help with an older machine problem needed...

surreal · 25 May 2007 at 17:14

Hi,

I've had my current system for about 3-4 years or so, its about to be replaced in a couple of months with (hopefully) a nice QuadCore when the prices drop. I was going to donate this one to a mate to try and get him interested in a bit of gaming, but over the past few months its started freezing for several seconds in the middle of games, then it continues, then it will do it again - its very annoying! These are games its previously run for a long time without a problem (GTA:SA, ProEvo4, MaxPayne2). I was wondering if this is likely to be a heat problem or a PSU problem, or a gfx card issue? The PSU does make slight grinding noises occasionally...

The spec is:
AMD 2800XP
Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe Board
1gb Ram
nVidia GeForce 4 Ti4600 VIVO card
2x IDE HDD + 1 x SATA HDD
1x Pioneer 109 burner

400w (I think) PSU (came with the case), plus the case has a fan in the side. I've run the only monitoring software I have which is MBM5, and that was giving me 69deg for the cpu and 36deg for the case.

Anyone point me in the right direction? I wouldn't mind maybe replacing the PSU but if its the gfx card I think its gaming days are over. All the fans seem to be working , I checked the fan on the card and it seems ok. Everything else runs fine, I have XP SP2 and Ubuntu running, I use the box for videocapture and encoding.

Any help appreciated...

Edited to add: I did try to upgrade the gfx card a few months ago (to a nVidia 6xxx something or other), but just got beeping from the system, so I don't think the PSU had enough power to handle a more modern card. I sent it back.

hp7909 · 25 May 2007 at 17:24

Do you have another machine you could test the GFX in? Will help rule it out because my money's on the PSU

Jaffa_Cake · 25 May 2007 at 17:35

Money would also be on the PSU if you havn't changed anything.

You are using the onboard sound i assume, it may be a drive issue with that, however the PSU is more likly.

surreal · 25 May 2007 at 17:53

no, I'm not using onboard sound - I have a cheap SB Live! card.

I have a second machine but its configured for work at the moment so I don't really want to go taking it to pieces.

I figured it probably was the PSU starting to fail - as I said its worked great for 3-4years but the PSU has been a bit noisy lately. What size PSU should I be looking at for that kit? The plan when I get my new box was to combine my current 2 PCs to make one good one so I might be able to use the PSU from the other box if the power is up to it.

Would it make any difference to disconnect the SATA and the fan/light on the side of the case, or is that just not a good idea anyway?

Thanks guys

hp7909 · 25 May 2007 at 18:05

Noisy PSU could mean fan is blocked by dirt which in-turn causes it to overheat because of lack of airflow. If you have another PSU at hand you could try it in problematic rig.

Since upgrading/building soon, recommend this PSU. Should handle a Quad Core system with a single high-end GFX amongst other things/parts

surreal · 25 May 2007 at 18:37

hp7909 said:
Noisy PSU could mean fan is blocked by dirt which in-turn causes it to overheat because of lack of airflow. If you have another PSU at hand you could try it in problematic rig.

Since upgrading/building soon, recommend this PSU. Should handle a Quad Core system with a single high-end GFX amongst other things/parts

yeah, the PSU box does feel very hot, I can feel air coming out of the back tho'. I'll see if I can clean it at all, failing that I'll see if I can use the PSU from another box or borrow one to try it.

Thanks for the link to the Corsair - don't worry, I'll be back on here in July/August speccing up a new rig from scratch!!!

cheers

hp7909 · 25 May 2007 at 18:41

surreal said:
{snip}I'll see if I can clean it at all{snip}

If planning to open it, be careful can carry serious voltage even when off. Best way to clean is use a can of compressed air

surreal · 26 May 2007 at 15:15

Quick update on this - I had a cleanout of the system but had no luck with it, so just for a test I pointed my deskfan at the videocard and everything started running nice and smooth again, seems the videocard is overheating rather than the PSU.

I picked up a cheap exhaust fan to go in the slot beneath the videocard this morning and it seems to be working so far - MBM5 is reporting a 13deg drop in temp on the CPU and 11deg drop in the case... seems the videocard fan might be running too slowly, and things generally were too hot.

Anyway, fixed now - thanks for the advice offered.