Hardware Problem?

[o_vertical]

I (in fixing my computer) just bought a new Motherboard, more ram, and new SATA II HDD. Well everything runs great, just one problem...

Whenever I am playing Battlefield 2 [Was playing Singleplayer at the time] (I don't have a clue if it will do the same in other games as I have yet to install any to try) after roughly 10 to 15 minutes the entire computer will just freeze, sound and all. Using the ASUS Probe 2 (recording the temps) The highest temp recorded before lockup was:

51C/123F (Which from what I understand is not ALL that bad under full load right? Normal idle temp is usually: 39C/102F

So could it be the high temperature causing a problem, another hardware problem of some sort, a software problem with BF2 (I wouldn't put it past EA, but in this case I am highly doubting it) or something else?

In case you need to know:

Pentium 4 3.0Ghz w/HT 800Mhz FSB
2GB PC3200 400Mhz RAM
250GB SATA II Western Digital hard drive
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS Plat Sound card
ASUS P4S800D-X Motherboard
eVGA GeForce 6800GT 256MB graphics card

I have done no overclocking, my case has tons of fans in it (7 I believe) not including the cooler on the cpu and fan on the graphics card. The fan on the processor is a thermaltake SPARK 7 which you can see here:
http://www.thermaltakeusa.com/2005/c...park/a1545.htm

It normally runs at ~ 6,600RPM I don't have the manual fan speed controller attached, or function 2 sensor, its set on full-speed, and runs at that rate.

Anybody got any suggestions / explanations of what could be going on here? If I need to buy a better cpu cooler, I'm all for it, just would want to make sure thats what the problem is before spending money on something that I don't need.

THANKS!

[o_jinx]

Have you had this happen in any other games? I hear BF2 is a buggy piece of crap, so maybe the game itself is the problem.

[o_unknownfigure]

Sounds like a heating problem, but then again, it's probably the game. (Note: Just because you have a large amount of fans in your case does not mean the airflow system is efficient. After a while, the only thing the fans could be doing is blowing HOT air on the hardware, and noone needs that. You could try replacing the fans so that more hot air is removed from the chassis

[o_loader]

If it happens in one game only then it sounds like the game.

If it happens in most games then it's either A: your Power Supply is shit/knackered. Or B: Over heating.

If your GFX card is AGP then it may be running at a higher Aperature size than your motherboard can handle. (I had this problem).

[o_jinx]

What's the deal with AGP Aperture Size? I never quite understood that one. Isn't it how much system ram the card can borrow for its own direct use? I have 2.5GB of ram, some I usually set it to 256, the max my bios allows.

[o_osiris]

It may be a longshot, but there's a chance your ram is causing problems. I had similiar things happening before I ditched the timing changes on my ram, try running memtest overnight and see if anything comes up. As everyone else stated it could very well be heat problems, but there's the off chance it's a ram issue.

PS: Battlefield 2 IS a very buggy game, I haven't managed to play it since an update early-mid 2006 started causing problems. I get booted/lockups after a few minutes in a server, every time.

[o_tyrus]

My brother just opened his case and place a regular rotating fan next to it. I bet his computer runs tons cooler than mine! After his fan is as big as his tower.

[o_pussyhunter]

Can you get a temp reading for ur gfx card? I used to get this in BF2 when my gfx card overheated.

[o_vorm]

Originally Posted by Jinx

What's the deal with AGP Aperture Size? I never quite understood that one. Isn't it how much system ram the card can borrow for its own direct use? I have 2.5GB of ram, some I usually set it to 256, the max my bios allows.

iirc, the more memory your video card has the smaller the size of the AGP aperture size needs to be. something to do with buffering stuff.

v.

[o_jinx]

ah, I remember correctly. and more = better, as long as you have plenty of ram

Tweak3d AGP Aperture Size Info

[o_skull]

Someone with the same problem! \o\
If you find out how to fix it, tell me dude

[o_someoldguy]

What PSU do you have?

[o_vertical]

The PSU I have is a Thermaltake PurePower 560 Watt, I highly doubt this is the issue. I will try running memtest overnight like you suggested (I'll search google for it in a momment) I did recently add another 1GB of ram so that is a possibility. The other possibility is as I and many of you suggested overheating either of the graphics card or the Processor. If the heat temps I posted for the processor don't seem to be that hot then it could possibly be the graphics card (which I have not checked the temperature on while playing) so I'll try to check that as well.

And yeah I will let you all know what the problem is when/if I eventually find out. I'm about to install a demo of BF2142 so I'll see if that has the same problem. Star Trek: Legacy doesn't lockup (the only other game I have on here atm) nor does the computer or anything when I'm watching fullscreen DVD's with all high settings selected (filtering and Purevideo).

[o_loader]

some PSU's say 500 W (or whatever) but don't run at that speed.

[mervaka]

speed?

[o_theres *nothing* here]

Oi, sorry to interrupt, but I didn't want to start a new thread for such a little thing. I have a question about my ethernet adapter.

I plan on plopping the thing into another computer that's a wee bit faster than this one, but the thing runs on Win98, so there's no plug and play.

I don't have drivers on a disc, so I've been hunting around for a "Macronix MX98715-Based Ethernet Adapter (Generic)", and I haven't actually found anything, but only something close that matches the numbers.

If that doesn't work out, can I just nab the thing from windows/system32/drivers, and toss it into the one on the other computer?

Thanks