What do I need!? - Hardware & Software

A couple of months ago I bought a brand new graphics card because the old one (ATI Radeon 9600) was pathetic. Then the problems started. To test whether it would work or not I ran it through Portal and Garry's mod, and it seemed to work fine on full specs. The next day however, I started up HL2 and the computer switched itself off. After a couple of day's I found that I could not play anything HL2 related except Portal and Garry's mod. The strange thing is I can play HL maps in Garry's mod. As if to add insult to injury, every time I play a Source game, the next thing I play with an overlay breaks and the computer Blue screens. Can someone please tell me what's going on, and what I should do to stabilise the computer again. Here are the specs'. 2.17GHz possessor 1Gb RAM 120Gb hard drive. ATI Radeon 3970 Graphics card with 512mb Video memory. 230V PSU I know the graphics card is the problem, but I'd rather improve the rest of the computer than buy a worse one.

There's your problem. Your 230V PSU is frying your components.

I thought It might be the RAM, the games sometimes complain about a lack of OS paged pool Memory.

Nope, a 230V PSU should set the whole thing up in smoke. [editline]10:13PM[/editline] Also, upgrade RAM and get a stronger PSU. Hint: 230V PSU would fry your computer. If you meant 230W, it's probably not powerful enough.

It's probably Watts actually, Must've misread. About the RAM. My computer won't take any more.

Aah, what's the computer/mobo ? [editline]10:17PM[/editline] PM me your steam username, it's easier to sort out live than in a forum :smile:

There is no such thing as a 3970, can you double-check your card?

What the fuck is a 2ghz possessor

It's a processor. [sp]That's 2GHz[/sp]

Give us your dxdiag info. And d/l CPU-Z and take screenshots of the CPU and mainboard tabs. [editline]04:59PM[/editline] Also what brand is your psu and what is the wattage

[QUOTE=Yumyumbublegum;17746066]There is no such thing as a 3970, can you double-check your card?[/QUOTE] Oops, meant 3870. [editline]08:36AM[/editline] [QUOTE=McSanchezV2;17748462]Give us your dxdiag info. And d/l CPU-Z and take screenshots of the CPU and mainboard tabs. [editline]04:59PM[/editline] Also what brand is your psu and what is the wattage[/QUOTE] dxdiag? Sorry, as much as I generally know, I'm not good in all areas. If you want the DX level it's 9.c. I'll try and get some pictures for you though. As for wattage, without taking the PC apart all it says in 230V. I don't think this would actually be able to fry the computer because it came with it, and I don't think companies would make you an unstable computer.

Does it mean 230V input? Just open the side of the case and look on the side of the PSU for the power in Watts (W) [editline]10:48AM[/editline] As I said, PM me your steam username, much easier and quicker to sort out over Steam than in a forum.

I had an old computer with a pentium 4 processor, it ran the nvidia MX 420 graphics card. I upgraded it to a radeon 9600 pro and I were unable to play doom3 (it ran laggy, but no shutdowns with the mx 420). I later found out that the power supply was cutting it short, so it can be the power supply.. Should be.