NZFF

Finally got a new computer

E8500
8gb ram
GTX280
780i Mobo
640gb harddrive x2
1000w PSU
Vista 64 bit
Aero disabled as well as UAC

The good news: I installed FSX, downloaded and installed the SP1 update, started it up...thought to myself why not? So I went into options and stuck all the sliders up to their maximum, unlocked the fps, 1650x1050 res (I think it is?), kept bloom off, Ai settings were left as default and no scenery shadows. All good, loaded up a flight at TNCM in the default 737...30 seconds to load it.....WOW! Everything was so clear! Moment of truth...pressed ctrl and z twice...FPS was sitting between 30-60!! I haven't even touched the fsx.cfg file yet either. My old computer doesn't even compare, that one was struggling along with everything on low, no ai etc.

The bad news: Out of the 7 games I've put on so far, only 2 are working properly. FSX and Unreal tournament 3. However Far cry 2 (which came bundled with the video card), world in conflict, company of heroes, fallout 3 and need for speed undercover all have some minor or big issues.
Far cry 2: Goes great until about...3 minutes into a game, screen goes black, stays like that for 10 seconds up to a few minutes. Comes back to the game, and it's stutter as all heck. I had a similar problem on my old computer with TM nations, the screen would flicker then come back and bang, my AA had gone. I'm not sure what's causing this with far cry 2 though, my AA is still there. It's almost as if there's something working in the background that takes priority. Oh yes, when I look around in FC2, I see a bunch of black lines along the sky, I've seen this before in other games but never on my system.
World in Conflict: Has a similar problem, the black lines appear after a few minutes of playing it, and get worse and worse. Eventually the game crashes.
Company of Heroes: A bit different...I start up a game, for 2 seconds it looks like it's going well, then everything dissapears and goes black, it all reappears as if it was 'flickering on and off' the textures are all screwed in it as well. No idea what's goig on with it, never seen it before either.
Fallout 3: I still haven't got out of the vault yet, but noticed something weird. When I look in certain directions, you can see light through walls. I had this problem with startship troopers on my old pc, but never fixed it or even knew where to start.
NFS Undercover: Probably the least worried about this. Basically, every few minutes or so, the game will freeze for a split second, then FPS will have dropped a bit but regains its self pretty quick. The shadows from buildings look like they're 'looping' too. The shadow looks like it's far away, but all of a sudden it's right on your car, then back to where it was.

Now when I got the computer, I knew I would have some problems with games, being completely new to Vista and 64 bit and all. Everything is completely different to what I'm used to on XP. I'm going to download updates for some of the games today and see if it helps, but I'm nsure it will as FC2 updated automatically the first time I started it and hasn't helped.

I guess at least FSX will keep me busy until I can find an answer to the problems I have...it's probably something stupid like running the games in compatibility mode but that didn't make a difference for FC2. Oh yes one last thing, with my old computer I had to download a thing for the dual core I had on that (AMD 3800+) it was a little program that optimized the CPU so I could play older games (specifically BF1942) without it crashing, as if I didn't it would crash after 5 minutes of playing the game. I'm wondering if it's the same sort of thing with this one...does Intel have a similar program? The thing that got me on this though, is that the games AREN'T old and have this problem. But hey, I Guess it wouldn't hurt to help would it?

Thanks for any help.

Those games came with the GTX280 right?
Also have you downloaded the lates drivers?

30-60? you should be getting more than that on default stuff.

I was getting like 40-90+

Great computer though.......congratulations.

Did you put it together? Pics?

Latest drivers etc were put on by the guys I got it from (DragonPC), only far cry 2 came with the card. The rest I've either had here waiting for a new pc or hired on the way to pick up the PC.

Hmm , The other games could be incompatiable with your graphics card. Weird. Try downloading the latest version of Drivers. I had a similar issue with FSX and the blue screens and it turned out my graphics card was faulty. Good luck and if it continues to happen take it back to your OPC shop as you will have a warranty for 1 year so you won't have to pay for anything.

i highly doubt they would bundle a game incompatable with the card... more likely driver or hardware issues

warranty may end but youve allways got the CGA (consumer gaur...)

Mmm...had a read around, looks like the drivers might have not been put on properly, or something else. I downloaded the drivers and installed them again..hasn't made any difference. If I can't et it any better by Monday I'll probably give DragonPC a call and ask them about it.

Edit: Ok, I took a shot of what error I get when FC2 crashes. After it has CTD'ed, in the little bar with the time, programs etc, this is what shows up with a yellow ! icon



From what I've read, it's a problem with FC2 corrupting the drivers, or the drivers hadn't been installed properly.

pilot.masman wrote:

QUOTE (pilot.masman @ Dec 25 2008, 07:02 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

i highly doubt they would bundle a game incompatable with the card... more likely driver or hardware issues

warranty may end but youve allways got the CGA (consumer gaur...)

hehehe, i got the video card drivers taht was bundled with my video card on CD, when i installed it i got a these drivers are not compatible with the video card you have installed message!!!! i would as others have suggested download and update the video drivers, also it could be some driver issue with the motherboard drivers or that, hope you get it sorted!!

Looks like FSX does have a problem afterall. 20 minutes of flying around or so, and half the screen will fill up with a sort of red/pinkish checkerboard for a second, then dissapear. Sort of like the same thing you find on a badly configured printer!

Downloaded SP2? or have you got acceleration?

Haven't got SP2 yet, don't think I'll bother until I know what's wrong. Have been told the video card COULD have a fault....though with all the testing the shop did I doubt it.

Peppermint wrote:

QUOTE (Peppermint @ Dec 22 2008, 04:00 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

... though with all the testing the shop did I doubt it.

Hmmm ... I wouldn't bet on that

I've heard they just install the O/S and check the most common things. Running GFX-intensive games - or even 3D-Bench is usually a bridge too far for them.

Yep. Well, had my first reformat with Vista today. Installed the drivers on the CDs, tested it out...still no difference. Updated the drivers, no difference made.

I actually thought of something, with XFX there's just the regular GTX280, then there's 2 versions of the XXX edition which is 'factory-overclocked' They're both the same, just one comes with Farcry 2 and the other Assasin's creed. It got me thinking, could this one have come out of the factory overclocked too much? Does anyone reckon I might see a difference if I got them to try out a regular GTX280? From videos I've seen on youtube with people overclocking their video cards and what happens if they push them too far, it's almost the exact same thing happening to me.

One other thing I noticed was around the bottom of the case where the PSU is, the plastic side panel has a HUGE amount of static electricity on it, run the back of your hand down it a cm away and all the hairs will stand up. I can't imagine this is good for anything in the PC, could the PSU be 'leaking' or something? Or would the static be expected out of a 1000w PSU?

Peppermint wrote:

QUOTE (Peppermint @ Dec 22 2008, 08:47 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Or would the static be expected out of a 1000w PSU?

A one kilowatt PSU!!???? Are you heating the house as well?

That's going to be an expensive PC to run! All that static doesn't sound right to me either.

Something sounds really dodgy there mate. Take it back I would

Yep, won't be taking it back until after Christmas though. If there is a fault with the video card I might ask them just to put the regular GTX280 in it rather than wait a week or more for another XXX edition one.

The thing I can't understand is that 2 of the games I've tried go fine after they freeze for a bit about 5 minutes into a game. Yet other games like FC2 and the Crysis demo will either have the flickery textures or crash completely, last time I tried the crysis demo I actually got a blue screen error

Peppermint wrote:

QUOTE (Peppermint @ Dec 23 2008, 01:03 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yep, won't be taking it back until after Christmas though. If there is a fault with the video card I might ask them just to put the regular GTX280 in it rather than wait a week or more for another XXX edition one.

The thing I can't understand is that 2 of the games I've tried go fine after they freeze for a bit about 5 minutes into a game. Yet other games like FC2 and the Crysis demo will either have the flickery textures or crash completely, last time I tried the crysis demo I actually got a blue screen error

BSOD ... hmmm ... not good. I think we're all feeling your pain Is the PC generally stable - apart from when you try to play GFX intensive games?

Have you tried grabbing the latest nVidia drivers off the nVidia site (and used some cleanup utility to get rid of the old one)?

One thing you may try and do is to find a copy of Ubuntu (Linux) and run it as a "Live CD". It won't touch your HD at all ... but you could let it run a while and see if anything goes wrong. If it does, then you *know* it's your hardware. It ought to find your network, pick up your Internet connevction etc. so you can browse around a bit as you wait for the crash

Well, when I first fired it up after connecting everything, I noticed on the desktop the screen would flicker half of it black...hard to explain, but similar to a badly tuned TV set...instead of the screen rolling up/down half of it would dissapear. It was only doing that for about 30 minutes or so, hasn't happend again. Thought when I'm looking through folders and click on it, the screen will sometime flick black in the background for a second.

Tried the driver thing, no difference. That was the main reson I done the reformat, so I could try the drivers off the CD first, to see if they made a difference.

I probably should try that ubuntu thing (though I have no idea what it is ), but honestly, I'd rather just leave the PC as it is at the moment, at least I can play 2 of the games on here after they freeze. Rather just wait till after Chrissy and see what dragonPC says, and see what they'll do.