Author Topic: video output troubles.  (Read 42982 times)

Spectere

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Re: video output troubles.
« Reply #15 on: March 15, 2011, 07:51:15 PM »
Hmm...

For Half-Life mods, all you should have to do is extract the mod folder into "Steam\steamapps\YourName\half-life".  I believe it will automatically appear in your Steam list when you go back into the Library section.  If that doesn't do it, restarting Steam should force it to pick up the mod.  Half-Life WAD files don't function in the same way as Doom WADs.  WADs in Half-Life are basically just texture packs.  They don't have any game code or map data like Doom WADs do.

STALKER is really weird when it comes to mods.  I had a hell of a time getting STALKER Complete 2009 working because there were Thumbs.db files in the textures directory (which, by all rights, should affect precisely dick).  Actually, give that a shot.  Do a search inside of the textures directory in the Super Mod folder for "Thumbs.db," including hidden and system files, and delete any that show up.
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MortifiedocAlot

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Re: video output troubles.
« Reply #16 on: March 15, 2011, 10:32:21 PM »
Ah, there's the specalists. My god, that game is amazing.


MortifiedocAlot

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Re: video output troubles.
« Reply #17 on: March 27, 2011, 07:38:09 PM »
Well my card crashed again, and I really should upgrade so I'm going to place an order. I just have EVEN MORE questions.

http://enterbf3.com/battlefield-3-minimum-requirements.php

I'm assuming "video" memory on the HD 5830 is 1 gig, while the memory = ram?

I'm pretty dead set on this card, and I like what I see, BUT I should probably get some more ram as I evidently have 2.75 gigs...


Spectere

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Re: video output troubles.
« Reply #18 on: March 28, 2011, 02:28:55 AM »
Yeah, the HD 5830 has 1GB of video RAM.  And yeah, RAM = memory (it stands for random access memory).

Regarding your system RAM, you have enough for games.  Almost all games are 32-bit, so they can't use more than 2GB at a time, but your system will be able to multitask a bit better with more RAM since it won't have to keep swapping a bunch of OS stuff back and forth to your hard drive.  It will probably improve game startup and shutdown times as well.

I'd recommend at least 4GB.  I had that on my last system and really had a hard time using all of it at once.  My currently system has 6GB and I can't see any reason to put more in at the moment.
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MortifiedocAlot

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Re: video output troubles.
« Reply #19 on: March 28, 2011, 03:57:46 AM »
For the Witcher 2 it recommends 4 gigs, but I'll wait and see.


Spectere

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Re: video output troubles.
« Reply #20 on: March 28, 2011, 09:54:59 PM »
They probably recommend 4GB because it would give the best overall experience.  Swapping data between the hard drive and RAM really kills performance.

The highest RAM use I've seen in a game is probably either GTA4 or WoW.  The former used 1.7GB at one point and the latter actually crashed when it tried to consume more than 2GB (though I'm almost positive that it was because of an engine bug; that hasn't happened since Cataclysm came out).
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MortifiedocAlot

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Re: video output troubles.
« Reply #21 on: April 01, 2011, 03:28:02 AM »
Okay, now I was in the middle of a game and my power simply just turned off. Now I'm afraid it might be my power supply, I'll see soon enough anyways.

Well, it looks like it's running good now. Can't exactly fit my hard drives in my case, but it all seems to be running now. At least I hope so, the installation guide was a bit confusing.

Well, now I just had the same problem (middle of a game, suddenly power shuts off) and now when I turn it on it turns off within a few seconds. So what gives? Is my power supply botched? It seems like it should have enough power to run everything (There's a lot of lose ends I'm not even using, and it seemed to run fine when I wasn't running any resource demanding games). I switched outlets so I know that's not the problem, and it doesn't seem to be the fault of my surge protector.
« Last Edit: April 01, 2011, 06:09:45 PM by MortifiedocAlot »


MortifiedocAlot

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Re: video output troubles.
« Reply #22 on: April 01, 2011, 08:02:07 PM »
Removed the new card and put in the old and got the same problem. Could it be a loose wire somewhere? I'm running out of ideas.

Also is it important what order the side power cords for my graphics card go into it? The slots seem identical and I've switched them and nothing happened.


MortifiedocAlot

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Re: video output troubles.
« Reply #23 on: April 02, 2011, 05:19:53 PM »
Quick question, would resetting the CMOS memory be beneficial in any way? I was using programs that monitored temp and increased my fans rate of speed, soI suppose they could have messed something up in my BIOS somehow.

What are the risks in doing this?


Spectere

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Re: video output troubles.
« Reply #24 on: April 03, 2011, 02:28:04 AM »
If the power just shuts off, odds are it is the power supply.

The BIOS settings generally only affect the system startup process.  Barring some very specific settings (or if you push an overclock too far) it generally doesn't affect the system after it boots.
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MortifiedocAlot

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Re: video output troubles.
« Reply #25 on: April 03, 2011, 03:22:34 AM »
At this point I'm assuming you're right. I'll leave it off for hours and it will still shut off within a second, and I really don't feel like taking apart and putting everything back together just to see if it's an overheating issue (which I really doubt).

So, uh, what range should I aim for as far as PSUs go? I have a Radeon HD 5830, a EVGA nForce 680i LT SLI mobo (http://www.evga.com/support/manuals/files/122-CK-NF67.pdf), an intel quad core CPU and some small generic sound card.

I'm thinking something like this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371030


Also I must say, thanks a lot for the help. Like, everything.


Spectere

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Re: video output troubles.
« Reply #26 on: April 03, 2011, 07:13:41 PM »
I definitely wouldn't skimp on the PSU.  Even if I were to build a low-end system I probably still wouldn't spend less than $80-90 on the PSU.  This one (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139009) is quite a bit more money  than the one that you picked ($140 vs. $60) but it's going to be able to handle pretty much anything you throw at it.

PSUs gradually lose the ability to handle their maximum wattage as they age, and they typically get warmer when you get closer to the maximum wattage.  I have a 900W in my system and many power-sucking components (i7 930, upper-middle-spec Gigabyte board, HD 5830, X-Fi, 5 hard drives, and 2 optical drives) and the air that the power supply vents can hardly even be considered warm.  The unit is also three years old, so it isn't exactly a spring chicken.

The one that you picked would probably work well.  It's a good unit by a good company.  I would still overspec it to accommodate upgrades and so that it could handle high loads better.
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MortifiedocAlot

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Re: video output troubles.
« Reply #27 on: April 03, 2011, 08:31:17 PM »
Shit, that's not exactly what I want to hear, but I'll probably go that route (buying a new power supply in two or so years will be a bitch).

I still want to know if there's anything I can do to test what might be wrong? I'm fairly sure that it's my power supply (not an overheat problem, my RAM was running fine prior to this, my mobo lights light up [which is one thing that bothers me, as the power supply can do something and isn't completely dead]and it's not my card as I have switched them around), but I have no clue what I have for a power supply and I want to make damn sure that this will work when I pay that much money for a new part.


Spectere

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Re: video output troubles.
« Reply #28 on: April 04, 2011, 02:03:41 AM »
If the problem is definitely the power supply, the fact that it's shutting off is good.  That's another thing that crappy power supplies tend not to have: any sort of regulation.  Good power supplies will kill the DC power if it can't deal with the load or reaches too high of a temperature.  Bad PSUs will happily kill themselves (and quite possibly other components) if you overload them.

There really isn't a good way to test it unless you get a very good tester that can put it under specific loads.  Most cheap testers only test voltage and they do it under zero load.

The next time your system shuts off, put your hand against the power supply vent on the back.  If it's uncomfortably hot, your power supply can no longer deal with the load that's being put on it.  There was a Dell XPS system that came into my workplace a while back in which that happened.  The system was about four years old and had a high-end video card for the time and merely sitting on the title screen for World of Warcraft would shut the system down within ten minutes and the power supply would become uncomfortably hot to the touch.  Replacing the unit did the trick.
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MortifiedocAlot

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Re: video output troubles.
« Reply #29 on: April 04, 2011, 04:14:22 AM »
It plain just doesn't have the time to get hot. You're more then likely right, as it makes the most sense out of anything (I really wonder how damaged my 8800 is).