Lag and beeping sound.

[Duke{CLR}]

Occasionally, when I am playing from my home I get periods of lag. I have written this off to the fact that other people are using the connection but last night during a really slow lag spike I heard one or two beeps from my MB speaker. My temps were all normal and when I glanced at the LED display on my MB it had the FF (Fully Functional). I thought I was in for a BSOD or a freeze but after a second everything went back to normal. This has me wondering if my lag could be coming from my machine. Does anyone know what that beeping could have been?
:?

[-IRC-MIKE]

From my experience, it sounds like it could be a couple things. I've seen this happen when a video card GPU gets really hot.. I've even had to take a fan and place blowing into the side of the case to finish letting a friend play... And 2, if your processor is getting hot. I'm leaning more toward the GPU, but I have seen where the power supply was not supplying enough power to the 4 prong (square) plugin to the board. This could have been that something else was drawing too much power. The PSU in the machine died within days.

Keep checking temps on your GPU and you may want to try another power supply and see if that fixes your problem.

[Premonition]

yep i agree with mike... its probably the card beeping. I also removed the side and placed a fan on it and the beeping stopped.

[-IRC-MIKE]

The funny thing was... I removed that video card and installed a new one and everything was fine.....BUT I put that video card in another machine and it has been playing the same game since then without a hiccup.

[Duke{CLR}]

I don't remember the exact temps but I have them displayed both on my screen and on my G15 and that was the first thing I looked at. I'm prety sure that they were in the low 60's which would be normal. :?

Would anything else beep?

[juneau]

I don't remember the exact temps but I have them displayed both on my screen and on my G15 and that was the first thing I looked at. I'm prety sure that they were in the low 60's which would be normal. :?

Would anything else beep?

That's below average for our cards. It could be that some certain voltage on your PSU is dropping too much.

[Duke{CLR}]

Is there a way to check the health of my PSU? It's only a year old and it should still work but you never know.

[-IRC-MIKE]

You can google for it, but it is nearly impossible... if not impossible to check the psu voltages under a full load unless you have some expensive testing equipment. You can check the voltages with a volt multimeter, but it would be at idle operating ranges and not sufficient to tell unless this is a constant problem even when not gaming.

The easiest way is to have another PSU handy and the process of elimination.

[juneau]

You can google for it, but it is nearly impossible... if not impossible to check the psu voltages under a full load unless you have some expensive testing equipment. You can check the voltages with a volt multimeter, but it would be at idle operating ranges and not sufficient to tell unless this is a constant problem even when not gaming.

The easiest way is to have another PSU handy and the process of elimination.

+1

I'm glad i have another PSU as backup. If the card isn't getting enough power it can cause "lag". What PSU is it again Duke?

[Duke{CLR}]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817153039

This means that I will definately not be drilling a hole in the top of my case for this PSU.

[juneau]

I've never really considered TT to be a good manufacturer in the PSU department. Their cases are pretty good but that's as far as i would go. How come you didn't buy one from say...

PCP&C
Corsair
Enermax
Seasonic

[Duke{CLR}]

I have also heard that their PSUs weren't that good but that their toughpower line was OK. It was a budget decision and the reviews on new egg seemed pretty good.

I guess that time will tell weather or not it's the PSU. I just received a profit sharing check and after taxes it came out to be $342.00 In was going to save it for a new quad core CPU but if it turns out to be my PSU then I may have to use it for that. :(

[juneau]

I have also heard that their PSUs weren't that good but that their toughpower line was OK. It was a budget decision and the reviews on new egg seemed pretty good.

I guess that time will tell weather or not it's the PSU. I just received a profit sharing check and after taxes it came out to be $342.00 In was going to save it for a new quad core CPU but if it turns out to be my PSU then I may have to use it for that. :(

One of the Corsair HX's should only be about $150-$170. So you'll have money left over. :D

I hope it's the cause. I've had to go through this before. Buying hardware and hope it fixes the problem. It's quite a bummer when it doesn't though.

[-IRC-MIKE]

ABS makes some awesome PSU's as well. Here is a price list with rebates.

http://www.newegg.com/Store/Brand.aspx?Brand=8484&name=ABS

[Duke{CLR}]

I think I will wait and see if it happens again. If it is the PSU then this is bad timing I was all set to for a full overhaul that was coinciding with the EVGA MB deal.

Oh well if I'm going to build with the big boys I guess I should expect this kind of thing. :)

[juneau]

Let us know if it happens again.

Ps...

Does it do this when your CPU/GFX are at stock?

[Duke{CLR}]

Let us know if it happens again.

Ps...

Does it do this when your CPU/GFX are at stock?

Good point. I did run OCed last night. Because of the temps seeming normal I didn't think that would be an issue but maybe it's not as stable as i thought. If I play tonight I will OC and see if I can duplicate it.

[WalkinTarget]

Just install Speedfan and set it to monitor your +12v rail, then go game for an hour ! I posted it in a reply to ... geez, I forget who it was now ... but it will at least give you an idea if the PSU is spiking or rippling with its output.

My PSU runs a steady 12.4v on the +12 rail, with not even a blip on the graph, so you don't want it to look like an electrocardiogram.

Duke, I get that lag every 15 minutes or so, and I wonder if it isn't a PB check at some point that causes my 5+ second lag spike. This is only my first week of playing CoD4, so I'm not an expert at its inner workings, but thats my guess.

[Duke{CLR}]

I will give SpeedFan a try.

I also get periods of lag but it was the beeping sound that made it different.

[Gremlin_flg]

Corsair : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139006

Speedfan is good.. Everest Ultimate (not free) does a good job as well..

[darth_nevus]

is the PSU ESA certified?

[Duke{CLR}]

I don't think It's ESA certified it doesn't mention it in the specs anyway.

Speed fan shows my 12V rail @ 11.14 :?

http://img250.imageshack.us/img250/8492/voltff2.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[darth_nevus]

I don't think It's ESA certified it doesn't mention it in the specs anyway.

Speed fan shows my 12V rail @ 11.14 :?

http://img250.imageshack.us/img250/8492/voltff2.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

considering any software read voltages are inacurate to a point, 11.14 is a bit low, but not to be too concerned about. have it run a log, and check it when it beeps. a 10% to 5% tolerance is acceptable in most cases.

[juneau]

Corsair : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139006

Speedfan is good.. Everest Ultimate (not free) does a good job as well..

Who needs the Ultimate Edition. :D

http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4181.html

[Gremlin_flg]

To make sure, you need to use a multimeter....

[Duke{CLR}]

Thanks for the linkage Juneau.

Could I put my multimeter on one of the 4 pin connectors? If so which pins should I measure?

[Zantheus]

Hey Duke if it turns out you need a new PSU I would suggest this...

http://www.infonec.com/site/main.php?module=detail&id=349337

this is what I am using and I run Quad Core q6600 OC'd to 3.6ghz and my GPU is the 8800gtx OC2

[juneau]

Hey Duke if it turns out you need a new PSU I would suggest this...

http://www.infonec.com/site/main.php?module=detail&id=349337

this is what I am using and I run Quad Core q6600 OC'd to 3.6ghz and my GPU is the 8800gtx OC2

They're good. But still not as good as the ones i listed. :)

[-IRC-MIKE]

Thanks for the linkage Juneau.

Could I put my multimeter on one of the 4 pin connectors? If so which pins should I measure?

First off, do you have any electrical background skills?

You can check JUST The four pin connector with a volt meter. Put your red lead to the yellow wire and black to black. You will still have to have the machine plugged in and turned on, but shut the machine down before pulling the four pin plug ... then power back on. You won't hurt the meter or the power supply if you have it set to DC Volts...

You can move your meter leads however you wish until you get a reading. Most of the four pin connectors are yellow black.

About a year and a half ago, I had to fudge it on a buddy's machine once, and his power supply died. I had an older supply laying around without the 4 pin connector. What I did was take a regular power plugin ...like the ones that plug into a non-sata hard drive, and cut the yellow/black wires out and wire them to a four pin plug. I had to do this so that his video would work. He didn't have the money at the time to purchase a new PSU, and asked if there was ANYTHING I could do... it is still running like that.

[Duke{CLR}]

When I was a flight instructor I was able to take Aviation Maintenance classes for free There were many electrical classes and I even got an A in the advanced one. I will try this method later and see what I get.