2009-06-12, 10:30 PM
(This post was last modified: 2009-06-27, 08:30 AM by computerology.)
*EDIT* Note in my latest post below that I realized it has nothing to do with VMR9... I switched to Overlay and had the same thing happen to a third card
Ok so I finally noticed that this probelm is since PVRX2. I had set up first PowerCinema originally, then GBPVR on my HTPC set up in my living room. I started with a ATI 9250XT 128M and the system worked great for 2 years straight.
This configuration had the SVIDEO out to the TV and the VGA plugged into an Epson PJ
Somewhere after PVRX2, my ATI card started acting funny and it seemed like a heating issue, as it would go away if the machine was off for a while, only to return in an hour or two. Eventuall, the 9250XT overcooked and had to be replaced.
Being an AGP bus I had an extra Nvidia Ti4200 VIVO, I swapped the cards and the system worked well. The Ti didn't do overlay on both monitors so I stopped using the TV and opted to only use the projector. After about four months, the Ti4200 cooked so bad it wouldn't display output video. When I took the card out the fan and heatshield were literally melted.
I found this odd, because the Ti4200 was a really reliable card. I pushed the hell out of that card when I used it in my main machine, and it took the heat fine (running 3d games at 92fps at 1280x1024).
So I had a problem. My HTPC, which only runs TV and is actually not in use most of the time, was blowing cards like it went out of style. Now this happened during a cold winter, and I dont keep the heat cranked. Actually the Ti4200 blew when for a spell I didnt have natural gas because it was disconnected (dont ask, some girls are just better left a mystery, lets put it that way) and the house was regularly at 6 degrees C.
Upon doing some thinking back I realize that I had upgraded everything to the VMR9 renderer along with the recent PVRX2 upgrade, I had a bit of a choppy video problem since I upgraded to the new one. Since then 2 vid cards.
I put in a third card, a ATI Radeon 9600SE, which is what is in there now. Because I'm only using the projector, and its bright sunshine outside, I was remotely installing the driver. Either due to a driver bug, or quirk with the card, I could now not see any PVRX2 output using LogMeIn. I could before. But I noticed that the CPU load was at 100%. Thinking it was a glitch with PVRX2 after swapping vid cards, I killed it and tried Overlay. This, when idle, had the CPU at a much nicer 1% load including all background services.
This got me to thinking - was it my switch to VMR9, with the machine running 24/7 sitting on a VMR9 screen, even when idle, that was cooking my cards?
An expensive experiment might tell the tale. I am on my third vidcard in this box in the past 9 months now, so I'm not about to try it again to find out.
Anyone have any theories, ideas on this?
Ok so I finally noticed that this probelm is since PVRX2. I had set up first PowerCinema originally, then GBPVR on my HTPC set up in my living room. I started with a ATI 9250XT 128M and the system worked great for 2 years straight.
This configuration had the SVIDEO out to the TV and the VGA plugged into an Epson PJ
Somewhere after PVRX2, my ATI card started acting funny and it seemed like a heating issue, as it would go away if the machine was off for a while, only to return in an hour or two. Eventuall, the 9250XT overcooked and had to be replaced.
Being an AGP bus I had an extra Nvidia Ti4200 VIVO, I swapped the cards and the system worked well. The Ti didn't do overlay on both monitors so I stopped using the TV and opted to only use the projector. After about four months, the Ti4200 cooked so bad it wouldn't display output video. When I took the card out the fan and heatshield were literally melted.
I found this odd, because the Ti4200 was a really reliable card. I pushed the hell out of that card when I used it in my main machine, and it took the heat fine (running 3d games at 92fps at 1280x1024).
So I had a problem. My HTPC, which only runs TV and is actually not in use most of the time, was blowing cards like it went out of style. Now this happened during a cold winter, and I dont keep the heat cranked. Actually the Ti4200 blew when for a spell I didnt have natural gas because it was disconnected (dont ask, some girls are just better left a mystery, lets put it that way) and the house was regularly at 6 degrees C.
Upon doing some thinking back I realize that I had upgraded everything to the VMR9 renderer along with the recent PVRX2 upgrade, I had a bit of a choppy video problem since I upgraded to the new one. Since then 2 vid cards.
I put in a third card, a ATI Radeon 9600SE, which is what is in there now. Because I'm only using the projector, and its bright sunshine outside, I was remotely installing the driver. Either due to a driver bug, or quirk with the card, I could now not see any PVRX2 output using LogMeIn. I could before. But I noticed that the CPU load was at 100%. Thinking it was a glitch with PVRX2 after swapping vid cards, I killed it and tried Overlay. This, when idle, had the CPU at a much nicer 1% load including all background services.
This got me to thinking - was it my switch to VMR9, with the machine running 24/7 sitting on a VMR9 screen, even when idle, that was cooking my cards?
An expensive experiment might tell the tale. I am on my third vidcard in this box in the past 9 months now, so I'm not about to try it again to find out.
Anyone have any theories, ideas on this?