PC Discussion Thread II - All PC related discussion goes here.

[Deathstruck 375]

@Salvatore_Lee

OS? XP, Vista, or Win 7?

Damn, I keep forgetting this :pet6:

Windows 7 Ultimate.

So you guys are saying it's more likely tied to a HDD failure? Weird, I was thinking it's mainly overheating sice this shiat keeps happening when laptop gets a bit more hot.:confused:

As for BSODs, they don't occur to me anymore...:j:

[jsa2001 10]

Damn, I keep forgetting this :pet6:

Windows 7 Ultimate.

So you guys are saying it's more likely tied to a HDD failure? Weird, I was thinking it's mainly overheating sice this shiat keeps happening when laptop gets a bit more hot.:confused:

As for BSODs, they don't occur to me anymore...:j:

It doesnt hurt to run chkdsk but running it eliminates possible problems.

[echo1 0]

Suggest Ultra X4 series power supplies. They have a "real" active PFC, high class capacitors, and also warrant a lifetime warranty as most only warrant 3yrs with limited support. You pay more for it, but you get what you pay for, my previous Ultra lasted over 5yrs....still works but 550watts has limit of what it can support. I went with the X4 850watt. Has plenty of Amps down the 12v rail and will provide enough wattage in case you wanted to Xfire or SLI.

Also its the only power supply out that is truly modular (basically you plug in and use what cables you need instead of the thread of spaghetti coming out the of the power supply) as they hold the patent, all other manufactures either state "modular" but have the main thread of cables still coming out and have a couple cables modular or they paid licensing.

All of these things don't really mean anything... what OEM makes them?

EDIT: A quick glance through some reviews suggests they are decent but not spectacular. Better off with some Seasonics really.

[Deathstruck 375]

Well, I ran the HDD test and there are supposedly no problems.:confused:

[NeMeSiS 11]

No part of NTFS, not Windows 7, NTFS started back in Win NT and Win 2000.

Make sure you are an administrator and the file is not in use that you are trying to change/delete/ whatever.

Except that i never had to change the ownership of a file in XP, hell i dont think it was even possible. I dont get why i am not the owner of files i installed myself.

I am admin, i have only 1 useraccount, however apparently some things i installed belong to 'TrustedInstaller' and not me.

I already worked my way around it but i cant say that this feature is an improvement in any way.

[echo1 0]

I remember this was a big problem in Windows Vista when MS started enforcing access control, but I have had no issues with it in 7.

[SASsnipey 10]

hi everyone im new to the forums so please go gentle :)

where do i start ? well i play ARMA 2 and OA religiously day in day out

but have expeirienced a problem and i need to eliminate it

about 4 days ago i heard a pop snap sound come from my machine then within 24hrs further more gaming the machine switches off and restarts automaticly

and now im lucky to get like 3 hours arma gaimng till it switches off again

i dont get any blue screen so im safe to assume my ram is good

and i guess if it was to be a motherboard problem i wouldnt be able to switch the machine on let alone play games

my graphix card does get hot i done atest and its peaked around 79-80c whilst in game

finger maby pointing towards the power supply box perhaps ??

i have my side case opened ive cleaned out any dust present and now blowing a 12" desktop fan into the case but i still get the shutdowns

has anyone had simular issues or any experience in what it could be before i spend cash on replacements ?

my machine is a i7 quad core i have 6gig ddr3 ram motherboard is P6T-SE and my graphics card is a NVIDIA 9800GT

sorry if post is in wrong location but im new to the site and learning to find my feet :)

kind regards SASsnipey

Edited July 24, 2010 by SASsnipey

[maddogx 13]

That does sound like a possible PSU problem, although it may be a faulty electrolytic capacitor on your motherboard. (As indicated by that "pop snap" sound you heard.)

If possible, I would recommend grabbing a new PSU first to see if the problem goes away. If it doesn't, the problem is probably with the motherboard.

[jsa2001 10]

hi everyone im new to the forums so please go gentle :)

where do i start ? well i play ARMA 2 and OA religiously day in day out

but have expeirienced a problem and i need to eliminate it

about 4 days ago i heard a pop snap sound come from my machine then within 24hrs further more gaming the machine switches off and restarts automaticly

and now im lucky to get like 3 hours arma gaimng till it switches off again

i dont get any blue screen so im safe to assume my ram is good

and i guess if it was to be a motherboard problem i wouldnt be able to switch the machine on let alone play games

my graphix card does get hot i done atest and its peaked around 79-80c whilst in game

finger maby pointing towards the power supply box perhaps ??

i have my side case opened ive cleaned out any dust present and now blowing a 12" desktop fan into the case but i still get the shutdowns

has anyone had simular issues or any experience in what it could be before i spend cash on replacements ?

my machine is a i7 quad core i have 6gig ddr3 ram motherboard is P6T-SE and my graphics card is a NVIDIA 9800GT

sorry if post is in wrong location but im new to the site and learning to find my feet :)

kind regards SASsnipey

It might be worthwhile investing in a psu tester especially if you system build or repair computers, it will check for any abnormal currents and they're quite cheap to. It would be wise as well to make sure you have no loose connections just push everything in and maybe reseat the cooler on the processor

[echo1 0]

hi everyone im new to the forums so please go gentle :)

where do i start ? well i play ARMA 2 and OA religiously day in day out

but have expeirienced a problem and i need to eliminate it

about 4 days ago i heard a pop snap sound come from my machine then within 24hrs further more gaming the machine switches off and restarts automaticly

and now im lucky to get like 3 hours arma gaimng till it switches off again

i dont get any blue screen so im safe to assume my ram is good

and i guess if it was to be a motherboard problem i wouldnt be able to switch the machine on let alone play games

my graphix card does get hot i done atest and its peaked around 79-80c whilst in game

finger maby pointing towards the power supply box perhaps ??

i have my side case opened ive cleaned out any dust present and now blowing a 12" desktop fan into the case but i still get the shutdowns

has anyone had simular issues or any experience in what it could be before i spend cash on replacements ?

my machine is a i7 quad core i have 6gig ddr3 ram motherboard is P6T-SE and my graphics card is a NVIDIA 9800GT

sorry if post is in wrong location but im new to the site and learning to find my feet :)

kind regards SASsnipey

It's almost definitely a PSU problem. If you want to be particularly sure, download memtest86, burn it to a disk and boot into it and let it run. Should show up any possible RAM failures.

I wouldn't bother with PSU testers, most of them are junk, and the ones that are not are probably more expensive than a good replacement PSU.

With a system like yours, I would recommend something like a 500-600W Corsair PSU, which you can get from most decent online retailers.

What sort of PSU do you have currently?

[SASsnipey 10]

thanks for all your replys

i have a 850w psu BUT ive found the problem at long last lol it was the graphix card

i took it off to look at it and found 2 of the 3 barrel shaped transisters or capacitor on the circit board had blown apart

so now im looking to get a new card but have a budget of 180-200 pounds so what do you all recommend i go for ?

[maddogx 13]

thanks for all your replys

i have a 850w psu BUT ive found the problem at long last lol it was the graphix card

i took it off to look at it and found 2 of the 3 barrel shaped transisters or capacitor on the circit board had blown apart

so now im looking to get a new card but have a budget of 180-200 pounds so what do you all recommend i go for ?

Yeah, those are electrolytic capacitors. Good thing you had a look on the graphics card, as I never thought to check there. :)

As for gfx card recommendations, go for the fastest single card you can afford. Perhaps a Radeon HD4890, but I'm not sure about current prices.

Edited July 24, 2010 by MadDogX

[Heatseeker 0]

thanks for all your replys

i have a 850w psu BUT ive found the problem at long last lol it was the graphix card

i took it off to look at it and found 2 of the 3 barrel shaped transisters or capacitor on the circit board had blown apart

so now im looking to get a new card but have a budget of 180-200 pounds so what do you all recommend i go for ?

GTX 460 1GB or HD 5850 sound perfect :) .

[jsa2001 10]

thanks for all your replys

i have a 850w psu BUT ive found the problem at long last lol it was the graphix card

i took it off to look at it and found 2 of the 3 barrel shaped transisters or capacitor on the circit board had blown apart

so now im looking to get a new card but have a budget of 180-200 pounds so what do you all recommend i go for ?

Glad you found the problem, But i would check the voltages coming put of your PSU just in case. Just out of interest which make was the 9800GT?

[echo1 0]

thanks for all your replys

i have a 850w psu BUT ive found the problem at long last lol it was the graphix card

i took it off to look at it and found 2 of the 3 barrel shaped transisters or capacitor on the circit board had blown apart

so now im looking to get a new card but have a budget of 180-200 pounds so what do you all recommend i go for ?

What make is the PSU?

And +1 for the GTX 460.

[TechnoTerrorist303 10]

Does anyone have any RMA experience from ebuyer? I have to return my heatsink and fan (booo hissss) and I'm currently sitting in waiting for someone to collect it... I'm just wondering if anybody has any idea from experience how long it will take to get the replacement. I can load Arma2 on my laptop for editing etc but it doesn't really run very well for testing :)

[jsa2001 10]

Does anyone have any RMA experience from ebuyer? I have to return my heatsink and fan (booo hissss) and I'm currently sitting in waiting for someone to collect it... I'm just wondering if anybody has any idea from experience how long it will take to get the replacement. I can load Arma2 on my laptop for editing etc but it doesn't really run very well for testing :)

They were really bad a few years ago. Not sure if they've got their act together since. Do a search on them and you will get a better perspective.

[kavoven 4]

I've got a question regarding ebooks. As far as I know, there are currently two serious readers out there - the iPad and that Amazon thing.

Can anyone tell me, how buying and so on works? What formats are the "books" in? Is that one pdf format or are they using different ones?

[Heatseeker 0]

And +1 for the GTX 460.

Switching a dead 8800 gtx with a "skinny" gtx 460 768 was really awkward, it felt like taking a lambo out of the garage and replacing it with a punto.. but the tiny, cheap looking 460 really is a tiny monster, even crippled by a beaten, low end dual core, no wonder i couldnt find the 1 GB version anywhere..

Almost as small as my sound card, low temps, low power consumption, nice performance and beats the crap out of my old 8800, cool little thing :cool: .

[froggyluv 2136]

Glad to hear the GTX 460 is a good card as I just ordered one and it should be arriving tommorow.

My 4870 512mb's fan has been getting really loud in a clankety-clank kinda way and it's been running hotter and hotter until I finally had to open the case and blow external on it. I've been an ATI fan for many years now and have only had the card for 2 years so figured it was time for a change. Wasn't really knowledagable on current cards and my budget $200 US, seem to place me between the 460 or ATI 5830. From what I could gather in a 4 hour dig, the 460 is a pretty nice card and I can't wait for the new addition to my family:)

[banenwn 10]

Ive been playing arma 2 for a while now ive upgraded from a e8400 gtx 260 to a phenom 965 BE gtx 465.My question is how well does sli actually work in ARMA 2?I can run the game ok now but im looking to eek out some more fps.Ive heard conflicting reports about SLI in arma 2 and was wondering if another gtx 465 would give me better performance then a gtx 480?If not ill be going with the 480 because i do not want to buy another gtx 465 if i get little or no increase in performance.With that said i see a nice improvement with quad core over my e8400 dual.everything just seems to run alot smoother.thanks in advance for any advice

[echo1 0]

SLI doesn't work reliably work with ArmA 2. Just look at the Troubleshooting forum...

[bangtail 0]

SLI doesn't work reliably work with ArmA 2. Just look at the Troubleshooting forum...

It works fine.

A large percentage of the 'problems' are more user error than anything else. It was dodgy for a couple of weeks after the initial release of A2 (and that was purely down to the lack of a proper profile that was quickly rectified).

@banenwn - 465 SLI is faster than 1 480 and you will notice a difference. The only thing that blows about any amount of GPU horsepower vis a vis Arma 2 is that when you are in cities with a lot of AI, your FPS will drop. This has nothing to do with SLI or lack of SLI, it is purely a limitation of the engine at this point.

In open areas my FPS is halved when SLI is disabled.

Edited August 4, 2010 by BangTail

[sesdelta38 10]

@ ch 123:

I got the motherboard, rocessor, graphics card and power supply.

I just need the hard drive, disk drive, computer case, memory, speakers and monitor.

However, I got a 19" plasma screen TV that I'm using as monitor. It's set 720p. Would i be able to use it for the gaming PC?

[TechnoTerrorist303 10]

@ ch 123:

I got the motherboard, rocessor, graphics card and power supply.

I just need the hard drive, disk drive, computer case, memory, speakers and monitor.

However, I got a 19" plasma screen TV that I'm using as monitor. It's set 720p. Would i be able to use it for the gaming PC?

720p is 1280X800 (I think) so that should be fine for now, check the refresh rate though as plasmas tend to leave trails if they aren't good.