Yes or no?

Macabre · 24 Oct 2006 at 14:56

So even though I bought a new graphics card and psu. It's kinda got me thinking. Because upgrading can sometimes be a pain if things to match. For example im getting constant computer restarts in games.

Anyway so my current specs are:

3.4 GHZ P4 Dual core
7900 GTO 512MB (Still have the GF 6600)
OCZ 520W psu (Still have old 350W psu)
250GB HD
1GB DDR

Anyway so im being told it could be several things causing my problems.

So im thinking should I buy a new cpu, mobo, ram etc and build up a new comp with the 7900 GTO and new psu. Then put back the old parts back into my computer. I don't know if its worth it or not.

Tetras · 24 Oct 2006 at 15:25

You have a decent system there, I'd just try find out what is wrong.

What are the restarts like, just *pop* restart? Do you get a blue screen or any errors? It is only games that it happens? Any games in particular?

How are your temps and voltages?

Any error reports in the event viewer?

Macabre · 24 Oct 2006 at 15:29

Tetras said:
You have a decent system there, I'd just try find out what is wrong.

What are the restarts like, just *pop* restart? Do you get a blue screen or any errors? It is only games that it happens? Any games in particular?

How are your temps and voltages?

Any error reports in the event viewer?

No im not just doing it because my computer is ******* me off lol. Im thinking of doing it because it might be better in the long run. So say when DX10 comes along I wouldn't have to upgrade really (minus the gfx card).

Also I was told that pre-built computers can have problems when upgrading with pre-built factory computers.

Now on to your questions. It restarts in GRAW, whenever I go to hit "new" game and it starts to load the first level bam! restart, not a blue screen just a restart of the computer thats all nothing else.

Oblivion after 10 minutes or so of playing it restarts.

Not tried playing other games for more than 10 minutes, too busy trying to sort this.

Temps are 46 for the card usually after the computer has been on for a while its at 52.

Not sure what else. I've also been told it could be bad RAM but memtest keeps screwing up. So I don't feel like I should buy DDR RAM when DDR2 is the new technology. But my mobo isn't compatible with DDR2.

xirokx · 24 Oct 2006 at 16:16

what do you mean memtest keeps screwing up? in what way? are you getting errors? please clarify...

are you using memtest 86+ and booting it from cdrom?

game restarts are usually down to:

a) incorrect installation of new drivers
b) using old drivers
c) dodgy psu
d) bad RAM

so lets explore:

a) remove current drivers and install latest drivers downloaded from Nvidia
b) same as above, if this continues use a previous version of the latest drivers
c) PSU issues - get speedfan428 (freeware) and post your volts in here, pref when you are gaming (before pc restarts)
d) RAM- are you sure your RAM is in the correct slots on your mobo? and please clarify what you mean about memtest screwing up above

thanks

better to sort this system before upgrading

oweneades · 24 Oct 2006 at 16:23

Macabre said:
No im not just doing it because my computer is ******* me off lol. Im thinking of doing it because it might be better in the long run. So say when DX10 comes along I wouldn't have to upgrade really (minus the gfx card).

Also I was told that pre-built computers can have problems when upgrading (my computer is from ( competitor)).

Now on to your questions. It restarts in GRAW, whenever I go to hit "new" game and it starts to load the first level bam! restart, not a blue screen just a restart of the computer thats all nothing else.

Oblivion after 10 minutes or so of playing it restarts.

Not tried playing other games for more than 10 minutes, too busy trying to sort this.

Temps are 46 for the card usually after the computer has been on for a while its at 52.

Not sure what else. I've also been told it could be bad RAM but memtest keeps screwing up. So I don't feel like I should buy DDR RAM when DDR2 is the new technology. But my mobo isn't compatible with DDR2.

mate remove the competitor part of your post. Even though you are not advertsing them you arn't allowed to mention them.

Macabre · 24 Oct 2006 at 16:44

^its removed.

Anyway so memtest basically doesn't even scan my memory and when I try to hit end scan it lags and takes like 10 minutes to exit out of it.

So I downloaded speedfan428 and the first screenshot I've taken is from not running any games just on the desktop:

Second screenshot is from running Oblvion then I minimized and took a screenshot of SpeedFan428:

When running Oblvion the temps do seem a little high I guess, uh im not familier with that program though so any help is appreciated, and im not familier on how to control, reduce heat or whatever.

Raikiri · 24 Oct 2006 at 16:49

I think the CPU is overheating and then turning off because 62c idle is quite high and speedfan normally reads low. Try with core temp.

Macabre · 24 Oct 2006 at 16:59

Raikiri said:
I think the CPU is overheating and then turning off because 62c idle is quite high and speedfan normally reads low. Try with core temp.

Core temp the program? also how can I stop it from overheating?

oweneades · 24 Oct 2006 at 19:10

Macabre said:
Core temp the program? also how can I stop it from overheating?

Better cpu cooler (assuming you are using the stock one) and better case cooling.

You will probably find the latter will be more beneficial as the cpu should work fine with the stock cooler.

just_grass · 24 Oct 2006 at 20:01

do you overclock it??

Does definetly sound like CPU / Bus overclock/over heat failure

if it was bad RAM, it usually hangs dead - with no restart (some restart)...

Remove any overclock,
check your CPU cooling & paste on h/s,
then see whats what... - possibly improve case airflow?

Alex

Macabre · 24 Oct 2006 at 23:07

just_grass said:
do you overclock it??

Does definetly sound like CPU / Bus overclock/over heat failure

if it was bad RAM, it usually hangs dead - with no restart (some restart)...

Remove any overclock,
check your CPU cooling & paste on h/s,
then see whats what... - possibly improve case airflow?

Alex

The side of the case is off. Its never been overclocked :confused:

just_grass · 24 Oct 2006 at 23:14

fair enough - but it still sounds like overheating....

either of bus/northbridge... and most likely the CPU.

can you run Pi (think thats the name of the program) for hours without it erroring? - if you can, its not the above. and move onto ram.

Test ram with memtest x86 - boot from cd. only do this after the CPU is eliminated.

If this is fine, then it will be power or graphics card problem.

Alex.