3d Games, crashing...

[ultra violent]

Ok, so I bought a new PC to play C&C Generals. Trying to regain youth, etc, etc.

So I bought one of these e-style jobies from evesham, P4 3.06ghz, 1GB RAM, 200 GB HD, Radeon 9800 pro 256MB....

The problem is the bloody thing wont play any 3D games with out crashing within 5mins....

I have tried catalyst 3.7-4.1 and DX 8.1-9b

I have turned down most graphics functions, etc and still the problem.

Oh, and i've had the graphics card replaced once.

Anyone have any idea's or do I give the bloody thing back to evesham.

[james_j]

Is everything patched up to date? - i.e. the operating system, graphics drivers etc.

[ultra violent]

Yep, XP home, SP1, Catalyst 4.1, Direct X 9b...

I wana play games.......

[rebelstar]

Frequent crashes are very often caused by bad memory. You might want to check that out.

[FunkyNige]

What size power supply are you using? I had a cheap 200W in my system with a Radeon 9600 pro, and the hardware monitor thingy kept beeping whenever I played Quake - the 5V rail was waaay too low.
If you can get a hardware monitor that monitors voltages (I use Winbond Hardware Doctor, but only because it came with my motherboard), play some graphics intensive games and see what the voltages look like.
Just an idea.

[ultra violent]

Crashed 3 times whilst trying to write this reply...

I'll check the suply, but what I can see from setup menu is the following:

CPU VCore ->1.48v
AGP Voltage->1.37v
+3.3->3.25v
+5.0->5.03v
+12.0->11.71v
5v(SB)->4.97v
VoltageBuffer->3.18v

I get a lot of failures in win32k.sys and 'page fault in nonpaged area'

Any useful tools to check memory?

[simpo two]

I think FunkyNige means the wattage, ie 400W..? Should say on the back.

[rebelstar]

ultra violent said:

I get a lot of failures in win32k.sys and 'page fault in nonpaged area' Any useful tools to check memory?

Still sounds like a memory problem to me. Try www.memtest86.com for a very thorough memory checking tool.

[unlicensed]

damn, i wish i had a computer that good. That with a cable connection would be perfect.

[dannyboyo]

Have you tried changing the graphics setup in the game from Direct3D to OpenGL or visa versa? Any new patches for the game? You haven't got anything that may cause it to bugger up running in the background (such as a AntiVirus prog)? Ummm, has the BIOS got the correct AGP apature set? Is the memory trying to run to fast (set in the BIOS)? Are all the 3D games crashing or just the one?

Maybe try re-installing your GFX card?

[ultra violent]

Looks like a 200w suply. Sent back for a refund as unfit for purpose.

Going to get the new Mesh 64bit jobie....

[john_p]

Have you tried older versions of the ATI drivers?

I upgraded mine to the latest version and had frequent crashes. Rolled back to the CD-supplied versions for my 9600XT and no problems at all.

Edit - just seen, you have. Looks like bad memory or perhaps a motherboard problem..


>> Edited by john_p on Monday 26th January 18:21

[squirrelz]

ultra violent said:

P4 3.06ghz, 1GB RAM, 200 GB HD, Radeon 9800 pro 256MB....

ultra violent said:

Looks like a 200w suply.

Lordy - I'm surprised it even boots up!

[ultra violent]

Almost certain it's the power supply. Don't care any more as I'm sending the bloody thing back. Wasted 2 of my weekends trying to sort the heap out.

Just before I take the more expensive plunge, can some one confirm that they are able to play 3D games with a Radeon 9800XT card, and the latest 64bit Atherlons (sp) present no problem...

[pbrettle]

ultra violent said:

Just before I take the more expensive plunge, can some one confirm that they are able to play 3D games with a Radeon 9800XT card, and the latest 64bit Atherlons (sp) present no problem...

Yes - but they do cost a small fortune - the 64 bit processor is also in an emulation mode to bring it down to 32 bit mode for running Windows. Works well and impressive - same performance as a similar rated Ghz 32 bit processor.... but you might want to consider something like a P4 3Ghz with a mighty cooling system - overclock like mad and get a monster 3d gamer machine.... and replace it in 3 years when Microsoft eventually get around to bringing out a 64 bit version of Windows...

[glyder]

check in your bios, as its probably an on board graphics card and you may be running it on less mem than required if it is a proper card get latest drivers and patches for the os the game and the card

[ultra violent]

It was the ATI 9800 PRO 256MB....


Anyhow just ordered a 3.4GHz, 2GB, nVidia FX5950 Ultra, 400GB, 22inch Ezio(sp) LCD etc, etc.....

We'll see how this puppy fairs. If this one doesn't work, i'm going to buy a £600 Dell.....

[FunkyNige]

ultra violent said:

It was the ATI 9800 PRO 256MB.... Anyhow just ordered a 3.4GHz, 2GB, nVidia FX5950 Ultra, 400GB, 22inch Ezio(sp) LCD etc, etc..... We'll see how this puppy fairs. If this one doesn't work, i'm going to buy a £600 Dell.....

Before you switch it on, check the wattage of the PSU, the new nVidias need LOTS of power

[ultra violent]

It has a 360W supply, i tried to get a 450W, but they said they only put them in corporate servers...

Worst case I could get an aftermarket one...