Another Dual Core gaming issue

[TonkaTruck]

Not sure if this is the right forum, but if not perhaps you can direct me to a better one.

I recently updated my box to be a little bit more modern (was running a k6 1.3 ghz mobo that was state of the art when I bought it years ago). However it now appears that dual core isn’t necessarily the way to go.

Most all programs seem to scream with the exception of several games – specifically BF2 and Morrowind. The games may start but after a few minutes the computer either reboots or goes to the blue screen of death and I need to force a restart. I know that others are getting by just fine with dual core so I don’t know what is the specific issue with my box. I have performed all driver updates (I think I haven’t missed any), BIOS update, plus any software updates (games AND Windows) – I have even done the recommended patches from AMD’s website.

Any thoughts? Here is my box:
• Windows XP Home
• ECS NFORCE6M-A v2.0 MOBO
• AMD X-2 5600+ cpu
• 4 gigs DDR-2 800 ram (2 gig Corsair, 2 gig OCZ)
• ATI Radeon X700 Pro video card (256 mhz)
• Generic 420 watt power supply
• Generic CD & DVD-R/W

 

[infornography42]

Try swapping out for the old equipment and see if the problem goes away. If it does then take a good look at the new hardware. Maybe you got a bum component.

I have had no problems with any of my Dual core systems, but I also am not trying to run BF2 or Morrowind.

Good luck.

 

[infornography42]

Good point. If you have not reinstalled windows after swapping out your motherboard you really really should.

 

[polarity]

If you're getting blue screens looking here should give you a better idea of where the problem is.

My second worry after the PSU is the RAM. Are both the OCZ and Corsair rated for the same voltage? I get a lot of BSODs if the voltage isn't spot on with the RAM (never mind more than 2 sticks always being a lot harder to get stable). You could try dropping to just pairs from one brand at a time, then a mixed pair, and load up the system to see if there's a problem.

 

[polarity]

If you're getting blue screens looking here should give you a better idea of where the problem is.

My second worry after the PSU is the RAM. Are both the OCZ and Corsair rated for the same voltage? I get a lot of BSODs if the voltage isn't spot on with the RAM (never mind more than 2 sticks always being a lot harder to get stable). You could try dropping to just pairs from one brand at a time, then a mixed pair, and load up the system to see if there's a problem.

 

[TonkaTruck]

I am assuming that there is something goofy about the system, I just haven't been able to put my finger on it.

Everything else runs fantastic (quite fast compared to what I was used to). My only issues are with BF2 and Morrowind. Doing a Google search, it appears that both of these programs have issues with dual core processors and there are various work-arounds, none of them as of yet have worked with my situation.

 

[spuddyt]

i've never ever ever found a program that does - the biggest issue is it not taking advantage of multiple threads i would have thought

 

[Flakes]

BF2 has big problems with dual cores, the fix annoyingly is to start the game, ctrl-alt, delete into task manager, select the process and set its affinity to cpu 1 only.

i have to do this with BF2, otherwise i get disconnected from servers every 10seconds.

update both games to there most recent patch.... if BF2 still doesnt work, just buy COD4 its a much better game.

i dont know if setting the affinity would work in morrowind.

 

[Hatman]

if BF2 still doesnt work, just buy COD4 its a much better game.

Cant argue with that advice

 

[TonkaTruck]

Thanks for the replies - It almost sounds like BF2 will be moved to the "wish I could play" pile.

But in other news, there are probably a whole string of games that I can now play that I couldnt before.

Have a good one.

 

[michaelpbfl]

I ran into a similar problem; after playing BF2 a few minutes, PC rebooted. So..after a lot of hair pulling, I glanced at my GPU temp, and it was through the roof, even at IDLE. So I then looked at the heatsinks on the video card, and they were totally caked with dust and cat hair... LOL

I cleaned the heatsinks and fan, temps dropped to normal, no more crashing when stressing the GPU in BF2.

 

[atragorn]

There are a lot of older games that do not run correctly on dual core systems.
To fix these apps in a more permanent fashion vs the taskmanager way


# Download imagecfg. Google it lots of sources out there.
# Unzip it to Windows\system32\ as well as Windows\system32\dllcache\.
# Make a backup copy of your exe.

imagecfg -u yourapp.exe

this will set the app to uniprocessor mode, it will only run on one core.

 

[BSMonitor]

Real question is why anyone would buy anything other than the X2 5000+ BE if they are going to go AMD dual-core.

Also, try taking out 2 Gigs of the Ram. You aren't running 64-bit OS, so 4GB vs 2GB does absolutely nothing for you.


P.S. A cheap Core 2 and decent Intel MB will do more for you in 2 years than going AMD X2... Penryn Quad cores for everyone next year. Somewhere in the 3.5GHz range....

 

[imthinking]

Did you install the dual core patch from amd and microsoft?

http://support.microsoft.com/?id=896256


http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processor [...] 06,00.html