9800 Pro feezes during 3D games

[Fish]

Hello all.

I installed my new ATI Radeon 9800 Pro (Hercules 3D Prophet) graphics
card recently and I've been having a few problems with it. AFAIK
everything is fine when using normal apps, but when I play 3D games my
system will freeze after about 30 minutes. I thought this might be an
overheating problem, but I'm not sure now. I don't know whether I need
a new graphics card, motherboard, power supply or what? Here's my
system spec and what I've tried so far...

CPU: Athlon 2400XP @ 2GHz
MB: PC Chips M848A (Rev: 2.1) (SIS chipset)
RAM: 512 Mb (2100)
OS: XP with SP1
450 W PSU QTEC

Other Stuff:
1 DVD Writer
1 CD-ROM
60 Gb HD
80 Gb HD
3 Case Fans

ATI Drivers:
Catalyst 4.5


When my system freezes I usually need to reset my PC. Sometimes I get
an error message and I can get back to the desktop, in which case my
screen updates become very slow. According to the error message my
graphics card has stopped responding, and the graphics is handled in
software.

The first thing I tried was updating my drivers. I got the latest 9800
Pro drivers (Catalyst 4.5) and the latest chipset drivers for my
motherboard (from SIS). This made no difference, after about 30
minutes of gaming my system froze again.

Because of the 30 minutes before the crash, I though I might have an
overheating problem. To check this I removed one side of my PC case
and moved a case fan to help circulate the air near the 9800 Pro. If
overheating was the problem, I'd expect this to solve it, or at least
provide me with more than 30 minutes of use. But this time the system
froze after 7 minutes! That was from a cold start, so I guess
temperature isn't the problem?

The next thing I thought about was my power supply. My PSU is a 450W
QTEC, and it had been running my old system for a few months. My
previous graphics card was a GF4 Ti (AGP 8x), and I never had any
problems with it. I was hoping my upgrade to the 9800 Pro would just
be simple swap, but it's not turing out like that. I know the 9800 Pro
cards are power hungry, but I think 450W should be enough to handle
it? To check this I installed Motherboard Monitor 5, and the results
were, erm, odd. Here they are:

Line Voltage/V
=======================
CPU 1.65
+2.5 2.54
+3.3 2.49 to 2.59
+5.00 3.31 to 4.45
+12.00 4.65 to 10.21
-12.00 -2.58 to -8.71
-5.00 0

These readings show the range over a 30 minute interval. The readings
are so bad that I dismissed them as being nonsense. In case the load
of the 9800 Pro was somehow causing these fluctuations, I reinstalled
my old GF4 and repeated the measurements - they were the same (more or
less). Since Motherboard Monitor 5 is supposed to be compatible with
my motherboard (well, it appears in the list) I reckon that my
motherboard is probably just lying about the voltages. I checked my
PSU in a friend's PC (MSI motherboard) and the voltages are all right;
the only deviations were the +5.00 V line which read about 5.11 V, and
the +12.00 V line which read about 11.60 V.

So does this mean that my motherboard is faulty? I haven't updated my
BIOS yet because I don't like changing that unless I really have to.
Could updating my BIOS solve my problem? Or at least solve the strange
(and presumably wrong) readings from Motherboard Monitor 5?

More recently I tried reducing my AGP speed from 8x to 4x, and I
played a game for nearly 2 hours without any problems. I concluded
that it might be a problem that affects only AGP 8x. That said, my
previous graphics card used AGP 8x and that was fine - so that'd
suggest a problem with the 9800 Pro, or a compatibility problem
between the 9800 Pro and my SIS chipset? Anyway, I then switched back
to AGP 8x expecting my PC to crash after 30 minutes, but it didn't. It
crashed after 1 hour and 15 minutes! I concluded that my previous
conclusion was premature. Although I haven't had a system freeze while
in AGP 4x mode, I'm not convinced it won't happen (yet). I will stay
in AGP 4x mode for now to see what happens.

BTW, has anyone got a 9800 Pro working with a PC Chips M848A (rev
2.1)?

Now, I know the obvious conclusion is that my 9800 Pro card is faulty!
But is there a way I can be sure? The fact that the games work for 30
minutes or so shows that something must be OK.

I'm not sure what to try next. I'd begrudgingly buy another
motherboard to get things working, but I don't want to do it unless I
know it will fix things!

Does anyone have any insight or suggestions they could offer? I could
do with some expert advice!


Cheers.

 

[KerplunKuK]

The next thing I thought about was my power supply. My PSU is a 450W

QTEC, and it had been running my old system for a few months. My
previous graphics card was a GF4 Ti (AGP 8x), and I never had any
problems with it. I was hoping my upgrade to the 9800 Pro would just
be simple swap, but it's not turing out like that. I know the 9800 Pro
cards are power hungry, but I think 450W should be enough to handle
it? To check this I installed Motherboard Monitor 5, and the results
were, erm, odd. Here they are:

Line Voltage/V
=======================
CPU 1.65
+2.5 2.54
+3.3 2.49 to 2.59
+5.00 3.31 to 4.45
+12.00 4.65 to 10.21
-12.00 -2.58 to -8.71
-5.00 0

These readings show the range over a 30 minute interval. The readings
are so bad that I dismissed them as being nonsense. In case the load
of the 9800 Pro was somehow causing these fluctuations, I reinstalled
my old GF4 and repeated the measurements - they were the same (more or
less).

I have a Qtec 550, and I suffer the same problem. In the research I have
done it basically shows that QTEC PSU's are dire and are the cause of our
problems.

 

[Navid]

I have a Qtec 550, and I suffer the same problem. In the research I have
done it basically shows that QTEC PSU's are dire and are the cause of our
problems.

I have a 9600 pro. I have crashes when I overclock. I have so far
associated them with heat. But, I am curious about your findings. May be,
I have the same problem.
How does the 30-minute delay fit in the equation if the problem is the power
supply?
Thanks

 

[Dr Richard Cranium]

well lets explore some other aspects.

How well is your 9800 plugged in ? 450 watts should be enough and then some to run your
PC.
If the 9800 connector is loose - try to plug it into a different wire coming from the
power supply.

fans, I've had those fans pull down my entire system when they go faulty. suspect the
fans.

HDD's getting hot and going flaky on you. You moved maybe their one source of heat
dissipation. Yes i'm talking co-incidence maybe.

you could have a HDD going bad - this is also what those stinkers do to your power supply.

What does the inside of your power supply look like ? You trying to pump cool air through
a bag of dust bunnies ?

hope this helps,

** No Fate **

cheers,
dracman
Tomb Raider: Shotgun City
http://www.smokeypoint.com/tomb.htm

** Far Cry with Valerie as the Adventuress **
http://www.smokeypoint.org/farCry.htm

http://www.smokeypoint.org/traod/traod.html
http://www.smokeypoint.com/tombraider1/tombraider1pictures.htm
http://www.smokeypoint.com/tombraider1/tombraider1midaspics.htm

**savegame editors all versions Tomb Raider & TRAOD godmode
http://www.smokeypoint.com/tr2code.htm

http://www.smokeypoint.com/3dfx.htm
http://www.smokeypoint.com/My_PC.htm

** Win2k and winXP hi-res with TR1
http://www.smokeypoint.com/glidos.htm

** Tomb Raider 1 add on UB levels
http://www.smokeypoint.com/tomb2.htm#Tova

** GTA III vice City Character MOD
http://www.smokeypoint.com/uzi.htm#gta3

http://www.smokeypoint.com/uzi.htm
http://www.smokeypoint.com/tomb2.htm
http://www.smokeypoint.com/medipak.htm

**purchase Tomb Raider 1 PC CD **
http://www.smokeypoint.com/medipak.htm#tombraider1




: Hello all.
:
: I installed my new ATI Radeon 9800 Pro (Hercules 3D Prophet) graphics
: card recently and I've been having a few problems with it. AFAIK
: everything is fine when using normal apps, but when I play 3D games my
: system will freeze after about 30 minutes. I thought this might be an
: overheating problem, but I'm not sure now. I don't know whether I need
: a new graphics card, motherboard, power supply or what? Here's my
: system spec and what I've tried so far...
:
: CPU: Athlon 2400XP @ 2GHz
: MB: PC Chips M848A (Rev: 2.1) (SIS chipset)
: RAM: 512 Mb (2100)
: OS: XP with SP1
: 450 W PSU QTEC
:
: Other Stuff:
: 1 DVD Writer
: 1 CD-ROM
: 60 Gb HD
: 80 Gb HD
: 3 Case Fans
:
: ATI Drivers:
: Catalyst 4.5
:
:
: When my system freezes I usually need to reset my PC. Sometimes I get
: an error message and I can get back to the desktop, in which case my
: screen updates become very slow. According to the error message my
: graphics card has stopped responding, and the graphics is handled in
: software.
:
: The first thing I tried was updating my drivers. I got the latest 9800
: Pro drivers (Catalyst 4.5) and the latest chipset drivers for my
: motherboard (from SIS). This made no difference, after about 30
: minutes of gaming my system froze again.
:
: Because of the 30 minutes before the crash, I though I might have an
: overheating problem. To check this I removed one side of my PC case
: and moved a case fan to help circulate the air near the 9800 Pro. If
: overheating was the problem, I'd expect this to solve it, or at least
: provide me with more than 30 minutes of use. But this time the system
: froze after 7 minutes! That was from a cold start, so I guess
: temperature isn't the problem?
:
: The next thing I thought about was my power supply. My PSU is a 450W
: QTEC, and it had been running my old system for a few months. My
: previous graphics card was a GF4 Ti (AGP 8x), and I never had any
: problems with it. I was hoping my upgrade to the 9800 Pro would just
: be simple swap, but it's not turing out like that. I know the 9800 Pro
: cards are power hungry, but I think 450W should be enough to handle
: it? To check this I installed Motherboard Monitor 5, and the results
: were, erm, odd. Here they are:
:
: Line Voltage/V
: =======================
: CPU 1.65
: +2.5 2.54
: +3.3 2.49 to 2.59
: +5.00 3.31 to 4.45
: +12.00 4.65 to 10.21
: -12.00 -2.58 to -8.71
: -5.00 0
:
: These readings show the range over a 30 minute interval. The readings
: are so bad that I dismissed them as being nonsense. In case the load
: of the 9800 Pro was somehow causing these fluctuations, I reinstalled
: my old GF4 and repeated the measurements - they were the same (more or
: less). Since Motherboard Monitor 5 is supposed to be compatible with
: my motherboard (well, it appears in the list) I reckon that my
: motherboard is probably just lying about the voltages. I checked my
: PSU in a friend's PC (MSI motherboard) and the voltages are all right;
: the only deviations were the +5.00 V line which read about 5.11 V, and
: the +12.00 V line which read about 11.60 V.
:
: So does this mean that my motherboard is faulty? I haven't updated my
: BIOS yet because I don't like changing that unless I really have to.
: Could updating my BIOS solve my problem? Or at least solve the strange
: (and presumably wrong) readings from Motherboard Monitor 5?
:
: More recently I tried reducing my AGP speed from 8x to 4x, and I
: played a game for nearly 2 hours without any problems. I concluded
: that it might be a problem that affects only AGP 8x. That said, my
: previous graphics card used AGP 8x and that was fine - so that'd
: suggest a problem with the 9800 Pro, or a compatibility problem
: between the 9800 Pro and my SIS chipset? Anyway, I then switched back
: to AGP 8x expecting my PC to crash after 30 minutes, but it didn't. It
: crashed after 1 hour and 15 minutes! I concluded that my previous
: conclusion was premature. Although I haven't had a system freeze while
: in AGP 4x mode, I'm not convinced it won't happen (yet). I will stay
: in AGP 4x mode for now to see what happens.
:
: BTW, has anyone got a 9800 Pro working with a PC Chips M848A (rev
: 2.1)?
:
: Now, I know the obvious conclusion is that my 9800 Pro card is faulty!
: But is there a way I can be sure? The fact that the games work for 30
: minutes or so shows that something must be OK.
:
: I'm not sure what to try next. I'd begrudgingly buy another
: motherboard to get things working, but I don't want to do it unless I
: know it will fix things!
:
: Does anyone have any insight or suggestions they could offer? I could
: do with some expert advice!
:
:
: Cheers.




.................................................................
Posted via TITANnews - Uncensored Newsgroups Access-=Every Newsgroup - Anonymous, UNCENSORED, BROADBAND Downloads=-

 

[COCA COLA KID]

Did you uninstall all of your nvidia drivers wirthdriver cleaner?

 

[JB]

Hello all.

I installed my new ATI Radeon 9800 Pro (Hercules 3D Prophet) graphics
card recently and I've been having a few problems with it. AFAIK
everything is fine when using normal apps, but when I play 3D games my
system will freeze after about 30 minutes. I thought this might be an
overheating problem, but I'm not sure now. I don't know whether I need
a new graphics card, motherboard, power supply or what? Here's my
system spec and what I've tried so far...

CPU: Athlon 2400XP @ 2GHz
MB: PC Chips M848A (Rev: 2.1) (SIS chipset)
RAM: 512 Mb (2100)
OS: XP with SP1
450 W PSU QTEC

Other Stuff:
1 DVD Writer
1 CD-ROM
60 Gb HD
80 Gb HD
3 Case Fans

ATI Drivers:
Catalyst 4.5


When my system freezes I usually need to reset my PC. Sometimes I get
an error message and I can get back to the desktop, in which case my
screen updates become very slow. According to the error message my
graphics card has stopped responding, and the graphics is handled in
software.

The first thing I tried was updating my drivers. I got the latest 9800
Pro drivers (Catalyst 4.5) and the latest chipset drivers for my
motherboard (from SIS). This made no difference, after about 30
minutes of gaming my system froze again.

Because of the 30 minutes before the crash, I though I might have an
overheating problem. To check this I removed one side of my PC case
and moved a case fan to help circulate the air near the 9800 Pro. If
overheating was the problem, I'd expect this to solve it, or at least
provide me with more than 30 minutes of use. But this time the system
froze after 7 minutes! That was from a cold start, so I guess
temperature isn't the problem?

The next thing I thought about was my power supply. My PSU is a 450W
QTEC, and it had been running my old system for a few months. My
previous graphics card was a GF4 Ti (AGP 8x), and I never had any
problems with it. I was hoping my upgrade to the 9800 Pro would just
be simple swap, but it's not turing out like that. I know the 9800 Pro
cards are power hungry, but I think 450W should be enough to handle
it? To check this I installed Motherboard Monitor 5, and the results
were, erm, odd. Here they are:

Line Voltage/V
=======================
CPU 1.65
+2.5 2.54
+3.3 2.49 to 2.59
+5.00 3.31 to 4.45
+12.00 4.65 to 10.21
-12.00 -2.58 to -8.71
-5.00 0

These readings show the range over a 30 minute interval. The readings
are so bad that I dismissed them as being nonsense. In case the load
of the 9800 Pro was somehow causing these fluctuations, I reinstalled
my old GF4 and repeated the measurements - they were the same (more or
less). Since Motherboard Monitor 5 is supposed to be compatible with
my motherboard (well, it appears in the list) I reckon that my
motherboard is probably just lying about the voltages. I checked my
PSU in a friend's PC (MSI motherboard) and the voltages are all right;
the only deviations were the +5.00 V line which read about 5.11 V, and
the +12.00 V line which read about 11.60 V.

So does this mean that my motherboard is faulty? I haven't updated my
BIOS yet because I don't like changing that unless I really have to.
Could updating my BIOS solve my problem? Or at least solve the strange
(and presumably wrong) readings from Motherboard Monitor 5?

More recently I tried reducing my AGP speed from 8x to 4x, and I
played a game for nearly 2 hours without any problems. I concluded
that it might be a problem that affects only AGP 8x. That said, my
previous graphics card used AGP 8x and that was fine - so that'd
suggest a problem with the 9800 Pro, or a compatibility problem
between the 9800 Pro and my SIS chipset? Anyway, I then switched back
to AGP 8x expecting my PC to crash after 30 minutes, but it didn't. It
crashed after 1 hour and 15 minutes! I concluded that my previous
conclusion was premature. Although I haven't had a system freeze while
in AGP 4x mode, I'm not convinced it won't happen (yet). I will stay
in AGP 4x mode for now to see what happens.

BTW, has anyone got a 9800 Pro working with a PC Chips M848A (rev
2.1)?

Now, I know the obvious conclusion is that my 9800 Pro card is faulty!
But is there a way I can be sure? The fact that the games work for 30
minutes or so shows that something must be OK.

I'm not sure what to try next. I'd begrudgingly buy another
motherboard to get things working, but I don't want to do it unless I
know it will fix things!

Does anyone have any insight or suggestions they could offer? I could
do with some expert advice!


Cheers.<

You may be overdriving the RAM. I suggest you try with it set synchronously
with the system clock and use SPD timing to see if this is the case. I am
not AMD-savvy but this is how I fixed my P4 which acted similarly.

 

[Fish]

No, I've never heard of it. Can not doing so cause problems with ATI cards?

 

[Fish]

I have a 9600 pro. I have crashes when I overclock. I have so far
associated them with heat. But, I am curious about your findings. May be,
I have the same problem.
How does the 30-minute delay fit in the equation if the problem is the power
supply?
Thanks

It doesn't, it fits in with the various delays before the crash
occurs. Unless Motherboard Monitor is lying, my voltages are far from
correct, and they appear to change randomly. If this is true, I'm
guessing that it's only a matter of time before the voltages hit a
certain combination that my 9800 Pro doesn't like, causing it to
crash. This "matter of time" is usually 30 minutes, but it has also
been 45 minutes, 7 minutes, and 1 hour 15 minutes.

I can check whether my PSU is really a problem by replacing it with my
friend's PSU, which reports rock-steady voltages on his PC when using
Motherboard Monitor. If, when in my PC, Motherboard Monitor reports
steady voltages then I'll know that Motherboard Monitor is working
with my Motherboard, and that the voltages I posted earlier are
correct. If this is the case then my PSU is almost definitely the
problem (or one of them). If not, then something may be wrong with my
motherboard (or it's just not compatible with Motherboard Monitor).
But I won't know until I do this test - I'll post my results here,
probably in a day or two.

 

[@ndrew]

Fish wrote:

I can check whether my PSU is really a problem by replacing it with my
friend's PSU, which reports rock-steady voltages on his PC when using
Motherboard Monitor. If, when in my PC, Motherboard Monitor reports
steady voltages then I'll know that Motherboard Monitor is working
with my Motherboard, and that the voltages I posted earlier are
correct. If this is the case then my PSU is almost definitely the
problem (or one of them). If not, then something may be wrong with my
motherboard (or it's just not compatible with Motherboard Monitor).
But I won't know until I do this test - I'll post my results here,
probably in a day or two.

Good idea .. also try clocking your CPU at it's correct speed. PCChips
is not a good brand of motherboard btw o(

regards

@ndrew

 

[KDragon]

Good idea .. also try clocking your CPU at it's correct speed. PCChips
is not a good brand of motherboard btw o(

LOL! That's the understatement of the decade! I still vividly remember a
PCChips MB with two pieces of plastic glued to it, with proper memory
info on them, but no pins! That particular board also had a Asus BIOS.
Do they still market their boards under about 20 different names?

 

[Fish]

You may be overdriving the RAM. I suggest you try with it set synchronously
with the system clock and use SPD timing to see if this is the case. I am
not AMD-savvy but this is how I fixed my P4 which acted similarly.

I've never really considered it to be a RAM problem - at least not the
system RAM. I'm not AMD-savvy either, but I'll give this a try if
someone explains to me how to do it?

 

[Martin]

I have a Qtec 550, and I suffer the same problem. In the research I
have done it basically shows that QTEC PSU's are dire and are the
cause of our problems.

Strange, I've had a Qtec 550w for over 18 months and it's never given a
kick. Maybe they started cheaping out on them?

If your PSU is giving such wide fluctuations, you should ask for a
replacement.

Martin

 

[@ndrew]

Martin wrote:

Strange, I've had a Qtec 550w for over 18 months and it's never given
a kick. Maybe they started cheaping out on them?

http://tinyurl.com/ytq47
regards
@ndrew

 

[McGrandpa]

well lets explore some other aspects.

How well is your 9800 plugged in ? 450 watts should be enough and
then some to run your PC.
If the 9800 connector is loose - try to plug it into a different wire
coming from the power supply.

fans, I've had those fans pull down my entire system when they go
faulty. suspect the fans.

HDD's getting hot and going flaky on you. You moved maybe their one
source of heat dissipation. Yes i'm talking co-incidence maybe.

you could have a HDD going bad - this is also what those stinkers do
to your power supply.

What does the inside of your power supply look like ? You trying to
pump cool air through a bag of dust bunnies ?

hope this helps,

** No Fate **

cheers,
dracman
Tomb Raider: Shotgun City
http://www.smokeypoint.com/tomb.htm

** Far Cry with Valerie as the Adventuress **
http://www.smokeypoint.org/farCry.htm

http://www.smokeypoint.org/traod/traod.html
http://www.smokeypoint.com/tombraider1/tombraider1pictures.htm
http://www.smokeypoint.com/tombraider1/tombraider1midaspics.htm

**savegame editors all versions Tomb Raider & TRAOD godmode
http://www.smokeypoint.com/tr2code.htm

http://www.smokeypoint.com/3dfx.htm
http://www.smokeypoint.com/My_PC.htm

** Win2k and winXP hi-res with TR1
http://www.smokeypoint.com/glidos.htm

** Tomb Raider 1 add on UB levels
http://www.smokeypoint.com/tomb2.htm#Tova

** GTA III vice City Character MOD
http://www.smokeypoint.com/uzi.htm#gta3

http://www.smokeypoint.com/uzi.htm
http://www.smokeypoint.com/tomb2.htm
http://www.smokeypoint.com/medipak.htm

**purchase Tomb Raider 1 PC CD **
http://www.smokeypoint.com/medipak.htm#tombraider1

You tested the power supply in another machine,and voltages were good,
meaning +/- 12V was right around 12V? Either your WinBOND chip is
flaking out (not so likely) or your motherboard is doing what my
GA8-iHXP motherboard did. The onboard voltage regulators went bad for
AGP/PCI buses. It was going bad for weeks too. I thought it was the
video card. It wasn't. I was and am using an Antec TruPower 430W. New
motherboard, had to get new ram for it too. Everything else I just
pulled out of the old, put in the new mobo. All is fine. One thing you
can do to see if MBM5 and/or the WinBond chip isn't right, is go into
your BIOS at boot, then into System health, and see what the voltages
and temps are in there.

The power supply doesn't output 3.3v or 1.5v. You have voltage
regulator IC's (3 pin, look like med power SCR's or power transistors,
but are actually more complex IC's) for each voltage needed, and for
both - and +. In your list, the -5v regulator shows to be dead. Not
surprising. The mobo has to produce 1.5v+ and - at about 3 amps just
for the AGP slot. If the regulator IC flakes out, so does your video.
There is no thermal sensor in these of course. They're just a 3 pin
package with tabbed back for a heat sink.
Here is a PDF file with some pics in it of what these things look like.
You will likely find heat sinks attached to them. OR the tab can be
bolted to the mobo, or something else.
http://www.softwaredynamix.com/robotics/pdf/ARAA_2002_12_05.pdf
You're likely to have more than a dozen of them on your motherboard, one
for each needed voltage.
Do you have a fave computer shop that can check this stuff out with you?
HIH!
McG.

 

[McGrandpa]

Fish wrote:




Good idea .. also try clocking your CPU at it's correct speed.
PCChips is not a good brand of motherboard btw o(

regards

@ndrew

The XP2400, it's a Barton, right? 1.8gHz is the correct speed?
McG.

 

[@ndrew]

McGrandpa wrote:

The XP2400, it's a Barton, right? 1.8gHz is the correct speed?
McG.

Correct and he is running it at 2Ghz.

regards

@ndrew

 

[@ndrew]

It's a Thoroughbred.

If it is it is still overclocked.

regards

@ndrew

 

[Fish]

The XP2400, it's a Barton, right? 1.8gHz is the correct speed?
McG.

It's a Thoroughbred.

 

[Fish]

Thanks for the info, McGrandpa - very useful!

I will check the voltages given in the BIOS and report what I find.

I have a question regarding what you said about regulator ICs (just to
make sure I've understood it correctly):

When you say, "If the regulator IC flakes out, so does your video.
There is no thermal sensor in these...", do you mean that a rise in
temperature is causing the regulator ICs to fail (causing the crash,
and they're somehow restored on reboot)? or that they've already
failed (for whatever reason and can never be restored) and this is
causing my garbled voltages? I take it you mean the latter?


Here are the results of my PSU swapping and my intermediate
conclusions...

When I placed a known, working PSU (350 W) in my PC and used
Motherboard Monitor to measure the voltages, they were all incorrect
just as they were for my QTEC. This means that I have a Motherboard
problem. (For this test I removed some components from my PC so it
demanded a similar load to the PSU's normal PC, i.e. GF4, one HD, one
CD-RW, and no case fans.)

I moved my QTEC PSU to a friend's PC (again) but this time I also
moved the 9800 Pro as well. The voltages obtained were stable - the
same as the last time I moved it (with +12 V measured at +11.6 V). I
played a game without problems for over 2 hours (Jedi Academy for what
it's worth). However, due a limitation of the Motherboard I could use
only AGP 4x, and I haven't had that crash on my system (although I've
tried it only once).

So far then, I reckon my PSU is fine. Due to the large discrepancies
in the times before my PC freezes, I reckon that overheating is not
the problem either. This leaves the 9800 Pro and the Motherboard.
Given that the games work for a while, i.e. the 9800 Pro is
functioning, and the info given by McGrandpa, I reckon my Motherboard
is the problem. However, if it is the Motherboard, then why didn't I
see problems with my GF4? I suppose my Motherboard could have started
having problems after I installed the 9800 Pro, and I haven't used the
GF4 since then. Or maybe the 9800 Pro is just more sensitive to
voltage fluctuations than the GF4? Maybe I should try the GF4 again?


Thanks to everyone who has replied to my post - your help is much
appreciated.

I will report my progress here, and any other useful stuff I find out
along the way.

Cheers.

 

[McGrandpa]

McGrandpa wrote:




Correct and he is running it at 2Ghz.

regards

@ndrew

Um...my son has an XP2400 Barton, half gig of PC3200, Ti4600. He runs
it at 1.8gHz and no problems, he runs it at 2gHz and after a couple
minutes has problems. I suggest he run the system with everything at
stock clocks and see what happens. For a couple hours, or days.
McG.