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airfighterjohn
July 22nd, 2009, 03:11
I have a 2-1/2 year old machine that is acting up. My processor power fluctuates wildly--from 2.5G to less than 1G per core. Fan rpms and temps are good, power supply is working well. FSX has become nothing but a slide show, so I can't even run it anymore. This problem began shortly after I upgraded my video card--I went from a 512 MB nVidia 8500GT to a 512 9500GT. Could it be the video card? Or is the processor or motherboard going out?

system specs: AMD Athlon 64X2 5000 @2.5G, 4GB PC800 ddrII RAM, nVidia 9500GT 512mb, 500GB hdd Vista Home premium sp2

Any ideas, folks?

harleyman
July 22nd, 2009, 03:33
Have you been in the bios for anything at all that might change CPU voltages?

I doubt its the vid card ..BUT
Did you uninstall the drivers first before the card change?

I would delete the vid drivers. Run a driver cleaner in safe mode

Then install new driver for the vid card


You also may now hav an entry for both vid cards in your FSX config file..That can cause problems....Remove the wrong entry..Or delete rhe FSX config and let it rebuild a new one after you install the drivers properly



Your PSU also may be to weak for that bigger card...What is your Power Supply Wattage?

Ickie
July 22nd, 2009, 03:34
Vista is most likley your problem. Before I start changing out hardware I'd try reinstalling Vista.

kilo delta
July 22nd, 2009, 03:46
Yep...I reckon Ickie could be right. Don't worry about the cpu usage fluctuating, this is normal as it's a power saving feature and depends on cpu loading. You can disable this in the computer BIOS....CIE=Disable.

harleyman
July 22nd, 2009, 04:09
I question it actually being Vista..As the problem appeared only after he upgraded a video card..

Up till then it was all good...

Don't think that adding a vid card and drivers will corrupt the OS...

BUT..You never know....LOL

Helldiver
July 22nd, 2009, 04:47
Well Ickie is right. After two and a half years your Vista is getting old and will do with a refresh. Amazing what junk it starts to carry around or how many missing files it has lost.
Also, with the new video card are you using the newest driver. Do you clean out the old drivers? Have you cleaned out the registry or defragged it? It could be nothing but just plain neglect.

airfighterjohn
July 22nd, 2009, 04:55
power supply is 450 watts--not a problem...video drivers were uninstalled and reinstalled--believe it or not driver is the same for the two cards. Its not USAGE, its the output of the processor that fluctuates.

airfighterjohn
July 22nd, 2009, 04:57
Vista has been reinstalled more than once in the past couple of years, I defrag daily and clean my system daily. I am relatively certain now that it is my processor going out but want to cover all bases first before I shell out that kind of money...

harleyman
July 22nd, 2009, 05:17
Processors do fluctiate..Thats normal as background tasks are always starting and stopping ...


That PSU is good..


Is that not a 128 bit card? That may be a real problem too !

Roger
July 22nd, 2009, 05:22
Did you try a new FsX.cfg? At least it's a good idea to edit in the new card under "display device" and remove the old one.

airfighterjohn
July 22nd, 2009, 06:08
Okay, guys, it seems the culprit was my security suite. We got a security suite with our cable internet, so after all this time decided to try it. What a mistake!!!!! I uninstalled it and went back to good old Avast. Now nTune shows my processor putting out ful power and holding (so far). I loaded fsx and it runs great again (at least for such a weak machine compared to you guys lol). Thanks for your inputs--its one of the reasons I love the outhouse so well:icon29::icon29::icon29:

harleyman
July 22nd, 2009, 12:44
AHHHH Good deal.....:applause: