Hardware/ Software/ Technical Questions Thread, All you ever wanted to know about your PC! Options

[Buttockhat]

Hi,

OK, so I had GeForce 7600GT installed as recommended. But ArmA is STILL very slow even at Normal graphics settings (and there's no way I'm playing at anything less than that- I've waited too long and paid too much for shit graphics).

This is really frustrating me, because a friend whose computer is marginally better than mine is running ArmA at 'Very High' settings with no problems at all...

Is there anything at all I can do to fix this problem?

[DaRat]

Have you tried all the latest drivers? Also, I hear the latest DirectX update (december?) improves performance for some people.

[Buttockhat]

Latest graphics card drivers are installed, can't download latest ver. of Direct X because the computer in question isn't connected to the net. I think the problem is far too serious anyway, something minor like having to install the latest drivers is not the case...my comp meets all the RECOMMENDED requirements!!!??

[JdB]

The lock-ups, the Blue-screens, the random restarts, the non-stop BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP occasionally when you turn it on...

Bad PSU, overheating or both.

[CJE]

Recently got a 7600GT and a new 550 Watt Power supply. My pc is 4 years old. But still good. It now has a Pentium 4 3.2 ghz Prescott CPU, 1024 mb Ram, 256mb 7600gt. It's ok until I can afford a new pc. Plays Arma nicely, so can't complain.

[DaRat]

Right, so got my PC back a few weeks ago, everything seems to be working ok now.

Apart from when I have been playing ArmA for a while (10-20 mins or so?) I get these wierd graphical screw ups - and no they arent the normal ArmA lod bugs or missing textures, theyre full blown distortions on my screen - the cursor will flash some wierd, archaic colours and such, and the rest of the screen blinks with the same thing...

You think it could be due to one of my graphics cards overheating? The people at the company where I got the PC from said that those problems I had before were due to one of my graphics cards being faulty, so they replaced it and the system now seems to be running ok..

When I alt tab out of game and tab back in, the problem is gone and I can play again alright for a shorter amount of time and then they seem to come again, and the GPU's are also showing at a normal temperature, so I'm at a loss...
I haven't been able to screenshot the occurences because theyre so unpredictable and dont seem to come out of screenshots.

Little help?

[Linker Split]

Well, I'm on old faithful now! My new PC's given up the ghost it seems.. There was definatley something wrong with it. The lock-ups, the Blue-screens, the random restarts, the non-stop BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP occasionally when you turn it on...

It's going into hospital in a few days. I hope they just scrap it and give me a new one, I'm sick of the trouble I've had recently :tired:

Did you touch anything?

[Elliot Carver]

lo dudes,
Heres the problem:
Old PC with a Radeon Saphhire X700 working fine up untill around lunch today. Was playing Sims2 on it when suddenly the screen went like this: http://www.rainbowbunnie.co.uk/images/SS/simsarefucked.JPG Then tried it on RFonline with this result: http://www.rainbowbunnie.co.uk/images/SS/untitled.JPG
Its been working fine for 6 months since i got it and the card itself is only a year old. No settings have been fiddled with. The only new thing to happen within the last 24 hours is a standard windows update came through and was installed. But the computer worked fine with the new update untill lunch when it went wrong.
Is it teh fked up or can it be saved?
Cheers
Carver

[JdB]

I think the GPU is either overheating (unlikely since you've had it for about a year) or just plain busted.

There are some other possible causes as well, but I can't think of them at this late hour...

[hotdog]

Right, so got my PC back a few weeks ago, everything seems to be working ok now.

Apart from when I have been playing ArmA for a while (10-20 mins or so?) I get these wierd graphical screw ups - and no they arent the normal ArmA lod bugs or missing textures, theyre full blown distortions on my screen - the cursor will flash some wierd, archaic colours and such, and the rest of the screen blinks with the same thing...

You think it could be due to one of my graphics cards overheating? The people at the company where I got the PC from said that those problems I had before were due to one of my graphics cards being faulty, so they replaced it and the system now seems to be running ok..

When I alt tab out of game and tab back in, the problem is gone and I can play again alright for a shorter amount of time and then they seem to come again, and the GPU's are also showing at a normal temperature, so I'm at a loss...
I haven't been able to screenshot the occurences because theyre so unpredictable and dont seem to come out of screenshots.

Little help?

That definately sounds like over-heating to me. Have you tried changing your gpu cooler?

[DaRat]

Ok guys, cheers for the responses.

Well, let's just say, do you think a 600W PSU is even good enough for 2x 512Mb GPU's? (Dunno if the cpu or comes into the juristicion of the PSU, but it's an E6700 2x2.66Ghz)

Also, I'm thinking this could be how one of the other GPU's snuffed it causing all those other problems - You think the PSU being broken / underpowered / insufficient might have caused that? Sure seems likley to me

[JdB]

What brand is it?

Cheaper brands can be labelled as 500 watt or 600 watt, but what they output is often alot less than a PSU of a good brand with the same amount of watts indicated on it.

I personally prefer Zalman's because the test results are always good, and I have good experience with them (they are expensive though, the one I have in this pc is 360 watt and cost me €60). OCZ or Coolermaster are also good brands.

[DaRat]

Hold that thought a minute, there's a whole lotta crap going on with this PC, it's f*cking ridiculous!

I'll just give you a quick rundown of all the nonsense that's been happening with it these last few days in the hope that anyone can make sense of it-

- Firstly there's the issue of the GPU possibly overheating, but that's not the main issue right now (I think)

- It keeps freezing up!
Even in ridiculously small apps - eg, a minute ago, I got a message on MSN (no other convo's going at the same time, I had just signed in.) I click on it and BOOM! Frozen up. I tried all the normal stuff, alt+tab, task manager etc, but they didnt come up/ help to bring it back to normal. So I struggle through trying to bring up the shut down box (10 mins at least) and click it.... *another 5 mins* the box come up, I click shut down *20 mins* of "are you sure you want to end this process?" until finally I just turn it off at the button.
It freezes up on everything, sometimes on IE, sometimes in Photoshop, and all for minutes at a time... (the mouse is still working throughout - working as in movable, not clickable)

- I tried to turn it back on a min ago, but lo and behold, nothing except a rhythmical noise that sounded alot like the HDD (?) (wasn't a BIOS beep, sounded more like something struggling or some such...) It actually failed to start.


For the love of God, has anyone got ANY IDEA what the hell is wrong with this PC???

EDIT: I'm not exactly sure of the PSU make, the company doesn't actually specify what brand the components are because they use many. Is there any way I can find out other than taking the PC apart?

[Old Bear]

To know what's in your PC try PC Wizard , its free

[DaRat]

Ok, thanks Bear. What info do you need about the PSU JdB? (I have looked, but not entirley sure what I'm looking for - doesnt say the brand or anything so what numbers do you need? )

[JdB]

To know what's in your PC try PC Wizard , its free

I've tried many, none lists the PSU brand, only voltages and such.

Post a screenshot of what results you get da rat.

Programs freezing up, again seems like a cooling problem (unless your Windows install is full of adware and virusses), but this time with the CPU coolers or the general cooling of your pc (case fans etc). Have you recently had the case open, or moved it? Is there enough free space at the back of the case for the air to blow out?

[DaRat]

Results Pic -There you go.
I'm not sure if that will suffice, so just say if you need any more

1. Very fresh install of Windows [~1 month] (clean too, no sponsor programs, done a couple of virus checks too and it's clean)
2. Case not opened recently by myself, or moved (apart from transport, but there was quite alot of protective packaging) [now you come to mention it, there is a dent on the forward top of the case ]
3. Never had any problems before with positioning, and the fan is working etc.

Cheers again for the help

[DaRat]

The thing that angers me most about all these problems I'm having is that one minute they're there, another they're gone. The previous problems are now nowhere to be found, and I cannot replicate them. At least if they were constant, I could have someone diagnose and fix them...

I have a new problem now. My sound has gone wierd.. I can hear sounds from MSN and Windows sounds (startup, shutdown), but things like Youtube are distorted. The sounds I do hear from Windows and MSN are distorted too - they sound really strange... Not normal at all...

Anyone got any ideas?

EDIT: I can hear youtube sound when a sound comes through from MSN (message beep) etc.. Like, when the message beep comes through, behind that I hear youtube, then when the MSN sound is finished, so is youtube's...


EDIT: FIXED I plugged my speakers into one of the other speaker ports, and they work fine there... Makes perfect sense ehhh.....

[BigglesTrevor]

thinking of getting new computer soon. Heres a noobish question, Mac or PC?

[Red Square Monkey]

thinking of getting new computer soon. Heres a noobish question, Mac or PC?

Kinda depends if you're more into gaming (I guess that's the case, otherwise you wouldn't really be on this forum ) or office and designing stuff, because Mac doesn't support all the games that are out there (like.. 90%).

However, you might want to take a look here...