help with major problem!!

[yangus]

Ok i actually have 2 questions concerning the same computer so bear with me:
#1.) i recently built a computer for my friend that consists of this spec -
AMD XP 1800+
256 MB pc3200 ram
Gigabyte GA-7VRXP Mobo
Radeon 8500 64 Mb video
running win2k pro w/o any upgrade packs
powersupplies - 350 W

and after having a painful time trying to get the computer to work (that's a seperate prob) we finally got it running smoothly. everything runs fine until we try playing 3D games (ie warcraft 3, max payne). when we try doing so, the games would open up and just before it goes to the menu the screen would go into auto shut down and the computer would restart itself. this happened for EVERY 3D (2d like starcraft works fine) game we tried! now i'm pretty sure the problem is the video driver since i tried the same card on a different computer (also running win2k) and it would run fine (although the games tend to crash a lot...). i also tried a voodoo3 on the xp rig and it would run games fine! the problem would present itself on windows xp also.

#2.) when i tried to encode a movie using divx5 and gnot (using the xp 1800+ rig) the best fps i would get under vdub (using fast recompression) would be 12 fps!!! i get around the same frames using my mom's computer whose processor is an intel celeron 900mhz with only 128 mb of pc 133 ram!!! according to tom's hardware guide i thought i'm suppose to get at least 20 fps. am i not configuring vdub to the optimal performance?
any help is appreciated!!

[theReal]

What kind of 350W PSU are you using? If it's an Enermax 365, I'd say you need a new PSU...
The 365 series from Enermax have a big problem with 5V stability and a card like the Radeon 8500 draws a lot of current.
I've had the same problem with a Radeon 7500 and an Enermax 365 (350W)

[yangus]

well good news (for me at least)! i managed to solve the problem by turning down the graphic aparture size to 4mb (down from 256mb) and downclock the radeon 8500 to 195/185 (from 250/250). warcraft can now run stably for hours. however performance just absolutely chokes since it's basically running at half speed. i believe the problem is that the card does not have proper cooling and is unstable at fast clock speed. i guess i'll have to experiment more...
as for my second question, does anyone have a thought?

[theReal]

Still the same thought as above... by downclocking your card, you reduced its power consumption.

Try using Motherboard Monitor (or similar) to log your voltages while gaming and see what the +3.3V and +5V lines do under stress.

[Soulhunter]

Originally posted by theReal
Try using Motherboard Monitor (or similar) to log your voltages while gaming and see what the +3.3V and +5V lines do under stress. Ok, its a very old thread.... :rolleyes:

But does someone know where to find such a tool ???


Tia, Soulhunter

[Marcel]

Motherboard Monitor (http://mbm.livewiredev.com/) should work for you.

[Soulhunter]

Thanks, but I cant find the log it should write after a crash... :(

Funny, after upgrading from a Radeon9200 to a Radeon9800Pro Ive to drop my CPU clock to 1000MHz and disable GC's hw-acceleration to run windows without a crash... :D

Guess that my 350W PSU is not enough for my 2600XP / Radeon9800Pro combo... :(

Think Ill buy a new 500W PSU the next days !!!


Bye

[theReal]

Sounds just like you need to do exactly that...

But... don't buy just some 500W PSU, better get a good one like Antec or Enermax (Watts is not everything - you primarily need Voltage stability!)

[Soulhunter]

Originally posted by theReal
But... don't buy just some 500W PSU, better get a good one like Antec or Enermax (Watts is not everything - you primarily need Voltage stability!) Yay... (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=73328) :D


Bye

[Soulhunter]

Originally posted by Soulhunter
Yay... (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=73328) :D
Nah, unfortunately not !!!

Bought thus Antec 550W PSU...

Now I can run Windows @ the old clock-speeds without problems, and also even quiter... :D

But when I wanna play games, my monitor seems to lose the GC's signal after some seconds !!!

No matter what games, after some seconds the monitor turns off... :confused:

Sometimes thus VPU recover thingy only kicks me back to windows and skips to VGA mode... :(

Dont know what to do !!!

Ive already tried to change all GC related bios settings, the windows settings as well...

Ive even pulled out all PCI cards to check if there is some sort of IRQ conflict... :o

And yes, I have the latest MoBo n' GC drivers installed !!!

What else could occur this ???


Tia, Soulhunter

[theReal]

GC still drawing too much current??? Although I can't believe this 'cos you're having a new Antec 550W PSU...

But maybe the power connection is somewhat loose? I recently killed a HD with a loose power connector, so everything's possible...

[Soulhunter]

Originally posted by theReal
GC still drawing too much current??? Although I can't believe this 'cos you're having a new Antec 550W PSU...

But maybe the power connection is somewhat loose? I recently killed a HD with a loose power connector, so everything's possible... Nope, I assume a 2nd "additional" fault !!!

Could be driver related maybe... :confused:


Damn, bought this new GC on purpose for all this new games that arrive now...

Already have UT2004 n' FarCry here !!!

Both un-played so far coz of all this trouble... :angry:

Hope I can fix this before Half Life ² gets released !!!


Bye

[Joe Fenton]

Many BIOSes allow you to control the AGP voltage. Maybe the card will work better if you boost the voltage a tad. That works with memory as well. I used to have 3D benchmarks crash until I boosted the voltage a smidge on my system.

[Soulhunter]

Originally posted by Joe Fenton
Many BIOSes allow you to control the AGP voltage. Maybe the card will work better if you boost the voltage a tad. That works with memory as well. I used to have 3D benchmarks crash until I boosted the voltage a smidge on my system. Seems there is no such setting in my bios... :(

Is there maybe a tool to do this ???


Bye

[Soulhunter]

Yay, its fixed... :D :D :D


- I un-installed the catalyst drivers

- Reboot...

- Changed to standard VGA mode

- Reboot...

- Changed the bios settings to prefer PCI graphics

- Installed the catalyst driver again

- Reboot...

- Changed the bios settings to prefer AGP graphics


Well, seems there is something wrong with the AGP settings !!!

Dont know if its GC-driver or MoBo/chipset related... :confused:


Before I had the option to enable or disable fast-write n' could set the AGP speed to 1x/2x/4x/8x... :rolleyes:

Now the catalyst driver settings show up all AGP settings grayed out, but they work anyhow !!!


No matter, now I can play UT2004 and FarCry the whole weekend... :)


Bye

[Soulhunter]

Ok, I did some further tests...


WinXP with DX 9.1b

Bios : AGP autom. config. + CG : 8x AGP + FastWrite = Crash

Bios : 8x AGP + FastWrite + CG : 8x AGP + FastWrite = Crash

Bios : 8x AGP + FastWrite + CG : 4x AGP + FastWrite = Crash

Bios : 8x AGP + FastWrite + CG : AGP turned all off = Works

Bios : 4x AGP + FastWrite + CG : 4x AGP + FastWrite = Works


My MoBo should support 8x AGP n' my GC anyway... :confused:

Comments someone ???

[theReal]

Have you tried turning only Fastwrite off?

The older Radeon (7K and 8K) did not support fastwrite - with my 7500 I can activate it in the bios, but it just stays turned off.

[Soulhunter]

Originally posted by theReal
Have you tried turning only Fastwrite off?
Does nothing... :(

[Soulhunter]

Ok, disabeling FastWrite but use 8x AGP crashes UT2003 with this error... :(


OS: Windows XP 5.1 (Build: 2600)
CPU: AuthenticAMD PentiumPro-class processor @ 1918 MHz with 511MB RAM
Video: RADEON 9800 PRO (6414)

Error setting display mode: CreateDevice failed (D3DERR_NOTAVAILABLE). Please delete your UT2003.ini file if this error prevents you from starting the game.

History: UD3DRenderDevice::UnSetRes <- CreateDevice <- UD3DRenderDevice::SetRes <- UWindowsViewport::EndFullscreen <- WM_DESTROY <- UWindowsViewport::ViewportWndProc <- WWindow::StaticProc <- UWindowsViewport::ViewportWndProc <- WWindow::StaticProc <- WM_SYSCOMMAND <- UWindowsViewport::ViewportWndProc <- WWindow::StaticProc <- MessagePump <- MainLoop

Enabling FastWrite but set 4x AGP works very well...

Btw, how much is the speed difference between 4x/8x AGP for games like UT'04 ???


Bye