Puzzling issue...

[stackingreasyBBs]

Something seems to have happened to the old puter lately. I have a 6800nu, and I've noticed that HL2 no longer runs at 12x10 with high detail settings, like it used to. Now it's completely unplayable at anything more than 10x7. Ordinarily that wouldn't be of a concern to me, since I used to play at 10x7. But since it used to be fine at 12x10, why the heck did it change?
So I fired up Aquamark (because it's the only benchmarking program I have on there right now, that's why) and noticed that my scores had dropped from 44100 (which was low compared to similar systems that I had seen, but I hadn't had the time to figure out why) to a measly 25000ish. So I uninstalled all nForce drivers and display drivers using DriverCleaner Pro, reinstalled the chipset drivers I had been using (came with the mobo), installed newest nvidia display drivers, fired up Aquamark....and got 29000ish. Hmm.
I've done virus scans and adware scans and spyware scans already, which didn't help. Only thing I haven't tried is defragging, but I'm not confident that will solve the problem. The only new things in the computer are a couple of Yate Loon fans undervolted with a new Sunbeam rheobus.
So my question to the Anandtech gurus is this: What the deuce happend to my system?

Here're the specs:
Chaintech vnf3-250 with 10/19 BIOS
A64 2800+ @ 2160 mHz, stock voltage
1GB Mushkin value ram @ 200mHz
Gigabyte 6800nu unlocked 16,6, stock clock
Antec 3700BQE with 350W Smartpower PSU

Anyway, any input is appreciated. Thanks all.

 

[imported_Kensai]

Me.

 

[stackingreasyBBs]

Update: Have tried defragging, virus scans, playing around with various AGP settings in the BIOS. No change. Set everything back to stock, no change. Thought it might be the RAM, so I ran Memtest overnight, and it turned up no errors. I'm out of ideas. Anyone? I would really prefer not to reformat everything...

 

[stackingreasyBBs]

bump for the weekday crowd

Edit: I suppose this could have something to do with a Steam update, but I would think it wouldn't affect Aquamark as well, right?

 

[Borealis316]

You're problem is that chaintech motherboard. I can almost guarantee it.

I had the exact same setup as you except my 6800nu was from BFG and my ram was corsair value.

My aquamark performance dropped from 52,xxx with a gigabyte mobo to 44,xxx or less with the chaintech board. So I switched to a DFI Lanparty and the problem was never seen again. I can't explain why or how but thats what did it for me.

Whats really strange is I had a buddy of mine try out the chaintech board, and from the time it went from my case to his case the board doesn't work anymore. I'll never buy chaintech again after that crap. That board will be put before a firing squad shortly.

Heres where I went to find out others were having the same problem. Heres a link to a thread with someone having the same issue.

http://forums.pcper.com/showthread.php?t=384472

P.S. Just so you know too, I tried everything you did and about 3 different bioses (all official) for the mobo and none of that worked either. If you can, get a different board in there and try it out.

 

[stackingreasyBBs]

Hmm, interesting, thanks for the reply. Is it possible that the board would "go bad" after a time though? With this same setup I used to get the better scores, but then it just got worse. Did your chaintech always have the low scores, or did it happen all of a sudden?

 

[Borealis316]

To be honest I don't know enough about mobo's to know whether it could just suddenly go bad after a certain amount of time.

I think mine was like that from the start.

I tried everything to fix it, was almost tempted to dump water on it I was getting so pissed at it. If you can name it, I tried it to fix it.

 

[stackingreasyBBs]

An update:

Found an old Aquamark score and noticed that while the graphics score stayed relatively the same, the CPU score has dropped 7000 points since then. What could cause a cpu score to drop like that?

Tonight I screwed around with voltages and stuff, no help.

Anyone?

 

[stackingreasyBBs]

Just in case anyone's interested, I replaced the 6800 with an old GF2 from another computer and ran Aquamark again. GFX score was way down, obviously (like, 250 or something disgusting) but the CPU score was up around 9800 again. So, I'm gonna try another PSU. Thought the 350w in my 3700BQE was up to the task, but it may not be.

 

[stackingreasyBBs]

Well, a Fortron BlueStorm didn't solve the problem. Could it be something with the video card? I can't figure this out for the life of me. Anyone have any ideas?

 

[PurdueRy]

chipset drivers, video drivers, background processes. Check all of these or just reinstall them for security

 

[stackingreasyBBs]

Yup, tried all that, reinstalled drivers, etc. No change. 30 processes running, no suspicious ones.

 

[bcoupland]

I've heard of an issue with SP2. If you install it after you install your drivers for the chipset, video card, etc., it will have a large effect on your system performance, usually by 30-40%. Try re-installing windows in this order. windows>SP2>drivers>anti-virus/spam. Of course, a hardware firewall is a must before SP2, so make sure you are hooked up through one. I hope that this helps.

 

[stackingreasyBBs]

I actually hadn't been running SP2 yet, but I might try a reinstall and see if that fixes the problem. Kind of a last resort, though, as you would probably guess.

 

[stackingreasyBBs]

Well, whatdaya know, a reinstall fixed it. Hot damn. Now I'll be running benchmarks after every program I install to see which one borked stuff. Thanks for the replies, all.