Update: Best solution to upgrade problems between twwo pc's

[Clob]

I have 2 machines that I plan to do moderate upgrades on.

One is a P4 2.8b with 1 gig of ram and a 9700pro. In this machine the
powersupply is crappy and has ben having problems on the 3 volt rail. The
monitor is a 19" Viewsonic E90FB that is getting dimmer and brighter and
dimmer again. I think its going to go out. The again it may be the 9700pro
dimming.

The other Pc is an XP 2400+ (runs 50c idle!) on a A7V8X-E Deulux with 768
megs of unknown ram, and a 9200se. The powersupply is offbrand and needs a
new one. The computer restarts during gameplay due to either heat or
unstable ram or the PS or all of them. Monitor is old and cruddy!

My question is... Would it be better to buy a new 6600gt to replace my
9700pro and put the 9700pro in the 2400+ system. Buy 2x 450w Antech power
supplys for each. Get a new HSF and 512 stick of Kingston value ram to
replace the unknown ram in the 2400+?

Or Buy new Ram and HSF for the 2400+. 2x 450w Antech, and a new 2x Viewsonic
Ultrabright to replace the monitor on the rigs?

Any opinions?

 

[Clob]

I have 2 machines that I plan to do moderate upgrades on.

One is a P4 2.8b with 1 gig of ram and a 9700pro. In this machine the
powersupply is crappy and has ben having problems on the 3 volt rail. The
monitor is a 19" Viewsonic E90FB that is getting dimmer and brighter and
dimmer again. I think its going to go out. The again it may be the 9700pro
dimming.

The other Pc is an XP 2400+ (runs 50c idle!) on a A7V8X-E Deulux with 768
megs of unknown ram, and a 9200se. The powersupply is offbrand and needs a
new one. The computer restarts during gameplay due to either heat or
unstable ram or the PS or all of them. Monitor is old and cruddy!

My question is... Would it be better to buy a new 6600gt to replace my
9700pro and put the 9700pro in the 2400+ system. Buy 2x 450w Antech
power
supplys for each. Get a new HSF and 512 stick of Kingston value ram to
replace the unknown ram in the 2400+?

Or Buy new Ram and HSF for the 2400+. 2x 450w Antech, and a new 2x
Viewsonic
Ultrabright to replace the monitor on the rigs?

Any opinions?

Ok. on the 2400+ system. I ran memtest for 3 hours and came up clear. I have
fixed the heat problem by reversing the retention clip to direct pressure on
the chips die. Now the computer still restarts (less frequent) and games
crash (less frequent). Im assuming its the video card and the PSU. The PSU
is offbrand and the video card has page tearing and flickers. So its Video
and PSU that needs replacing.

As for the Intel system, The monitor fixes after I bang on the side and the
PSU is stable for now.

Any more ideas?

 

[kony]

I have 2 machines that I plan to do moderate upgrades on.

One is a P4 2.8b with 1 gig of ram and a 9700pro. In this machine the
powersupply is crappy and has ben having problems on the 3 volt rail. The
monitor is a 19" Viewsonic E90FB that is getting dimmer and brighter and
dimmer again. I think its going to go out. The again it may be the 9700pro
dimming.

The other Pc is an XP 2400+ (runs 50c idle!) on a A7V8X-E Deulux with 768
megs of unknown ram, and a 9200se. The powersupply is offbrand and needs a
new one. The computer restarts during gameplay due to either heat or
unstable ram or the PS or all of them. Monitor is old and cruddy!

My question is... Would it be better to buy a new 6600gt to replace my
9700pro and put the 9700pro in the 2400+ system. Buy 2x 450w Antech power
supplys for each. Get a new HSF and 512 stick of Kingston value ram to
replace the unknown ram in the 2400+?

Or Buy new Ram and HSF for the 2400+. 2x 450w Antech, and a new 2x Viewsonic
Ultrabright to replace the monitor on the rigs?

Any opinions?

You're better off NOT trying to make sweeping changes all at
once. Since it seems you need at least one power supply,
buy it and try it in both systems, see if either or both
have their problems receified, and what problems remain...
since there may be multiple problems.

Memtest86 was a good idea for the memory, though with
marginal power a system might pass while in heavy gaming use
it wouldn't. It "might" be an indicator that you'll be OK
after switching the power.

If you're running win2k or xp, disable it's restart-on-error
setting. From then on the system should not restart from a
memory error. Generally it wouldn't restart from CPU or
video overheating either.... might have visual anomolies or
crash.

Recheck the video on the R9700/monitor combo after power
supply swap too, though it's probably the monitor.

 

[Mac Cool]

Clob:

The monitor is a 19" Viewsonic E90FB that is getting dimmer
and brighter and dimmer again. I think its going to go out. The again
it may be the 9700pro dimming.

It's the monitor. That's what happens when they get old, sometimes they
just gradually dim.

The computer restarts during gameplay due to either heat or unstable
ram or the PS or all of them. Monitor is old and cruddy!

[UPDATE PART]

Ok. on the 2400+ system. I ran memtest for 3 hours and came up clear.
I have fixed the heat problem by reversing the retention clip to
direct pressure on the chips die. Now the computer still restarts
(less frequent) and games crash (less frequent).

Im assuming its the video card and the PSU. The PSU is offbrand and
the video card has page tearing and flickers. So its Video and PSU
that needs replacing.

How do you know the video card is causing the flickering? Under what
conditions are you getting tearing? You have two machines, why don't you
switch parts back and do some troubleshooting.

My question is...

I doubt the answers are going to change from last week. You know that
one monitor is bad, replace it. You know one PSU is bad, replace it. Fix
the known problems and then see if you still have issues.

 

[Clob]

Clob:

The monitor is a 19" Viewsonic E90FB that is getting dimmer
and brighter and dimmer again. I think its going to go out. The again
it may be the 9700pro dimming.

It's the monitor. That's what happens when they get old, sometimes they
just gradually dim.

The computer restarts during gameplay due to either heat or unstable
ram or the PS or all of them. Monitor is old and cruddy!

[UPDATE PART]

Ok. on the 2400+ system. I ran memtest for 3 hours and came up clear.
I have fixed the heat problem by reversing the retention clip to
direct pressure on the chips die. Now the computer still restarts
(less frequent) and games crash (less frequent).

Im assuming its the video card and the PSU. The PSU is offbrand and
the video card has page tearing and flickers. So its Video and PSU
that needs replacing.

How do you know the video card is causing the flickering? Under what
conditions are you getting tearing? You have two machines, why don't you
switch parts back and do some troubleshooting.

Its only doing it during gameplay.

I doubt the answers are going to change from last week. You know that
one monitor is bad, replace it. You know one PSU is bad, replace it. Fix
the known problems and then see if you still have issues.

Roger that... PSU first.

 

[Mac Cool]

Clob:

Its only doing it during gameplay.

You didn't have the problem while
running memtest so here's what you should do: swap the video cards in
your two systems and try playing the game again. If you get the same
symptoms, put in the new PS that you bought for the other system, if it
happens again, try running Prime95 in torture test mode and
see if you have problems.
1. switch video cards, test
2. swap in new PS, test
3. run prime95

 

[Mac Cool]

Mac Cool:

1. switch video cards, test
2. swap in new PS, test
3. run prime95

I forgot to add, check your temps after running prime95 in torture test;
if you still have a heat problem, prime95 will exploit it.

 

[Clob]

Ok Thanks.

Mac Cool:


I forgot to add, check your temps after running prime95 in torture test;
if you still have a heat problem, prime95 will exploit it.