Q: built a new comp. Booted fine and ran 3dmark WoW and just very good. Never tried with Half Life 2. Worked for three days and all the sudden death of the food on the third day. I was using a generic PS 450 with 24 pins. The motherboard is only 20 pins needed, so Im not sure if this is the reason why my deceased PS (I use the extra 4 pins left on the right side of the 24-pin strip hanging out not touching). Anyways, I have a new generic 350W PS locally. plugged in and everything worked as before. I finally install HL2 and try to play and restart the comp. Soon after, the original screen with the “New Game”, “Options”, etc, it would restart the comp.
I tried running Prime95 and 3DMark over night. zero errors. WoW still works fine. I could not install Doom3 and other games yet. I have the latest Nforce and nvidia driver as the motherboard drivers and Windows updates. Of course nothing is overclocked or modified. Before I begin the laborious task of dismantling any part in my comp to narrow down the problem, there is an element that certainly is NOT the problem? also, any indication why my 450W PS deceased?
Sempron 3100 977 503 ECS nForce3-6600 1GB OC A
Corsair valueram
geforce
Best Answer: "I mean, the less cores, the faster it is, right" No. Mutlicore is better because most new games utilize multicore rendering. I depends on the programming though. If the program is designed for single core then multicores are useless.
I recommend Sager laptops. They use high quality components that expensive 'gaming laptops' use except they don't look fancy (who cares). Sure they aren't the thinnest and they don't look 'cool' but you get a HQ laptop at a good price.
http://www.sagernotebook.com/index.php?p…
That said laptops in general will run you an extra 500-1000 dollars over the same performance a desktop would deliver. You get a cheap gaming laptop for $1000. You could run all those games fine (except GTA4, that game wasn't programmed for PCs very well) with a $600 desktop.
Comic Book and Strip Service
Re:Originally posted by: guy
The only problem is that some DMM probes don't fit in the molex. For instance, mine has a very thick insulated probe that will only allow one to fit on.
That is a problem, but so is a power supply that's not putting out the voltage that it should be. So uhhh… get new probes.
The 6-Week Extreme Life Makeover.
Re:errg..don't buy generic psu's! penny wise pound foolish:P
Strip That Fat – $39/Sale
Re:The only problem is that some DMM probes don't fit in the molex. For instance, mine has a very thick insulated probe that will only allow one to fit on.
The Link Building Trick – Reduce Your Link Building by Half
Re:Originally posted by: guy
Generally they are not completely accurate, which is why I stated the 5% algorithm. Even a software app should not fluctuate too far beyond that.
MSI's Core Cell reported the +5v rail of my old TruePower 430 at something like 4.85 volts, which is within spec. Actual voltage at a molex connector was 4.6 something, and it would drop to 4.3 something during a cold boot.
Essential Guide to Training for Your First Marathon or Half Marathon
Re:Generally they are not completely accurate, which is why I stated the 5% algorithm. Even a software app should not fluctuate too far beyond that.
Half Marathon Training For Beginners
Re:Originally posted by: guy
You have stated that you have ran prime95 overnight with no errors. May I inquire as to what type of test you ran? For testing the cpu, I recommend running the Small FTTs test overnight. If you get no errors, then you know your cpu is not the problem.
Make sure you have the latest motherboard drivers and video card drivers. You can get both of them here:
http://www.nvidia.com/content/drivers/drivers.asp
Also, I recommend downloading memtest86. Download the iso, burn it to a cd, then boot off of the cd. Run the memtest program for 2-3 passes. If it has no errors, then you know your memory is not causing the problem.
http://www.memtest86.com/
While running Prime 95, I recommend running this program in the background:
http://www.almico.com/sfdownload.php
This will let you moniter temperatures of a few hardware components. When running Prime 95, your cpu should not go above 5C even in a case with no airflow. Also, moniter and take note of what temperatures your other components are.
Another thing you need to do: After Prime 95 has been on for around half an hour, open up speedfan to full view. Take note of what the 12, 5, and 3.3 Volt rails are at when your system is under full load. If the 12V is with 5% of 12, the 5V with 5% of 5, and the 3.3V with 5% of 3.3, then you know your power supply is not the problem.
Also, I suggest opening up Steam and checking to make sure your Half Life 2 is completely up to date in terms of patches/updates.
Finally, I recommend going to windows update and downloading every single update on there except for messenger 4.7(unless of course you use it). Even if you see something on there that you think you may not need, go ahead and download it anyway.
After doing the things listed above, you will know for sure that the problem is not caused by the cpu, memory, power supply, windows, drivers, or the game itself. Good Luck.
Software readings are not accurate enough. To properly check a PSU you need to hook a digital volt-meter to a molex connector where you can check the +12v and +5v rails. If they're fine and you suspect the +3.3v rail, you'll need to check that by tapping the 20 pin connector with a pin or something. Don't poke through the insulated wires, slide it into the connector next to the wire where it goes in… check a diagram to make sure you're tapping the correct wire, and don't do this stuff with the computer running. Connect everything the way it needs to be to test it, then turn the computer on… and turn the computer off before disconnecting everything.
Life Extension For Iguanas
Re:You have stated that you have ran prime95 overnight with no errors. May I inquire as to what type of test you ran? For testing the cpu, I recommend running the Small FTTs test overnight. If you get no errors, then you know your cpu is not the problem.
Make sure you have the latest motherboard drivers and video card drivers. You can get both of them here:
http://www.nvidia.com/content/drivers/drivers.asp
Also, I recommend downloading memtest86. Download the iso, burn it to a cd, then boot off of the cd. Run the memtest program for 2-3 passes. If it has no errors, then you know your memory is not causing the problem.
http://www.memtest86.com/
While running Prime 95, I recommend running this program in the background:
http://www.almico.com/sfdownload.php
This will let you moniter temperatures of a few hardware components. When running Prime 95, your cpu should not go above 5C even in a case with no airflow. Also, moniter and take note of what temperatures your other components are.
Another thing you need to do: After Prime 95 has been on for around half an hour, open up speedfan to full view. Take note of what the 12, 5, and 3.3 Volt rails are at when your system is under full load. If the 12V is with 5% of 12, the 5V with 5% of 5, and the 3.3V with 5% of 3.3, then you know your power supply is not the problem.
Also, I suggest opening up Steam and checking to make sure your Half Life 2 is completely up to date in terms of patches/updates.
Finally, I recommend going to windows update and downloading every single update on there except for messenger 4.7(unless of course you use it). Even if you see something on there that you think you may not need, go ahead and download it anyway.
After doing the things listed above, you will know for sure that the problem is not caused by the cpu, memory, power supply, windows, drivers, or the game itself. Good Luck.
0 Comments.