What's going on with my new vid card?

motoman303

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I just got me a brand-spanking new PNY Geforce 4 Ti 4400. I installed it and everything was working perfect until I started playing games. About a half hour or hour into Gta 3, my computer locks up and the screen gets all wierded out. And I have to do a cold shut down. These are my stats:

P4 1.6
asus P4B motherboard
256 mb ram
Windows 98 SE
300 watt powersupply
forgetting anything?

Well anyway, I think the problem might be overheating because I kinda have my computer in a big open ended shelf thing but the sides are about an inch a away from the case.
Do you guys think it could be anything else or if it is overheating can I fix it by putting some heatsinks on the card?
Thanx, in advance, for any help.

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by motoman303 on 07/24/02 04:38 PM.</EM></FONT></P>
 

Myrmecophagavir

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Well I'd have thought 300 W was enough but maybe it isn't. What temperatures are you getting in your case, do you have a monitoring program like Motherboard Monitor?
 

motoman303

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No, I don't have that but I was checking the bios after startup. I was getting like 151 degrees in there. That can't be healthy, can it. Is there any way to check the temperature of the video card itself?
Could there be any other reason why, when the computer froze, the whole screen was a jumble of wierd colors?
Could it be the wattage not supplying enough energy to the fan of the cpu. It was reading like 2200 rpms; is that low?
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jpscfl

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Since it takes a 1/2 hour for the symptoms, I think it's heat related and not a power supply. Can you add a fan or two. Can you add a fan in the front of the case? Do you have room for an exhaust fan at the rear of the case? Can you install one of those fans that fit in a PCI/ISA slot...maybe one that helps cool the video card?

2200 RPMs seems slow for a CPU fan too. But before you turn your PC into something that sounds like a vacuum cleaner, you need to determine what's heating-up to excess.
 

Myrmecophagavir

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That temp seems a little high... I assume we're talking Fahrenheit here? :) Was that the temperature under the CPU or out on the motherboard/chassis? Some graphics cards come with temp sensors, you'll just have to check the documentation. That CPU fan reading is also very low.

Try using MBM: <A HREF="http://mbm.livewiredev.com/" target="_new">http://mbm.livewiredev.com/</A>
 

Kelnak

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I was having simmilar issues with my ti 4200 and it was the heat i had 2 high volume fans blowing into case and one blowing out and it did not keep my vid card cool enough.
I had to cut a hole in case side cover and mound fan so it blew 1/4 above and the other 3/4 under card onto vidcards fan and heat sink and i have not crashed since i did that and that was a week ago and ive loged 4 adn 5 hours straight ladder matches on ghost recon.
I had airflow above and below vid card but it wasnt enough so i had to put the fan directly on side of case to fix it.

A fan in the side of your computer may not be pretty but its worth it to have a crash free system.
 

Matisaro

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GTA3 is badly coded, try running a different game and see if you still lock up, i reccomend mohaa for stress testing.



:wink: The Cash Left In My Pocket,The BEST Benchmark :wink:
 

2002_NT7

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Try running 3Dmark continuesly for about 20-30 minutes. A good way to ensure that your card is stable. Too many faults in games to use as benchmarks, go with 3Dmark. If it lock´s up, it´s either a driver, cooling or PSU problem (300W just isn´t enough for some systems anymore)!
 

2002_NT7

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This is the second post I´ve seen where you refere to Medal of Honour as being one of the most hardware stressful games around. This is not true at all! It uses the Quake3 engine that is very well coded, that´s why it doesn´t require an ultra fast computer to run it. In the "official" Gamespy review, they made it run smoothly at 1024/768 with 32bits and high settings on a P3 600 with a GF2 MX200! I´ll look for the review and post a link if anybody wants, but that it one of the reasons the game is so popular, the old Quake3 engine is now coded to near perfection, that almost everyone can run the game. Sure the added "eye-candy" use some extra resources, but not enough to truly stress your card.

This is a sum-up of the review: http://www.gamespy.com/reviews/january02/mohaa

The real review is more detailed, I will post it when I find it.<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by 2002_NT7 on 07/26/02 04:50 AM.</EM></FONT></P>
 

Matisaro

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mohaa is hard on a system, turn on all the eye candy and do the omaha beach mission.

as for gamespys review.

"Powering all this action is the Quake 3 engine, which arguably has never looked better (although we seem to say that with each successive game that uses it). The models are detailed and animated nicely, and the game offers enough adjustable settings that anyone with a P600 / GeForce2 should be able to get it running smoothly in both the game's indoor and outdoor settings. Rather than listening to me drone on about the graphics, however, just take a look at the pictures on these pages - they should give you a pretty good idea of the exceptional job 2015 has done with the visuals."


Thos of us who can read can see they mean if you TURN EVERYTHING OFF VISUALLY, it can run on a p3600 with a gf2, also they dont mention the resolution, but if they turn everything down im sure its 640x480 not 10x7 as you claim, furthermore, in omaha when the bangalores go off on multiplayer brings many systems to their knees@!

as far as stress testing is concerned, when I got mohaa my system locked(heavily overclocked) it turns out that my videocard overclock was 2mhz too high on the core(gf3) but only mohaa showed this weakness, which is why I reccomend it, and dungeon siege as testers for stability.





:wink: The Cash Left In My Pocket,The BEST Benchmark :wink:
 

Cruiser

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I knew MOHAA didn´t require a really fast system, but a 600MHz Pentium3 sounds a bit low to me. Are you sure it´s running at high settings? I´d really like to see the detailed review, post a link if you find it.
 

Matisaro

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its not running with full settings its running with all the options turned off, and to have all of them turned on you DO need a fast system.

:wink: The Cash Left In My Pocket,The BEST Benchmark :wink:
 

Memster1

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I just installed a GF3 Ti200 on my AMD900, 256K RAM. I maxed the settings and checked out the FPS at Omaha. Anywhere from 9.5 to 30 FPS. Now you'd think that the FPS at 9 would have a jerky screen & a noticable screen flicker, but that is not the case. The game plays as smooth as can be. I did have problems with only 128K of RAM, but as soon as that other stick went in, smooth sailin'!

The only time I have a slow down in the game is when the game saves automatically. Other than that no prob!

I do not pretend to know alot about hardware tweaking, but if I can play the game and enjoy the visuals, then thats alright by me!
 

2002_NT7

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LOL!

The landing at Omaha beach is the one most stressful part of the entire game. Try taking your FPS at a "normal" enviroment, and we´ll see. Medal of Honour does not require a fast 1,5G+ computer, nor does it qualify as a benchmark for your graphics. You can get 99 FPS with max settings with a Geforce3 and a 1,1G Thunderbird, uhhh that´s hardcore! Try a new game Matisaro, then come back and admit that you are wrong!

Hehe Matisaro, the eternal wannabe!
 

Matisaro

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The landing at Omaha beach is the one most stressful part of the entire game. Try taking your FPS at a "normal" enviroment,
Hence the use of it as a stress tester, or do you test the value of your videohardware staring at a wall in quake 3, given the intelligence of your posting perhaps you do.

Medal of Honour does not require a fast 1,5G+ computer, nor does it qualify as a benchmark for your graphics.
Sure it dosent require a fast processor, if you turn down all the settings like the reviews you linked to, but unlike you I dont play games on minimal, nor do I spend my entire game facing a wall to compensate for my crappy hardware.


You can get 99 FPS with max settings with a Geforce3 and a 1,1G Thunderbird, uhhh that´s hardcore!
You can get 99fps in a hallway, but the minute the bangalores go off, and theres 32 people in the multiplayer game, and your fps drops to 15 getting you pwned ,dont come whining to me.

Try a new game Matisaro, then come back and admit that you are wrong!
Im not wrong, and your links side with me, if you like wasting money on a gf3 without adequate cpu power to feed it thats fine, but dont go spreading your bullshit around about it saying its a good idea for playability.

And dont make claims about reviews running the game@10x7 on high on a p3600 and a gf2mx when the review clearly states that the adjustable settings ALLOW YOU to run on a p3 600 gf2mx (allow meaning with the settings turned down dumbass) furthermore they made no mention of resolution but you can bet it isnt 10x7, when you blow smoke like that(easily countered smoke) it makes you look like an idiot/liar.

Hehe Matisaro, the eternal wannabe!
I hope thats not your sig cause it just makes you look like a retard, have a nice day.


:wink: The Cash Left In My Pocket,The BEST Benchmark :wink:
 

chuck232

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Ok, that's enough you boys. Obviously, the Quake engine can still be used fairly extensively. At max settings with MOHAA, you'll see your FPS drop considerably, unless you stare at a wall as Mat said. Well, I was looking at some screenshots, and I can say, it at least <b>looks</b> like a hardware stresser. The graphics are pretty good. With it @ 1600x1200x32 with AA/AF, I'm sure you wouldn't be able to get 99FPS, without having something short of a R9700 and looking at a wall.

:smile: Help the n00bie!! :smile:
 

motoman303

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Yeah the computer was definitely overheating. I took the side panel of the case to see what would happen if I let some air in and the game ran flawlessly. But now I have a open case so can anyone recommend some fans to me and where I should place them to get maximum air flow.

-Dad, you just killed zombie Flanders.
-He was a zombie?
 

phsstpok

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LOL!

Wife: "What are you doing down there?"
Matisaro: "I'm 'stress testing' my computer!...Die you son of b..."

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phsstpok

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I thought it was just me or rather my archaic SDRAM system.

I'm getting 15-25 fps (1024x768 all options max except no volumetric smoke) with my Radeon 8500 in the Omaha Beach scene. Is this good? I don't play online (dial-up sux).


<b>I have so many cookies I now have a FAT problem!</b>