Advice on lockup problem

[grendel]

I've had a lockup problem for awhile that is heat related. I am guessing
that my video card has a heat failure based on the fact that for some period
of time it ran without a working fan. PLus I need a better card anyway.
However my heat related problem (definitely heat related since a fan aimed
at the open case cures the lockups every 15 or so minutes in games like
GTA3) could be a bad solder anywhere in my system or a failing component. My
Athlon 800 never gets above 55C in even hot weather and my mobo is never
above 35 C at the max. This is well within the specs. Anyway other than
methodically switching out components with others that are somewhat
equivalent I have given up hope of ever curing this problem unless it is the
video card. Therefore I'm wondering is it a good time to switch to newer
hardware. Here's what I got now.



Asus A7V with 800 MHZ Athlon
256 Crucial SDRAM PC133
Geforce 2 GTS with 64 meg (being replaced with ATI Radeon 9700 non pro)
All the latest Nvidia and 4 in 1 drivers and BIOS
Antec 300 W PS


I only play Half-Life based games plus GTA3. I never buy new games until
they are low priced. Basically a year or 2 after they come out. Therefore I
don't see a real need to upgrade because of performance. I think the ATI
9700 will cure all of my jerky video in GTA3 but this may be a CPU intensive
game. If this is the case I can upgrade to a Athlon 1400 at max. However if
I am gonna upgrade the whole thing I will upgrade to:

Genuine Intel 865 PERL board
512 M DDR 400
2.4 Pentium 4 with 800 FSB


I never overclock and I don't a real need for it. I want stability. I hear
and I expect Intel to have the best chipsets and mobos stability wise.
Companies like Asus make these great mobos that are "great" because they are
pushing things too much.

Opinions?

 

[John]

I've had a lockup problem for awhile that is heat related. I am guessing
that my video card has a heat failure based on the fact that for some period
of time it ran without a working fan. PLus I need a better card anyway.
However my heat related problem (definitely heat related since a fan aimed
at the open case cures the lockups every 15 or so minutes in games like
GTA3) could be a bad solder anywhere in my system or a failing component. My
Athlon 800 never gets above 55C in even hot weather and my mobo is never
above 35 C at the max. This is well within the specs. Anyway other than
methodically switching out components with others that are somewhat
equivalent I have given up hope of ever curing this problem unless it is the
video card. Therefore I'm wondering is it a good time to switch to newer
hardware. Here's what I got now.

Asus A7V with 800 MHZ Athlon
256 Crucial SDRAM PC133
Geforce 2 GTS with 64 meg (being replaced with ATI Radeon 9700 non pro)
All the latest Nvidia and 4 in 1 drivers and BIOS
Antec 300 W PS

I only play Half-Life based games plus GTA3. I never buy new games until
they are low priced. Basically a year or 2 after they come out. Therefore I
don't see a real need to upgrade because of performance. I think the ATI
9700 will cure all of my jerky video in GTA3 but this may be a CPU intensive
game. If this is the case I can upgrade to a Athlon 1400 at max. However if
I am gonna upgrade the whole thing I will upgrade to:

Genuine Intel 865 PERL board
512 M DDR 400
2.4 Pentium 4 with 800 FSB

I had the exact same problem. The fan went out on my Geforce Pro 2
and I got horrendous lockups and then it seemed to meltdown with
problems in almost every area. I suspected my videocard as well since
the fan was out but changing it cured nothing. And in fact it runs OK
in another MB -a friends PC . I bought two other cards a 400 mx and
420 mx and they didnt cure my problems either. I finally RMAd my MB
but strangely even that didnt cure all my problems ! And thats after
swapping power supplies = 3 different ones , Im using a 400 watt antec
now and still get some lockups but its getting less frequent.

I just bought another video card - a 9100 ATI since it was only $49 at
compusa this week - only 64 megs though. I think this will be good
enough for me until a few months pass by and the 9700 drops way down
in price around the christmas season. I RMAd my 400mx which burned out
and will be getting a new one. Ill sell my 420 mx and 400mx both used
only a a few weeks and that will pretty much pay for my ATI.

Try this - go back to the really old 4in1 drivers - the 3.48s I think
they are called pre-Hyperion. See if that takes away the lockups.
And get a blue orb type fan around $12 at your local COMPUSA or any
other place and take that whole contraption off held by springs loaded
plastic pins usually on you GEforce and stick the Blue Orb on. Its
put on by sticky tape type stuff.

If you want a bump up - Im not really sure about the tradeoff between
CPU and videocard and DDR memory.

You might be able to get away with a cheap modest video card upgrade +
slight CPU upgrade. The AMDs are really cheap now. The 9100 ATI that
COMPUSA is selling now the 9100 is really the 8500 renamed and with a
slightly slower core freq I think. As ATI fanatics will tell you - I
think the 8500 was the card to get besides the 9500 and 9700. Certain
models they tell you to avoid. So since the 8500 was faster than the
9000 they renamed the 8500 the 9100.

Another idea might be to get the Geforce 4 4200. Those are the two I
see recommended for entry level gaming 4200 and ati 8500 for cheap.

 

[Smoker]

I've had a lockup problem for awhile that is heat related. I am guessing
that my video card has a heat failure based on the fact that for some period
of time it ran without a working fan. PLus I need a better card anyway.
However my heat related problem (definitely heat related since a fan aimed
at the open case cures the lockups every 15 or so minutes in games like
GTA3) could be a bad solder anywhere in my system or a failing component. My
Athlon 800 never gets above 55C in even hot weather and my mobo is never
above 35 C at the max. This is well within the specs. Anyway other than
methodically switching out components with others that are somewhat
equivalent I have given up hope of ever curing this problem unless it is the
video card. Therefore I'm wondering is it a good time to switch to newer
hardware. Here's what I got now.



Asus A7V with 800 MHZ Athlon
256 Crucial SDRAM PC133
Geforce 2 GTS with 64 meg (being replaced with ATI Radeon 9700 non pro)
All the latest Nvidia and 4 in 1 drivers and BIOS
Antec 300 W PS


I only play Half-Life based games plus GTA3. I never buy new games until
they are low priced. Basically a year or 2 after they come out. Therefore I
don't see a real need to upgrade because of performance. I think the ATI
9700 will cure all of my jerky video in GTA3 but this may be a CPU intensive
game. If this is the case I can upgrade to a Athlon 1400 at max. However if
I am gonna upgrade the whole thing I will upgrade to:

Genuine Intel 865 PERL board
512 M DDR 400
2.4 Pentium 4 with 800 FSB


I never overclock and I don't a real need for it. I want stability. I hear
and I expect Intel to have the best chipsets and mobos stability wise.
Companies like Asus make these great mobos that are "great" because they are
pushing things too much.

Opinions?

There's nothing worthwhile going on with the AMD side of things right now. I
think you are wise to switch to Intel.