[WRH]

Hi there everyone! -razz:

Im at my wits end with this little problem of mine, as it seems to concern all windows based games i have, from 3d first person shooters, all the way to 2d pixel affairs like the tycoon games.

Basicaly, a few months ago a purchased a new PC, and although it copes brilliantly with all my internet, music, and graphics programs, it does seem to have a big problem with running any games (exept old dos ones) for longer than about 45mins to an hour.

The specs for my machine are as follows:

Processor: Amd Athlon 64, running at about 2.5 GHZ

RAM: 1 GB DDR

HD: 200GB

Sound: (self installed from old machine) Soundblaster Audigy platinum.

Video: Nvidia GeForce FX 5500

Pheripherals: Wireless Keyboard, MS Sidewinder game pad, Lexmark printer.

Internet: Belkin Wireless 802.11g.

With a spec like this you'd expect it to play games flawlessly, which it does untill it freezes solid, after about an hour. I started running my games at the highest resolutions 1600x1200, and tried turning them down, which had no effect. Then tried updating drivers, which also had no effect, i have considered the possiblity that the machine could be overheating, which is silly because its brand new, and you'd think that maybe HP would install adequate cooling fans for thier machines, my computer is also clean of viruses. Another thing i tried was closing all the taskbar programs, and that had no effect as well.

I cant understand why this machine can cope with adobe photoshop, handling several huge image files at once with no problem, with winamp going as well, yet cant handle games ragardless of thier required specs!

There are 3 other machines in our house, all of them are antiques by now, most of them i built from parts from old machines i've had over the years, but yet cope quite fine with the games without crashing, even at high res!

Does anyone have any suggestions?

 

[V0lt]

Probably isn't overheating, that really only happens when the computer is doing something particularly taxing.

I would try running these programs in compatibility mode to see if that helps. Right click on the executable for a game you've been having problems with, hit properties, go over to the compatibility tab, and turn on the mode for windows 98 or 95.

 

[WRH]

Yep, i did try that as well. When i first got the machine, i tried it, back then i only got about 1/2 hour before a lock up.

I installed new video drivers and got about 1 hour out of it before lock up on games.

Playing with the compatibility settings made little difference, on any of my games, including, Chris Swayers Locomotion, RTCW, and medal of honor.

The thing that makes the problem so vexing is that the problem seems to be pretty universal for all my games.

Thanks for your suggestion anyway. :sayyes:

 

[V0lt]

Well we can probably rule out DirectX as the culprit, since RTCW uses the quake engine...

But other than that, I'm at as much a loss as you must be.

 

[WRH]

I suppose its just a process of elimination, its how i tackle most other problems that cause lockups.


EG:

Faulty Drivers
CPU over heating
Dodgey Ram
Other hardware issues, like compatiblity
Other programs installed
Viruses
Other software running in the background (theres a lot of them i could try, as not all of them are displayed in the taskbar)

So far i,ve tried looking at all of these possible causes and nothing, although downloading new video drivers did improve things slightly.

 

[phubeone]

Is anything overclocked? Did you add the video card yourself or did it come bundled with the PC? It could be the power supply even though I really doubt it is. Heat could be an issue, have you checked to make sure the CPU fan is spinning when it is on, same goes with the video cards. I would check those to make sure.

 

[WRH]

Nothing on this machine is overclocked, and the only thing i had changed on this machine was the soundcard.

Both fans also work, as i have seen them in action.

The case doesnt appear to be that well ventilated though, so maybe its that?

 

[phubeone]

It's hard to say at this point, I don't think it's a heating issue but I would try to leave the case open and run the game and see if that helps. If it does then it's a heating issue, I would purchase more fans, I would not recommend leaving the case opened either.

 

[WRH]

Well im certain now that its a heat issue.

I removed one side of the casing a few days ago, and hey presto, my games suddenly run!

And they keep on running!

I was kind of hoping that this would'nt be the case, since its a new PC, and the cooling systems should be adequate for the system, which they are obviously not, also my room is hot, it never needs heating, because the heat generated by my TV, my monitor, and various audio components generates enough heat to keep the whole room at 20C even in winter with the window open.

I had similar problems with my old PC, but did'nt imagine at first that my equipment could produce so much heat, nor that my current system would be unable to cope!

Thanks for all your suggestions! problem solved!

The time and temp
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v690/WRH/DVC00540.jpg

Heat sources!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v690/WRH/DVC00539.jpg