Problems with gaming on desktop.

Hey guys.

I should have my IFL90 (specs below) within the next 2 weeks and have a few crucial gaming questions so I know what to have ready.


My desktop:

1024 (2x512) Corsair XMS
7200RPM 250gb HD
PNY Geforce 7900GS
Athlon X2 3800+
CreAtive X-Fi Xtrememusik

I have had a really bad experience with nearly all the games I have played over the past 2 or so years. I had a eVGA 7800GT but it died and got replaced with the 7900GS.. But I have had the following problems with both cards..

BF2: Playable but crashes and freezes alot.
CS:S: Currently not working well at all with semi-frequent crashes/hard freezes.
DOD:S: Freezes a lot, high graphics and playable when not though.
Dark Messiah: Never played right, outright failure for my system.
Oblivion: Cursor blinks and jazz, and game runs very slowly even at lower settings.

I am hoping that the new system I get will be able to play Dark messiah and the other games relatively well.. Just wondering if anyone else has similar problems or any ideas.

 

i know this may sound lame but,,,
-did you try newer drivers?
-reinstalll OS?
-defrag HDD?
-error scan HDD?
-Virus Scan?
-update mobo/chipset drivers?
-installed OS updates/service packs?

 

I have done all of those except for motherboard/chipset drivers.. :|

 

When you say you reinstalled the OS, did you do a clean install or just installed over existing OS?

 

As in reformatting the hard drive.

 

Generally, newer hardware will clean up all of those problems you are having. I'd bet all (or at least most) of them disappear on your new laptop.

 

That is what I'm hoping.. :]

 

Still doesn't detract thought that your last system clearly had major issues! An 7800GT would tear into any of those games no problem.

It sounds in this case like the card wasn't getting enough juice....just from what you've described. What sort of power supply were you using?

 

I'm going to have to say either both the cards you got were defective, weren't getting enough power, were seriously underclocked, or somehow a long the way there was user error with drivers.

It's unlikely that a motherboard/chipset driver/bios update is affecting anything.

 

My money is on PSU, thats one component you should never skimp on, high end parts have high power demands, and just cause it says its pushing 500, a cheap psu wont get near that wattage, except for mebbe the split second before something goes pop...

 

I have a 600watt PSU..

I thought it would be more than enough.. Was I wrong?

 

Nooo!! that's plenty! Your system is probebly only taking about 350 watts, 400 watts max. You can go SLI 7900GS's with a 550w PSU, 600w is definately enough!

Every problem I've had like that came out to be a bad ram stick. you should try removing one of them, and checking if the problems are gone. then the other one etc.

Oh, and if you have an Nforce or crossfire motherboard, then chipset drivers can greatly affect performance of your entire system.

 

I'll have to check the ram out soon.

I honestly think there was probably a faulty part i didn't catch.. As it was my first from scratch build..

Prolly pushed on a part too hard or something.

 

What OS are you running? If it's Vista, you should try if they work in XP. If you're already running XP, ignore this post.

 

Actually that depends, what brand is it? Quality is of upmost importance when it comes to PSU's, a no name inexpensive PSU that says its 600 watts, will easily get out performed by say a PSU by PC Power and Cooling that rated at only 450 watts, why you ask? There are no set testing standards,cheap psu's are usually tested in freezers,as efficiency is greatly diminished by heat, and under real world conditions, there is a ton of heat generated by the PSU, major reputable makers dont follow this practice, and they are generally have around 80% efficiency or higher of their advertised rating, the lower end units sometimes dont even achieve near 40% under real world conditions. PC power and Cooling, seasonic, Antec, OCZ, silverstone,Corsair, all make very good stable PSU's, they arent cheap, but they are well worth it, I typically budget at least $150, usually closer to $200 on a PSU for a gaming rig. Another thing to note is the amps carried on the 12V rail, even the lower end of the highend , 8800 gts needs a whopping 26 amps on the 12v rail.

This is a great PSU http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151030

This isnt http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817162015

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817148024


This is what is inside me case..


Oh and EDIT: I'm running XP sp2.

 

be sure your components arent overheating.

What you should try too if nothing of above seems the problem: try to remove unneccesary parts out of your pc. In example: networkcard (if not onboard), soundcard (if not onboard too), etc. Then try to play games again and see if those removed parts arent giving you problems. It worked for my pc too, i had a defect wireless network card which caused freeses of computer randomly.