[peterdavies79]

I had trouble when I first got this game and the helpers on this site told me I needed a graphics card and extra RAM would help. I got a genuine copy of XP home installed and I believe this meant formatting my PC as part of the process which would have cleared out all the "rubbish". I also got an extra 512 mb of RAM to help speed things up and got an Albatron NVIDIA GeForce 7600GS fitted which I was assured was enough to run AOE 3 smoothly.
Problem is I'm still having the same problem (albeit less often) of the game stuttering and occasionally freezing up. I've just played the game and had to restart my computer as it totally froze up and then when I started playing again the computer restarted itself.
Any help would be appreciated. Here is my spec.

Windows: Windows XP5.1 (Build 2600) Service Pack 2
Internet Explorer: 6.0.2900.2180
Memory (RAM): 1024 MB
CPU: Intel® Celeron® CPU 2.80GHz
CPU Speed: 2790.7 MHz
Sound card: Realtek AC97 Audio
Display Adapters: NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GS | NetMeeting driver | RDPDD Chained DD
Screen Resolution: 1024 X 768 - 32 bit
:
Network Adapters: IC Plus IP1000 Family Gigabit Ethernet Adapter - Packet Scheduler Miniport
CD / DVD Drives: D: HL-DT-STDVDRAM GSA-4167B
:
COM Ports: COM1
LPT Ports: LPT1
Mouse: 3 Button Wheel Mouse Present
Hard Disks: C: 74.5GB
Hard Disks - Free: C: 60.9GB
USB Controllers: 5 host controllers.
Firewire (1394): 1 host controllers.
:
Manufacturer: Phoenix Technologies, LTD
Product Make:
:
AC Power Status: OnLine
BIOS Info: ATAT COMPATIBLE 041105 IntelR 42302e31
Time Zone: E. Australia Standard Time
Battery: No Battery
Motherboard: http://www.abit.com.tw/ IG-80(Intel i915G-ICH6)
Modem: Not detected

Edited by peterdavies79, 09 January 2007 - 07:35 AM.

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try going to your motherboards website and see about getting the latest chipset drivers. 1

Download Speedfan (The download link is in the first line of the second paragraph), and install it. Once it's installed, run the program and post here the information it shows. The information I want you to post is the stuff that is circled in the example picture I have attached.

[starjax]

try going to your motherboards website and see about getting the latest chipset drivers. 1

Download Speedfan (The download link is in the first line of the second paragraph), and install it. Once it's installed, run the program and post here the information it shows. The information I want you to post is the stuff that is circled in the example picture I have attached.

[peterdavies79]

Thanks for your help. I am a complete know-nothing when it comes to this stuff but hopefully you are a patient person

Firstly Speedfan

Temp 1 : 37C
Temp 2 : 43C
Temp 3 : 36C
HDO : 37C
Temp 1 : 40C

Secondly the motherboard chipset driver. I went to the abit site and searched my IG-80 board. I found INTEL Chipset driver v8.1.1.1010 for 2000/XP/2003/64 bit and downloaded it. I ran the setup.exe program which went quick and I guess worked. I the tried to run the other .exe file and then had to extract files to a folder but I can't seem to run these extracted files.
Sorry if I sound stupid but I don't really understand any of this.
Again thanks for your help.

[starjax]

your system appears to be running on the hot side of things. I would recomend upgrading your case fan as a starting point and see how things go.

When looking at case fans there are two measurements. One is rpm or how fast the fan turns. The other is cfm. Cfm is how much air the fan moves. A large 120mm fan will have lower rpm's but move a greater amount of air. Look for one that moves at least 50cfm. Higher the better.

[peterdavies79]

Thanks very much starjax, I'll look into getting a more effective fan.

Just to re-assure me, is my computer spec now capable of running the game well and its just an overheating problem? The guy who sold me the graphics card told me the 7600GS was fine although I had been told to go for a 7600GT.