HL2 Problem

[Lincoln]

I just installed HL2 and am having terrible, terrible performance issues. People heads disappearing, horrendous artifacting, skipping sound, the train in the first sequence only 3/4 exists... walls flicker... hell, even the menus don't work right. It's ridiculous.

I'm running a brand new system... A64 3200, a gig of OCZ ddr 2700 memory, and a Radeon 9800. All the game video settings are set to "recommended". I even tried closing F@H and every non-critical background app I have to no avail.

Anyone have any ideas? :scratch:

[TheSmJ]

You using the latest video drivers?

[tcith]

Bizzare - sounds like a video driver issue as mentioned above

[GrayFox]

You might have goten a bad 9800 pro :/.

[primesuspect]

does the card 3dmark okay?

is this the nightmare system from the LAN? the problems never end with that one, man......

[GrayFox]

Now that im looking at it again what psu do you have ive seen this exact same thing caused by a bad psu too.

[Lincoln]

PSU is a brand new Antec 500W SmartPower.

Driver is Catalyst 5.7

Yes, this is the nightmare system...

I'll download 3DMark

//edit: Anyone know what this "secondary" thing is about?

[tcith]

PSU is a brand new Antec 500W SmartPower.

Driver is Catalyst 5.7

Yes, this is the nightmare system...

I'll download 3DMark

//edit: Anyone know what this "secondary" thing is about?


Secondry is normal - it's the other "head" on the card - amy X850 has exactly the same in my hardware display

[kanezfan]

I say bad card. See if it'll run other 3d apps, games, etc..

[Lincoln]

1100 3DMarks :( :o :shakehead

[Enverex]

Sounds like the Core and such are borked. *techie voice* Is the card seated correctly?

[primesuspect]

If that's 3dmark05, that's a normal score.

i don't care so much about the score as - did it artifact during the tests? Obviously it didn't crash. I wanted to put a load on the card to see if it would flake out.

It might be the PSU, keebs. I know we never tried that because we just assumed that if it was a brand new antec, it couldn't possibly be bad, but can you at least try a different psu? :(

[Lincoln]

If that's 3dmark05, that's a normal score.

i don't care so much about the score as - did it artifact during the tests? Obviously it didn't crash. I wanted to put a load on the card to see if it would flake out.

It might be the PSU, keebs. I know we never tried that because we just assumed that if it was a brand new antec, it couldn't possibly be bad, but can you at least try a different psu? :(
Really?? :wtf: It looked absolutely horrible during the test... it was hitting 0 frames per second at times. I felt like I was reading a comic book more than watching a video.

I ran memtest for 6 passes (fell asleep) and got no errors. I do have a second PSU laying around, but if I had to bet money on one being flaky, it's that one. :-/

[Lincoln]

Sounds like the Core and such are borked. *techie voice* Is the card seated correctly?
Yep... I have a side window so I can see it. Looks fine.

[GHoosdum]

What version of DirectX do you have installed? You might want to re-install DX9c, just for kicks.

[primesuspect]

a radeon 9800 is, unfortunately, an old card now (i know, i have one) and 3dmark05 runs for crap on it. My 3dmark05 score is around there. Yes, during some of the tests, it drops to 1-3FPS.

[TheBaron]

Really?? :wtf: It looked absolutely horrible during the test... it was hitting 0 frames per second at times. I felt like I was reading a comic book more than watching a video.

I ran memtest for 6 passes (fell asleep) and got no errors. I do have a second PSU laying around, but if I had to bet money on one being flaky, it's that one. :-/
the question wasn't how fast it was going -- 0 FPS at times is normal for a 9800 Pro on 3dmark05 -- but was it artifacting, or did the actual images look screwed up? The fact that it didn't crash is a step in the right direction though, I agree

to prime: if its the PSU, wouldn't it show the same behavior in 3dmark as it did in HL2? I would suspect that either HL2 needs to be blown away and reinstalled, or your vid drivers need to be blown away and reinstalled (use drivercleaner or some such)

[primesuspect]

yeah, but thebaron, you didn't see how many problems this guy had at the LAN. he had more problems than most people i've seen with a single computer. add them all up, and it starts to seem like the PSU to me

[TheBaron]

perhaps. I don't have the inside track here :)

[Lincoln]

yeah, but thebaron, you didn't see how many problems this guy had at the LAN. he had more problems than most people i've seen with a single computer. add them all up, and it starts to seem like the PSU to me
But in the end they all had reasonable explanations... it was just a weird confluence of events.

No, I don't recall artifacting or the image messing up really. Maybe parts of the image flickered once or twice? I don't really remember.

[TheBaron]

you'd be looking for horizontal or vertical lines... although it really sounds like the video card itself is not the issue

[Lincoln]

I just installed and played Doom 3 a bit. It's generally fine, but I did get artifacting/lines in a couple visually intense sequences.

[Lincoln]

I ran 3DMark again and got 1159. No artifacting or any other visual problems other than speed, though it did get stuck and flip back and forth between two frames for a couple seconds twice.

//edit: My CPU score was 891 if that means anything...

[TheSmJ]

Sounds like either the video card is overheating, or the video memory is messed up. Do the 9800s have temp sensors?

[GrayFox]

He could also have a damaged pipeline.

[kanezfan]

bro, don't you have another card to drop in there just to test? The same thing happened to me with a ti4600, I got a 9500pro and all problems vanished.

[Lincoln]

I have a lesser card, but it couldn't run HL2. :-/

Hell. Maybe I should just go start a "what card is the best for my money right now" thread and replace the SOB.

[GrayFox]

I would try an rma first if I were you.

Best best Bang/Buck right now is ati's X800gt.

[profdlp]

Before you break out your checkbook, try the card in a friends computer and see if it does the same thing there.

You might want to check the BIOS settings for AGP, too, if you haven't already done so.

[kanezfan]

I have a lesser card, but it couldn't run HL2. :-/


The point is just to see if the other card has the same problems running games or not, it doesn't matter how well it runs HL2. Just run anything and see if it does the same thing or not. And what prof said too, stick that puppy in another computer and see if it acts screwy there too.