I just got a new video card yesterday so I could play Portal among some other things I've been wanting to try. The rest of the Computer is Core 2 Duo w/2GB RAM. Anyway I installed the video card and since it had been a while, I reformatted at the same time, putting on a fresh copy of XP. It runs Portal just great. Full 1680 x 1050 resolution, all the options turned up, no skipping at all. Can't complain one bit about that, but the rest of the time the computer is acting very slow when I try to do more than one thing at a time.

Unraring files basically brings the computer to it's knees. I can be listening to an mp3 and start to unrar a file and the mp3 starts skipping like it's a 486. Also unraring stuff takes a lot longer than it did before the new video card. Watching a video will make the computer skip if there is even minimal CPU load (like opening an instance of firefox) It's pretty bad.

I'm thinking the Video Card might be causing too much power consumption? I did have to use an additional cable to get more juice to the card. Would that cause the cpu to run at lower speeds? I'm surprised it would run at all if that was the case? I'm also amazed it runs Portal as well as it does. Anything I can do to test what's going on or is buying a new power supply my only option? Any other advice?

10/12/2007 11:18:26 PM

I can't say exactly, but you should check the power consumption requirements fort he card then check the rating on your PSU inside the computer.

Wouldn't hurt, even if that isn't the cause of your problems.

10/12/2007 11:28:25 PM

Quote :

"I can't say exactly, but you should check the power consumption requirements fort he card then check the rating on your PSU inside the computer."

this sounds to me like the explanation

10/13/2007 12:00:46 AM