Video Card gone bad??

[JDE024]

I have an older CPU and have had some major graphic related problems lately. My GeForce II 32MB card may be on the fritz..

When I play any somewhat graphically demanding game(Links2003, Call of Duty) my CPU either locks up or has bad looking graphical glitches on screen.

Is this a bad video card?

I've heard it could be my motherboard or a Ram stick gone bad.. but I'm relatively clueless about CPU issues of this nature.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[paparazi]

I think this is a simple case of expecting too much from your hardware.
Call of Duty is a fairly new game and extremely demanding, ideally it requires a modern powerful machine 1.3 or above with a 64mb graphics card.
GF4 MX440 or above
or Radeon 9000 or above (and these are minimum specs in my opinion)
A Geforce 2 just simply hasn't got the power
I don't know about your system specs????
Martin

Replying helps further our knowledge, without comment leaves us wondering.

 

[cdogg]

At the very least, try turning down the detail setting and resolution setting (800x600) in the game. Your card was not made to handle games that were made for the DirectX 8 and DirectX 9 spec.

Therefore, you must make sure the settings in the game reflect what your card can handle. Many games have an autodetect mechanism to pre-configure the settings for you based on what you have in your system. However, sometimes it doesn't hurt to double-check them and turn them down another notch.


~cdogg
[tab]"All paid jobs absorb and degrade the mind"
[tab][tab]- Aristotle
[navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884

 

[JDE024]

My system specs are:

Pentium III 600
384 RAM
latest Drivers for everything..

I agree that my system is not good for running CoD but it was working fine for the past 2 months. I just had to play on the lowest settings. My CPU is @ minimum specs.

The problem has been getting progressivly worse for the past week. I plan to buy a new system sometime this year, but don't have the means to do so for a few more months..

Thanks for any help you can offer..

 

[cdogg]

Sorry to keep badgering you for system specs, but what version of Windows?

I would try to run the game with absolutely nothing running in the background. What you need to do (if you have Win98 or later) is go to Start -> Run and type msconfig. After hitting OK, go to the startup tab and uncheck everything. After hitting OK, it should prompt you to reboot.

When Windows reloads, it should be running with the bare minimum (with the exception of a few services that we didn't look at). Try the game again.

Same problem? I wouldn't mess with it much longer. You can try some of the suggestions listed in this FAQ (faq615-3144). But in the end, I would look forward to a video card upgrade. Tom's Hardware (

http://www.tomshardware.com)

is a good place to look up some reviews. Even if the card you buy is too fast for the rest of your system to keep up, you can always use it in your next system.


~cdogg
[tab]"All paid jobs absorb and degrade the mind"
[tab][tab]- Aristotle
[navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884

 

[JDE024]

Yeah sorry..

I have 98SE

If I need a new video card, I'd have to get the same card unless I switched to PCI.. due to a bad design in my tower.

 

[jznightmare]

have you tried playing other games besides the ones you posted above, if so, do you get artifacts also? i'm looking into the possibility the the fan of your video card is dying then and your card slowly frying. it's also better if you try looking if the fan of your card spins normally.