Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Hardware and Software => Topic started by: -ammo- on August 12, 2013, 10:39:11 AM
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I have a decent card now, but my frame rates do suffer now that I run AH in 2560x1440. The FR can become quite dismal in really busy situations. The bigger problem, which I really haven't diagnosed yet, is my computer will crash (freeze) while running AH. The screen freezes and I get an "ugly" loud humming sound emanating from the speakers. The only recourse is to do a hard reset. This happens WAY TOO OFTEN!
So, I was thinking of upgrading to one of the below cards. What do you think? Will I see a sizable positive difference over the performance of my current card: AMD 6950?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130921
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127696
Thanks in advance!
Ammo
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The bigger problem, which I really haven't diagnosed yet, is my computer will crash (freeze) while running AH. The screen freezes and I get an "ugly" loud humming sound emanating from the speakers. The only recourse is to do a hard reset. This happens WAY TOO OFTEN!
Where I'd start with that one if you haven't yet, is check the motherboard manufacturer's website for updated bios and chipset drivers. If they have them, take a backup and install them.
Wiley.
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your power supply maybe going out. I remember that noise, i thought it was my sound card. I replaced it but the noise continue. I kept ignoring it and finally the mobo would just go on a boot loop forever. it looks like noise in the speakers maybe one of the first signs that your ps is going out. I replaced mine and was lucky nothing else got damaged. that was the advise give to me by TD and it worked in my case.
semp
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I have a decent card now, but my frame rates do suffer now that I run AH in 2560x1440. The FR can become quite dismal in really busy situations. The bigger problem, which I really haven't diagnosed yet, is my computer will crash (freeze) while running AH. The screen freezes and I get an "ugly" loud humming sound emanating from the speakers. The only recourse is to do a hard reset. This happens WAY TOO OFTEN!
So, I was thinking of upgrading to one of the below cards. What do you think? Will I see a sizable positive difference over the performance of my current card: AMD 6950?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130921
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127696
Thanks in advance!
Ammo
I'd check the power supply. Is it old and/or cheap? If your computer frequently crashes with AH it may be due to multiple problems. Power instability, overheating etc.
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Thanks fellas,
I have a RAIDMAX PS - 730W. See link for details. Is this a POS that needs replacing?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817152036
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Thanks fellas,
I have a RAIDMAX PS - 730W. See link for details. Is this a POS that needs replacing?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817152036
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/281792-28-just-raidmax :rock
I suggest getting XFX 850 pro or something similar. Seasonic built, not bad price and steady as a rock.
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The name says it, only omitting the "o" between "P" and "S". No good reviews available, nor is it a well known quality brand. According to this it's manufactured by Andyson, who is known to produce a very large variety of quality, from DOA to solid rock: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/power-supply-oem-manufacturer,2913-8.html (http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/power-supply-oem-manufacturer,2913-8.html)
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For graphics cards, I always simply look at the most-recent "Best Graphics Cards for the Money" from Tom's Hardware. Pick your budget, and they'll tell you which card is best for that money.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107.html
For your crashes, could be a lot of things and generally takes a bit of knowhow to chase down and fix.
Overheating -- check that all of your fans are running and that cooling fins aren't clogged with fluff. Blow things out with canned air. Get software to check your CPU and GPU temperature (such as this: http://www.cpuid.com/downloads/hwmonitor/1.23-setup.exe ). Make sure your CPU and GPU aren't running at 100 C or something large like that.
Flaky power supply -- maybe, but I doubt it. I think it would be more likely that if your PSU is going bad, you would have more trouble than just an occasional crash. At any rate, if you run HWMonitor, it can show you voltages and log them, so that you can see if there is a dip somewhere preceding a crash.
Memory not seated correctly or memory going bad. Unlikely, but possible. Try testing your RAM: opening a cmd window and running mdsched. Or get memtest: http://www.memtest.org/#downiso
Make sure you have the latest drivers for everything (including graphics card).
Uninstall software that you never ever use (in case any buggy crapware is running in the background causing trouble, like old punkbuster).
If nothing else works, I'd try a fresh install of the OS and applications.
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I have a decent card now, but my frame rates do suffer now that I run AH in 2560x1440. The FR can become quite dismal in really busy situations. The bigger problem, which I really haven't diagnosed yet, is my computer will crash (freeze) while running AH. The screen freezes and I get an "ugly" loud humming sound emanating from the speakers. The only recourse is to do a hard reset. This happens WAY TOO OFTEN!
Ammo
I just went thru this with my onboard RealTek sound. I solved the issue by uninstalling the RealTek drivers and allowing ms default drivers to load. At 1st I dumped some tweaks I did, No joy. Every time I reinstalled the RealTek drivers I got the crash you describe. I have yet to crash with the ms drivers. Sound works fine.
Side note, I recently installed DX 9c. I use w7 so supposedly I did not need DX9. What I noticed as the download updated my DX files was that many things concerning DX sound were loaded in. Gonna try the Realtek drivers again.
I personally think that this is a software related issue, not hardware. Not to say its not hardware. I have had many sound issues in past that I misconstrued as a video issue.
good luck!
:joystick:
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I would second the bad PSU commentary. I also went that route once upon a time. Some hard-locks like you suggest, but it also manifested itself in other ways like for a while it was under-volting and my onboard NIC wasn't getting what it needed and would disconnect me every 30 minutes like clockwork. Thought it might be the motherboard until I saw the voltage readouts in my BIOS were WAY low.
It was a crappy PSU. An off-brand that touted high wattage but was really a POS. Check the BIOS and if possible run a utility inside Windows that can track things like CPU heat and voltage (emphasis on the voltage) and keep track of what it's saying.
Your video card is still good. Should be more than able to run that resolution without problems. Hell I'm running a 6970 at 3840x1024 resolution with great results and very high detail settings.
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The NVidia 660 Ti may give measurably better performance than your current AMD 6950, but you probably won't be able to detect it with an Eyeball Mk. I. The NVidia 770 would be better.
As for the lock-ups: you may have to track down and eliminate each one of the bugs mentioned in the suggestions above. Debugging is a bear. Sorry. :(
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Folks, I appreciate the responses. I download and installed the app mentioned above to monitor voltage and temps and see my vid card is AVERAGING 87 C when playing AH. My guess it gets too hot and crashes the PC. Thanks much!
So, now I have a reason to buy a new case, a new vid card, PS, and a water cooling system :aok
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According to a PDF file I d/l'd a while ago from the XFX support site:
"The normal temperature range of a video card is up to 95 C under load. We expect that in most cases a card will not break into the high 80s but large cards under load can get as hot as 95 C."
But clearly, cooler is better.
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Average operating temps can vary from card to card. It really depends on the heatsinks and fans and how much can be dissipated easily.
I would say 87C is not overheating, though.
That's not the problem, IMO.
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Ammo, you would be well served to post up your system details and a dxdiag, but if you have already taken steps to buy new equipment. . .
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Average operating temps can vary from card to card. It really depends on the heatsinks and fans and how much can be dissipated easily.
I would say 87C is not overheating, though.
That's not the problem, IMO.
Yep his power supply is said to be one of the worst ones on the market, I'd replace that as a first step. Once upon a time I made the stupidity of using a cheap PSU and the computer was pretty stable at first but then slowly (over a year or so) started crashing more and more and would not boot sometimes on first try. It also didn't overclock much even from the beginning. After I replaced the PSU with a quality one I found that it started to boot nicely again and I could overclock it 800Mhz higher than before. I was almost sure that it had some hardware problem in the motherboard, ram or CPU causing the instability but no - it was the PSU all the way.
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I would look for cpu temp, graphics temp first.
Some AMD cpu's needs one or two patches, because without them, timers used in some games go bananas.
Is AH the only game that have your machine freeze up ?
The sound you describing could well be the on-board sound-chip, and like someone wrote, updating motherboard drivers, specially the sound drivers could be a good idea.
If your machine is over-clocked, I suggest undoing that while you find out what root cause is.
Also I suggest you post your machine hardware setup
<S> !
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Thanks again fellas. Below is a snapshot of DXDIAG and my hardware specs. I honestly don't know what is valued information vice chaff, so I post everything. Sorry if this was unnecessary.
ASROCK Z77 Extreme4 LGA 1155 MB
XFX Double D Radeon 6950 Video card 2GB 256 bit(2560x1440) and it's slightly overclocked
Intel I7 Sandy Bridge 2600K @ 3.60 GHz
G Skillz Ripjaw DDR3 8 GB memory
Intel Cherryville 120 GB SSD
2 x 3TB Samsung 32MB/s SATA HDs (storage)
(http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb1/bigsargewells/HardwareMonitor.png) (http://s207.photobucket.com/user/bigsargewells/media/HardwareMonitor.png.html)
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System Information
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Time of this report: 8/14/2013, 17:45:48
Machine name: IPFREELY-PC
Operating System: Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit (6.1, Build 7601) Service Pack 1 (7601.win7sp1_gdr.130318-1533)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
System Model: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
BIOS: BIOS Date: 06/15/12 14:32:36 Ver: 04.06.05
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2600K CPU @ 3.40GHz (8 CPUs), ~3.4GHz
Memory: 8192MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 8086MB RAM
Page File: 2844MB used, 13324MB available
Windows Dir: C:\Windows
DirectX Version: DirectX 11
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
User DPI Setting: 96 DPI (100 percent)
System DPI Setting: 96 DPI (100 percent)
DWM DPI Scaling: Disabled
DxDiag Version: 6.01.7601.17514 64bit Unicode
------------
DxDiag Notes
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Display Tab 1: No problems found.
Sound Tab 1: No problems found.
Sound Tab 2: No problems found.
Sound Tab 3: No problems found.
Input Tab: No problems found.
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DirectX Debug Levels
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Direct3D: 0/4 (retail)
DirectDraw: 0/4 (retail)
DirectInput: 0/5 (retail)
DirectMusic: 0/5 (retail)
DirectPlay: 0/9 (retail)
DirectSound: 0/5 (retail)
DirectShow: 0/6 (retail)
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Display Devices
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Card name: AMD Radeon HD 6900 Series
Manufacturer: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
Chip type: AMD Radeon Graphics Processor (0x6719)
DAC type: Internal DAC(400MHz)
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_6719&SUBSYS_31211682&REV_00
Display Memory: 1725 MB
Dedicated Memory: 2034 MB
Shared Memory: 3786 MB
Current Mode: 2560 x 1440 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor Name: ViewSonic VP2770 SERIES
Monitor Model: VP2770 SERIES
Monitor Id: VSC832B
Native Mode: 2560 x 1440(p) (59.951Hz)
Output Type: DVI
Driver Name: aticfx64.dll,aticfx64.dll,aticfx64.dll,aticfx32,aticfx32,aticfx32,atiumd64.dll,atidxx64.dll,atidxx64.dll,atiumdag,atidxx32,atidxx32,atiumdva,atiumd6a.cap,atitmm64.dll
Driver File Version: 8.17.0010.1172 (English)
Driver Version: 9.12.0.0
DDI Version: 11
Driver Model: WDDM 1.1
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Driver Date/Size: 12/19/2012 22:08:04, 1151488 bytes
WHQL Logo'd: Yes
WHQL Date Stamp:
Device Identifier: {D7B71EE2-2459-11CF-A671-2B11BEC2C535}
Vendor ID: 0x1002
Device ID: 0x6719
SubSys ID: 0x31211682
Revision ID: 0x0000
Driver Strong Name: oem26.inf:ATI.Mfg.NTamd64.6.1:ati2mtag_NICayman:9.12.0.0:pci\ven_1002&dev_6719
Rank Of Driver: 00E62001
Video Accel: ModeMPEG2_A ModeMPEG2_C
Deinterlace Caps: {6E8329FF-B642-418B-BCF0-BCB6591E255F}: Format(In/Out)=(YUY2,YUY2) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,1) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX
D3D9 Overlay: Not Supported
DXVA-HD: Not Supported
DDraw Status: Enabled
D3D Status: Enabled
AGP Status: Enabled
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Sound Devices
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Description: Speakers (High Definition Audio Device)
Default Sound Playback: Yes
Default Voice Playback: Yes
Hardware ID: HDAUDIO\FUNC_01&VEN_10EC&DEV_0899&SUBSYS_18491898&REV_1000
Manufacturer ID: 1
Product ID: 65535
Type: WDM
Driver Name: HdAudio.sys
Driver Version: 6.01.7601.17514 (English)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
WHQL Logo'd: Yes
Date and Size: 11/20/2010 12:44:23, 350208 bytes
Other Files:
Driver Provider: Microsoft
HW Accel Level: Basic
Cap Flags: 0xF1F
Min/Max Sample Rate: 100, 200000
Static/Strm HW Mix Bufs: 1, 0
Static/Strm HW 3D Bufs: 0, 0
HW Memory: 0
Voice Management: No
EAX(tm) 2.0 Listen/Src: No, No
I3DL2(tm) Listen/Src: No, No
Sensaura(tm) ZoomFX(tm): No
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...
Display Memory: 1725 MB
Dedicated Memory: 2034 MB
Shared Memory: 3786 MB
...
This puzzles me. "Display Memory" should be 2 GB.
This reminds me of the issue I had with my old X58-based mobo: http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,340863.0.html (http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,340863.0.html)
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While I am not a fan of RealTek onboard audio I would still prefer their driver to the Microsoft driver. Probably you allowed the MS driver to install during Windows installation, or it was updated automatically (never a good thing in my opinion). This may seem like a small issue, but once things heat up on your system with even a slight overclock, and a PSU that is edgy you will see issues like you are having.
I would suggest testing with OCCT (http://www.ocbase.com/) to verify system stability.
I'm sure you will get a few more recommendations, too.
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A very high percentage of game crashes can be attributed to the Microsoft supplied sound driver. It does create stability problems, when it gets under load.