Does break-in time apply for new PC's ?

[andrei3333]

So i recently built this

e8400
ga-p35-ds3l
2x1GB Corsair XMS2 4-4-4-12
7200.11
and kept my old XFX 7800GT (OC to 460core/1200mem) (waiting on the 9800gt/gtx)

the first few days gears of war, cod4, and especially ut3 played very choppy at the max resolution of 1280*1024 on my 17" lcd,, but now 2 weeks later things a noticebly smoother

not perfect, especially in cod4 as i had to turn off the shaddows, but i can see a difference in FPS increase....so what gives ?

line new shoes that need to get worn in a bit

i have experience with cars and the idea is the any movings parts need to wear a bit after install for them to move perfectly to spec

could it be that the hard drive was breaking in in the same manner ?

 

[blacksci]

I would take a look at your ram, have you tried pulling out a stick ?

 

[Shadow703793]

Now go OC if you haven't already.
See:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/forum2.php?config=tomshardwareus.inc&cat=29&post=245679&page=1&p=1&sondage=0&owntopic=3&trash=0&trash_post=0&print=0&numreponse=0&quote_only=0&new=0&nojs=0
for OCing on the P35-DS3L.

The reason for the higher frame rates could be that Windows was probably cacheing the files,etc. Try cleaning out all *.temp files ad see what happens ( Run CCleaner).

 

[andrei3333]

run what ?
link plzzzzzzzz!!!!!
overclocking ? not yet, not untill i NEED to, and my video card is overclocked to the max already

cant wait for the 9800gt/gtx

and whats wrong with my ram > i am saying that it lowered the timings as the factory spec suggested and could not notice a difference, but bios is set to the ram's spec 4-4-4-12 @2.0 ~2.1 V

 

[blacksci]

Pulling out all your sticks of ram, and testing them one at a time with booting up and seeing how things run is a quick way to see if its a ram compatability issue, or if its something else, just giving you ideas. After all since you dont know whats causing it, you want to rule out all the possiblities out right ?

 

[andrei3333]

Yeah. but i mean im not complaining of the new performance, windows boots up very very fast, and i have not disabled any bios settings like checking for floppy and ram amount...everything is stock

i duno, i am loving my new pc, aboslutely worth every penny, and i spent just a little over $600 Canadian on ram, psu, cpu, and mbo, everything else was reused, cant wait for the VC to come out, i dont care, i am getting either the GTX or the GT, nothing lower

after that i will get an LCD TV in my living room and get a wireless keyboard and mouse and play GOW, COD4 and UT3 on the big screen

YaY

 

[lonelypauly]

there are 3 things you should always do first:

1. reseat
2. reseat
3. reseat

 

[andrei3333]

oh and crysis, i forgot, i have it. but still did not unpack it as i want to experience it to the max (well as much as possible)

what resolution can i run a larger LCD TV at ? do the same rules apply as a PC monitor ? and what cable is best ?DVI ? since thats what the VC has

just saw the above post... re-seat ? whats that ?

 

[aevm]

Reseat: take out the memory sticks and put them in again.

DVI is best IMO.

The resolution depends on the TV. Cheaper TVs support 1366x768. Better ones (marked 1080p) support 1920x1080.

Maybe your computer works better now because it got some Windows updates and they did something good. It happens, even to Microsoft :lol: Maybe you got some new drivers?

 

[andrei3333]

guess ill be getting a 1080p while im at it, but thats going to be closer to summer time

so what does reseating accomplish exactly?

well i duno, i intsalled nTune, rivatuner, ati tools, tweakui byMS, ageia physx that came with ut3, and thats about it

maybe the Video card overclock is always set as compared to only when the program is iniciated

BTW i cannot adjust the speed ofthe fan on the VC, i cannot hear the difference when i change the rpm in rivatuner

 

[aevm]

Nothing at all, if the stick was already seated right. A lot, if it wasn't.

 

[andrei3333]

^ edited my post

 

[aevm]

Installing nTune solved a lot of blue screens for me. I suspect it helped you too.

 

[happy_fanboy]

Um, we need to know your power supply unit make and model too, hundred bucks says your video card is underpowered.

As for your main question about a break-in, it is indeed very important for a new PC, call it a burn in test. Google and download memtest86+, go to WD.com and download the ontrack data advisor then run a compete surface scan of your HDD. Run memtest for 24 hours and see if there are any errors. Go to futuremark.com and download 3dmark (latest version) and run it as many times in a row as you can. one other good one is from passmark.com, it is called burn in test.

The reason to do a burn in test is not so much to get the machine to go faster, it is to stress components with huge workloads over a short period of time. This will make any small defects in any of the components or weakness in your configuration become apparent. Also, this way if something in the system is questionable, it hopefully forces the component to fail completley so you can replace it within the warranty period.

A good round of burn in testing helps with troubleshooting your configuration as well, because you can identify patterns of the problem and reduce the possibilites of the cause.

 

[andrei3333]

underpower ay ?
how about a brand new OCZ stealthxstream 600w PSU ?

that is a clever point you are making - ive never thought of that
it does seem a little overkill, but it may be true

 

[ZozZoz]

nTune actually made all my games choppy (video playback too), so I'm living without it. OP's breaking in problems can be attributed to caching, system restore running, or similar stuff.

 

[andrei3333]

i dunno
but i have played a serious session of COD4 just now with shaddows disabled but 2x AA and half way AF turned up and it was very nice, smooth