work properly with it's newest patches and a
> 6600GT card, and which video driver (generally I would
> suggest trying a late 8x.xx series driver, no older and not
> a 9x.xx series.

OK, I will do what Paul says - reinstall Windows, then test games like
HL2 or Quake 4 or Doom 3 that have been out for a while and known to
work with the card.

> You might try one of the 3DMark benchmarks too or instead,
> or looping some benchmark demo... but again it has to be
> known stable with your hardware and driver, as games are
> rushed in development and quite a few need patches to work
> on a lot of hardware.

Can you recommend any benchmark with a loop feature that I can run for
a few hours?

> Reinstall DirectX9c. It doesn't matter if you already had
> it installed... just do it.

OK, I will do that with my new Windows install.

> If it's possible the sound is crashing it, disable the sound
> or try other sound drivers.

Hmm, I don't think this is the cause. When my Radeon 9800 Pro was
working, Oblivion had the occasional crash but nothing as bad as this.

> Is the CPU or video card overheating?

The CPU is at stock speeds, and my mobo should start beeping when it
gets too hot.

> Try to isolate each, run Prime95's Torture Test, large
> in-place FFTs setting for at least a few hours to see if the
> CPU produces errors. If it does you must rectify that
> problem before you can determine whether the video card is
> ok or not (as mentioned above, you may easily have more than
> one problem).

OK, will do.

> >Occasionally artifacts are visible if a lot of
> >light effects are present.
>
> Could be overheating, the driver, power supply, or game
> bugs. Could even be vaulty or ESD damaged memory on the
> card but this seems less likely than any of the former
> possibilities.

I will test out other games on a fresh Windows install.

> What video card did your system use previously?
> Did you try playing any of the same games and did they have
> any problems if so?

Sapphire Atlantis Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB. Oblivion had the occasional
rare crash (but I understand the game is buggy). Most other games were
stable with no problems.

> >Unfortunately, the screenshot button doesn't
> >work in the game so I have not been able to save them. If you guys want
> >to see it then let me know, I'll try to get it with a digital camera.
>
> Maybe if other things don't work, this could be useful but
> for the time being, take a multimeter and measure the PSU
> voltages under heavy load (like when gaming and running the
> Prime95 Torture test), or if you don't have a multimeter nor
> access to one, at least note the system temps reported by
> software.
>
> You might also leave the case open (does it have good
> airflow??) and point a strong desk fan at the center to see
> if it resolves anything.

Yup. My case has a 16" desk fan cooling it, which is how I bumped the
Radeon during operation :-/

> That seems very odd, to get only 1FPS. I'd wonder if the
> video card is overheating though instability from bad power
> would also cause a similar pausing and downclocked speed ->
> lower average performance.

Paul noted my 3DMark 2006 score of ~250 was very low compared to
another guy with a slower CPU (1600+ vs 2500+) who got ~1100! So it
seems something is definitely amiss.

> Try an older 3DMark, 2001 and 2003. One of not both can be
> set to loop mode, and by only setting it to run on high
> detail, the demanding tests, you will keep as much load on
> the video card as possible, minimize the CPU as a
> bottleneck... or vice versa, choose low detail and low
> resolution to put most load on CPU in a 3D environment.

OK. I'll try that. BRB after a couple of hours, it looks like I have my
afternoon mapped out :-(