46 replies to this topic

[ninjitsu]

Do you know the brand and model for your 6670?

Do you have another system you can test it in, maybe a friends computer? If not, you may be able to find a computer store to pop it in to a computer and see if it works. It's possible the card is bad. Or it's not getting enough power.

[Hairy Passion]

XFX is the brand of the card. PSU wattage is 300. I'm pretty sure it's getting enough power, as this card is stated to use 12W at idle/low.. I'm thinking the motherboard is confused with onboard GPU and additional one? The person who sold it to me just now told me that my mobo has a PCIx1 slot, but the GPU is PCI 2.1? I know someone who has a ton of computers but he will likely charge me to test the card..maybe not though.

Edit:12W at idle/low

Edited by Hairy Passion, 13 July 2014 - 08:43 PM.

[ninjitsu]

I wouldn't pay anybody anything just to plug in a video card and see if it turns on

Motherboards don't usually get confused. PCI 2.1 is backwards compatible with most motherboards but there are some that may not support it. If you can confirm the card works, it will make it easier to troubleshoot from there.

[Napoleon_Blownapart]

im having driver problems too just like yours after replacing my motherboard its loading hd3000 drivers and the vga and i dont have onboard video, then that wipes out my 7770 drivers.i have been disabling and or uninstalling the vga and or hd3000 when i find them in the device manager.

[Hairy Passion]

Sent the HD 6670 back today. I tried everything for several days and got tired of the effort for what would amount to slowish performance. I am looking at upgrading or fixing this damn problem somehow so I can get back in the game. I'm thinking AM3+ with AMD Quad core, 8G ram, and some kind of GPU. I have a tower, two lightscribes, HDD.. The Phenom tri-core actually has a pretty fat cooling unit..to be continued.. :/ I'm wondering though if I keep the harddrive/OS that the problem won't recur. Scratching my head.

[ninjitsu]

From what you've described, I don't think you're having a hard drive issue. I got my radeon 6950 on ebay for $80 and it's been great. If you feel comfortable buying used parts, ebay has some great video card deals. I only buy from people that guarantee against DOA.

If you want a nicer GPU you're going to need a more powerful power supply. Do you have a Windows disc so you can re-install if needed?

What kind of budget are you looking at and what kind of performance do you want?

[Tarl Cabot]

That 300watt PSU is more likely the cause of the issue. 300watt PSU is the max with all components combined pulling max power. Each set of components will pull off various power rails, 3.3v, to 12v. If the power being pulled is beyond the PSU then issues arises.

As for having both the onboard/cpu+gpu setup pls standalone GPU, most systems will have the ability to designate which GPU will be primary. If it does not, then it needs to be setup via OS settings.

[Blue Shadow]

Tarl might be right, it's worth giving a power supply calculator a try: http://extreme.outer...culatorlite.jsp

Also if you do end up upgrading the CPU I can say the Phenom II X4 works very well in MWO, can't give you FPS (at work) but the FPS has always been playable for me I think I have it on high settings.

[Napoleon_Blownapart]

ok,since you already have a fan+heatsink you can save money buying a (tray) cpu but check the warranty on it b4 you buy.
tray=just the cpu
box=cpu with heatsink and fan,usually 3yr warranty

so it would be phenom IIx4 whatever# tray

Edited by Gorantir, 15 July 2014 - 06:01 PM.

[Lord Letto]

I think this would be OK to make it playable at low-medium if you have the cash:
PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/pb4GJx
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker....Jx/by_merchant/

CPU: AMD A8-6600K 3.9GHz Quad-Core Processor ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-F2A88XM-D3H Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($74.70 @ Newegg)
Total: $239.68
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Edited by Lord Letto, 15 July 2014 - 06:35 PM.

[Hairy Passion]

ninjitsu, on 14 July 2014 - 06:23 PM, said:

From what you've described, I don't think you're having a hard drive issue. I got my radeon 6950 on ebay for $80 and it's been great. If you feel comfortable buying used parts, ebay has some great video card deals. I only buy from people that guarantee against DOA.

If you want a nicer GPU you're going to need a more powerful power supply. Do you have a Windows disc so you can re-install if needed?

What kind of budget are you looking at and what kind of performance do you want?

Ninjitsu:
Yes I have Win 7 recovery disk. Looking for performance that allows me great battlefield awareness (no hiccups or lags). I do not need the bells and whistles to play Mechwarrior, in fact a lot of the time they are a distraction for me. My favorite 'Mechs are Dragons if that helps. I am used to playing on an Alienware 17 with twin 5850's, but the internet connection was a barrier to really letting the alienware show it's stuff. Now I have the internet fixed, and the alienware bit the dust. This computer is going to be basically a dedicated MWO machine folks. I started playing this game tabletop as a kid and used to daydream all day about actually playing it..I know there are other players who understand lol... So what I need is a machine that will do the dirty work.. that runs like I run my Dragons: fast, hot, and without a paint-job!

Looking for a Quad core AMD now.. an inexpensive one that can easily OC'ed to a usable speed will be ok with me. Mobo that can handle the abuse. minimum amount of RAM that will perform well. GPU that is matched well with aforementioned set-up and PSU that will be 125% over demand......

Thank you folks...

[ninjitsu]

Buying a brand new AMD Phenom II is a waste of money. They are far overpriced to the amount of performance you'll get. They are no longer manufactured so price for new ones is very high and supply very limited.

If we are building a machine solely for MWO, I highly recommend going Intel. There have been many posts already raging on an on about it so I'll try to keep this brief. The new AMD CPU's don't handle MWO as well as Intel. AMD changed the design of their processors and the game has a hard time properly utilizing them. Any perceived cost savings by going with AMD is severely negated by performance. I ran an AMD 6300 3.5gh six core for about six months and couldn't stand it.

Now since you are okay with overclocking, I'm going to suggest an Intel Pentium G3258. It's an overclockable dual core. I'm suggesting it for a few reasons: It's cheap!, You should be able to get it to 4ghz very easily, it puts you on a good upgrade path.

The G3258 is by no means killer CPU but it does overclock fairly well and should afford you the level of playability you are seeking at low settings. It will also put you on a motherboard that supports some very nice, high end processors that you'll have the option of upgrading to in the future. Socket AM3+ is dead and investing in to an AMD APU system like the A8 is equivalent to going into battle with a broken leg actuator.

When I build a system, I consider budget and longevity. To me it doesn't make sence to invest in to a system that has limited longevity. The Intel socket 1150 is used for current Haswell CPU's as well as the upcoming 5th gen CPU's.

If this were a system I was putting together for myself, on a tight budget, these are the main components I would use.

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16819117374

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16813128718

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820104448

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814150676

[Hairy Passion]

Ok, I'm hearing you. Awesome advice. I'll start reading.

[ninjitsu]

Hope I didn't nerd out on you too much

Edit: Here's a very in depth review on the G3258 http://www.anandtech...tium-g3258-ae/4

There's a benchmark section that show how it does with the integrated graphics, you can ignore that part if you never intend to run the integrated graphics.

Edited by ninjitsu, 15 July 2014 - 10:28 PM.

[Hairy Passion]

Ninjitsu I don't mind the nerd-out. I can keep up with most technical stuff up to a point. I'll get there lol. I'm finding out building a gaming rig is kinda like building a mech! I am really liking your advice on this build. I wanted to ask you if you think I will need advanced cooling to OC this chip, or will stock work?

[ninjitsu]

That depends on how high you want to go. Intel uses the same heatsink for pretty much all their processors. If that heat sink can cool a 88 watt 3.4 ghz quad core, I would think it could handle a 53 watt dual core at 4 ghz. Going with a third party heat sink is always good though. I have this http://www.newegg.co...N82E16835186134 on my i5 4670k, It's on sale for $17 and gets the job done pretty well. It also come with thermal compound already on it so you don't have to mess with that.

Edit: Here's a decent power supply you may want to consider http://www.newegg.co...N82E16817438014 Price is pretty good and it has a 3 year warranty. When buying a power supply, it's usually best to not go too cheap. I think this one is decent for the price and will be able to handle pretty much anything you'll throw at it.

Edited by ninjitsu, 16 July 2014 - 10:27 AM.

[Hairy Passion]

Will my HP Compaq DC5850 300W PSU do ok with the proposed setup? Trying to figure if the voltages supplied are custom for this motherboard and not transferable. Are all PSU's pretty much going to give same voltages? The heat sink I have with fan is pretty mean actually. It is designed to cool a 95W chip, so I think we are fine to OC the crap out of this Intel.

[ninjitsu]

If it's the heatsink that came with your HP, for an AMD CPU, it won't be compatible with an Intel processor. Your power supply is going to depend on your video card choice. 300 watts it's low on power and probably won't have enough juice to run any video worth having.

[Tarl Cabot]

http://www.ebay.com/...=item2a3e40188d

I believe this is the PSU in your case. It will not suffice for several reasons but primarily tis severely lacking the amps on the 12v rail.

A quality 430 to 500watt PSU would be min target with most of the pieces listed in this thread but with a PSU, it is almost always better to purchase a higher rated PSU for possible future component upgrades in the near future, such as Nin listed in his edited post. Many 1st time upgraders/etc tend to bypass/forget about the PSU then they wonder why they have issues with it, either running poorly, if running at all, or dying and taking some of the newer components with it.


Edited.

Nin EVGA 600watt PSU

• +5V@20A, +3.3V@24A, +12V@49A, -12V@0.3A, +5VSB@3A

Your Compaq 300watt PSU

• +5V@19A, +3.3V@16A, +12V@11+11.5 (CPU)A, -12V@0.15A, +5VSB@2.0A

Edited by Tarl Cabot, 16 July 2014 - 08:21 PM.

[Napoleon_Blownapart]

if you didnt return the vid card, look in device manager display adapter you might see vga or in my case was 760g go to properties update driver select from list and select vga not the numbered 1 that matches your northbridge chip(760g for me).reboot, then try disabling the vga and reboot. see if it runs your video card.make sure your drivers are new.i had read some drivers were causing problems loading ahci drivers that caused a conflict and they removed them from the recent vid drivers.