| 23 AUG 2010 at 10:42am |
JKingSchattenjger
Posts : 2349
Joined: 4 MAY 2008
Location: 0
Status : Offline | Buzzing is usually a fan on its last legs, in my experience (neither serious nor expensive), though it's hard to tell without hearing.
You can't kill someone in a studio.
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| 23 AUG 2010 at 11:05am |
TravellerGuild Master
Posts : 4040
Joined: 3 JUL 2010
Location: US
Status : Offline | Yep, my first thought was also a fan - it might even be something stuck in a fan. I would open the case and switch it on with the case open, then you'd be able to tell more accurately where the buzzing is coming from.
* * * Just call me Trav. * * *
“Despite my ghoulish reputation, I really have the heart of a small boy. I keep it in a jar on my desk.” - Robert Bloch
"They are not reciprocally sublated--the one does not sublate the other externally--but each sublates itself in itself and is in its own self the opposite of itself" (Hegel, from The Doctrine of Being)..."
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| 23 AUG 2010 at 5:03pm |
InlandAZGuild Master
Posts : 5586
Joined: 4 MAY 2007
Status : Online | Fans tend to collect dust bunnies - I'd follow Trav's advice and open up the case. If you can identify the source try blowing it out with compressed air.
If it's a fan on your video card - those can be a bit more difficult to repair.
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| 25 AUG 2010 at 8:03am |
CarolineJA+ Overseer
Posts : 16540
Joined: 28 JAN 2007
Location: AU
Status : Offline | Thank you for the suggestions. :-*
The fan and power had been replaced two weeks ago and the technician warned me the HD was too noisy and was likely to die shortly. But as usual it didn't make that noise when it was in the shop but he said given the HD light was on constantly that it was likely the cause. So I had a new one put in that is much bigger than the previous one and the machine now runs quieter than I've ever heard it.
I just hope these two pc's settle down now so I can get on with playing my games.
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| 25 AUG 2010 at 6:12pm |
InlandAZGuild Master
Posts : 5586
Joined: 4 MAY 2007
Status : Online | Glad you got it working -
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| 27 AUG 2010 at 9:34am |
CarolineJA+ Overseer
Posts : 16540
Joined: 28 JAN 2007
Location: AU
Status : Offline | I was having so much fun. I set aside this whole morning to play Uru. So many new people have joined that the cavern is crowded again and I've met some great new buddies from UK and USA.
So..... after a 3 hour session, the machine suddenly started making that buzzing noise again.
I rang the man and he said....... (wait for this).... ''sounds like your graphic card fan has gone".
I'm building a new machine here a piece at a time.
So before I let the lone ranger fix it 'properly' I thought I'd ask the techie experts here to recommend me a graphics card that will sit easily on a 2006 motherboard with 512 ram with XP. I'd like to be able to request a specific graphics card rather than rely on his knowledge.
Meanwhile I thought I'd try holding the vaccuum cleaner to the grill - maybe that will dislodge the dust, you think?
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| 27 AUG 2010 at 1:30pm |
TravellerGuild Master
Posts : 4040
Joined: 3 JUL 2010
Location: US
Status : Offline | Sorry to hear of your troubles, Caroline. Eerm.. - be careful with that vacuum cleaner, will you?
Hmm, a 2006 mobo is quite oldish for modern hardware, but I just recently bought the Nvidia Geforce GT 240 for my old PC with a 2005 mobo, and it was still compatible, so you could look at that, or possibly the Nvidia GeForce 9600GT, (mainly good value for money cards if you're going to be sticking to adventure games only.) The 240 is a more recent edition ( newer) than the 9600, btw.)
You could also go ATI, of course, but I'm not such a huge ATI fan, so perhaps some ATI (AMD)lover could advise you on a good value for money card in that make. In this make, you could perhaps look at the Radeon HD 4670 for excellent value for money.
I would advise higher-end cards if your sons will be playing action games on this PC, but you will be paying quite a bit more. So in the higher performance range, you could perhaps look at the Nvidia 9800 GT or GTX, (the GTX will be quite a bit more expensive than the GT) or the ATI Radeon HD 4830 or the 4850.
Just make 100% sure that these cards are compatible with your mobo before buying them.
PS: Try not to buy your cards in the MSI make - they have crappy fans. Rather go for XFX or even Inno.
* * * Just call me Trav. * * *
“Despite my ghoulish reputation, I really have the heart of a small boy. I keep it in a jar on my desk.” - Robert Bloch
"They are not reciprocally sublated--the one does not sublate the other externally--but each sublates itself in itself and is in its own self the opposite of itself" (Hegel, from The Doctrine of Being)..."
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| 27 AUG 2010 at 5:40pm |
Jenny100Guild Master
Posts : 3510
Joined: 12 OCT 2002
Status : Offline | Originally Posted By Caroline (27 AUG 2010 9:33am)
So before I let the lone ranger fix it 'properly' I thought I'd ask the techie experts here to recommend me a graphics card that will sit easily on a 2006 motherboard with 512 ram with XP. I'd like to be able to request a specific graphics card rather than rely on his knowledge.
What wattage is your computer's power supply?
How fast a card you can get depends on whether the power supply has enough wattage to support it.
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| 27 AUG 2010 at 6:04pm |
BXLebanonIntergalactic Janitor
Posts : 86
Joined: 20 JUL 2005
Status : Offline | The www.tomshardware.com site does an article every month on the best graphics cards for the money. There is always a section for under $100 cards. The more expensive cards will probably need a new power supply to be installed but the under $100 cards offer very good performance and you usually won't need to upgrade the power supply.
You may to check the prices on www.newegg.com and other sites for the ATI Radeon 4650 and 4670 and the Nvidia GeForce 9500, GeForce GT 220 and 240.
If you don't have a PCI-Express slot you may need an AGP or PCI card. I bought a 512MB PCI PNY GeForce 8400 GS from Newegg ($40 after rebate) for a system with no PCI or AGP slots, it's a good card for the money but won't play modern games on anything but low settings (if it plays them at all!). There are some ATI radeon 4650 AGP cards available but I don't know if they need more power then the average value card.
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| 27 AUG 2010 at 6:47pm |
TravellerGuild Master
Posts : 4040
Joined: 3 JUL 2010
Location: US
Status : Offline | Originally Posted By Jenny100 (27 AUG 2010 5:40pm)
Originally Posted By Caroline (27 AUG 2010 9:33am)
So before I let the lone ranger fix it 'properly' I thought I'd ask the techie experts here to recommend me a graphics card that will sit easily on a 2006 motherboard with 512 ram with XP. I'd like to be able to request a specific graphics card rather than rely on his knowledge.
What wattage is your computer's power supply?
How fast a card you can get depends on whether the power supply has enough wattage to support it.
What Jenny says is true. The lower ranges I mentioned would run fine with a 500 Watt power supply, but the higher-end cards, notably for instance the 9800 GTX, would need at least around 650Watts + of power supply to be installed.
I am sure that the techie that Caroline takes the machine to would check the PS before installing a card - in fact Caroline mentioned that he replaced the power supply for her just 2 weeks ago.
Anyway, this is just to give Caroline a rough idea so that she can Google and check out prices and so on. I'm sure her technician will advise her what is compatible with her current hardware once she has her machine there so that he or she can take note of all her specs.
* * * Just call me Trav. * * *
“Despite my ghoulish reputation, I really have the heart of a small boy. I keep it in a jar on my desk.” - Robert Bloch
"They are not reciprocally sublated--the one does not sublate the other externally--but each sublates itself in itself and is in its own self the opposite of itself" (Hegel, from The Doctrine of Being)..."
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| 27 AUG 2010 at 7:58pm |
BXLebanonIntergalactic Janitor
Posts : 86
Joined: 20 JUL 2005
Status : Offline | If you do have a PCI-Express slot you may want to look into cards with Direct-X 11 support. I'm not sure how many of them are good values under $100 and don't need a lot of power, but if you get a Direct-X 11 card now then you can move it into a new Windows 7 PC in the future. The other cards will work with Win7 but won't have support for modern features.
I had a PC that was making a loud whining sound, blowing some canned air right into the video card fan fixed the problem. You may also be able to pick out some dust using tweezers (with the PC off and unplugged).
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| 28 AUG 2010 at 3:01am |
CarolineJA+ Overseer
Posts : 16540
Joined: 28 JAN 2007
Location: AU
Status : Offline | Okay, wish me luck. I intend to open the side of it and investigate.
I've just checked my specs and spoken to the technician. He said he'd need to see the machine running to identify the fan. So I shall do that over the weekend.
Then we spoke about new video card and he has recommended GeForce GTS 250 with 1Gb onboard memory (150). Then he suggested I double my current DDR from 512x2 to 512x4 ($140). He thinks this will fit nicely with existing mobo Gigabyte GAK8N-SLI but will make a noticeable difference to my gaming pleasure not to mention my Windows applications.
Just reading the specs it says the PC3200 is 400Mhz RAM.... is that the CPU speed?
The CPU is a AMD Athlon 64 3800 dual core.
What do you think? Will it make a difference? I can afford this, I'm just not sure it's necessary. (espcially as the machine is now running quietly) Assuming that the fan noise is not the graphics card fan, or that I can clean it, will it still be better to upgrade the machine anyway?
He says the card he's suggested will work with a newer mobo should this one suddenly decide to stick its spoon in the wall.
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| 28 AUG 2010 at 7:35am |
TravellerGuild Master
Posts : 4040
Joined: 3 JUL 2010
Location: US
Status : Offline | The 250 that the techie suggested is a nice card, but one would need to check what model mobo you have, I think, Caroline.
The PC3200 400Mhz RAM - that would be your RAM, your memory; (those DIMM sticks) and yes, it would be a good idea to increase your RAM. Looks like you have only 1 Gig RAM at the moment, which isn't a lot, so increasing to 2 Gigs would indeed be a good idea.
The CPU speed on the AMD Athlon 64 3800 dual core, would seem to be 2 Gigaherz, which is not stellar by today's standards, but probably quite sufficient for a dual-core processor running mainly older adventure games.
..and yes, you will have to start thinking of a new mobo at some point in time, but only when you upgrade some major hardware.
However, if your dusting and cleaning efforts have produced a more quietly running machine, I would suggest you wait until you have further problems, or until you find that your current hardware is unable to run the games you are playing, since putting modern hardware on an ancient mobo is not such a good idea (even if still compatible) simply from the POV that your FSB speed could cause a bottleneck and slow down your other hardware anyway.
This would of course depend on your current mobo's FSB speed... :
Out of interest, what graphics card have you currently got installed? (Either "run" a dxdiag, or Right click "My computer" then:/properties/hardware/device manager/display adapter, to see. )
Oh, and could you find out how many Watts your new power supply delivers?
Good luck, anyway.
* * * Just call me Trav. * * *
“Despite my ghoulish reputation, I really have the heart of a small boy. I keep it in a jar on my desk.” - Robert Bloch
"They are not reciprocally sublated--the one does not sublate the other externally--but each sublates itself in itself and is in its own self the opposite of itself" (Hegel, from The Doctrine of Being)..."
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| 28 AUG 2010 at 10:03am |
CarolineJA+ Overseer
Posts : 16540
Joined: 28 JAN 2007
Location: AU
Status : Offline | The current graphics card is GeForce 7900GT and after holding the hoover next to the ventilation grille on the box it is playing nicely.
I am reluctant to spend money unnecessarily but is the suggested replacement card better than what I have? And would it make it difficult to play older games?
However, if the card was only dusty and is now working - should I still improve the RAM? Where would I notice the improvement?
somebody... please.... tell me what to do! [smiley=rofl.gif]
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| 28 AUG 2010 at 10:19am |
TravellerGuild Master
Posts : 4040
Joined: 3 JUL 2010
Location: US
Status : Offline | The reasons why people usually ugrade their machines are :
1) Something breaks and needs to be replaced, often leading to the need for other things to be replaced as well, if it proves that the old hardware is incompatible with new hardware.
or
2) Your hardware simply becomes to old and outdated to play the new games you have purchased.
or, in the third case, if none of the above apply, you will upgrade it continuously if:
3) You are some kind of nerdy, geeky, techie dork, who seems to need to boost his/her self-esteem by always having to have the latest newest tech gadget and latest software (usually still in beta) and state-of the art computer sytem with all the latest paraphenalia.
In your case, none of those seems to be the case, Caroline, so I would stay put for now if I were you, since you don't tend to play next-gen games anyway.
That graphics card is a blooming nice one - I also had one quite some moons ago; the only problem is that they tend to run hot, so make sure your case has good ventilation, and is not coated with fluff inside. (Computers tend to collect fluff inside, and can be cleaned out with a combination of very soft (for art, not for painting walls - with sable or squirrel-tail hair ) paintbrush for the covered non-vulnerable areas and spraying compressed air into the more delicate areas. )
I would still be using my 7900GT if some idiot hadn't smashed the poor thing against the wall by accident... :'(
* * * Just call me Trav. * * *
“Despite my ghoulish reputation, I really have the heart of a small boy. I keep it in a jar on my desk.” - Robert Bloch
"They are not reciprocally sublated--the one does not sublate the other externally--but each sublates itself in itself and is in its own self the opposite of itself" (Hegel, from The Doctrine of Being)..."
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| 28 AUG 2010 at 6:03pm |
BXLebanonIntergalactic Janitor
Posts : 86
Joined: 20 JUL 2005
Status : Offline | The www.crucial.com site shows several updates for the GA-K8N-SLI, you can get a 1GB kit (512MBx2) for $53. There are several K8N motherboards listed, but the site has a tool you can run to make sure you order the right upgrade. If you play games I think it's a good idea to have 2GB with WinXP. I don't know how much memory your system will be able to use with your motherboard and WinXP, if you want to use more than 2GB you should look for posts seeing how much you can add.
Do you have all of your important files backed up to a DVD-R, CD-R or USB flash drive in case the hard drive dies? Do you have the XP reinstall CD ready? I have my XP CD ready to go with all of my important files and PC updates and drivers on a USB drive.
If you think the hard drive might be dying you can find out what type you need and wait until you see a sale at any local or online store, but you should make sure you've backed up your files if you are worried about them.
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| 28 AUG 2010 at 6:39pm |
TravellerGuild Master
Posts : 4040
Joined: 3 JUL 2010
Location: US
Status : Offline | Oh, sorry, I never mentioned the RAM in my last post.
BXLebanon is quite right - it would be a good idea to increase your RAM - under 2 Gigs really is not a lot of RAM for a gamer. Don't you ever find that your games tend to go into slow motion, or that your PC tends to respond slowly?
On the other hand, XP is not very heavy on memory, so I guess it is possible that you could still get by with what you have - but I suspect not for all that much longer, so at least start thinking along the lines of increasing your RAM.
Usually it is best to keep the same kind of RAM sticks together, but anyway, your DIMMS are about the easiest component in your entire system to install and to take with you should you decide to upgrade your entire system, so adding to your RAM is never a waste. (Unless you're going to add more RAM than your system can use, of course, which in the case of 32-bit XP is just over 3 Gigabytes. )
* * * Just call me Trav. * * *
“Despite my ghoulish reputation, I really have the heart of a small boy. I keep it in a jar on my desk.” - Robert Bloch
"They are not reciprocally sublated--the one does not sublate the other externally--but each sublates itself in itself and is in its own self the opposite of itself" (Hegel, from The Doctrine of Being)..."
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| 29 AUG 2010 at 2:37am |
CarolineJA+ Overseer
Posts : 16540
Joined: 28 JAN 2007
Location: AU
Status : Offline | Thank you all for the information and suggestions - you have no idea how clueless I am on these techie details.
I shall keep the video card as is and add double the RAM. And I'll get onto that paintbrush idea Trav. Hubby tells me we can buy empty aerosols (canned air). Amazing what they sell nowadays.
Now.... sometimes my little pc freezes itself for no apparent reason and I have to do a hard turn off. Getting fed up with this actually. Is there an easy way for me to find out what is causing this and fix it? By easy I mean VERY easy, with instructions on the level that Bobo could follow.
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| 29 AUG 2010 at 3:31pm |
BXLebanonIntergalactic Janitor
Posts : 86
Joined: 20 JUL 2005
Status : Offline | Do you have an up to date antivirus program? If you need a free one you can try using Avast from www.avast.com or Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) from www.microsoft.com. There are other good free programs available like AVG or Avira Antivir but I think Avast and MSE are supposed to be very light on system resources. I use them both on different PCs and have been very pleased with the results. Once in a while both Avast or MSE will take a minute or so to become fully active but that hasn't been a big problem and both programs have help forums available. You can only have one antivirus program on so just choose one program.
I would suggest also using at least one backup scanner. The best two that have free versions are MBAM and SAS:
http://www.malwarebytes.org/
http://www.superantispyware.com/index.html
The free versions just act as on demand scanners. I would install one of them and update it to run a full scan at least once a month or so. These are antimalware programs that are designed to work even with your antivirus program running. You can buy the full version or SAS or MBAM and have it work with Avast, MSE or another antivirus program.
I also use the CCleaner from http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner. It can clean out your temp files making your scans go faster, clean your resgistry and has a few other tools to help you keep your PC clean and running well.
You may want to open Add Remove Programs in Control Panel to see what you have installed. It is very important to have the latest version of programs for security and performance reasons:
If you see Java or JSRE it should be Java 6 update 21. Older versions should be removed. You can get the latest version from www.java.com. If you have a 64 bit operating system and use both 32 bit and 64 bit browsers you may also need the 64 bit-plug in from the site.
The Adobe Flash, Reader and Shockwave should all be recent versions. 9.3.4 for the Adobe Reader and 10.1.82.76 for Flash. I'm not sure what version Shockwave is at but you may not need Shockwave. There is an uninstall tool for the Flash player on the www.adobe.com site and to install the new Flash player if you have more than one browser you can get the install files from www.filehippo.com or www.download.com. There are two separate Flash installers for Internet Explorer and other browsers like FireFox or Chrome. The download and filehippo site should also have the setup files for MBAM, SAS, Avast free, the offline Java installer and many other programs.
Make sure you have the latest Real Player and Quicktime. You could also try the Real and Quick alternative players from the filehippo site, they are supposed to be lighter on resources.
Have you been to the www.nvidia.com site to get the latest drivers for your card? I have several GeForce 9500 cards and I have found it's a good idea to search the Internet for posts about new drivers to see if they have been out for a while and are stable. The 258.96 drivers have been out for a while now and seem to be very stable. You may also want to go to the Microsoft site to download the latest Direct-X.
Have you run a defrag recently? After making sure all of your programs are up to date you may want to run Microsoft Update from the www.microsoft.com site, make sure all critical patches are installed and then run the CCleaner, shut down your antivirus program with your PC not connected to the Internet and then run defrag on the hard drive. If you have system restore enabled it can also be a good idea to delete all but one or two recent restore points and maybe keep one older one, that will let the scans and defrag go quicker. The CCleaner has a tool to help you delete extra restore points.
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| 30 AUG 2010 at 4:23am |
CarolineJA+ Overseer
Posts : 16540
Joined: 28 JAN 2007
Location: AU
Status : Offline | My goodness BX, you sure know your way around a computer. I need to print out your post and tick it all off as I go. Thank you so much for the check list. :-*
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