PC Discussion Thread - All PC related in here.

[Shadow NX 1]

Will check the manual when i come home.

But at least i now know that the PC3200 is 400Mhz and seems to be one of the bottlenecks in this system.

Ram is noticeable in Stalker, most time the game runs pretty much perfectly smooth even on nearly all effects but sometimes you get some serious stutter and HD access because it seems the ram cant handle it.

Ok seems i have to get a better PSU and 2 new PC-5300 1024MB Rams.

[VictorTroska 0]

Will check the manual when i come home.

But at least i now know that the PC3200 is 400Mhz and seems to be one of the bottlenecks in this system.

Ram is noticeable in Stalker, most time the game runs pretty much perfectly smooth even on nearly all effects but sometimes you get some serious stutter and HD access because it seems the ram cant handle it.

Ok seems i have to get a better PSU and 2 new PC-5300 1024MB Rams.

Stalker is full of lags,specially with full dynamic lights.

Try patch v1.1...it resolved my problems with low fps when was raining (thunderstorm).

Best solution is to invest in good memory,and as i said it depends on your MBO specs. U are not restricted to PC-5300 if your MBO supports higher freq.

[Shadow NX 1]

Thanks for the info so far, that brought a bit light into the darkness of my Ram knowledge

How big would be the difference of 5300 to 5400 or 5600 Ram?

If my MBO supports it would lets say a 5600 at 800Mhz be a bigger plus than lets say 2 PC5300 667Mhz?

Guess its like with SLI or crossfire where often youre better off to just buy one real good card instead of two weaker ones.

About Stalker, that runs surprisingly well, rain and other things dont affect my fps ( not at any level i would notice ), dont want to use the patch yet as it destroys the savegames.

Only thing bugging me is the random stutter for a few seconds when you enter a zoen or load a game, only place where it gets really sluggish for a few mins is the area at the freedom base... wonder why.

[VictorTroska 0]

Shadow its all relative.

<table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td>Code Sample </td></tr><tr><td id="CODE">Do u want to overcloack?

Fact:

There are two tricks in order to achieve a higher overclocking level: raising the memory voltage and playing with the memory timings.

There are two modes of configuring the memory clock: synchronous, were the memory clock is tied to the CPU external clock, and asynchronous, where the memory clock can be configured independently from the CPU clock. The mode your computer has depends on its motherboard.

U have DDR or DDR2?

Fact:

DDR and DDR2 memories are classified according to the maximum speed at which they can work. But, besides the speed, there is another information that tells you the memory performance: timings. Timings are numbers like 2-3-2-6-T1, 3-4-4-8 or 2-2-2-5, the lower the better.

DDR memories are officially found in 266 MHz, 333 MHz and 400 MHz versions, while DDR2 memories are found in 400 MHz, 533 MHz, 667 MHz and 800 MHz versions. Both types transfer two data per clock cycle. Because of that the listed clocks are nominal clocks, not real ones. To get the real clock divide the nominal clock by two. For example, DDR2-667 memory works in fact at 333 MHz.

DDR2 memories have a lower power consumption compared to DDR memories.

DDR memories are fed with 2.5 V while DDR2 memories are fed with 1.8 V.

On DDR memories the resistive termination necessary for making the memory work is located on the motherboard, while on DDR2 memories this circuit is located inside the memory chip. This is one of the reasons why it is not possible to install DDR2 memories on DDR sockets and vice-versa.

DDR modules have 184 contacts, while DDR2 modules have 240 contacts.

On DDR memories the “CAS Latency†(CL) parameter – which is the time the memory delays delivering a requested data –, can be of 2, 2.5 or 3 clock cycles. On DDR2 memories CL can be of 3, 4 or 5 clock cycles.

On DDR2 memories, depending on the chip, there is an additional latency (AL) of 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 clock cycles. So in a DDR2 memory with CL4 and AL1 the latency is 5.

On DDR2 memories the write latency equals to the read latency (CL + AL) minus 1.

Internally the controller inside DDR memories works preloading two data bits from the storage area (task known as “prefetchâ€) while the controller inside DDR2 memories works loading four bits in advance.

What CPU u have? CD2 ,P4,AMD Athlon...?

Budget limit?

So,it would be very helpfull to post your system specs first,then we can talk about details and which memory suits best for your system.

[Heatseeker 0]

How big would be the difference of 5300 to 5400 or 5600 Ram?

If my MBO supports it would lets say a 5600 at 800Mhz be a bigger plus than lets say 2 PC5300 667Mhz?

Guess its like with SLI or crossfire where often youre better off to just buy one real good card instead of two weaker ones.

I believe its just how Deadmeat posted above, if you have a P4 more ram should do you better than new faster ram.

Plenty of ram is always a good thing, ram frequency speed will only increase system performance depending on the cpu.

When making a ram upgrade you should consider what mobo and CPU you have and search for recomended ram for your system.

You already have 1 gig stick of PC3200, another stick could make a more significant diference that exchanging your current ram for faster.

[Shadow NX 1]

CPU is a Athlon-64 not sure which type exactly, will dig out all infos as soon as i come home which should be in the next 2 hours.

---EDIT---

Ok here are the main specs:

OS: Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP2

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2, 2200 MHz / 4200+

Motherboard: MSI K8N Neo4 Series (MS-7125) (4 PCI, 1 PCI-E x1, 1 PCI-E x4, 1 PCI-E x16, 4 DDR DIMM, Audio, Gigabit LAN)

Motherboard Chipset: nVIDIA nForce4, AMD Hammer

Ram: 1024 MB (PC3200 DDR SDRAM)

Graphics card: NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GTX (256 MB)

---

Probably i just didnt get it right but erm could it be that i can only use PC3200?

"• Supports dual channel DDR 266/333/400, using four 184-pin DDR DIMMs.

• Supports a maximum memory size up to 4GB with ECC."

Note to myself... next time build the damn pc yourself...

[echo1 0]

Yep. If your system uses PC3200 then it can only use PC3200 (and slower ones, but who want them?). DDR1 and DDR2 arent interchangable.

EDIT: The CPU you have is matched to DDR1, so if you want DDR2 RAM you need a new CPU, new motherboard etc. But there is only a marginal gain in performance by using DDR2, so I wouldnt get worried about it. RAM speed only has a tiny impact on gaming performance.

[Shadow NX 1]

DIMM1: G Skill 512 MB PC3200 DDR SDRAM (2.5-4-4-8 @ 200 MHz)

DIMM2: G Skill 512 MB PC3200 DDR SDRAM (2.5-4-4-8 @ 200 MHz)

Just noticed that when i used Everest to get a system part listing.

Does it mean the rams not even run at 400Mhz each one?

Or do the values combine to the 400 when you run with 2 sticks?

On some other page i found a note about the ram sticks "200 MHz (400 DDR)"

Great just when i thought i knew whats going on im confused again.

Wonder if i can safely buy 2 more of these rams and use them on the board?

[echo1 0]

Yeah you should be able to buy another two sticks, providing of course theres space for them.

Why does it say 200MHz? Pointless technicality. PC3200 really runs at 200mhz, but it transfers twice the amount of data per clock cycle compared to old SDRAM (thus DDR = Double Data Rate) it effectively works as a stick of old SDRAM working at 400MHz, and is marketed as such. People wouldnt have bought the original 100MHz DDR if they thought it was slower than their PC133 SDRAM. In other words, everythings ok

[Shadow NX 1]

everythings ok

Haha, yeah even this caveman understand this

[TrunkzJr 0]

Not sure if this is the right area, but i was wondering how well ArmA runs on Windows Vista x64 or if it even runs at all on it.

[echo1 0]

I think theres a thread on the ArmA forum about that.

[wex-q 0]

A few threads about it

Anyways, on topic. If you have a computer with an integrated graphiccard, can you still get websites and stuff to run smoothely. I've had a motherboard with integrated, but also used a GFX. When I changed the gfx, internet lagged alot (I went back to windows to uninstall the gfx from the comp), but can you install drivers for the integrated to?

I'm such a noob

[echo1 0]

A few threads about it

Anyways, on topic. If you have a computer with an integrated graphiccard, can you still get websites and stuff to run smoothely. I've had a motherboard with integrated, but also used a GFX. When I changed the gfx, internet lagged alot (I went back to windows to uninstall the gfx from the comp), but can you install drivers for the integrated to?

I'm such a noob

I dont think the internet relies on graphics power. The problem you described is likely related to bad drivers causing problems with the system. Im confused here, let me see if I understood you correctly: you replaced the graphics card with a new one, and this caused the PC to slow down?

[wex-q 0]

No, I never installed the new graphic card, my family was looking on buying a new comp (for me parents) with integrated, but I thought I would be nice to recommend a comp with a GFX if internet laggs like crap cause of the integrated.

But problem solved, me dad found a better comp (with GFX)

[4 IN 1 0]

i am currently having some problem on one of my working computer, it always suddently shutdown when loading photos in a digital image print service softward, or while just loading somethings in explorer, also when i try to reboot it just turns completely shut down, i tried to run chkdsk, but it seems to freeze and shutdown again, never get the BSOD, and just checked that there are no overheatings and all fans work just as they should, so i have no idea whats going wrong, is that something do with the HDD? or the PSU? what should i do to iron out the things that is not causing the problem?

[echo1 0]

Sounds like a PSU failure. Dying Hard Disks tend to give error messages and freeze up, whereas random shutdowns are telltale signs of dead PSU. What sort of PSU does your system have? What make is your PC, or is it self built? How old is it?

EDIT: This is the second dead PSU this week....

[4 IN 1 0]

local dealer built P4 3.0Ghz on a Asus mATX MB with only 512 MB of ram running crapy win2000 plus a most stupid softward developed by FXXIFILM that i have ever seen, dunno what kind of PSU is in use but assume it as crap as the softward, christ ArmA is atless 100 times better then that thing

nice sig BTW, can i use it?

[CameronMcDonald 146]

Just so you know, ch_123, your sig has a grammatical error itself.

[echo1 0]

local dealer built P4 3.0Ghz on a Asus mATX MB with only 512 MB of ram running crapy win2000 plus a most stupid softward developed by FXXIFILM that i have ever seen, dunno what kind of PSU is in use but assume it as crap as the softward, christ ArmA is atless 100 times better then that thing

nice sig BTW, can i use it?

The type of PSU can generally only be determined by opening the PC and reading the side label. Is the PC still under waranty? Then again, may not be worth it if the local guy is just going to install another shit PSU...

@ Cameron: Oh well...shit happens Not my fault

[shadow 6]

I'm looking for a new router. The old one (3C857) keeps dropping the connection every 2 hours or so.

The current 3com router I'm using lets me specify as many port-ranges I want to any individual IP in the firewall.

For example the computer I'm using as ftp-server the line would read something like this:

192.168.... 21,1025-2225,10000-10100

More recent routers (Linksys WRT54 for example) usually have a limit of 10 ranges in total which is not enough for me.

Any recomendations?

I dont want anything Netgear, Jensen or SMC. Other than that I'm open for pretty much anything.

Wireless is not necessarry, but it has to work with Xbox360 Live.

Update:

I just received a D-link DIR-635 at work (returned by a customer who changed his mind). It lets me specify comma-separated ranges (which is what I'm after) so I will try this one tonight.

But I'm still interested in hearing any other recomendations you may have.

[VictorTroska 0]

Cisco is always on the 1st place,best quality...my friend just bought Cisco 1812 Router for about 1500$ ,but there are also cheaper variants and different series of course.

[4 IN 1 0]

seems like the pc still keep shutting off without reason after i changed it to another cheapass PSU (which i am sure it works fine)

would it be the MB?

[shadow 6]

Cisco is always on the 1st place,best quality...my friend just bought Cisco 1812 Router for about 1500$ ,but there are also cheaper variants and different series of course.

Yikes!  

I'm only one person who have 2 active computers and a 360. I'm not running a company here.

You're much better off with a Linksys than a very cheap Cisco (Linksys is the daughter-company and use most of the same technologies).

I think I'll keep this Dlink DIR-635. It suits my needs perfectly. Got it very cheap too (€60).

Quote[/b] ]i am currently having some problem on one of my working computer, it always suddently shutdown when loading photos in a digital image print service softward, or while just loading somethings in explorer, also when i try to reboot it just turns completely shut down, i tried to run chkdsk, but it seems to freeze and shutdown again, never get the BSOD, and just checked that there are no overheatings and all fans work...

Have you made sure the CPU heatzink is properly seated on the CPU? Even if you dont see any overheating a CPU can easily reach shutdown-temperatures within seconds when doing simply things such as opening a picture and searching/browsing drives at the same time.

There was this one time one of the four corners on the frame around the CPU that held the heatzink broke (P-IV socket 478). I didnt see any overheating, but as soon as I started OFP it would shutdown when I single-clicked anything on the main menu. It reached 95 degrees at shutdown and was already down to 80 10 seconds later when I entered the BIOS.

Turned out the heatzink was'nt in proper contact with the CPU due to one of the clamps on the heatzink wasnt holding onto anything.

[echo1 0]

seems like the pc still keep shutting off without reason after i changed it to another cheapass PSU (which i am sure it works fine)

would it be the MB?

All Cheap PSUs are bad, regardless of how new/old they are. A good quality one could be what you need? Shadow makes a good point though, are you sure it isnt overheating? Go into the BIOS and look for temperature levels. If they start going really high, your problem could be there