[SneakyNinja]

So heres my system and im not going to withold information i hopes that there may a cheap fix

ive been noticing that HD videos from Gametrailers most noticably have been lagging, skipping, etc jsut not playing smoothly and its getting on my last nerve.

My system:

Microsoft Windows XP SP2 w/ Latest Windows Update Fixes
Gigabyte GA7N400Pro-2 nForce2 AGP8x Motherboard
AMD Athlon XP 2600+ 1.9GHz (never overclocked)
ATi Radeon x700 Pro AGP8x (non third party) [never overclocked, brand new]
--- Catalyst 7.2 Drivers installed
Quantum Fireball 20GB HDD (C:\)
Western Digital 120GB HDD (D:\) [both HDDs are 7200RPM Internals)
2x 256MB Kingston DDR333 RAM = 512MB Dual-Channel
1x 512MB Kingston DDR333 RAM = Total 1GB DDR333 Kingston
Flower Power 330Watt Power Supply

i dont think i need to list my cd drives and whatnot as its unimportant.

Now, as for the things wrong with my current setup
- Most of the hardware is ancient as you an tell. ive been running this system for a few years now, and yes i am looking into upgrading it all, but until then id like to continue suing this system for all its worth.
- the nForce2 chipsets fan has a seized ballbearing and ive been running my system without a fan on the chipset for a few months now.

I HAVE noticed however that ever since that chipset fan died, my systems become insanely less stable, and its already been unbearable enough to warrant getting another chipset fan, but i want to make sure im not going to spend $30 on a fan that wont change anything.


So in response to upgrading my system from a 9200 to an x700 i was hoping i could watch higher quality videos on my computer (most notable the GameTrailers.com HD videos, especially downloaded) because i am a sucker for good picture quality.

My system stutters something bad too. Whenever a video starts up (HD or non) itll stutter for half a second once every second and eventually smooth itself out.
Games are worse, especially when things begin Streaming, like Stalker. It stutters for a good 35 minutes before finally smoothing itself out, but every time a loading screen comes up the stuttering restarts itself, an its irritating because i love making stupid mistakes to see how they pan out in a video game.


Soo, if i replace the Chipset fan, would things begin running smoothly again? Is it absolutely necessary i reformat? (which i havent done in a year and a half) Should i reinstall windows? (i dont think its broken yet)

I want these to be absolutely LAST resort, as they are the biggest pains in my ***.


i feel like im answering my own questions here but i would love more expertise opinions on this situation.

GameTrailers HD movies USED to run beautifully
Quake3 used to run flawlessly
Quake4 never once stuttered and neither did HalfLife 2


Would replacing that chipset fan really change anything?


(EDIT: Oh yes and i forgot to mention, if you couldnt tell, my system is 100% custom. No Hp or Dell or anybody has touched my system besides me)

[Mak213]

the nForce2 chipsets fan has a seized ballbearing and ive been running my system without a fan on the chipset for a few months now.

I HAVE noticed however that ever since that chipset fan died, my systems become insanely less stable, and its already been unbearable enough to warrant getting another chipset fan, but i want to make sure im not going to spend $30 on a fan that wont change anything.

Okay this is a problem. Part of the reason you system is unstable now and that videos and that skip is because of the fact that when you start to put a load on your machine it heats up. Since there are no fans in there getting rid of the heat or even dispensing it to other places the heat stays righ by the parts causing them to overheat.

Right now it is starting to take notice. If you continue on like this you will soon overheat you chipset and basically fry your mobo. Then you wont be able to use the PC at all.

First you should get a new fan. Pronto. Leave the PC off till after you get it and install it. Then see how it performs. You might have caused some damage already.