Computer lags when i play sims or watch certain videos

[Raiden16]

when ever i start up the sims my screen just goes black and nothing happens, and when i try alt tabbing out of the game it gets very laggy, so bad that i have to manually restart my computer. The same thing happens when i try to watch videos in this format: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...ettes/tech.jpg

computer lags out and I have to manually restart, so anyone kno whats up?

[Indoril Nerevar]

Hi,

The first thing we need is a list of your systems specs - read "Posting System Specs" in my signature to see what we need, and how to get it.

A note on minimising games: don't do it. With older games, it used to be okay, but with more recent games, it's not a good idea. It can cause problems such as lag, crashing, freezing, and more.

[Raiden16]

Power Supply:
Brand- Allied
Model-AL-A350ATX
Size-350W
# of amps on +12V- 16amps

Motherboard- FSB 400
RAM- 1024MB
CPU- AMD Athlon(tm) XP2600+, MMX, 3DNow, ~1.9GHz
Video card-Nvidia GeForce 7600 GS, AGP, 512 MB

sorry i didnt list everything and in full detail but its hard for me to figure it all out, hopefully the information I provided will help.

[Indoril Nerevar]

Two problems, only one of which is currently fixable:

1. You really should be running the system on a bigger power supply - a 450W at least. Read "Power Supply Info" in my signature to see why. This is the fixable issue.

2. You have a 7600GS AGP, which means you must be using 90-series NVIDIA drivers. Read the NVIDIA drivers thread in my signature to see why this could cause problems, and why you can't do anything about it at the moment.

In the meantime, run through the steps under "Common Game Issues" in my signature (only do the ones which apply - such as updating drivers and DirectX). Post back with results.

[Raiden16]

but this is weird, none of this stuff happnd when I had my radeon 9600 with my 350w power supply.

[Cellus]

Unfortunately it's comparing apples to oranges. The ATI Radeon 9600 is a much lower-end card compared to the NVIDIA Geforce 7600GS - both cards have different power requirements and issues. Indoril is spot on - I highly recommend you follow his notes.

Long story short the 350W power supply may have been adequate with your original system, but your upgrades have increased power demands and as such a better power supply is needed.

[Raiden16]

ok, so what should I shoot for for my graphics card? 500w 20 amp? 450w?

[Indoril Nerevar]

Read "Power Supply Info" in my signature. At the bottom, there will be recommendations for different systems. Have a look at the 500W range, which is what your system should be on. If you want to save as much money as possible, you would probably be okay getting a 450W. Either way, make sure you get a quality brand - these are listed in the power supply thread.

I would also read the rest of the thread, because you will see that even if the new power supply doesn't fix your current problems, it will prevent a lot of problems in the future.