need serious help with a gaming rig

ins4n17y

so my friend bought this pc at futureshop while i was out last summer, said he wanted to game with it. that means he's had it for more than 6 months. it was this pc a hp rebranded compaq with the model number sr5152nx. it had an onboard video but also had a pcie for expansion.

Product number
GC666AA
Introduction date
27-Apr-2007
Country/region sold in:
US
Canada
Hardware
Base processor
Athlon 64 X2 (B) 4000+ 2.1 GHz (65W)
2000 MT/s (mega transfers/second)
Socket AM2
Chipset
GeForce 6150SE nForce 430
Motherboard
Manufacturer: Asus
Motherboard Name: M2N68-LA
HP/Compaq motherboard name: Ivy-GL6
Memory
Component Attributes
Memory Installed 2 GB
Maximum allowed 4 GB* (2 x 2 GB)

*Actual available memory may be less
Speed supported PC2-5300 MB/sec
Type 240 pin, DDR2 SDRAM

Hard drive
250 GB SATA 3G (3.0 Gb/sec)
7200 rpm
16X DVD(+/-)R/RW 12X RAM (+/-)R DL LightScribe SATA drive
Must use Double-Layer media discs in order to take advantage of the DL technology
Must use LightScribe-enabled media discs and supporting software in order to take advantage of the LightScribe technology
Function Maximum speed
DVD-RAM Up to 12X
DVD-R DL Write Once Up to 8X
DVD+R DL Write Once Up to 8X
DVD+R Write Once Up to 16X
DVD+RW Rewritable Up to 8X
DVD-R Write Once Up to 16X
DVD-RW Rewritable Up to 6X
DVD ROM Read Up to 16X
CD-R Write Once Up to 40X
CD-RW Rewritable Up to 32X
CD-ROM Read Up to 40X

Modem
56K bps data/fax modem
Video Graphics
Integrated graphics
Sound/Audio
High Definition 6-channel audio
ALC 888 chipset
Network (LAN)
Integrated 10/100 Base-T networking interface
Memory card reader
Supports the following cards:
Compact Flash I
Compact Flash II
IBM Microdrive
Secure Digital (SD)
mini-SD
MultiMediaCard (MMC)
Reduced size MultiMediaCard (RS-MMC)
MultiMediaCard Plus (MMC plus)
MultiMediaCard Mobile (MMC mobile)
Memory Stick
Memory Stick Pro
Memory Stick Duo
Memory Stick Pro Duo
SmartMedia
xD Picture Card (xD = extreme digital)
External I/O ports
I/O ports on the front panel
Port type Quantity
15-in-1 (4 slot) One
USB Two
Headphone One

I/O ports on the back panel
Port type Quantity
PS/2 (keyboard, mouse) Two
VGA One
USB Two
LAN One
Audio (line in, line out, microphone) One

Expansion slots
Slot type Quantity
PCI Two (One available)
PCI Express x16 One (One available)
PCI Express x1 One (One available)

Drive bays
Bay type Quantity
5.25" Two (One available)
3.5" Three (Two available)

Keyboard and mouse
Compaq home professional keyboard
Quebec Keyboard Kit (French Canada only)
Compaq PS/2 ball mouse

upon getting the pc, he told me it kept locking up his games, in any setting even World of Warcraft which was cpu based, it wuold run smoothly, then lock up. it had vista32 on it, and hp doesn't support the downgrade from vista to xp so this made my friend very upset. thats ok, because the mainboard in question is an asus make below:

Manufacturer: Asus
Motherboard Name: M2N68-LA
HP/Compaq motherboard name: Ivy-GL6

and it was based off of the nForce430/6150SE chipset, which i got drivers off the nvidia website.

so he paid me to get him a videocard and a new powersupply. i got him the xfx xxx edition 8600gts (this was last year when the g90/g92 r670/r680 series wern't out yet) and i wiped out his sata hdd (a 250gb seagate sata barracuda 7200.10) and put in a 300gb maxtor pata because if somethign goes wrong i have an ide extractor that can easily make changes to it in case anything goes wrong.

well, i had no problem finding xp drivers, i gave him a clean install of xp, and updated it too with windows update, patched it and everything. i installed the modem drivers, the sound drivers (he has an alc 888 chipset off of realtek which i found the drivers for that too off of realtek.tw), the chipset drivers for the nForce430 SE which i got off of nvidia.com and were dated january 5th 2007 and are whql certified. i got nvidia drivers too off of the nvidia site whql for the xxx edition xfx 8600gts. all in all, newest drivers, whql and everything updated and patched on a clean install.

so, i gave him his computer back AND he reported freezing again. this time at his house i did a check and noticed his cmos battery died. his onboard video card was enabled in the bios and was preventing the xfx pcie from running properly. we went to the store and spent $5 canadian and bought a new cmos battery. i redid all the settings (and switched off the onboard) (there wern't much to toy with anyway in the cmos as this is an oem [strike]as-is[/strike] (sorry) ASUS board). so and then the lockups in world of warcraft stopped, but the freezes moved onto call of duty 4 modern warfare and bioshock.

fustrated, i installed a soundcard maybe it was a bug in the alc onboard sound codec. this time it froze even more.

not sure if i'm missing anything but no matter what, even on vista32 and xp, this computer locks up spontaneously on random.

is there anything i can do?

he has an extended warranty, but it has been over 6 months. i doubt they'd do a refund. a dead cmos battery is definately a bad sign and i'm just stuck. i'm guessing my friend needs a new mainboard and case as this is a microatx. i gave him an antec true power 430watts which should be more than enough for an AMD AM2 dual core 4000+, 2gig of vanilla standard ddr2 ram and a hard drive with the xfx xxx 8600gts pcie videocard. it was still freezing and locking up at that point.

please let me know what i can do, if that is anything at all. keep in mind the random freezing happened with vista and still happens with a fully updated and patched version of xp and proper hardware.

Leonardo

Have you tried running an intensive gaming session with the case side open? Have all the freezes occurred with the computer in the same spot. In other words, we need to rule out CPU and/or video card overheating.

ins4n17y

Leonardo wrote:

Have you tried running an intensive gaming session with the case side open? Have all the freezes occurred with the computer in the same spot. In other words, we need to rule out CPU and/or video card overheating.

it's can't be over heating because there have been days where there was a day or two where my friend has played bioshock max settings from 1pm (when he wakes up) to 1am (past midnight) only stopping to eat and the bathroom with no lockups. then the next day it will lock up 5 times and he'll be pissed off.

Leonardo

can't be over heating because there have been days...

If the ambient temperature in the room where the computer is constant, then yes, that would point to something other than overheating. A room's temperature can fluctuate quite a bit.

Get him to run the computer two or three days with the case side off, then see what happens. I still think the most likely cause of the freezes is GPU overheating.

You might also want to try a Check Disk (thorough) on all hard drive partitions. (I doubt that is the problem, but it should be performed every now and then anyway.)

ins4n17y

Leonardo wrote:

If the ambient temperature in the room where the computer is constant, then yes, that would point to something other than overheating. A room's temperature can fluctuate quite a bit.

Get him to run the computer two or three days with the case side off, then see what happens. I still think the most likely cause of the freezes is GPU overheating. > i'm going try this.

You might also want to try a Check Disk (thorough) on all hard drive partitions. > i did this already, and should have mentioned it in my firstpost. thanks though, for your suggestion. (I doubt that is the problem, but it should be performed every now and then anyway.)

andrelyn

Hey. I have this exact computer, sorry to go a bit off topic but... you installed a new power supply? Can you tell me which type/kind I need? I heard HP limits it really badly and I wasn't sure if I could get one.. so if you can please tell me, I'd be happy.

(I live in Canada).

primesuspect

Hi andrelyn

Mike D just wrapped up his Corsair TX750 review. A very, very nice PSU.

andrelyn

Im looking for something very minimum.. cause I too want the 8600GT.

Would it work well with 250w? If not.. can isiea please tell me what ones work with the comp?

Leonardo

Would it work well with 250w?

250W? You mean 250W power supply? Sorry, my friend, but frankly, you are lucky if anything works with 250W. 250W is literally about a 1996 standard.

andrelyn

Well.. I'm getting mixed views on it. Some say the 8600GT will work on it, others don't. So I'm confused...

But.. to topic creator and anyone else.. I have the same comp (SR5152nx).. how did you get a bigger PSU? Some HP reps told me you can't.. but if so, what type/kind am I looking for? (350w + is good)

Thanks.

Gappleage

I think 250w is not enough for the 8600GT.

Harudath

I really doubt 250W will be enough for anything more than a 5k series graphics card to run properly. I'd get a 400W+ PSU minimum if you want to expand your rig further at a later date.

NiGHTS

Harudath wrote:

I really doubt 250W will be enough for anything more than a 5k series graphics card to run properly. I'd get a 400W+ PSU minimum if you want to expand your rig further at a later date.

Something that large would be a waste of money, IMO. OEM computers like these are very limited in what you can/can't do with them. Provided he's actually interested in BYO, it would be a wasted investment. That said, the price-to-performance of 300-400W power supplies might just make a 400W worth it.

I'm sure you could find someone with an old 350W that would just give it to you for cheap, andrelyn. A 250W will not cut it.

Harudath

NiGHTS wrote:

Something that large would be a waste of money, IMO. OEM computers like these are very limited in what you can/can't do with them. Provided he's actually interested in BYO, it would be a wasted investment. That said, the price-to-performance of 300-400W power supplies might just make a 400W worth it.

I'm sure you could find someone with an old 350W that would just give it to you for cheap, andrelyn. A 250W will not cut it.

Tis true, but unless he plans to scrap this system when it's done and buy an entire new one, to be able to keep up later if he gets a low wattage power supply now he'll need to upgrade again sooner. Personally I think it's a worthwhile investment if he plans to continually upgrade like myself, but if you're going to do entire rebuids then go for a 300W+

NiGHTS

Most who have bought OEM stay OEM, which is why this particular investment will be lost.

I know what you're getting at, but in this case, it does not apply. Most consumers don't share your thinking on upgrading. To them an upgrade is a new computer entirely.

Harudath

Point taken

Leonardo

if he plans to continually upgrade like myself, but if you're going to do entire rebuids then go for a 300W+

No, if the intent is to have a power supply that will be compatible with future builds - not knowing what will be in the future builds, I would recommend the PSU be a high quality unit of no less than 500 watts output.

300? Sure, it will run some computers, but it's a real roll of the dice for any system with more than just modest power needs.

Harudath

You misunderstand me, NiGHTS was explaining to me that instead of continually upgrading machines, they will simply be replaced, so getting a 400W+ PSU is not worth it if it is going to be binned. Hence the 300W reccomendation, if when he wants to upgrade he gets an entire new PC

Leonardo

NiGHTS was explaining to me that instead of continually upgrading machines, they will simply be replaced

Pardon me if I still don't get the gist of the thread. I still disagree. I'm using PSUs that I procured years ago. The computers they are in have been endlessly upgraded and improved. I never get rid of a whole computer because there are always parts that will work well in a new build. There are some parts that you should consider not being good for an upgrade, such as CPUs, but a good power supply will work for years and in increasing powerful and complex upgraded machines. A couple of my computers have each seen at least three motherboard and three or four processor upgrades, but the PSUs have not changed.

Harudath

NiGHTS was referring to the average user (Someone that will buy a PC off a shelf, and not look in-depth at the specs or even build one themselves) that does not know how to change parts in a PC and just orders a whole new one- thus causing an expensive individual upgrade to be almost useless if you aim to make it last a long time.

EDIT: looking back on it, 300 does seem very weak, but 350+ (I'm running a "pimped" system on a 350W, although I'm upgrading soon :P) should manage