Not enough of a techie to solve this problem.

[Tavyn]

Hey guys let me begin by telling you that I am a normal guy who was too cheap to buy a computer set so I just figured no big deal I will just build my own (oh boy did I bite off more than I can chew.) Alright heres the situation, I built my computer from scratch and previously had an amd athlon 2600xp in my computer. I decided to upgrade to a amd athlon 3000xp (100 bucks on ebay for brand new in the box). What I need to know is how can I tell if my cpu fan that was perfect for the 2600 is good enough for the 3000xp? The reason I ask is because I am having some problems that I didnt have before.
My game of choice (WOW) now pauses for 3 to 5 secs occasionally. The screen just freezes then when it comes back my character has continued his movement and its like the video stops and then catches up. Sometimes my monitor shuts off by itself while the computer appears to continue running. Only way to get the monitor back on is to turn the computer off and back on.
Sometimes I get graphical corruption that can only be corrected by a hard reboot.
Had a friend tell me that all of this could be heat issues. Do you all agree? Seems to me to be more video related, but I have no idea. I have a radeon 9600 pro with 256 mb of onboard memory that has worked fine for a year but maybe the drivers or something? Building the computer wasnt all that hard but troubleshooting the problems are rediculously difficult.

Thanks for any help you can give me. And PS keep it simple please.

Tavyn

[yohon125]

i would make sure you have all the latest driver updates for you new video card ect. along with all the latest windows updates. does you pc ever make any beeps when you think it might be overheating? that could tell you for sure if that is the problem.

[Xtreeme]

Could be heat. Take the side off the case and see if it helps. Place a small fan there even blowing in if you can. What is the cpu temp and was the 2600+ HSF stock from a retail package? Or aftermarket?

[Tavyn]

Another idea, Maybe its power? I have a 350w power supply. Is that enough for a soundblaster live, athlon 3000xp, 1g pc 2700, radeon 9600 pro w/256? Never had this or any other problems till I added the new cpu. I will be sure to check all the drivers tonight (at work so cant do it now ) I hope its something that cheap and simple but I really doubt it.

[doddsy]

http://www.cpuid.com/pcw.php

you can check your cpu temps with this ^^.........something mid thirties would be about right.

haven't had an ATI card for a while but ther may be something on the ati control panrel that'll give you your cards temps.

the latest drivers might also help.......http://www.ati.com/support/driver.html

lateset version of directx is a must as well.

[Tavyn]

Mid 30s? You're kidding right? I have a program similar to that and I have looked at it before and have never seen it lower than the mid 40s and I have seen it as high as 60 once? Am I frying my computer and thats the problem? I will definitely need a new fan then?

[doddsy]

for the cpu?....mid 40's is nuthin to worry about.

what graphics card drivers are you running? what operating system?

do you know the temps for your graphics card...........?

have you overclocked anything?

[Tavyn]

Graphics card drivers should be the most updated ones for the radeon family. Unless they put a new set out in the last couple of months. I have no idea what the video card temps are or how to figure that out but I will definitely start looking for that tonight. No overclocking at all on my machine.

[Xtreeme]

40's is fine but 60's for max temp sure isnt. Specially when stressing FPU gaming and such. Do this. Run prime95 for atleast 1 hour. Id let it go for 2 though. And tell us the temp of cpu -leave it running till you get the temp then close it.

http://www.mersenne.org/freesoft.htm

[Tavyn]

Will try the prime 95 when I get home. I have read something about cpu socket temperatures vs the die temperature? can someone explain the difference please?