Newbie with an age old video problem....

[Derek Smalls]

First, I would like to say hi, as I am new here. And thanks to the messages I've already received welcoming me here!

Now to my graphics/video dilema. This will be rather long as I have tried many things already, just not the correct one so please bear with me

When I play games or DVD's on my computer, my video will slooooow way down in spots and throw fits of temporary freezing. This is more prevalent in games than in watching DVD's. The worst game for this is Need For Speed Porsche Unleashed with Red Faction coming in at second.

Here are my machine specs as it sits now:
P4 2.0 ghz 400mhz fsb and 512 L2 cache
768 meg of PC800 RAM, 2@256meg and 2@128meg
Intel D850EMV2 mother board
Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9 80 gig 7200 rpm hard disk- master
Western Digital 40 gig 7200 rpm hard disk- slave
Samsung 40x12x40 CD-RW - master
AOpen 12x DVD-ROM - slave
ATI Radeon 9700 Pro
Sound Blaster Audigy Platinum EX
USB 2.0 on mother board
D-Link ethernet, banwidth tests consistently at 2100 K/sec
600 watt FMI (comp usa) power supply
Logitech Wingman USB gamepad
All inside a Koolance liquid cooled case with cpu, chipset and hard disk cooling.

This system runs at 85 degrees F max under full load. It is a fast system also. My screen resolution is 800x600 32 bit. All the defaults are set for the video card, no anti-aliasing enabled etc....My game resolutions are also set at 800x600 32 bit, as I am trying to figure this problem.

Now, a lot of the hardware listed was recently installed trying to solve this problem. I will list the hardware that was removed in favor of the current setup, but I still had the problem with the removed hardware:

MSI GeForce 4 Ti4600 video card
Western Digital 120 gig hard disk
400 watt power supply
Air cooled ATX case
All IDE cables

I have swapped RAM out in pairs replacing them with the CRIMM's to see if that was the problem. Changed the video card, power supply, case ( I suspected heat and chose liquid cooling), hard disk. I have tried the games in each of the optical drives.

I am running the following software:

Windows XP Home Edition
Direct X 9
SP1
Intel application accelerator
Latest ATI driver
Latest Intel BIOS update
I am also running Norton Internet Security 2003 firewall and anti-virus.

All my software and games has been updated and patched. I even updated the firmware for the drives. I started over with a clean install of XP and tested the games every step of the way, for example, installed XP- test game, installed SP1 - test game, install Direct X 9- test game..........

I ran 3D Mark 2001 SE when I did my last format/install and got a score of 12,890 at 800x600 32 bit. This was before SP1 and Direct X 9. Now that DX 9 is in, I can't run 3D Mark, it says I need DX 8 I play NFS Porsche Unleashed with the gamepad and Red Faction with the keyboard. I have many other games, but I have changed so much hardware and installed XP enough that I had to call Microsoft to install the last time. It is not worth putting all the games in to test just yet. Especially when NFS Porsche Unleashed is a good test of the system.

Sorry for being so long, but I wanted to give as much info as possible.

Any and all input will be appreciated!
Thanks,
LZ

[Derek Smalls]

Also, I forgot to mention, nothing is overclocked on this machine.

[VERT]

Hi derek welcome to TechIMO, have you tried running a repair from your WinXP disk, or a reinstall (last option)

[Ace McGirk]

Have you tried the "intel application accelerator" program?

It is supposed to fix a few things like this with intel chipset mobos

[Derek Smalls]

Thanks guys!

I have installed XP about three times Friday. That included complete reformats of the drive.

I installed the Intel accelerator, but not until this morning. Could it be that it doesn't work properly unless it is installed before all the drivers and such?

[Redwolf]

What is the make of the board (manufacturer, model #)? You probably need drivers from them instead of from Intel, unless they use refrence design.

Also, do you notice anyhitng else occouring when the computer slows down (blinking lights on the drives, sptrange noises, balls of fire, etc)?

[Derek Smalls]

The board is an Intel D850EMV2.

LOL@balls of fire! That would probably be coming from me

No, I don't notice anything else. I think tomorrow (Monday) I will try another clean install and install the Intel Application Accelerator at the very beginning. But I am still open to suggestions!

[Cyclone2]

Well I dont think NFS PU is the right benchmark because I tried it on 2000 and XP and could not get it to run. My son boots into 98 just to run that damn game

[Derek Smalls]

I have run the game on this machine with XP before, with no problems.

Also, my other coputer is a PIII 750 mhz with 512 meg PC133 RAM, XP home, GeForce 3 and runs the game just fine. It even ran the game when my GeForce 2MX card was in there. That is what has me baffled, but the more I think about the application accelerator, I realize that it is quite likely that I removed this from my system around the same time I started having problems. I'm not sure about that, but it is possible.

[Redwolf]

Opps. Forgpt Intel makes motherboards.



DUH!

I doubt it is the app accelerator tho. Hmm...Have you noticed any random reboots or other problems?