blinking halo
Newbie
- Joined
- Oct 8, 2004
- Messages
- 261
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Hi,
This is a call for help as i'm in the middle of the most frustrating computer system i have ever bought.. If you know any possible solution or fix to my problem please reply, and if you dont mind, email me also (blinking .DOT halo @AT gmail .DOT com) I just recently bought a computer from a custom assembly shop in Singapore (I live there) where you select the parts you want and they put it together for you. I opted to install the OS myself, though they offer that service also.
-SPECS-
The specs are as follows:
Processor: AMD Athlon64 X2 4200+ 2.2Ghz
Mobo: Asus A8R32 MVP Deluxe
RAM: 2 GB of Kingston (2x 1GB)
Video: nVidia Geforce 7900GTX 512MB
Sound: Built into mobo (i use headphones mostly anyways)
HD: 300GB Maxtor
Monitor: 19" Philips LCD
Speakers: Built into monitor
Casing: Coolermaster Centurion w/ side window (great case)
OS: Windows Media Center Edition 2005
-THE SHORT STORY-
I can't get any of my games to work properly (except TES:O)! After a clean reboot, i can launch any game and play about 10 - 15 minutes with no problems. I put all the graphics settings for all my games at highest with a resolution of 1280x1024 and i get absolutely great performance (120-150 fps in most games, details below).
However, after this short period of time i start to notice a degradation in game performance. Its slightly different for different games, but the most common symptom is a sort of stuttering, whereby the game either freezes up for 5 seconds, and then unfreezes for another 5. As you can imagine this makes the game utterly unplayable, especially online games like BF2 and CS:S.
-THE GAMES-
The Elder Scrolls IV : Oblivion
Currently the ONLY game that does work 100% and it works great. Since its the only thing ive been able to play you can imagine i play it alot
Yet it is singleplayer and i get bored of it quite quickly, im more of an MP guy.
FPS: 60 constant in dungeons, 20-60 outside depending on the area
Settings: Maxed out, no HDR 1280x1024
Counter Strike: Source
One of my favorite games, and i cant get more than 10 minutes of play out of it grah.. When it does run it runs very smoothly and im landing the DE headshots np but once it starts stuttering its impossible to play. In single player the stuttering basically just freezes the whole game, but online of course it leaves me hanging as an easy target for a good 5-10 seconds. Unplayable. net_graph shows no choke or loss and the fps counter never drops, it just freezes.
FPS: 100-150 depending on the map/area being looked at
Settings: Maxed out with HDR 1280x1024
Counter Strike 1.6
Another favorite game when im not feeling like source, this game is affected somewhat differently. I never encounter any freezes or pauses in the game, i get a steady fps (though it is locked to 70 something) and i can play online or onlan with no problems. However, after about 10-15 minutes on ANY server (including my own listen server, while watching demos) the game will drop me to the menu with various errors. The most common are "Client timeout", "Steam could not contact the master server", "Steam ID", "Connection to server lost during level change". None of these things are actually happening, but it gives me one of those errors after every drop. Again, pretty much unplayable except for 10-15 minutes sessions (no reboot needed though, like CS:S and BF2).
Battlefield 2 (latest patch)
I dont usually play this but i wanted to see whether it was affected, and it is, just like Counter Strike: Source it plays fine for 10 minutes after a reboot, then it starts to stutter and freeze. Unplayable.
FPS: I dont know, but its very smooth.
Settings: Maxed out 1280x1024
Trackmania ESWC Edition
This nifty little game came with the graphics card package and it is loads fun, when it works, its a little different from the other games. 10 minutes after a reboot the game starts to skip gametime, ie in the middle of the race my car will suddenly jump forward 200 meters as though ive been holding the same key for 5 seconds (usually what happens is im driving along and the car suddenly jumps off the track, VERY annoying). This happens about every 10-15 seconds and makes it, again, unplayable.
Games i havent tried yet: Serious Sam 2 (also came with gfx card), Quake 4, Unreal Tournament 2004
-WHAT IVE TRIED-
As you can imagine ive been scouring the internet for fixes, and although i found a lot of posts about people with problems very similar to mine, usually to do with the dual core processor, and as a result of this i thought that that must be the problem i have too.. All other descriptions of problems similar to mine have causes that i dont have, eg. old graphics card, sound card, steam problems none of those apply to me..
I found a page about dual core gaming fixes here:
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=983781
But after trying them all, there is no difference. Here is the exact list of what i have tried:
Drivers: Im currently running AMD 1.3.1.0 latest drivers, nVidia beta drivers 9.1.2.8 although i have also tried the vanilla 8.x drivers. Weird little thing: when i downloaded the nvidia drivers for Windows Media Center Edition, the install package told me it couldnt find the hardware; when i downloaded Win2k/XP drivers it installed fine.
Windows hotfix: I downloaded and installed a hotfix from microsoft described here - http://support.microsoft.com/Default.aspx?id=896256
Setting the Affinity: On dual core systems there is an option in the task manager to select which CPUs a program may use, ive tried doing this manually with alt-tabbing, as well as with a batch file that does it automatically.
boot.ini settings: I have tried editing the boot.ini with /usepmtimer and /onecpu settings, neither make a difference, although /onecpu disables the affinity options in the task manager.
Reinstalling games: I have downloaded steam content 3 times over, validated files, reinstallation makes no difference.
Defragmention: Some people have suggested defragging, but i really see no reason this would be neccesary, its a brand new machine, nearly empty hard drive.. I will try this tonight, though i dont see how it could make a difference.
So there you have it.. ive tried all of the above and NONE of them makes any difference in the performance of games. Windows runs fine, Oblivion runs fine, other games do not. What could it possibly be? Do i have a faulty processor? Im going to bring my machine back to the shop i bought it from to show them the problem and see whether they can do anything. In the mean time if you think of something please post here, and also email me (blinking .DOT halo @AT gmail .DOT com) as im posting on a lot of forums, and i might miss a post.
Thanks for your time,
Casper
This is a call for help as i'm in the middle of the most frustrating computer system i have ever bought.. If you know any possible solution or fix to my problem please reply, and if you dont mind, email me also (blinking .DOT halo @AT gmail .DOT com) I just recently bought a computer from a custom assembly shop in Singapore (I live there) where you select the parts you want and they put it together for you. I opted to install the OS myself, though they offer that service also.
-SPECS-
The specs are as follows:
Processor: AMD Athlon64 X2 4200+ 2.2Ghz
Mobo: Asus A8R32 MVP Deluxe
RAM: 2 GB of Kingston (2x 1GB)
Video: nVidia Geforce 7900GTX 512MB
Sound: Built into mobo (i use headphones mostly anyways)
HD: 300GB Maxtor
Monitor: 19" Philips LCD
Speakers: Built into monitor
Casing: Coolermaster Centurion w/ side window (great case)
OS: Windows Media Center Edition 2005
-THE SHORT STORY-
I can't get any of my games to work properly (except TES:O)! After a clean reboot, i can launch any game and play about 10 - 15 minutes with no problems. I put all the graphics settings for all my games at highest with a resolution of 1280x1024 and i get absolutely great performance (120-150 fps in most games, details below).
However, after this short period of time i start to notice a degradation in game performance. Its slightly different for different games, but the most common symptom is a sort of stuttering, whereby the game either freezes up for 5 seconds, and then unfreezes for another 5. As you can imagine this makes the game utterly unplayable, especially online games like BF2 and CS:S.
-THE GAMES-
The Elder Scrolls IV : Oblivion
Currently the ONLY game that does work 100% and it works great. Since its the only thing ive been able to play you can imagine i play it alot
Yet it is singleplayer and i get bored of it quite quickly, im more of an MP guy.FPS: 60 constant in dungeons, 20-60 outside depending on the area
Settings: Maxed out, no HDR 1280x1024
Counter Strike: Source
One of my favorite games, and i cant get more than 10 minutes of play out of it grah.. When it does run it runs very smoothly and im landing the DE headshots np but once it starts stuttering its impossible to play. In single player the stuttering basically just freezes the whole game, but online of course it leaves me hanging as an easy target for a good 5-10 seconds. Unplayable. net_graph shows no choke or loss and the fps counter never drops, it just freezes.
FPS: 100-150 depending on the map/area being looked at
Settings: Maxed out with HDR 1280x1024
Counter Strike 1.6
Another favorite game when im not feeling like source, this game is affected somewhat differently. I never encounter any freezes or pauses in the game, i get a steady fps (though it is locked to 70 something) and i can play online or onlan with no problems. However, after about 10-15 minutes on ANY server (including my own listen server, while watching demos) the game will drop me to the menu with various errors. The most common are "Client timeout", "Steam could not contact the master server", "Steam ID", "Connection to server lost during level change". None of these things are actually happening, but it gives me one of those errors after every drop. Again, pretty much unplayable except for 10-15 minutes sessions (no reboot needed though, like CS:S and BF2).
Battlefield 2 (latest patch)
I dont usually play this but i wanted to see whether it was affected, and it is, just like Counter Strike: Source it plays fine for 10 minutes after a reboot, then it starts to stutter and freeze. Unplayable.
FPS: I dont know, but its very smooth.
Settings: Maxed out 1280x1024
Trackmania ESWC Edition
This nifty little game came with the graphics card package and it is loads fun, when it works, its a little different from the other games. 10 minutes after a reboot the game starts to skip gametime, ie in the middle of the race my car will suddenly jump forward 200 meters as though ive been holding the same key for 5 seconds (usually what happens is im driving along and the car suddenly jumps off the track, VERY annoying). This happens about every 10-15 seconds and makes it, again, unplayable.
Games i havent tried yet: Serious Sam 2 (also came with gfx card), Quake 4, Unreal Tournament 2004
-WHAT IVE TRIED-
As you can imagine ive been scouring the internet for fixes, and although i found a lot of posts about people with problems very similar to mine, usually to do with the dual core processor, and as a result of this i thought that that must be the problem i have too.. All other descriptions of problems similar to mine have causes that i dont have, eg. old graphics card, sound card, steam problems none of those apply to me..
I found a page about dual core gaming fixes here:
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=983781
But after trying them all, there is no difference. Here is the exact list of what i have tried:
Drivers: Im currently running AMD 1.3.1.0 latest drivers, nVidia beta drivers 9.1.2.8 although i have also tried the vanilla 8.x drivers. Weird little thing: when i downloaded the nvidia drivers for Windows Media Center Edition, the install package told me it couldnt find the hardware; when i downloaded Win2k/XP drivers it installed fine.
Windows hotfix: I downloaded and installed a hotfix from microsoft described here - http://support.microsoft.com/Default.aspx?id=896256
Setting the Affinity: On dual core systems there is an option in the task manager to select which CPUs a program may use, ive tried doing this manually with alt-tabbing, as well as with a batch file that does it automatically.
boot.ini settings: I have tried editing the boot.ini with /usepmtimer and /onecpu settings, neither make a difference, although /onecpu disables the affinity options in the task manager.
Reinstalling games: I have downloaded steam content 3 times over, validated files, reinstallation makes no difference.
Defragmention: Some people have suggested defragging, but i really see no reason this would be neccesary, its a brand new machine, nearly empty hard drive.. I will try this tonight, though i dont see how it could make a difference.
So there you have it.. ive tried all of the above and NONE of them makes any difference in the performance of games. Windows runs fine, Oblivion runs fine, other games do not. What could it possibly be? Do i have a faulty processor? Im going to bring my machine back to the shop i bought it from to show them the problem and see whether they can do anything. In the mean time if you think of something please post here, and also email me (blinking .DOT halo @AT gmail .DOT com) as im posting on a lot of forums, and i might miss a post.
Thanks for your time,
Casper
