This is the type of thread I usually stop myself from posting.
My graphics card is a Geforce 4 ti4600. A few weeks ago I upgraded my mobo, cpu, and memory. I then played Unreal 2. There were sporadic pauses lasting between 5 and ten seconds. After some searching and subscribing to hardware newsgroups I worked out that it was due to overheating. I found out how to underclock the card and did so. This made it possible to get through the one level in Unreal 2 that was pausing, so I wasn’t sure if it was just luck or what.
Then last night I installed Splinter Cell 2 Pandora Tomorrow (SCPT). It told me my drivers were out of date and gave me a link to nvidia. I thought what the hell, and went. New drivers posted two days ago. Downloaded them. This act disabled the underclock fix. Turned on SCPT. Almost immediately there were the same regular pauses. Turned it off, performed the underclock fix on the new drivers. put SCPT back on. No pauses whatsoever and smooth running.
So this confirms it, my seemingly high-end, not too old card is a WIMP and can’t cope with what my new cpu and memory can throw at it.
You see, the rambling and boring nature of this op is why I would usually stop myself from posting it. So I am posting as an example of the type of thing I stop myself from posting. Don’t ask me why.
I have the same card and haven’t had any problems. Playing UT2K4 right now (well, I took a break to read the Dope, but I’ll be going to play it instead of studying when I’m done posting) and it’s smoove as Smoove B.
The card could cope with everything before I upgraded my other bits. GMRyujin what are your specs? zztzed The fan works, but you’re right A better fan would solve the problem.
If the card’s overheating, that’s a fan problem or a problem with where it’s located in the box, not the card itself (unless it’s the fan on the card).
Check that the fan’s running properly, and that it’s not blocked by a cable touching it or anything; also, check if that’s a hotspot in your PC. Add a case fan blowing across the PCI slots, and make sure there’s a slot or two of clearance between the AGP slot and the nearest PCI card.
Yes it’s a fan problem, but I’m willing to bet I don’t have a faulty card. The problem is that the fan supplied is not good enough to cool the card when it is running on a machine that can give it data as fast as it asks for it (or faster than most machines could when the geforce 4 was new, including my old spec).
The fan turns, there are no wires obstructing it, and there is one pci slot gap between it and the sound card. I have removed the metal cover for the case corresponding to that gap to help improve airflow. I don’t think I have a faulty card, I think I just have an inadequate one.
Are you sure it’s getting enough power? If your power supply is maxed out, it might be starving the card. Graphics cards have become pretty power hungry in the last few generations.
Just because the fan is turning doesn´t mean that is turning fast enough I almost melted my CPU some time ago for precisely that reason, the fan bearings were worn or clogged and it wasn´t moving enough air through the heatsink.
In an attic with no AC I regularly have heat problems in the summer. Then, I open the computer case and place a bad ass fan so that it blows air like a tornado. The noise is a pain to bear but it solves the heat problem. Easy to try.
You know, for about ten bucks or so you can pick up a fan that mounts in the next slot over from your video card, that blows directly onto that card and would make up for the lack of oomph you’re suffering from.
Alternately, you can pick up a fairly good, newer video card. A hundred bucks’ll get you a fairly decent one.
A 4600ti is still a decent card. You shouldn’t issues with it.
Are you running 4x or 8x AGP? If 8x try bumping it down to 4x and give it a whirl.
Also what’s your AGP Arpiture size in your BIOS? If I set mine above 128 I get some pausing issues, even with a gig of RAM. Some people even recommend setting it to 64.
I don’t think Lobsang is doing anything wrong. I’ve heard of other people needing to underclock this video card to keep it from locking up in certain games. (I just did a quick google of “geforce 4 ti4600 underclock” and confirmed it.)
Personally, I think NVidia was chasing after benchmarks and went overboard with the tweaking. They’ve basically overclocked the card at the factory, and it’s proving unstable in actual use. Or they are trying to save a few pennies with a cheap heatsink/fan combo on a high end card. Probably both.
Lobsang, have you thought about putting a exhaust blower in that empty PCI slot next to the video card? That is, if you feel like returning to the original clockspeed.
I used to have a GeForce-4 ti4600, and it ran fine. I did have a PCI fan nestled right next to the card… it circulated air from outside the case. Methinks that probably helps.
Most people - and manufacturers - these days put the minimum number of fans in a case, even though most decent cases can support three or four. Go drop $10 or $20 on a couple 80mm fans and plug 'em in. See if you can get a good airflow going from one end of the case to the other (front fans inhale, rear fans exhale).
I had problems with my Creative Labs Ti4600 - seems they only sold them in Europe so locating drivers was a bit of a chase throught the various Creative Regional web sites.
Turned out to be the NVIDIA Forceware drivers, I’ve generally been in the habit of keeping graphics drivers as up to date as possible but these latest lots of NVIDIA and the previous ones just do not like this card.
I downloaded the Creative Labs own detonator drivers, installation was something of a PITA, but once done, things improved hugely.
I’d go along with the cooling issues, the onboard fan is easy enough to replace, but I’d also make sure to get the latest drivers that the card manufacturer provides, even if they ar eolder than the latest NVIDIA ones.
Is your card AGP or PCI? AGP is far superior, at this time, because it has a direct channel to RAM that can be used without taking up CPU clock cycles.
If you have the scratch for an upgrade, go to a GeForce FX5200, like the one I recently installed, with 128MB of dedicated RAM built on to the card. I got it for US $60.00 through Tiger Direct. The one I have is branded XFX.
I just upgraded from the demo version to the full install of Unreal Tournament 2004, so if we want to form Clan SDMB, I’m ready…