I think something is wrong with my computer

[topeira]

hi everyone.
i signed in just to ask this, as these forums were recommended to me.

I think something is wrong with my rig. last week i had 3 crashes to the blue screen of horror (dumping physical memory bla bla).
also i am having constant software crashes. not every software and not games but i do get quit often software freezes that cant be recovered but only shut down.

last, i got the game Brink and it performed really badly. i assumed it's poor optimization and requires patching.
then i got The witcher 2 and Fable 3 (busy month) but surprisingly both these games show poor performances as well.
i read about brink's poor performance and the witcher 2 is pretty intensive as well but i am not sure why Fable 3 is doing so horribly in long views.

all in all i came to a conclusion there MIGHT be something wrong with my hardware or maybe i can do something to improve performance, maintenance wise.

my rig:
CPU: Q6600 2.4ghz
GPU: HD4850 512mb (maybe its 4870? how can i check? dxdiag only says 4800 series). also im running latest 11.5a hotfix drivers.
RAM: 4GB
OS: windows 7 64 bit.

1)is there anything that can be done to get the games to run better?

2) is there a way to check if my mobo or CPU are working as they should and not have some... weird malfunction?

 

[stargazr]

I doubt very much it's the motherboard or CPU. Did you recently install a new graphics card?

Did you try going back to the previous ATI drivers? Any other recently installed or updated drivers - check out Event Viewer for clues at the time of a crash.

If that doesn't help I would check your memory. Run the current edition of memtest86+.

 

[Rifter]

download prime95 and realtemp. Run prime95 and monitor temps with realtemp and see if you are overheating.

 

[topeira]

thanks for the tips, guys.

lets say i give memtest86+ a try. what should i look for there?
what can give me a clue that there might be some hardware malfunction?

also, let say i test for temperaturs. is over heating a reason for poor FPS and performances in games? what if my results are fine and my rig is not overheating? then what?

 

[boran]

Then it might be software related.

I would actually recommend getting a live CD with hardware stress tests on it.
This rules out current faulty software that causes a crash (such as spyware and/or virusses)

 

[dpodblood]

Don't take offense OP, but your system is beginning to show it's age, and you will see a drop in performance is modern games. That said you should not experience crashing. A few things to recommend.

1) Check your temperatures and make sure they are all within reason.
2) If you have recently updated video drivers try rolling back to an earlier version.
3) If you are getting hard freezes and crashes you may have a bad PSU. Try swapping in a different PSU is possible and see if the issues persist.

 

[topeira]

i know systems usually go stale after a few year, BUT games are constantly aiming to work well on consoles which use 5 years old tech. this means that the PC version should look slightly better and run just as smooth if i scale it slightly down. this way of thinking got me through 2008 till now. i dont see why a game that runs great on a console will run poorly on my machine.

i did try a few older ATI drivers. no luck.
i cant check my PSU but when i bought it i remember going slightly overboard. but the crashes are really rare. what more concerns me is that game performances of late.... im getting a feeling my GPU should age that much.

in TW2 i have tweaked every single graphical feature yet im always getting the same FPS. weird! on low and on HIGH i am getting around 22 fps. on high im getting around 22. how come on LOW im not getting over 35?! like something is bottlenecking me. same with Brink and fable! i dont know what is going on....

so i thought maybe a faulty hardware....

 

[dpodblood]

i know systems usually go stale after a few year, BUT games are constantly aiming to work well on consoles which use 5 years old tech. this means that the PC version should look slightly better and run just as smooth if i scale it slightly down. this way of thinking got me through 2008 till now. i dont see why a game that runs great on a console will run poorly on my machine.

i did try a few older ATI drivers. no luck.
i cant check my PSU but when i bought it i remember going slightly overboard. but the crashes are really rare. what more concerns me is that game performances of late.... im getting a feeling my GPU should age that much.

in TW2 i have tweaked every single graphical feature yet im always getting the same FPS. weird! on low and on HIGH i am getting around 22 fps. on high im getting around 22. how come on LOW im not getting over 35?! like something is bottlenecking me. same with Brink and fable! i dont know what is going on....

so i thought maybe a faulty hardware....

I find this is the case with a lot of modern games. They will work at a certain performance level regardless of what settings you choose.

As far as your system is concerned your video card is going be your biggest bottleneck for performance.

 

[topeira]

but this is not the case for others. i've seen others with a 4870 that can run the witcher 2 on 10FPS more than i can. our cards are a lot alike. there shouldnt be THIS much of a difference i assume.
i thougt maybe my CPU but i dont know. makes little sense to me....

and the system requirements of this game imply i have a recommended system yet the benchmark tool that comes with the game says i should run it on LOW. huh?

p.s. - how can i tell which GPU i have? a 4870 or 4850. i cant remember....

 

[Zap]

p.s. - how can i tell which GPU i have? a 4870 or 4850. i cant remember....

Download GPU-Z. It can also tell you GPU utilization (checkmark the "run in background" box). This way, if your GPU utilization is high then you are being GPU limited. If low, then you are probably CPU limited.

Regarding consoles, the games can be optimized for them because there is ONE set of hardware that the game publisher/developer has to aim for. Also, even on console ports I've seen screenshots showing the PC version to look better. The other thing is that you can't assume all console games run perfectly on consoles. There are games that lag on consoles.

 

[mfenn]

in TW2 i have tweaked every single graphical feature yet im always getting the same FPS. weird! on low and on HIGH i am getting around 22 fps. on high im getting around 22. how come on LOW im not getting over 35?! like something is bottlenecking me. same with Brink and fable! i dont know what is going on....

This usually means that your CPU is holding you back and not your GPU.

 

[topeira]

This usually means that your CPU is holding you back and not your GPU.

thing is i read on game's forums that others with the SAME CPU run the game better than i do.
my CPU is at recommended reqs for fable 3, for example. also i pass the "can i run it" test in systemrequirementslab.com with flying colors.

i admit the the CPU isnt much but i am having a strong feeling that it is not performing as well as it should, or that something else is messing with me.

here is something interesting. i USED TO run GTAIV just fine on 25-35fps with my old HD4870 on the SAME CPU on winXP with 2 sticks of 1GB each.
on my new rig with the old 4870 or the new 6870 and 4gb (on one stick) i am getting 10 fps. the game is unplayable.

 

[betasub]

Did you run memtest86+? Your OP crash problems could be memory related.

Did you try any of the recommended CPU tests, or check temperatures? Have you cleaned and reseated your HSF?

Lots of suggestions have been made, but you seem hung up on game performance.

 

[topeira]

i DID run memtest86. too 42 minutes and the result claimd no errors. everything's fine.
but i didnt run core-temp.

i did a test with 3Dmark and got a poor result. this is, at least, what the result page told me.
my GPU core: P12574
target GPU score: P13900

my CPU score: P4669
taget CPU score: P8100

this means something is messed up with the CPU.

i did run core temp.
when the cores are at 40-50% the cores are at minimum of about 70 celsius and at max of 90 Celsius.

is that risky high? am i having heat issues? cuz i think i am.
wish i knew more about PCs to check this earlier. thanks for the advice.


1) so is such temperature hindering performances?

my 12inch case fan seems fine and working and cleaned.
can i do something more to help cool the CPU down?
2) i dont know about solutions. should cleaning the CPU fan help? is it even removable?
3) are there other ways of treating over heated CPU? pastes or something?! how do i apply them?

 

[Zap]

What you forgot to mention here that you mentioned in your other thread is that your 4GB RAM is a single stick, so you aren't taking advantage of dual channel.

Did you really need to start two threads on what is essentially the same issue? Let me know which one you want to continue on, and I'll lock the other one.

 

[topeira]

What you forgot to mention here that you mentioned in your other thread is that your 4GB RAM is a single stick, so you aren't taking advantage of dual channel.

Did you really need to start two threads on what is essentially the same issue? Let me know which one you want to continue on, and I'll lock the other one.

OK, then we will continue the discussion here. lock the other thread. this one is more accurate to the issue. i am pasting the latest message i made in the other thread (at first it seems like 2 different subjects.)


i think that the issue is related to CPU heating, no?
AND maybe the single mem stick, as u claimed, zap.

is the heating up of the CPU hurting the performances?

do i need another stick with the same size (4gb) AND with the same speed? if im getting a new stick but with LESS space (2GB instead of 4GB) than that will not do any good?

also, how can i check what kind of memory i need? in the bios it says something like memory frequency 1333 \ 1066.
i am not sure what that means but i assume it means i need another 1333 stick.

my stick is from a company called Patriot. havent heard about them till now when i opened my case :\ (i didnt install that stick. someone else did).

 

[mfenn]

1) so is such temperature hindering performances?

my 12inch case fan seems fine and working and cleaned.
can i do something more to help cool the CPU down?
2) i dont know about solutions. should cleaning the CPU fan help? is it even removable?
3) are there other ways of treating over heated CPU? pastes or something?! how do i apply them?

At 90C under load, your CPU is very likely throttling itself in order to avoid overheating. A few things to check:
1. Is the CPU fan spinning?
2. If so, is the heatsink hot or cold when the CPU is under load? A hot heatsink means that you don't have enough airflow through your case. A cold heatsink means that the heatsink isn't making good contact with the CPU.
3a. If airflow is the problem, try leaving the side panel off the case and pointing a desk fan at it.
3b. If heatsink contact is the problem, then you need to remove the heatsink, clean it and the CPU, reapply thermal paste, and remount it.

 

[topeira]

At 90C under load, your CPU is very likely throttling itself in order to avoid overheating. A few things to check:
1. Is the CPU fan spinning?
2. If so, is the heatsink hot or cold when the CPU is under load? A hot heatsink means that you don't have enough airflow through your case. A cold heatsink means that the heatsink isn't making good contact with the CPU.
3a. If airflow is the problem, try leaving the side panel off the case and pointing a desk fan at it.
3b. If heatsink contact is the problem, then you need to remove the heatsink, clean it and the CPU, reapply thermal paste, and remount it.

not only im not a big computer savvy , english inst my main language, so pardon me misunderstanding.

1) ues it is. the case fan is spinning fine as well.
2) i am afriad i do not know what the heatsink is. now i understand that whether its hot or cold - both are a problem? i assume its gonna be hard for me to uderstand if what im feeling when im touching the heatsink (whatever it is ) if its too hot or too cold :/ but ok. will try.

3a) i think that airflow isnt the issue. i have tried pointing a fan to an open case and that didnt change anything. which is good cuz i dont want to leave the case open nor i want to shove a fan into it and close it

3b) i seriously hope that reapplying the paste will help somehow since i dont know what else to try....

4) is it possible or recommended to buy a new cpu fan?!

5) if airflow isnt the problem than should i buy a new case fan?

6) is there anything else that could be done in order to keep the cpu cool? im scared of what might happen if i try cleaning the heatsink and all and it still is too hot. what would THAT mean?

 

[Zap]

At 90C under load, your CPU is very likely throttling itself in order to avoid overheating.

This is the first thing topeira should check. Once this is fixed, then benchmark again.

 

[topeira]

thanks for all the suggestions, guys.
i went to a technician that replaced the CPU fan for me and now im back into normal temps.

my cores' temps vary from 45celsius to 68celsius while in rest. i dont think they go over 70 even if im gaming. performances also seem to have increased a bit.

i THINK my issue was solved though im still considering buying another mem stick.

so my remaining question is -
Should the additional stick be of the same size AND the same speed? well, im sure it HAS to be at the same speed so they sync, but what about the size? my current one is 4GB. if i buy a second stick of 2GB can it be risky? price differences are 30$ between the sizes.

also my current stick is from a firm called Phantom. should i buy anothe phantom or can i go kingstone?

 

[Zap]

Should the additional stick be of the same size AND the same speed? well, im sure it HAS to be at the same speed so they sync, but what about the size? my current one is 4GB. if i buy a second stick of 2GB can it be risky? price differences are 30$ between the sizes.

also my current stick is from a firm called Phantom. should i buy anothe phantom or can i go kingstone?

It should be same capacity (4GB) and preferably same speed/latencies. Brand doesn't matter.

 

[topeira]

It should be same capacity (4GB) and preferably same speed/latencies. Brand doesn't matter.

thanks man.

i dont need anything else in that matter.

good day and thanks for the fish

 

[mfenn]

not only im not a big computer savvy , english inst my main language, so pardon me misunderstanding.

1) ues it is. the case fan is spinning fine as well.
2) i am afriad i do not know what the heatsink is. now i understand that whether its hot or cold - both are a problem? i assume its gonna be hard for me to uderstand if what im feeling when im touching the heatsink (whatever it is ) if its too hot or too cold :/ but ok. will try.

3a) i think that airflow isnt the issue. i have tried pointing a fan to an open case and that didnt change anything. which is good cuz i dont want to leave the case open nor i want to shove a fan into it and close it

3b) i seriously hope that reapplying the paste will help somehow since i dont know what else to try....

4) is it possible or recommended to buy a new cpu fan?!

5) if airflow isnt the problem than should i buy a new case fan?

6) is there anything else that could be done in order to keep the cpu cool? im scared of what might happen if i try cleaning the heatsink and all and it still is too hot. what would THAT mean?

Glad your solved your problem.

For future reference: the heatsink is that big piece of metal attached to your CPU. The heatsink should feel warm to the touch under load, not cold or scorching hot.

 

[firegreen]

yea i had the same issue actually

 

[firegreen]

download prime95 and realtemp. Run prime95 and monitor temps with realtemp and see if you are overheating.

yea..