DirectX 9 and FX5600 Ultra

[calmhorizons]

Here goes:

I just built my first ever system and I must say it was a lot easier than I thought ut would be. It's been completely stable now for 3 days with no problems whatsoever. Well, not exactly NO problems, as I just encountered one today. My video card is an FX5600 Ultra and I want to re-play Soldier of Fortune II and when I try it loads up and plays fine for a couple minutes then.......it locks up. I can't exit it with ctrl-alt-del so I have to restart my rig. I tried changing the video settings, adjusting everything I can think of and it still does the same thing. Do you guys think I should intall the DirectX 8.1 that came with the game? Or should I get the latest detonator drivers? Or is there another possible problem? I do have every option set to maximum detail in the game, but this shouldn't be a problem considering my system specs:

Soltek SL-75FRN2-RL Nforce 2
xp 2500 barton
2X256 pc3200 Kingston
onboard sound (which I must say is awesome considering it's integrated sound)
GeForce Fx5600 Ultra
420W PS

Everything is running at stock speed for now.

Thanks in advance,

Calmhorizons


Also should mention I'm running Windows XP Pro SP1

[hgTafka]

of course u should use latest nvidia detonators, and also try other games, it may lead to bad cooling....

[Telexen]

Yes get the latest Detonators from http://www.nvidia.com/

Do you have DX9 installed? or do you just have DX8.1 installed (XP comes with 8.1)

[calmhorizons]

Thanks for the quick respones.

hgTafka: I don't think cooling is the issue, my system in running at 32c idle and around 44c at full load. Thats with 2 exhaust case fans and the stock hsf. Btw, this seems really good. Looks like the new XP's run pretty cool these days.

Telexen: Actually I have 8.1 installed. I know the latest detonator drives are uaually a good thing to have. Just havn't had time to dl them. I also didn't figure I really would need them for SOFII since it's somewhat of an older game. I'll dl the new drivers in a while and see what that does.

[rourkchris]

The CPU temp isn't a good indicator of the video cards temp. What brand of is your FX5600 Ultra? Some manuacturer's do a better job of cooling than others. How is your case cooling? Where are your fans placed? What size are they? How much cfm do they put out? Is your power supply AMD approved(2 fans-1 directly above the CPU pulling air in)? This is your first build and I only ask because it sounds like a potential heat problem-starts up and plays for a couple of minutes then locks up. If you decide that cooling is the answer try these places for cooling products:

www.1coolpc.com
www.case-mod.com
www.nexfan.com
www.2cooltek.com
www.frozencpu.com
www.coolerguys.com
www.pcmods.com
www.svcompucycle.com
www.xoxide.com

I've used all these places for case fans, case mods, custom cooling, and graphics card cooling and trust them all. Maybe try some higher cfm case fans. You might also want to add heatsinks to the RAM of the video card and a fan on the side blowing fresh cool air directly onto the video card. Hope some of this helps. These are just some suggestions and you should investigate all possibilities like outdated drivers or a corupt install of the game first. Added cooling can only enhance your hardware's longevity and efficiency.