Computer Issues/Graphics Card

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  • Computer Issues/Graphics Card

    Whenever I open an application that requires the use of 3d graphics my computer screen just goes crazy. My monitor shuts off(about 5 seconds), then turns on like in the image img382.imageshack.us/img382/4873/graphicsr.jpg, turns off again, and then everythings goes back to normal. The things that i`ve been running are Counter Strike Source , Garrys Mod, Unity 3d, Contract Wars, Surgeon Simulator(The free one on Kongregate), Slender:Eight Pages, Slender: Haunt, and anything else out there.

    Computer Specs:
    System Model: Optiplex 745
    Operating System: Windows XP Proffesional
    Bios: Pheonix ROM BIOS PLUS Version 1.102.3.1
    Processor:Intel(R) Core 2 CPU 63000 @ 1.83 GHz (2 CPUS)
    Memory: 2046 MB RAM
    Video Card: Dell 256MB ATI Radeon X1300 Pro
    Direct X: 9.0C

  • check your directX config

    windows key + R

    type in: dxdiag

    hit enter

    check all the 3D acceleration is enabled and other related components, if it says anything like unsupported it might be that your graphics card is not capable of playing the games but i doubt this.

    next step would be to make sure you have the latest version of directX.
    if none of these help then try to change to openGL graphics in the games' settings menu in the video options, openGL might work better for you but it can make the graphics different as textures tend to look a bit smooth and brighter on some games.
    We used to wrestle Hunters to the ground with our bare hands! I used to kill ten, twenty a day, just using my fists!

  • one other possible problem could be that your PSU isn't powerful enough, when it starts doing stuff like gaming the GPU requires slightly more power, and if you don't have enough Watts left it'll just loose power, sometimes the whole computer shuts off, or sometimes the device goes weird for a few seconds and the OS detects that issue and turns off the program or hardware causing the issue.
    How may Watts is your PSU and how old is it?
    We used to wrestle Hunters to the ground with our bare hands! I used to kill ten, twenty a day, just using my fists!

  • To be honest, with the spec you're running your not really gonna get much out of gaming, you might want to look into getting a better spec system. You can get some pretty decent refurbished computers for around £100 that would be better suited to gaming, or if money isn't as much of an issue you can easily make a custom pc for less than £400 that could play those kind of games at ease. The modern pentium processors are pretty good for high-end gaming and are cheaper than the i5 and i7, many people swear by them for games like battlefield 3 which requires a fair bit of power. Or you could look into getting a better graphics card if you don't want to spend too much money, but your other hardware can end up bottle-necking your GPU which ends up with your graphics under-performing.
    We used to wrestle Hunters to the ground with our bare hands! I used to kill ten, twenty a day, just using my fists!