Athlon64 X2 and gaming

[floydenheimer]

I'm having issues with games on my X2 and I'm wondering if anyone has the same probs and who is running fine. Games seem to just go bonkers and run like they're in fast forward after a while. Installing AMD's Athlon64 drivers make it worse, games go into the crazy fast forward mode sooner. A reboot will make everything go back to normal temporarily. Here are my specs, please share yours!

Athlon64 X2 4400+ (at stock)
DFI LP NF4 Ultra-D (6/23 bios, 6.66 drivers)
2x 512MB Mushkin XP3200 (2-3-2-6 1T)
eVGA Geforce 6800GT (77.72)
1x WD Raptor 36gb
2x Hitachi T7K250 in Raid-0
AeroCool Turbine Power 550W psu

From all the trial and error I've gone through I'm thinking either the bios or windows just don't handle the X2 correctly in games. Any insight would be great, thanks!

 

[stratman]

Just to clear things up, all games, not just online games, mess up after a while?

I'm interested to hear if this is a widespread problem. Could be a big issue for AMD if it is.

 

[floydenheimer]

All games I've tried so far, yes. It's a fresh install so I haven't played a bunch of games yet. So far GTA:SA and EQ have the problem, I'll try out d3 or bf2 to see if those have the same problem.

 

[Sixtyfour]

Too fast CPU ?

 

[imported_toot]

Which installer did you use for the AMD drivers? If you used the .exe, it should have added the /usepmtimer flag to your boot.ini which I think fixes this problem. If that flag isn't there, try adding it and rebooting..

 

[dguy6789]

Are you using Windows XP Pro X64 Edition?

 

[freethrowtommy]

Nope... I figured this out with GTA! You have to go into the affinity and set it to only use ONE cpu! Trust me... this works. I had the problem with GTA and now it works just fine.

Basically here is what you do:
Load up the game but don't start or load a save (it will mess up the game)
alt-tab to windows
ctr-alt-del to the task manager
go to processes and right click on gtasa.exe
go to affinity and uncheck one of them (CPU0 or CPU1)
exit out... go load a game... it should be perfect!

Try it with other games and let me know if it works for you! Unfortuately you have to do this every time you load a game.

 

[BeakerChem]

Freethrowtommy - What BIOS are you running with your A8N-SLI Premium?

 

[freethrowtommy]

1006-004 I believe... the LATEST beta bios they offer.

 

[ChicagoPCGuy]

This would be a Windows XP issue.

 

[BeakerChem]

Originally posted by: freethrowtommy
1006-004 I believe... the LATEST beta bios they offer.

Did you have the same problems on 1005?

 

[freethrowtommy]

Yeah... I don't think the problem lies within the bios but the programs/windows itself. It seems to be an X2 in general problem.

 

[Griffinhart]

Originally posted by: floydenheimer
All games I've tried so far, yes. It's a fresh install so I haven't played a bunch of games yet. So far GTA:SA and EQ have the problem, I'll try out d3 or bf2 to see if those have the same problem.

I've been sticking to EQ and BF2 mostly and haven't had a chance to play any other games recently. But, BF2 works with no problems what so ever.

EQ has a problem with multi core processors. You can work around it by:
1. Start EQ Patcher
2. Bring up task manager (Before hitting the play button)
3. find the process and set the affinity to one of the two CPU's (either is fine)
4. Continue Hit Play on the EQ patcher and you are fine for the rest of the session.

 

[Dragon41673]

LOL I thought it was just me! I was playing Knights Of The Old Republic II and it would freak out a bit and lock up on me. Didn't think it was the CPU though. I'm really interested to hear if anyone else had this issue. I wish I was home to try other games now but alas...I'm at work!

 

[imported_X]

Bah, sounds like X2 isn't ready for prime time gaming yet. I wonder if this is something that can be fixed systematically, rather than needing to do it with each game?

 

[freethrowtommy]

I don't think it is every game. There only seem to be a select few that have the problem. For the time being, the fix isn't too bad because it won't affect gameplay at all since games are single threaded anyhow, it is only a pain in the ass to do it every time I load up. It seems like the "affinity" fix is the solution to all the problems that games are having with the X2 so far.

 

[BoboKatt]

I have issues with EQ as well but also with my 6XX series P4. I play that game and only that game with HT turned off on my INTEL and the 2nd CPU turned off on my X2. I cannot explain it but it just plays smoother. Too bad as I was hoping it would help the overall sluggishness that is EQ.

 

[floydenheimer]

Thanks guys! I had a hunch that it was something to do with the 2 cores. I couldn't figure out how to get the affinity to stick, I was trying it after loading games.

 

[jpeyton]

It's a software problem if anything. I haven't encountered this problem with my setup yet (4400+/DFI LP UT/ATI X850 XT PE)

 

[clarkey01]

HL2, Ripping/MSN/I.E work fine for me..I cant tell that Im using more then one program.

 

[imported_t0ast]

Have only played a few games so far (seeing how I built it last night), but everything so far has been outstanding w/o problems.

(specs in sig)

 

[aka1nas]

This doesn't sound like it should be an affinity issue as dual CPU machines don't have this problem in games. When you say fast forwarding do you mean it skips around or it plays too fast? have you tried the new nvidia drivers which support X2s? I believe they have an 8x.xx version driver now which is optimized for dual cores.

 

[freethrowtommy]

I am using the 80 drivers and the latest chipset drivers, no help. The affinity thing WORKS... I have been using it for over a week and everytime I load up GTA without it, it goes like a bat out of hell (super fast)! Tried the offical release drivers from nvidia also, same problem. So for a temp fix, affinity does work. Even the guy with the HT on the P4 had a problem, and fixed it by turning off HT.

If you say you don't have the prob AND have played GTA:SA or EQ... let it be known! MOST other games like WoW and HL2 work just fine with the X2. This is an isolated problem... it isn't for EVERY game!

 

[aka1nas]

bleh sounds like they put in some timer loop that was dependent on CPU speed that is getting too much CPU time due to the second core or virtual proc in the case of the P4. Wonder if it plays a little too fast still on someone with a higher end PC, like an overclocked FX?

 

[xtknight]

if you guys want i'll make a silent program that runs in the background to set affinity for you. you'd have to put the process names, delimited in a text file. i should be able to test it on my P4 HT machine.