Graphical Glitches PC Beeps and overheating, oh my!

[nath]

http://www.nathan.frank.dsl.pipex.com/glitch.jpg

Right, so this is what I'm getting (just in KOTOR so far, I've not seen it in other games). But what seems to happen whenever I play pretty much any game now is I get a loud beep from the computer after playing for about 10 minutes. It sounds like a pc speaker beep but it's actually coming from my speakers. That said the speakers are connected to the on board sound, not a seperate sound card. As a result, I'm not sure if it's the motherboard telling me something or windows telling me something.

Anyhoo - anyone know if this is an overheating thing? Perhaps the graphics card is not being sufficiently powered? I've got a lot of shit in my PC, about 3 hard drives, lots of PCI cards doing various bits and bobs, an ATI X800 XT PE which probably sucks a bit of juice and a 350w PSU. Is that not enough?

Any advice appreciated, is there any decent hardware monitor that can tell me what's going on with my system? The one bundled with my mobo (Abit IC7 -G Max II) is lame. I know sod all about v-cores or whatever.

Oh and while you're at it - anyone know a good, reasonably priced case? My one is great but it's getting a bit crowded in there and I could do with a bigger more spacious one - I've got a globalwin 802 which is a midi-tower I guess.


Ta!

 

[wyrd_fish]

sounds like over heating to me

although more fans might be the straw that broke the camels back


how dusty are things getting in there?


ps speedfan and motherboard monitor will tell you lots of stuff

 

[nath]

Not very dusty at all, I keep it quite nice and tidy in there. Ish.

As for the heat, the system and CPU temps don't go *that* high. Is there a way I can monitor the X800 temp?

 

[wyrd_fish]

erm

ati tool might do that, not sure though

 

[Yaka]

ati tool does show temps for the card.


as for cases id say go the antec p180

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=396318 vry well made and spacious case. and i can testify it very strong dropped down the stiars and not a mark on it and everthing in side works. only gfx card needed re seating:eek2:


anyways the sound prob you mentioned i did used get a humping/thuding sound off the realtek sound stuff off my mobo. i found the best way to stop it is to disbale the 3d depth and lower the mic volume might help you there

 

[nath]

Nah it's not thumping - it's a clearly defined beep - like something the bios would do but coming from my speakers.

Nice looking case, I'll check it out.

 

[Wij]

probably gpu or gfx memory overheating. try running with the side of the case off and such.

 

[tris-]

http://www.xoxide.com/chieftec19.html

ivw got this case and i think its fantastic. shit loads of room and came with 4 fans i believe. cost me around £40 but i think that was on offer.

 

[inactionman]

The p180 is a great case, have one myself and it's very good, although it looks a bit like a fridge.

Could be your PSU, if not it certainly isn't helping! I'd recommend an upgrade to a 450W+ one, say a Seasonic M12 Modular 500W. Which should do you.

Else it may be heat, which a new case should sort out.

Main thing to think of is what's changed since you could run games ok, have you added any new hardware? If so it may indicate either of the above problems.

Last time I heard beeps like that it was because the CPU was overheating, and I'd set it to warn me in the BIOS.

 

[Chilly]

Let me get this straight...

You dropped your computer down the stairs and now you complain about problems with the gfx?

 

[nath]

No no, if you look a bit closer you'll see that it was someone completely different who dropped their machine down the stairs.


The only thing that has changed recently is that I went from a 9800 pro to an X800 XT PE, but that was a few months ago. The glitches and beeps only started a week or so ago.

Hrm.

 

[inactionman]

Another thing that may have happened is the thermal paste between the cooler and the cpu may have dried out, it may be a good idea to clean it off with TIM cleaner (e.g. http://www.akasa.co.uk/akasa_english/spec_page/thermal/spec_ak_tc.htm) and reapply.

 

[Yaka]

Let me get this straight...

You dropped your computer down the stairs and now you complain about problems with the gfx?

no i said i just needed to re seat the gfx card to reboot it. thats preety damn good in my book

and yes the p180 does look like a fridge.

 

[Kryten]

You said you had a 350 watt PSU - is it a decent one or something bundled with the case that costs a maximum of £20. Too many people overlook the PSU - it is quite simply THE most important part of the entire computer and must not be skimped on. I'd side with inactionman and suggest looking at that also - a nackered PSU can cause many odd symptoms and can often look like overheating.

 

[nath]

I didn't investigate it much, other than at the time I heard that Enermax were the dogs danglies so I went for one of theirs. So basically I'm assuming it's a goodun.

 

[inactionman]

Enermax were considered good, but that was at a time when the general standard of PSU's wasn't as good as it is now, but they are fairly good now. So, as it's a 350W I'm assuming it's a bit old, basically from when Enermax weren't the greatest.

Also, how old is it? It may be on the way out, enermax were never the greatest for reliability! I've had a couple fail on me, which is the main reason I don't buy them anymore.

 

[tris-]

i used one of these with a 7800GTpci-e, 2HDDs and a 3700 A64 cpu, never had any problems yet. also that case i mentioned comes with 2 smaller fans and one huge one that sits near the HDDs drawing the air out. mine appears to be sli compliant though

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=156689

 

[nath]

It looks like my GPU is overheating - it was reaching 100+. I've just opened up my PC and rewired everything to make it tidier and help with the fan flow. It now seems to be sitting at around 80 - that seems a little chaud for my liking, or is that suitable for an x800 agp thingy?