Game problems

[blatherbeard]

I just bought a new pc and had no problems with it. I pulled out the ATI Radeon 9800 and installed an NVidia 6800gt 256mg card. I have no problems with it playing any game exept World of Warcraft. I dont belive its a pc problem because i can play Half Life 2 and Doom 3 for very exteded pieces of time and nothing happens.

But every so often when playing World of Warcraft my pc can lock up so drastically that i have to either unplug to reboot or hold the power button down to shut it down and reboot. Its never at a certain time or after "such and such" hours of gaming its very very sporadic. And then other times it has (on 2 occasions) just shut down on its own and ive had to unplug the back and re plug it into the Pc to get it to start again.

Any thoughts? I know there has to be something hardware related going on because of the shutdown situation but the locking up may be the game. Any help is appreciated, i know enough to hang myself on sitiuations like this.

 

[amdskip]

Please list your system specs including your power supply.

 

[blatherbeard]

Ok here goes this is what i can tell you:

3.6 Pentium 4 HT
Power Supply:Hipro HP-D2537F3R 250W(im thinking that this is the problem)
1 gig of DDr ram
Nvidia 6800GT 256meg
Cd rom
DvD writer Cd writer combo drive
2 coolermaster fans one in back of case one on processor(vid card has a fan also)
Soundblaster Audigy 2 ZS

If i missed anything let me know. Its a package pc and i cant get to all the numbers (like what exactly the motherboard is etc)

Thats what happens when you buy things on credit.

I know this will get me flak but its a Compaq SR1000T

 

[Creston]

I;ve been having the exact same issue, and have, through friends and hardware gurus, figured out that both ATI and Nvidia are currently doing absolutely CRAP quality control on their latest graphics cards. My X800XL was busted, and it sounds like yours might be too.

Try running Doom 3 on Ultra Quality with the highest settings possible. It's not important what kind of framerate you're getting, you just want to stress your card. If it crashes you, you probably got a bad card (or a bad PSU)

Creston

 

[blatherbeard]

Can run Half life and Doom 3 for extended periods of time on high settings. Ive played Half life 2 for at least 5-7 hrs at a whack with no defects but Wow crashes at least once if not a few times a sitting. No one else i know playing the game is having this problem so thats why im wondering if it may be the power supply or overheating since i installed the new Nvidia card myself.

That and im a worrier.

And while we're at it, any ideas on my wireless router? Its the standard linksys wireless b router and lynksys card. Every once in a while my signal goes from 11 mbps to 1 mbps. The only way to fix is to refresh/renew wireless router. Should i just say screw it and run a wire to the router or is there a better way? Im on the second floor and my router is below me in the wifes office. And i always get a very good or Excellent reading on the signal sttr.

 

[Creston]

Originally posted by: blatherbeard
Can run Half life and Doom 3 for extended periods of time on high settings. Ive played Half life 2 for at least 5-7 hrs at a whack with no defects but Wow crashes at least once if not a few times a sitting. No one else i know playing the game is having this problem so thats why im wondering if it may be the power supply or overheating since i installed the new Nvidia card myself.

Have you tried a different driver?

That and im a worrier.

Noone likes their PC crashing.

And while we're at it, any ideas on my wireless router? Its the standard linksys wireless b router and lynksys card. Every once in a while my signal goes from 11 mbps to 1 mbps. The only way to fix is to refresh/renew wireless router. Should i just say screw it and run a wire to the router or is there a better way? Im on the second floor and my router is below me in the wifes office. And i always get a very good or Excellent reading on the signal sttr.

I'd download a new firmware and upgrade it. I see my linksys hover between 56 and 48Mbps, and I actually never get it to go to the 100+ like it promises on the box. Not the most stable of products...

Creston

 

[blatherbeard]

I have the latest nvidia driver on the pc from the nvidia site.

Im not sure how to upgrade the firmware on the router. when it comes to that im a bit on the idiot side and we have a router going to the wireless router(yes a double router seemed to be the only way to get them both working).

I forget why we have both routers but i think it had something to do with not being able to get into the wireless routers main screen to see the technical data. (thats the best i can sum it up lol)

 

[AsusGuy]

Seems to me that 250watt off brand power supply is the problem. The later Pentium 4 Prescott cores get very HOT! And thus waste a lot of power. Although I don?t know why Doom 3 and Half-Life 2 would run fine. Try running Prime 95 torture tests use the ?Blend Tests? option. This will test CPU, caches, memory and your PSU. If your computer keeps crashing in the beginning of the tests you may want to buy a better power supply. Try Antec, Cooler Master PC Power and Cooling and Enermax, all are good PSUs.

 

[blatherbeard]

ok i downloaded and am doing what you sugeested as we speak, i think your right about the supply.

will let you know what happens with the test

 

[blatherbeard]

I dont know what is supposed to happen but this is telling me the test wont conclude till april? lol

I let it run for about an hour and it went through 3 tests. no real data was told to me. It never crashed but it didnt tell me anything either.

 

[amdskip]

Yeah, you most definately need a larger quality power supply.

 

[AsusGuy]

In Prime 95 go to the upper menu and under Test menu press stop. One the icon turns yellow (that means the program is in idle.) go to the options and run torture test. Use the Blend Tests option.

 

[AsusGuy]

If your computer can run this program you are most likely running a very stable PC. They recommend you run it for at least six hours to fully test your PC, so leave it on over night.

 

[blatherbeard]

Will let you know what went down sometime tomorrow. went to bed last night without checking the site.

Thanks to all for your help. I hope i can get this stupid thing to work right.

 

[blatherbeard]

Ok well i ran prime 95 for about 18hrs and the pc never crashed and all the tests listed on the open window passed all tests. So maybe the new patch for Wow just didnt install right.

 

[Emultra]

250W. :/

 

[AsusGuy]

Yes Re-install the WOW patch. If your PC runs Prime95 for 18hrs its ok.