Official "Computer Troubles" Thread

[Chevron]

No. Don't get an 8500. Like i said 4670 is R1100 and will give at least 10x more performance. 9600GT is like R1500.

[Machine]

No. Don't get an 8500. Like i said 4670 is R1100 and will give at least 10x more performance. 9600GT is like R1500.

QFE

Yeah, listen the Chevron he know what he's talking about, the 8500GT is a terrible card.

Take a look at this graphics card chart:

[Bonezmann]

I need some help, sometimes when I play games like Unreal Tournament 3 or WoW, my pc freezes every now and then for about 15 seconds before continuing and it sometimes even restarts. Could this be an overheating problem?

[GeometriX]

Sure, it could be an overheating problem. It could also be your RAM bugging out, your video card dying or your power supply choking up your system. It could be a driver issue or electromagnetic interference for all we know.

People don't give themselves enough credit for troubleshooting, seriously. If you've got an idea (overheating, in this case), test it out. Get something like speedfan or rivatuner to keep an eye on your temps while you're playing. Just run the game in a window and have speedfan open. If it is a temperature issue, clean out all your fans and reseat heatsinks with fresh thermal paste.

[Chevron]

Check your hard drive for bad sectors.

[Lysis]

Right, so I got myself a shiny new GTX260 with the revised 216 processor core. Now my problem is SiSoft Sandra says that my card only has 192 stream processors. If this is true then I wish to return my card, the only reason why I got it in the first place was because it was advertised as having the revised core.

Before I phone up the company I brought it from I want to know if there are any other programs like SiSoft I can use to verify that my card does indeed only have 192 stream processors.

Gpu-z says it has 216 stream processors, but claims it is manufacctured on a 65nm process; which means that the card is still not living up to the advertising (it should be a 55nm process).

More importantly I am not getting the performance boost I have seen in online benchmarks over my previous 8800GT.

Anybody know what is going on?

[Graal]

No. Don't get an 8500. Like i said 4670 is R1100 and will give at least 10x more performance. 9600GT is like R1500.

Sorry, I keep saying 8500GT. What I actually want is 8800GT. The card I had was 8500GT, I guess that's why I keep getting all confused. What's a 8800GT going for now?

[K1LLER11]

now i know everyone here knows that windows is a piece of sh!t but im going 2 go ahead and ask this question, my moms PC at her office which has XP on it but this morning it started to stuff around with us.
if i boot up normally it gets past the welcome screen but the desktop doesnt appear. i have to end explorer.exe and start a new explorer task to get the desktop; i have tried ending services and startup procecess through msconfig but to no avail. should i just re-install XP?

[Wesley]

I need some help, sometimes when I play games like Unreal Tournament 3 or WoW, my pc freezes every now and then for about 15 seconds before continuing and it sometimes even restarts. Could this be an overheating problem?

Check your hard drive for bad sectors, clock your graphics card lower if you have overclocked it previously, and start thinking about how old your PSU is. Then come back to us.

Right, so I got myself a shiny new GTX260 with the revised 216 processor core. Now my problem is SiSoft Sandra says that my card only has 192 stream processors.
Gpu-z says it has 216 stream processors, but claims it is manufacctured on a 65nm process. More importantly I am not getting the performance boost I have seen in online benchmarks over my previous 8800GT.

Anybody know what is going on?

Update your drivers to the latest 180.xx version. Those are the so-called 'Big-bang' drivers, and they'll ensure that Sandra and GPU-Z reports your card's stats correctly.

What's a 8800GT going for now?

Two thousand rand.

now i know everyone here knows that windows is a piece of sh!t but im going 2 go ahead and ask this question, my moms PC at her office which has XP on it but this morning it started to stuff around with us.
if i boot up normally it gets past the welcome screen but the desktop doesnt appear. i have to end explorer.exe and start a new explorer task to get the desktop; i have tried ending services and startup procecess through msconfig but to no avail. should i just re-install XP?

You have some corrupt registry entries. Repair your Windows install with a Windows disc. Make sure to find the product key you're currently using first with something like Everest.

[Graal]

Two thousand rand.

Good lord. But it's such an old card...

[Lysis]

I am running 181.20 and as far as I know those are only a month old, the latest ones being 181.22. Surely it won't make that big a difference? The online benchmarks and reviews all used older drivers and they still got better frames on systems similar to mine.

[Binnacle]

Sorry, I keep saying 8500GT. What I actually want is 8800GT. The card I had was 8500GT, I guess that's why I keep getting all confused. What's a 8800GT going for now?

If you want to go for a 8800GT then you may as well go for a 9800GT, it's basically 8800 given a die shrink so it will probably be a bit cooler and will probably OC better. But if the 88 is cheaper then go for it.

http://www.ikonicit.co.za/index.php?...product_id=554

R1799.

[Chevron]

Right, so I got myself a shiny new GTX260 with the revised 216 processor core. Now my problem is SiSoft Sandra says that my card only has 192 stream processors. If this is true then I wish to return my card, the only reason why I got it in the first place was because it was advertised as having the revised core.

Before I phone up the company I brought it from I want to know if there are any other programs like SiSoft I can use to verify that my card does indeed only have 192 stream processors.

Gpu-z says it has 216 stream processors, but claims it is manufacctured on a 65nm process; which means that the card is still not living up to the advertising (it should be a 55nm process).

More importantly I am not getting the performance boost I have seen in online benchmarks over my previous 8800GT.

Anybody know what is going on?

Um. AIBs aren't allowed to advertise their 55nm cards as such. nVidia forbids it because of all the old 65nm stock they still have to sell. That's actually why you don't have a gtx265.

If your box advertises it's 55nm I'd be very shocked.

[Lysis]

I'll give you a picture of it if you like.

[Wesley]

Um. AIBs aren't allowed to advertise their 55nm cards as such. nVidia forbids it because of all the old 65nm stock they still have to sell. That's actually why you don't have a gtx265.

If your box advertises it's 55nm I'd be very shocked.

I'll give you a picture of it if you like.

So your third-party manufacturer of your GTX265 actually advertised that it had 216 stream processors and was built on a 55nm process? Before you take the card back, load Rivatuner onto your pc to verify what Sandra reports.

Otherwise, I'd start thinking about taking your pc to the shop you bought the card from and show them your reports, and ask for your money back. And then go buy a HD4870 ;) lol

[Lysis]

That is indeed what I wanted to do, but I thought I had better ask you guys before I went and kicked up a fuss about nothing.

Could somebody more knowledgable than me verify that the B1 revision of the card is indeed the 216sp card (RivaTuner says that the card is the B1 revision).

[Wesley]

That is indeed what I wanted to do, but I thought I had better ask you guys before I went and kicked up a fuss about nothing.

Could somebody more knowledgable than me verify that the B1 revision of the card is indeed the 216sp card (RivaTuner says that the card is the B1 revision).

So far what I've found out is that the B1 revison is the one manufactured on a 55nm process, but I'm not sure whether it carries the 216 core or not. One website said the B3 revision is the last and latest one, and has the 216 core and the 55nm process.

In the meantime, you find updated versions of Sandra and GPU-Z and I'll keep on asking around for more info on the B1 revision. There is a known problem with GPU-Z not updating their databases regularly, so it may just be too outdated to recognise the 55nm process. Sandra usually never lies, so update it and see what happens.

While you're at it, google the '55nm Geforce GTX260 216 overclock thread' on Overclock.net and start reading from page one. Those people have been screwing around with that card for a few months now, so they've uncovered quite a bit of info on it.

[Lysis]

Thanks Snow Patrol. I am researching now. More importantly however, the card is severly underperforming, it does not even yield the rates the original GTX260 yields. I am getting almost exactly the same frames in games like crysis, STALKER Clear Sky and COD4 as I was getting with my old 8800GT.

[Wesley]

it does not even yield the rates the original GTX260 yields. I am getting almost exactly the same frames in games like crysis, STALKER Clear Sky and COD4 as I was getting with my old 8800GT.

But thats sheer lunacy! Even the A1 65nm revision of the GTX260 completely decimated all of Nvidia's previous generation cards! By the way, who manufactured your GTX260? And can you upload a picture of the box it came in? And then some pics of the card itself? I have a sneaking suspicion that your GTX260 came with the old G92 core that was used with the 9800GT...

[Lysis]

It was made by Innovision3D who seem to be related to Zotac in some way. I will upload some pics as soon as I can. I think you might be right there, the word G92b seemed to be thrown around a lot when I googled the B1 revision.

*Edit* I have done some testing and a particular underground level in Crysis Warhead yields a high fps, but there seems to be a problem with the lighting, the screen sometime flickers almost imperceptably and the shadows sometimes cut out large chunks of the environment. I am using the latest drivers, 181.22, so I have absolutely no idea what could be causing this.

Also the beginning of STALKER Clear Sky rapes my card (the very beginning is heavy on the new lighting effects), I get about 22fps, which is what I got with my 8800GT. So it seems as though I have a rather mixed bag here.

Cod4 gives me an average frame rate of about 90 frames, which again is what my 8800GT gave me.

All of my tests were done at the maximum DirectX9 settings with a 1280x1024 resolution.