Gaming On My PC

[Larkspeed]

My system specs are viewable so I won't bother typing them all out again.

The only things not in those specs is that I use a 650w PSU and a logitech EX110 Cordless desktop.

I use Windows XP Pro with SP2 and all drivers are up to date as of the writing of this.

Over the last 4 months I have litteraly changed every part of my machine trying to get games to run right so realy it's a totaly different machine now

My problem is this:

I have found very few games that will run without either the game crashing or windows going to blue screen and crashing totaly.

Some are new games that just came out while others are older games that should run with no issues on this spec machine.

and it's not consistent it does it with some and not others.

For instance if I play Farcry or NFSUMW then it will play for hours without issue.

But if I play C&C Renegade or Generals or play FlightSim 2004 it crashes the machine.

Other games like C&C Red Alert 2 just crash back to desktop sometimes with errors.

My machine is not overclocked and temps are fine so it's not a heat issue.

I have also not played with voltages or anything in the bios and my XP install has not been tweaked.

So realy I am looking for any advice anyone can give as to tweaks to windows or bios settings and the like that may help me to get my machine to run games stable

[schrickvr6]

Loooking at your pc specs i would say your graphics card is the weak link but that doesnt really explain why it crashes.

I suggest you download maxtor powermax and memtest 1.65 and create a bootable cd from each, you can then rule out a faulty hard drive or memory errors.

[directhex]

inexplicable crashes an often be narrowed down to defective RAM

i suggest running memtest86+ for 24 hours - you can track down an ISO of it, or it's an option on all ubuntu install/livecd discs at boot

[Larkspeed]

the ram has been tested 9 ways to sunday and passed every test thrown at it.

actualy it was the first thing i did and always do when i bought the new ram

[steve threlfall]

Patched the troublesome games?

[Larkspeed]

Patched the troublesome games?

of course

[Spud1]

re-formatted recently?
How old is your XP installation?
What Anti-virus are you using?
What firewall?
What Model/Brand of PSU is it?
Your graphics card is definitely a weak link in your system but it *shouldn't* cause problems like that. One thing to try is older drivers for it (from the nvidia website), try going to some from a few months back and see if it makes a difference.

Just a few qns/ideas

[Agent]

The only things not in those specs is that I use a 650w PSU and a logitech EX110 Cordless desktop.

That seems out of line with the rest of your system. Is it a Q-tec by any chance ?

[MSIC]

Wish i could give you some great advice, i have experienced these gremlins in the past and they can really piss you off!
Often they can be tracked down, but you might have a rubbish motherboard (on-board VGA?) that you just need to get a better one.
Sorry bud.

[Larkspeed]

That seems out of line with the rest of your system. Is it a Q-tec by any chance ?

It is actualy it's a Q-Tec Triple Fan jobby

And to Spud1

Fresh reformat and reinstall two days ago made no difference at all

And I have tried older drivers to no avail

Anti-Virus is AVG and I don't use a firewall on this machine directly because I am behind a hardware firewall

[Spud1]

Q-Tec eh, I think we have our culprit (and I will probably have most of hexus to back me up here)

They have a...repuation for being..well..rubbish. Generally with an unstable power output, which can cause problems like you describe. I'm not saying 100% that it is your problem, but I would NEVER have a q-tec psu in my pc ever again, after one blew up on me..(any the same happened to many other people, just do a search on here )

I would suggest replacing it asap, whether it fixes your problem or not.

[steve threlfall]

It is actualy it's a Q-Tec Triple Fan jobby

And to Spud1

Fresh reformat and reinstall two days ago made no difference at all

And I have tried older drivers to no avail

Anti-Virus is AVG and I don't use a firewall on this machine directly because I am behind a hardware firewall

Qtec theres the problem and even if its not, replace it to avoid it blowing up and taking the rest of your system with it.

[Agent]

It is actualy it's a Q-Tec Triple Fan jobby

http://forums.hexus.net/showthread.p...ighlight=Q-tec
http://forums.hexus.net/showthread.p...ighlight=Q-tec
http://forums.hexus.net/search.php?s...d=577023&pp=25

Dont get me wrong, it might not be the PSU, but you really should get it replaced ASAP !
You simply can not trouble shoot anything in your system with a Q-tec installed.

[Larkspeed]

OK point taken Q-Tec are crap unfortunatly I only bought this one about 2 months ago and it cost me 55 Euro, PC parts are expensive here in holland for example an Enermax 600w PSU would run me 200 Euro, so I simply can't afford to go get another PSU.

But saying that given my system spec what size of PSU should I be looking at and can anyone recommend a budget priced brand of PSU that is good enough

[fathazza]

with your spec youd probably be fine with a 350W psu...

Hiper, antec, enermax, seasonic, tagan among others are all pretty reliable.

[Spud1]

www.mediamarkt.nl - not sure how cheap they are in NL but in switzerland they are pretty cheap for most pc parts They also have stores which would save on postage..

http://www.komplett.nl/k/kc.asp?bn=10149

web only afaik but komplett are pretty cheap and reliable, have a look around that section - I have seen many psus on there for little money (50-100eur, all decent makes)