[Freddy]

Got my RAM and CPU today 

Everything seems to be working, except for....guess what....GTA4...

Nice to see four cores chugging away though.

I have uninstalled GTA4 and I am trying it all again.  If that doesn't work I will try compatibility mode and after that put it on my XP drive...

Such a pain.

[Data]

Glad the bits are working.

Is GTA4 loading the game but jerking out when you try to play it?

Have you got the ATI drivers for your graphics card, I hope you are not using the ones that came with windows 7.

The Game should run in windows 7, dont give up on it yet.

[Freddy]

Yeah I am happy about my bits    They came quick too, ordered them Thursday night and they were here this morning (Saturday).

OK, I tried it with compatibility mode but it wont even start up with that.  I don't want to go down that route anyway really.

Here's what I have found today :

You know when you start up, you can sign in to Windows Live ?  A tab opens up from the top of the screen and it asks you to sign in to Windows Live.  Well I start typing my email and I get about 2-3 letters in and it freezes again, I can't type in more than about 3 letters and the whole thing becomes unresponsive - I have to close it down.

And now I am thinking it is some keyboard in/out problem.  Because I noticed that when I am in the game (without logging in to Live) that if I press accelerate the car moves fine, as soon as I try a combination of keys, like accelerate+left it goes jerky and finally freezes up on me.

I have no idea how to fix something like that.  My ATI drivers are the newest ones from ATI.  And my chipset is the newest drivers too.

Stumped !

[Data]

Yey the bits came quick and you fitted them quick too  

Your right you don’t need any of that compatibility stuff.


Thoughts,

Are you using a cordless keyboard and the batteries are going flat.

How is the keyboard working in everything else?

It could be some kind of interference on the keyboard bus, is it a USB keyboard? If so you could plug it in another port.

If it’s an old type PS2 rounded plug keyboard try a USB one if you have one.

Is this a new problem since you up-graded the bits?

Have you got patch 1.0.0.4 for the game?

[Freddy]

Normal keyboard (not USB)...works fine with everything else....

This was the same problem I had in game before, but I just noticed it with the login screen today.

Couldn't sign in so could not get the patch at first.

But wait for it....

I found a fix :

http://www.gtaforums.com/index.php?showtopic=392315&st=0&#entry1058882597

Seems turning off 'Windows event log' service does the trick.

Now it works fine with pretty high settings - I couldn't get a screen shot of the settings with 'Prt Scr' button though to show you...hmm must be a way to do it.

I'm going to email Rockstar about the fix and see if they have any other way of sorting it out.  I know nothing about that service, but everything seems to work ok without it so far.  Looks like it's just a log....

[Data]

Well done Freddy, Im happy you found the fix, I would be happy too with turning off 'Windows event log' If it means I could play GTA4.  Would be good if your e-mail results in a fix of some kind.

I know what you mean about 'Prt Scr' not working I just get a black image, Fraps can do it. video and stills.

Just a thought,
Is your new RAM running at 1066mhz?

Oh and what are your WEI scores now.

[Freddy]

Just had a look at the RAM...image below.  Not recognising it as PC2-8500 at the moment - I'm going to have to adjust the set up yes ?

WEI has shot up for the CPU and memory (as it is) though.

[Data]

Yes the bios its not reading the SPD right, or it is but it doesn’t want to set it at 1066, they do this sometimes, this is what I would do.

Set the ram to 1066mhz, there will be an option for that speed in the bios.

Then manually set the timings and voltage of the Ram to

5, 5, 5, 15, 26

and the voltage to 2.1V

All that info is being shown on the CPU-Z timings table under the 533Mhz option, just put them numbers into the appropriate options in the bios, Cas Latency etc.

I hope im making it clear  

Your WEI score looks much nicer.

[Freddy]

Okay I set the memory speed to 1066.

I couldn't figure out what settings went where so I left timings on auto for now.  If you look at the screenshot of the memory tab it shows DRAM Frequency of 532.8 Mhz.  Is that what I want ? lol  If you look at the SPD tab nothing has changed.

As I said some of the timing settings I couldn't work out in the BIOS...here's a useful table of what I found...

- CAS#Latency - fine I found that ok.
- RAS# to CAS# - found that ok
- RAS# Precharge - found that ok
- tRAS - does that mean cycle time ?
- tRC - have no clue what this is and couldn't see anything called that.

There were tonnes of other settings there too.  I set the voltage for the memory at 2.1v

Better stop there for the moment.

[Data]

Nice 

Yes 532.8 is close enough, that’s good.

I said set the timings manually because it is possible that on auto the mobo gets it wrong, saying that you have it on auto and its working so that’s fine, like you say leave it for now.

Rather than me trying to explain what all the timings mean here is a page that explains it.

http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/ComputingSolutions/0,,30_288_13265_13295%5E13335,00.html

There are lots of other settings too, like you say but I leave them alone unless I have a problem with the RAM.

Its all looking good Freddy, and trust me  GTA4 will run sooo much better on the new bits.

Oh one other thing your WEI score for the RAM will probably not improve with it at 1066MHz, that is normal.

[Freddy]

Okay I trust you 

For some reason the screen-shots didn't save before...I just added them to the above post if you want to check.

I tried Sandra and it appears to be picking them up ok :

Memory Module
Manufacturer : OCZ
Model : OCZ2P10662G
Extended Information : mVN
Type : 2GB DIMM DDR2
Technology : 16x(128Mx8)
Speed : PC2-8500U DDR2-800
Standard Timings : 5-5-5-15 3-24-6-3
Version : 1.00
Memory DC Line : 1.80V
Timing @ 400MHz : 5-5-5-15 3-24-6-3
Timing @ 333MHz : 4-4-4-12 3-20-5-3
Timing @ 267MHz : 3-3-3-10 2-16-4-2
Enhanced Performance Profiles : Yes
Profile @ 533MHz: Optimal : 5-5-5-15 X-26-24-X 2T 2.1V

It's pretty much all Greek to me though 

[Data]

The screen shots look good to me, your there for now, time to play some GTA4 me thinks , hammer those new bits make sure its all stable, then later if you like I will tell you how to get that WEI score for CPU and RAM up.

I remember playing GTA4 those were the days,  hehe Im playing Assassins Creed 2 now, it only came out 2 days ago, and I like it 

[Freddy]

Yes time to play !

I got hold of fraps, looks like I am getting about 25 fps in game, looks smooth to me, so fine there

Got the settings shot... better than I expected... see below...

Now I am off to discover the world.  Thanks for all your help getting me to this point, much appreciated

[Data]

You are very welcome Freddy, although I think you sorted most of it yourself.

If you are getting on average 25fps in GTA4 then your doing ok, especially at 1920 x 1200, actually that is quite impressive 

Your Quady is making up for the graphics card, I bet your CPU usage is on average around 80%, and going up to 90% at times, meaning all 4 cores are being used in the game. That is what its like on my one.

I see you have Definition turned on, I don’t when I play, the game doesn’t support AA but when Definition is turned off it uses a blurring effect to compensate for no AA. Helps get rid of the jaggys.

[Freddy]

Yes the FPS in the benchmark is higher even.  I'll try turning Definition off then, thanks   Oh well back to the course...then GTA later