Quote from richy :

Third is an easy one
Would I be better off using 1024x768 res with 85hz refresh rate on my monitor, or is that only worth it with vsync. I get that tearing thing sometimes in some games. why would I get tearing is my viewsonic vp191s monitor too poor for my system? I usually run 1280x1024 at 75hz I dont know if I would see any visual difference changing it to 85hz.

Fourth is my overheating thing a bit more continued

I went into my nvidia control panel and put a lot of the options up so it bumped the graphics up a lot to higher quality but after about 10 mins of playing the fans kicked in and it slowed down a bit and I checked the temp and the GPU was at 50C and the processor seemed to have crept up to 70C again. maybe i need to clean harder. Maybe I just pushed my system as hard as it could go. It still had good FPS but it just felt slower to the demon ive been used to the last couple of days.

Sensor Properties
Sensor Type Winbond W83627THF (ISA 290h)
GPU Sensor Type Maxim MAX6646 (NV-I2C 4Ch)
Motherboard Name MSI MS-7058

Temperatures
Motherboard 40 °C (104 °F)
CPU 50 °C (122 °F)
GPU 37 °C (99 °F)
GPU Ambient 35 °C (95 °F)
WDC WD2000JD-00HBC0 35 °C (95 °F)
WDC WD2000JD-00HBC0 31 °C (88 °F)

Cooling Fans
CPU 1096 RPM

Voltage Values
CPU Core 1.36 V
+3.3 V 3.30 V
+5 V 5.00 V
+12 V 11.67 V
+5 V Standby 5.06 V
VBAT Battery 3.09 V
Debug Info F FF 9A FF
Debug Info T 40 50 233
Debug Info V 8A 6C CE BA C0 5A 10 (03)

The two sensors I have in my system feels limited, id like to get more sensors somehow, is there a card i can get that will do this or is that all down to what motherboard ive got? Is there a way to find out the rpm of my GPU fan? How do you rate PCI fan cards? I want a heavy duty fan I dont want one that glows in the dark but one that is really quiet but powerful at the same time.

Fith is still my BIOS settings still continued
Just remembered this, I havent really looked into the options much I will google this stuff in a bit and get back to you with some stuff about that probably lol

Sixth is the reinstall of windows I keep talking about and not doing
My current windows install is on G: because i messed up the install first time around now ive moved most of the data I want to keep to my other hard drive C: which when I reinstall windows I plan to remove from the system, then once windows is reinstalled Ill reconnect it and hope the drive letter gets renamed, will this work?

I dont know which drivers to let windows install or which to use a driver disk or downloaded drivers that I can put on a CD. If I want my system to start clean, should I disconnect the hardware except 1 hard drive, then update the BIOS then install windows then connect stuff up after that? Ive got a recovery disk that I got with the computer too, which is sort of an XP pro disk except its got evesham on it. is this loaded with drivers for my windows to work with this hardware? is that installing the VIA drivers that are causing me hassle? Ill need this disk to load my SATA drivers right? When I format the disk do I format /mbr too or something? do i even need to do that these days?

Ill leave the memory as it is then unless anyone really thinks its worth doing.

Ok this is what im still left thinking about from before and i've got some new issues to worry about now.

Ok so my refresh rate doesnt matter because its an LCD screen. This is the specs of my monitor see fig23a. Its native res is 1280x1024 @ 75hz so this is what im using here, im thinking I should of taken more care in getting the screen too because I think I could of chosen better, maybe a CRT type but sadly im limited in space and a 19" crt wouldnt fit so viewing area matters a bit to me. The other things im looking at is the response time. Which is 8ms, it says grey to grey but i dont think that is going to be too precise. Is that ok for gaming these days? I cant say I visibly notice any ghosting im guessing thatll happen around 125fps or over, maybe this is related to my tearing sometimes without vsync. either that or its because i didnt have it in a native res, aaaanyway, Contrast ratio is 800:1 i dunno if thats ok but its bright enough. Dunno how to work out the diagonal dot pitch measurements... im guessing the monitor is good enough for my system for a while. So I can forget about that now and concentrate on the other bits.

I plugged in a USB flash drive and it clashed with the VIA chipset Im beginning to think this is my USB 2 controller or something, it says usb 2 on the floppy drive so i wonder if thats related to the chip on the mobo. Its a mystery but I dont have to boot up with the thumb drive in so its ok. as much as i want to avoid the bios update i think i might have to do it afterall. worth a try just for peach of mind.

That monitor is pretty good, it's got DVI-D which is sweet. For better image quality use the DVI-D connection, it's a weird plug, bigger than the analog and usually white in colour compared to the older analog blue plugs.

Not sure on your USB problem.

Quote from Davo :

That monitor is pretty good, it's got DVI-D which is sweet. For better image quality use the DVI-D connection, it's a weird plug, bigger than the analog and usually white in colour compared to the older analog blue plugs.

Not sure on your USB problem.

yeah i have it running through the DVI-D port already. because i got my computer as a bundle im paranoid that they cheaped out in areas which might be limiting me now.

this is allmost offtopic

but how can it be possible that when i upgraded from 6600gt to 7600gt ive been getting worse fps than with the older card :S running the same settings as the 6600gt had in lfs

Plz start your own thread

naaah , just little offtopic action...

wow that was your mainproblem i mean the heating ive never seen a a case like that , and you should clean the inside with a aircompressor , trust me it works good no flying parts etc just dont point it at the fan ^^ the fan will go nuts

Well its going to drag a thread offtopic what for?

Air compressor is not recommended becuase there can be water and oil particles in the air, it is best to get a can of compressed air and use that as it is clean.

Sorry to keep digging this thread up.

I got more questions for ya! I'll try and keep it easy to read.

OK! Are you comfy?!

First is my 5:4 FSB:RAM ratio.
Right I sort of understand a little bit more about this since ive been reading on it, although its all quite hazy still. Ive got a P4 so im ok because it can handle asynchronous ratios like that, but I read somewhere that this possibly could give me as good as 1:1 or even better performance as 5:4??? due to the way P4's have some sort of architecture to handle this? could this be true? maybe I didnt read enough and it was actually from some overclocking to a ratio of 5:4. rather than underclocking like mine is.

Second is my temperature stuff.
Cool so ive got a few ways now of monitoring my temperatures and getting a general idea of what my winbond chip is reporting. I tried this program called Thermal Analysis Tool or TAT from Intel. Weird error I got when trying to use it. I dont think it works with Pentium 4's I think you need a core duo for it. Anyway, when I double click that program I get an error and I can visibly see in CPU-Z my CPU clock speed from from 3400 to 2800, after a reboot its all ok again. Crazy stuff, careful with it. I wanted to use some of those features to log my temperatures over a long time and stress it a bit.

What do you think about thermoelectric cooling see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermoelectric_cooling for some info on it. Says you can use it with a stock HSF. uses a lot of power though. thought that was a cool thing.

I read somewhere that you need an equal amount of air being pushed into the case as is being pulled out is this true or does it not matter that much? Does that mean if the fan on my HDD at the front of my case is not as big as the fan at the back of my case that its not getting enough air? Should I think about modding my case a bit and maybe getting a similar fan?

Third is my voltages.
Now this one is really really confusing, trying to monitor the voltages from my winbond chip im not quite sure exactly what its reading from if its reading correctly or how to fix it or check it properly. Is that winbond reading from the voltages actually on the CPU itself, so if those are reading incorrectly it would mean a faulty CPU? That doesnt monitor the voltages on my motherboard or whats being fed into it does it, so how would I know if my PSU is doing all the right stuff in that area? You said I would notice things cutting out or not working. My DFP loses all power sometimes while im racing, this is a new problem.

Fourth is my USB ports maybe related to the power
My DFP used to be plugged into the USB ports on my mainboard but I have since moved it to the front panel USB ports. Now im guessing these ports are buggered up because the microphone / headphone ports dont work but the USB ones do. Do you think that little front case panel containing the ports is not getting the right amount of power? As its a little circuit board on the front of the case. This would make my DFP randomly lose power, in LFS and in windows would it?

Do I need to borrow my mates multimeter and learn to use it to really find out about that power stuff?

Quote from richy :

What do you think about thermoelectric cooling see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermoelectric_cooling for some info on it. Says you can use it with a stock HSF. uses a lot of power though. thought that was a cool thing.

Thats a Peltier, or TEC as its also known, it on a PC you need the right kit, you get good temps, but you need GOOD water cooling to cool the hot side! Air (even top end air) will not do!

If your worried about temps on a non-overclocked CPU, then get a nice Artic Cooling fan (i say nice - its crap really, but better than stock!) or, a much better "Thermaltake Big Typhoon"

Quote from richy :

Fourth is my USB ports maybe related to the power
My DFP used to be plugged into the USB ports on my mainboard but I have since moved it to the front panel USB ports. Now im guessing these ports are buggered up because the microphone / headphone ports dont work but the USB ones do. Do you think that little front case panel containing the ports is not getting the right amount of power? As its a little circuit board on the front of the case. This would make my DFP randomly lose power, in LFS and in windows would it?

DFP has an external power supply

Some mobos either let the sound go out the back OR by the front, but all of the USB ports can be plugged in, chances are the front ones just aren't connected

EDIT - a guide from an overclocking f ... your cooling is a dorito!

Quote from Davo :

Well its going to drag a thread offtopic what for?

Air compressor is not recommended becuase there can be water and oil particles in the air, it is best to get a can of compressed air and use that as it is clean.

urgh ... rich ppl rubbish , just spray on a clean piece of paper and see , will that affect your computer?

"rich people rubbish" - air contains water, and a can of compressed air costs nothing, i wouldn't try to spray my PC with just anything, even if my PC was crap!

just making a point , Cleaned my computer 10 times with a aircompressor , nothing happened , you people fear everything >.<

but what ever ill just shut up.

check what your bois looks for to boot to make sure its your windows install drive first then every thing else so its not looking at any thing thats not a bootable drive