Computer & EQ2

[Thorpe]

Since this deals more with my computer than EQ2, I posted in General. I recently installed and started playing EQ2. However, whenever I have EQ2 running, my computer starts to make a buzzing sound. My first reaction is that it is probably the fan. I am not that computer savvy in terms of hardware so that's why I am in the dark. The specs on my computer are as follows;

ATI Radeon XPress 200 Series
AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4200+
984MHz
1.93 GG of RAM

Am I close in guessing the fan? My other thought was that the video card needs to be upgraded. I can't afford a large upgrade but I am impatient and want to play the game with higher settings and if the card is the case, stop that annoying buzzing sound. The card I was looking at is;

VisionTek - RADEON X1300 XGE Graphics Card - VTK 1300512XGEPCIE

Any advice would be great.

[Twobit Whore]

If your video card has a fan on it, not sure if the 200's do, it might be speeding up due to running a 3D program. A lot of cards auto-adjust based on load. Some of those specs seem weird tho.. CPU running at 984MHz?

[Ephialtes]

Crack the case open when the buzzing starts and see where it's coming from. Some power supplies have fans that run at dual speeds. Yours may be pumping into overdrive to help with cooling. EQ2 can stress a system and that may be your problem.

I currently run an ATI x1300 256meg which although not being top of the line, it does the job, and for relatively cheap. I would try www.Newegg.com for hardware before I would try Best Buy. The prices are generally cheaper and they have a much wider selection, although there is shipping involved.

[Thorpe]

Originally Posted by Twobit Whore

If your video card has a fan on it, not sure if the 200's do, it might be speeding up due to running a 3D program. A lot of cards auto-adjust based on load. Some of those specs seem weird tho.. CPU running at 984MHz?

The 984MHz seemed weird to me but that's what it showed when I right-clicked on My Computer.

/shrug

[Twobit Whore]

You need to have someone look at your system and check it out. Is it a laptop?

[Ephialtes]

Originally Posted by Twobit Whore

CPU running at 984MHz?

He may be reading that as his front side bus speed?

[Warrik]

Originally Posted by Ephialtes

He may be reading that as his front side bus speed?

Yea. there is no fucking way your proc is running at 984mhz and if it is, there is something seriously wrong. Your 4200+ runs stock at 2.21 or 2210mhz and can easily be OC'd at with stock voltages and heat sink to 2.4 or 2410mhz.

You can safely OC a AMD 4200+ am2 to 2.7 and get extremely stable results.

[Twobit Whore]

I think you mean 2210 and 2410, but yeah. It should be clocked a lot higher than 984. Something must be reporting wrong, because I can't imagine you could even play EQ2 decently at that speed.

Download CPU-Z or something and verify your CPU speed.

CPU-Z

[Warrik]

Originally Posted by Twobit Whore

I think you mean 2210 and 2410, but yeah. It should be clocked a lot higher than 984. Something must be reporting wrong, because I can't imagine you could even play EQ2 decently at that speed.

Download CPU-Z or something and verify your CPU speed.

Yup. My bad.

[Thorpe]

When I get home from work I'll download that and run it. As for the video card, I'm assuming that video card would be a big upgrade from the one that I currently have (the one that came with the PC)?

[Twobit Whore]

It would be, but you could do better if you aren't on a strict tight budget.

[Phelps McManus]

I had a computer about 5 years ago that would overheat (beep and lockup). When I would reboot, it would come up slow as shit. If I right-clicked on My Computer and looked at properties, it reported that my clock speed was like 696 MHz (about 1/2 of what it should be). If I shut down and let it cool off for awhile, it would boot up normally.

I am pretty sure it was an AMD processor, maybe a Thunderbird.

Anyway, I wonder if you are having a similar overheating problem causing your CPU to underclock. You should be able to check your temperatures in BIOS or maybe download Sandra.

[Twobit Whore]

Ah, you are referring to the auto-clocking feature. That can be disabled. It automatically throttles your cpu under idle or low load conditions. I would look into turning that off as it can decrease performance.

Cool n Quiet, that's the name.

[Thorpe]

Originally Posted by Twobit Whore

It would be, but you could do better if you aren't on a strict tight budget.

Is there a card you would suggest? I wouldn't say I'm on a tight budget but I didn't want to spend to to much on a new card.

[Twobit Whore]

I'd say look at a 1900 series if you are set on ATI, they arent much more and are exponentially more powerful. A 1300 isn't much more powerful than even an older 800, or 6800 from Nvidia. The 7800/7900s and 1800/1900s are dropping in price due to the DX10 cards coming out.