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Rlyss · 03-15-2005, 05:02 PM

I called Dell and they're coming by tomorrow to pick it up and check it out. I've had nothing but the worst luck with this damn computer.

For the hell of it I thought I'd just post some of my theories. I'm always interested in this type of stuff, maybe others are too.

The CPU temperature hovers around 70 degrees celcius. The fans are on all the time, however they are blowing out cool air. If the temperature was so high wouldn't it blow out hot air? I think the fans aren't actually reaching the CPU for some reason. My friend's identical system sometimes blows out air so hot that it's painful when he's doing some really intensive on the computer.

Since Windows is fine, and this only happens in games, I think the GPU is overheating. For the first 20 seconds it's fine, and then it gets too hot so it scales itself down. That might explain the sudden drop from 90FPS to 10FPS in Counter Strike. The CPU tries to pick up the slack by jumping to near 100% usage but chokes the system by doing so. After 20 seconds the GPU has cooled down enough to go back to normal, but then it heats up again and everything repeats. Strangely enough I have absolutely no problems playing Quake 3, but Age of Empires, Red Alert 2, CS, Need for Speed and Windows Media Player all choke.

Perhaps none of this is true, I'm just thinking out loud. It doesn't explain why I can't install the Mobile Pentium 4 chipset driver thing though, that just makes no sense to me. The two stickers on my case say 'Pentium 4' and 'Designed for Microsoft Windows XP', and yet the program tells me "This computer does not support this operating system."

I think the most likely theory is, as my flatmates have agreed, that Dell has sold me a computer case with a hamster on a wheel inside and the poor little guy keeps getting tired.

03-15-2005, 05:02 PM	#12 (permalink)
Rlyss The Pusher Location: Edinburgh	I called Dell and they're coming by tomorrow to pick it up and check it out. I've had nothing but the worst luck with this damn computer. For the hell of it I thought I'd just post some of my theories. I'm always interested in this type of stuff, maybe others are too. The CPU temperature hovers around 70 degrees celcius. The fans are on all the time, however they are blowing out cool air. If the temperature was so high wouldn't it blow out hot air? I think the fans aren't actually reaching the CPU for some reason. My friend's identical system sometimes blows out air so hot that it's painful when he's doing some really intensive on the computer. Since Windows is fine, and this only happens in games, I think the GPU is overheating. For the first 20 seconds it's fine, and then it gets too hot so it scales itself down. That might explain the sudden drop from 90FPS to 10FPS in Counter Strike. The CPU tries to pick up the slack by jumping to near 100% usage but chokes the system by doing so. After 20 seconds the GPU has cooled down enough to go back to normal, but then it heats up again and everything repeats. Strangely enough I have absolutely no problems playing Quake 3, but Age of Empires, Red Alert 2, CS, Need for Speed and Windows Media Player all choke. Perhaps none of this is true, I'm just thinking out loud. It doesn't explain why I can't install the Mobile Pentium 4 chipset driver thing though, that just makes no sense to me. The two stickers on my case say 'Pentium 4' and 'Designed for Microsoft Windows XP', and yet the program tells me "This computer does not support this operating system." I think the most likely theory is, as my flatmates have agreed, that Dell has sold me a computer case with a hamster on a wheel inside and the poor little guy keeps getting tired.