When I first setup my PC the video card was a 64Mb Radeon VE/7000, and the system ran fine. However, I decided this card wasn't adequate for my gaming needs and so upgraded to a 128Mb Geforce3 Ti200 - here's where the problem began. After installing this card I started experiencing system lockups when running any 3D application (i.e. any game, 3D Mark benchmarking software, etc.). After much messing around I was able to significantly reduce the number times this would occur by first reducing AGP speed from 4x down to 2x on my old motherboard, then on my new one by increasing the voltage to the AGP slot by 0.1V.
However, recently this old problem resurfaced and I have been suffering these lockups frequently - this happened to coincide with me upgrading from Direct X 8.0a to version 9.0, thus I suspected that my Geforce3 card didn't like DX9. Convinced it would solve the issue I purchased a new graphics card - a 128Mb Radeon 9700 Pro, but unfortunately I still have the same issue. Only now, as well as freezing the system will sometimes lose video signal from the PC or it will just reboot itself.
To be more specific about the actual main error, what happens is that the video just freezes but the sound that was playing at the time will just continue playing. I don't mean really mean looped sound but the sound from that exact moment when the crash occurred just keeps going - hard to describe really. Then of course since the Radeon 9700 went in I have the loss of signal and reboots as well.
Here's what I've pretty much ruled out:
-Motherboard Issue: I've had this problem on two different motherboards now (Gigabyte GA-7VTXE+ and Gigabyte GA-7VAXP).
-Graphics Card Issue: Though there was no crashing with my first card I find it highly unlikely that both my Geforce3 and Radeon 9700 are faulty.
-Conflicts: This seems unlikely as I've tried running the system with virtually all other devices removed and still had the problem.
-CPU Issue: I don't think this is the problem as I would expect to be seeing lockups in normal Windows operation in my experience with faulty CPU's, and I've never once had a lockup other than in a game or 3D benchmarking program.
-RAM Issue: I have two 256Mb DDR266 sticks and have tried running one at a time, the problem still occurs.
All this (apart from leaving me very frustrated!), leaves me thinking that perhaps the problem lies with my Power Supply Unit not getting enough power to the Geforce3/Radeon 9700 cards (remember no crashes with older Radeon). My PSU is 300W, which I realise is the minimum recommended for these cards but my thinking is that perhaps I have a sub-standard one? I am thinking of getting a 400W PSU to replace it, and basically the point of my post is to get more opinions/advice based on what I've said before shelling out yet more cash on this!
Any advice is much appreciated!
However, recently this old problem resurfaced and I have been suffering these lockups frequently - this happened to coincide with me upgrading from Direct X 8.0a to version 9.0, thus I suspected that my Geforce3 card didn't like DX9. Convinced it would solve the issue I purchased a new graphics card - a 128Mb Radeon 9700 Pro, but unfortunately I still have the same issue. Only now, as well as freezing the system will sometimes lose video signal from the PC or it will just reboot itself.
To be more specific about the actual main error, what happens is that the video just freezes but the sound that was playing at the time will just continue playing. I don't mean really mean looped sound but the sound from that exact moment when the crash occurred just keeps going - hard to describe really. Then of course since the Radeon 9700 went in I have the loss of signal and reboots as well.
Here's what I've pretty much ruled out:
-Motherboard Issue: I've had this problem on two different motherboards now (Gigabyte GA-7VTXE+ and Gigabyte GA-7VAXP).
-Graphics Card Issue: Though there was no crashing with my first card I find it highly unlikely that both my Geforce3 and Radeon 9700 are faulty.
-Conflicts: This seems unlikely as I've tried running the system with virtually all other devices removed and still had the problem.
-CPU Issue: I don't think this is the problem as I would expect to be seeing lockups in normal Windows operation in my experience with faulty CPU's, and I've never once had a lockup other than in a game or 3D benchmarking program.
-RAM Issue: I have two 256Mb DDR266 sticks and have tried running one at a time, the problem still occurs.
All this (apart from leaving me very frustrated!), leaves me thinking that perhaps the problem lies with my Power Supply Unit not getting enough power to the Geforce3/Radeon 9700 cards (remember no crashes with older Radeon). My PSU is 300W, which I realise is the minimum recommended for these cards but my thinking is that perhaps I have a sub-standard one? I am thinking of getting a 400W PSU to replace it, and basically the point of my post is to get more opinions/advice based on what I've said before shelling out yet more cash on this!
Any advice is much appreciated!
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