Games have slowed to non useable

[techforay]

I lost a mother board a couple of day ago. I replaced it with what is supposed to be comperable to what I was replacing. I also had to reload xp and went from xp home to xp pro. I play half life 2 and the game ran fine before the switch. Now it runs so slow that it is unusable. Everything else seams to run fine. The pc has a celeron 1.80 processer with 576 mb ram. The new mother board I installed is a p4vm800 prescott 800 mhz. Can anyone give me some advise

[techforay]

I have never gone so long without a response. Is there a reason?

[liam858]

Sorry techforay, must of missed this one.

Do you have any background processes running while in-game? what graphics card is in the system? is your pagefile set to auto?


Liam

[techforay]

Thank you for helping Liam

The motherboard I purchased was a ASRock PV4M800 the spec's are listed below. I can not tell you specificly what the vidio card is untill tomorrow untill I look on the box. I dont have anything running in the background that was not running before (anti-virus,firewall,im ect...). Could you explain what a pagefile is and how to set it to auto?


PROCESSOR:
- Socket 478 for Intel Pentium 4 / Celeron Processor
- FSB 800/533/400 MHz
- Support Hyper-Threading Technology
- Prescott support
CHIPSET:
- Northbridge: VIA P4M800
- Southbridge: VIA 8237
HYBRID BOOSTER:
- CPU Frequency Stepless control
- ASRock U-COP
- Boot Failure Guard (B.F.G)
MEMORY:
- 2 x DIMM slot, Max. capacity: 2GB, Support DDR 400/333

VIDEO:
- Intgrated UniChrome Pro 3D Graphics
- Max memory share 64MB (with mini. of 256MB system memory)
SLOTS:
- 1 x AGP 8X/4X slot 1.5V
- 3 x PCI (PCI 2.2 compliance), 1 x AMR slot

AUDIO:
- CMI9761 6 Channel AC'97 audio codec
LAN:
- VIA 6103 10/100 Fast Ethernet LAN PHY
- 802.3u, WOL supported
MODEM:
- AMR Modem (optional)
CONNECTOR/HEADER:
- 2 x SATA 1.5Gb/s connectors supports RAID,0,1,JBOD,
SATA HDD_Hotplug
- 2 x ATA 133/100/66 IDE connectors (supports 4 x IDE devices)
- 1 x FDD connector
- 1 x ATX Power connector (20pin)
- 1 x 12v ATX Power connector (4pin)
- CD/AUX audio in header
- CPU/System Fan connector
- Front panel audio connector
- Power/IDE LED connector
- 1 x Serial Port (COM 1)
I/O: (REAR PANEL)
- 1 x PS2 Keyboard
- 1 x PS2 Mouse
- 1 x VGA Port
- 1 x Printer Port (LPT 1)
- 1 x Audio Port (MIC-IN, LINE-IN, LINE-OUT)
- 6 x USB 2.0 Ports, (2 optional USB 2.0 port via header)
- 1 x RJ 45 LAN Port
BIOS:
- AMI 4MB Flash ROM with ACPI, SM BIOS 3.0, PnP
ACCESSORIES:
- Support CD (Drivers, Utilities, AntiVirus Software, DIY Demo)
- Quick Installation Guide, I/O Shield
- Floppy/ATA 100 cables
- 1 x SATA data cable
- 1 x SATA 1 to 1 power cable
- 1 x COM Port Bracket
DIMENSION:
- Micro ATX (9.6" x 8")
CERTIFICATIONS:
- FCC, CE, MS WHQL

[liam858]

My first guess would be that because the RAM is shared between the graphics and the rest of the system (Onboard Shared Graphics) and the fact that XP Pro has a lot of extra processes installed when compared to Home edition, the RAM is being eaten more then it was, this is only IF you are actually using the onboard graphics, if you have a card installed then this will not be the problem.

When i mentioned Pagefile above, i actually mean Virtual Memory, here is a better explanation than i can give: http://aumha.org/win5/a/xpvm.php i was wondering if it is controlled by Windows, or if it has been set by you.


Liam

[techforay]

That makes perfect since Liam. Can you recomend a inexpensive graghics card that will provide whats acceptable for games like Half-Life. According to the specs above I have a AGP 8X/4X slot 1.5V available.

[liam858]

Either a Nvidia 6600GT or an ATI 9800 Pro would serve as excellent cards, they may be a little bit towards the pricey side, but are mid level cards and can still compete with the big boys in game performance, what is your Location? i'll find some links for places to buy online near to your location.


Liam

[techforay]

I live in Puyallup Washington (near Tacoma). 98372 is the Zip. Will both of these choices process properly with my rather inexpensive e-machine 1.8 celeron processor. I think the new motherboard will accept them.

[lgbpop]

Check out the ASRock BIOS info sheet to make sure your version is the latest one. Sometimes the mobos sit in a warehouse for a while. Also, in the BIOS or your Hybrid Booster, check and make sure the optimal defaults are checked if you're not fine-tuning or OCing the computer. I don't know about too many mfrs., but after finding out that Abit had fail-safe as well as optimal defaults I checked my BIOS. Sure enough, the fail-safe defaults were selected which were a lot slower than the optimal defaults. Lastly, check in Program Files to make sure there's nothing from that mobo that needs manual activation and check Device Manager for any yellow warning signs.

[techforay]

Thank you for your help. I checked the sheet out. Can you answer a couple of questions for me.
How dangerous is it to run the bios utility?
I recieved a disk with the motherboard that had drivers on it. If I run the driver utilities from the web also could it mess something up?

[usil]

In general, if you do it according to the instructions, its not "dangerous". But you don't want things to go wrong, as you can ruin the motherboard. If you flash the BIOS and something goes wrong (such as a power failure), the BIOS chip is ruined and you could then use the motherboard as a door stop (unless you replace the BIOS chip).
Here is an interesting read on BIOS flashing.

[techforay]

Usil

Thank for the lesson on Bios Flashing. That was a very helpful web sight. I performed the function and everything went well. Absolutly no help to the games though. I am going to need to buy a video card.

[Piesgood]

On my Half life 2 box says direct x 7 level video card minimum.dont know if that helps?..hope its not a dead post Pie. p.s. H.L.2 Is Awsome!