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

[Baff1 0]

If I upgrade my CPU, will the AI in ArmA become more responsive?

Faster to react to my commands for example. Faster to change action say when pathing?

In games like Command and Conquer, the AI would all literally speed up the more and more CPU power you got. Soldiers would run faster!

In ARMA I often notice a delay between the time I give the order and the time an AI starts acting on it, I was wondering if a little upgrade might smooth this out.

Depends on what sort of CPU you have at the minute.

How so please?

Edited May 16, 2010 by Baff1

[echo1 0]

What I meant was, what sort of CPU do you have currently? Obviously there isn't much point in upgrading if you have something relatively recent.

[Baff1 0]

All my CPU's are recommended spec and above.

I'm sort of angling for a more generic understanding of how this software works in relation to the CPU, rather than a match off between any one CPU and another.

I feel that would better equip me for making those kind of decisions.

I'm assuming that I can overload any CPU currently on the market if I make my battle big enough...but what does it look like in game when I do, and will I get improved pathing speeds from more powerful processors?

All thoughts and insights gratefully received.

[meade95 0]

My computer specs are the following..

Dell XPS 720 System

2 Quad CPU

Q6600 @ 2.40 GHz

3.00 GB or RAM

GeForce 8800 GT 512 MB

____________________

I am looking to upgreade my video card? I don't know a great deal about computers (some, but not a lot). I am looking to stick Nvidia drivers / GeForce......

Any suggestions on what would be a good upgrade for me ...considering the system I currently have. Price range I'm looking for something in the $150 to $300 Range...

Appreciate any suggestions / advice

[echo1 0]

Tbh, at the moment there isn't too much point with sticking with nVidia at the moment, their stuff is pretty mediocre.

I'd go for a Radeon HD5850.

[meade95 0]

Tbh, at the moment there isn't too much point with sticking with nVidia at the moment, their stuff is pretty mediocre.

I'd go for a Radeon HD5850.

Is it more complicated to go from using GeForce (Nvidia drivers) to a Radeon Video card??? Would I need to clean my drivers / registery and all that when installing a Radeon?

I am just much more familiar with GeForce (for the past 8 years). Thanks.

Does anyone have any thoughts on the GeForce GTX 285 or 295 series video cards?

Edited May 23, 2010 by meade95

[Pyronick 21]

Is it more complicated to go from using GeForce (Nvidia drivers) to a Radeon Video card??? Would I need to clean my drivers / registery and all that when installing a Radeon?

I am just much more familiar with GeForce (for the past 8 years). Thanks.

Does anyone have any thoughts on the GeForce GTX 285 or 295 series video cards?

Yes, nVidia tends to leave various registry settings and files to **** up DirectX libraries so you'll experience bad performance with concurrent hardware.

You probably want to run DriverCleaner or sth.

[echo1 0]

ATI drivers aren't much to write home about, especially when you leave the warm, fuzzy confines of Windows...

[Azamato 0]

Is my videocard broken?

Everytime I play my monitr goes on standby and i have to reboot, already had this problem last summer and sent it to the makers for a new one.

[meade95 0]

Is my videocard broken?

Everytime I play my monitr goes on standby and i have to reboot, already had this problem last summer and sent it to the makers for a new one.

I would suspet so - Sounds like shutting down for safety reasons (likely overheating?).

I have a quesiton on video cards. I have a GeForce 8800 GT (512RAM). It gives off a slight whistling sound when running ARMA 2?...This normal? It seems to run fine, no real lags, FPS are in the mid 40s range...... But the slight whistling sound when playing worries me some .... Is it too stressed? Or is that just the cards own fan?

[echo1 0]

Is my videocard broken?

Everytime I play my monitr goes on standby and i have to reboot, already had this problem last summer and sent it to the makers for a new one.

There's a few explanations for this -

1) Overheating CPU

2) Overheating graphics card

3) Bad PSU

What sort of CPU and PSU do you have?

[Azamato 0]

There's a few explanations for this -

1) Overheating CPU

2) Overheating graphics card

3) Bad PSU

What sort of CPU and PSU do you have?

Q8200 2.33 cpu and 400w generic psu, but this is a diferent pc from wich the previous card was broken

Do you know a program to chek my temps ?

[echo1 0]

There's a program called SIW which lets you monitor temps.

[Azamato 0]

I get 60 °C when gaming 46°C when not

[echo1 0]

That's pretty normal, most graphics cards can handle 100^C and more

[meade95 0]

I have a quesiton on video cards. I have a GeForce 8800 GT (512RAM). It gives off a slight whistling sound when running ARMA 2?...This normal? It seems to run fine, no real lags, FPS are in the mid 40s range...... But the slight whistling sound when playing worries me some .... Is it too stressed? Or is that just the cards own fan?

[Fox '09 14]

must be a capacitor. It isn't a problem until it is a problem. Google how to fix squealing capacitors.. but only fix it if you really need to

[echo1 0]

It might be the fan is dying, but it's hard to say conclusively. As posted above, it's only really a problem when it starts to affect you... my laptop's CPU makes a whining noise every now and then because of power state changes...

Computers make silly noises sometimes, doesn't mean that something is broken =P

[meade95 0]

must be a capacitor. It isn't a problem until it is a problem. Google how to fix squealing capacitors.. but only fix it if you really need to

Proved solved - I checked the capacitors for leaking / buldging , etc. Couldn't see / find anything.

Called Dell (I have an 720 XPS system). Had 1 week left on my warranty. They are replacing all fans, Power Supply and Video card!...to solve the issue....having a tech come out to do it as well.....

Thanks for the help......and props to Dell! (they get some bad press, but I have to give it to them...they are fully taking care of me here).

[echo1 0]

This reminds of a discussion I had with some friends about laptop makers, it went like this:

FRIEND: Dell have great customer service. When I got my XPS, the screen was broken, but they came out to my house and replaced it.

OTHERS: Wow.

ME: Well IBM did something even better for me.

OTHERS: What?

ME: They sent a laptop that fucking works.

[meade95 0]

This reminds of a discussion I had with some friends about laptop makers, it went like this:

FRIEND: Dell have great customer service. When I got my XPS, the screen was broken, but they came out to my house and replaced it.

OTHERS: Wow.

ME: Well IBM did something even better for me.

OTHERS: What?

ME: They sent a laptop that fucking works.

Funny......But to Dell's credit, the system is 2 years old (XPS came with 2 year warranty standard).....And with this issue..... They aren't nickel and diming their way to try and figure out a solution. They are simply replacing every component that it likely could be... Fans, Power Supply and new video card (of which when I speak to the in-house tech, i"m going to see if they will let me upgrade my 8800 to one of the new GeForce 285X's ....With me paying the price difference.....

[BF2_Trooper 0]

I was installing an update for DIVX lastnight until there was a sudden power outage and so my computer shutdown during the install. My PC was connected through a UPS but it seemed that it was not able to keep the PC powered during an installation even for a few seconds.

Anyways, the outage only lasted for a few seconds, was able to turn my computer back on and my DIVX check for updates so that it uninstalled itself and reinstalled the new updated version.

So far everything seems to be working fine. But I still cant help but wonder if my hard drive has been corrupted in anyway since it loss power during an installation. Anything I should look for?

[echo1 0]

NTFS is quite good at not losing stuff. If shit has really hit the fan, it will attempt to run chkdsk as the PC boots up (there will be a big message telling you that there are errors on the disk and that it will check for them)

In reality, if there were any issues, you would have known about them by now.

[Rak 0]

So far everything seems to be working fine. But I still cant help but wonder if my hard drive has been corrupted in anyway since it loss power during an installation. Anything I should look for?

It happens to me all the time, you should be fine.

[BF2_Trooper 0]

Okay, thanks. I always thought that a hard shutdown was a really bad thing for the hard drive when it was writing something. I also reckon that my UPS does not have enough power to keep a PC running while the hard drive was writing and running at full speed? I had also just exited out of Supreme Commander 2 at the time so might video card must have still been running intensively.

Edited June 5, 2010 by BF2_Trooper