battlefield 3 - nvidia gt525m or ait radeon hd6470m? [closed]

Question

hi guys i wanna buy a pc to play battlefield , what is the best

DELL n5110 : intel core i5-2450m 2.5ghz ram 4go ddr3 vga nVidia GeForce GT525m 1go

or

HP G6 intel core i5-2450m 2.5ghz ram 6go ddr3 ati radeon hd6470M 1go

thanks advanced

Asked by smashp

Answer

I have the Nvdia GTX460. Regardless of that fact, my 4GB of ram wouldnt be sufficient (playing in high quality) and occasionally it would lag. I now have 8GB and it works great :)

So looking at the 4GB setup, that may be a limitation. Though Id assume you would be playing in lesser quality.

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk Has some great benchmarking on graphics cards, to compare which is best.

Also, you can probably find Battlefield 3 specific benchmarks if you google it.

Answered by Doomsknight

Check more discussion of this question.

What memory stick should I get for my XBox 360?

Question

I recently got a new 4GB Xbox 360, and I wonder if I should get some more memory using a memory stick. Are these fast enough to store game data on or should they just be used for backup?

Are there any limitations on storage size, transfer speed etc?

Asked by Jørgen

Answer

USB flash drives are fast enough to store data, and yes, there are limitations.

Using a compatible flash drive over 1 GB, you can reserve a maximum of 16 GB for profiles, game saves, and downloadable content. To use USB storage, you'll need to configure it first. Plug it in and go to System Settings, Memory, then select your device to start setting it up.

Supporting USB storage devices up to 16GB in size is a huge increase in storage over any solid state memory storage solutions currently available for Xbox 360. Users that need more storage have options in the Xbox 360 hard drives, which are available for purchase separately.

You may want to read the official help page for more info.

Answered by Mehper C. Palavuzlar

Check more discussion of this question.

My 3D Games crashing in these scenarios

Question

I have a situation here which I am unable to solve.

I bought a PC last year March, here are my specs:

1. Intel Core i3 550 @ 3GHz
2. 4 GB RAM @400 MHz
3. XFX GeForce 9500 GT graphics card 1GB @550MHz
4. 500 GB HDD

Lately as soon as I load my save game of Skyrim, it crashes. I have been playing Skyrim since I joined this site.

Crashes as in the entire scene gets red lines. I can not ALT + TAB back or even CTRL + ALT + DEL either.

My only recourse is a hard reset via the power button. Can not take a screen shot either.

I have the latest Forceware 296.10 drivers also. This has been happening since the last 2 weeks. I always use Driver Sweeper to clean my old drivers, since that is what XFXForce recommends before installing new drivers.

I installed MSI Afterburner lately to see my GPU temperature. My GPU is default, never over-clocked it. In MSI's Afterburner, I can not adjust fan speed. It is greyed out. Also in settings there is no fan tab.

With normal Internet browsing it stays at 51 C. Ran Memtest86 over night with level 11. Took about 13 hours, but no errors in my RAM.

I even re-installed my OS, with just the 296 drivers. The fan for the GPU does come on. I can play Diablo 2. I can not get past Warcraft 3's menu selection.

There WAS some dust in my machine, but I always try and keep everything clean, since in my home town dust is an issue. Always keep cool my entire PC cabinet.

My friend came with his functioning graphics card, we bought our PCs at the same time with exact same specifications. His card did not work either. Same problem with the scene freezing with red lines.

I did do my research before posting here. That is how I was able to learn about MSI Afterburner, Driver Sweeper, SpeedFan etc. I followed posts on Tom's Hardware too regarding people that had similar problems. One person suggested and was followed by worked as well the suggestion to "Bake the card in an oven".

Since I bought it, played Diablo 2 for months, Starcraft 2 campaign for months and Skyrim recently for months. Bought ME3 also.

I am at my wits end. I do not know what else to do. I can go out and buy a card, but my friend's card did not work either.

I can use the machine for Eclipse or VS2010 development just fine. Just not with 3D gaming.

Can some experienced gamer(s) shed some light on this scenario? Is it a 3D graphics card problem? Will a brand new card work? What else can I try to pin point the problem?

Thanks.

Edit

Replaced my PSU with a new Corsair CX430. Problem is still there.

Asked by desaivv

Answer

I finally fixed my issue.

The problem was with my graphics card. I cross posted on SU and did replace my power supply. That really needed to be done after I started digging.

Here in India, the Indian brand PSU's are the main culprit in high/mid end gaming systems.

Changing the PSU did not help, except my computer was booting a bit faster.

Next on my list was the GPU. I installed a GTX series 550 Ti card from Nvidia. And that did the trick.

If it had failed to solve my problem, I was next going to change my motherboard.

Answered by n/a

Check more discussion of this question.

Why doesn't the cpu full load to make PCSX2 (PlayStation 2 emulator) run game faster? [closed]

Question

My CPU Q6600 (QuadCore) only loads 50-70% when I run PCSX2 (PlayStation 2 emulator) and only has fps around 30-50 when I disable speed hacks. See picture :

I wonder why the cpu doesn't load more to make it run faster ? Or it has been bottle-neck at VGA card or RAM ?

My specs :
Mainboard GA-P35-DS3 (rev. 2.0)
CPU Intel® Core™2 Quad Processor Q6600
2 x KINGMAX DDR2 800 PC6400 1GB
GIGABYTE GV-RX26P512H Radeon HD 2600PRO 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16

ps : I use GDSX video plugin with DX10 and SSE3. And I also enable MTVU (Multi-­Threaded microVU1).

Asked by JatSing

Answer

Because not all code is parallel (i.e. able to take advantage of multiple cores) and because PCSX2 is very much a work in progress. I had the same model CPU and about the same sort of performance. Keep in mind that the PS2 has some very exotic hardware, so emulation is necessarily complex.

Looking at your hardware, though, an upgrade to your RAM would definitely help your PC's performance in general, and so would a GPU upgrade, if you do a lot of gaming.

Also, you are not meant to disable all of the speedhacks most of the time, the lesser settings are quite compatible.

Try using a GPu monitoring utility to see how much load it is under, it could help identify the bottleneck.

Your plugin selection can also make quite a bit of difference. Try looking for GPU plugins that support SSE3 and DirectX 10, and play around with the settings.

Answered by kotekzot

Check more discussion of this question.

120hz in 2D, what's the point? [closed]

Question

So I've been searching the internet for advice on my next Pc/Console monitor purchase and come across a good deal on the LG D2342P-PN. It's LED, got all three connectors I want adn even 3D in 120Hz, which I didn't want but why not have?!

Then, I read some reviews and the biggest simple complain I read is that this monitor does not support 120Hz in 2D. Eh? 120Hz in 2D? Whoever needs that? Last time I checked 60fps was the speed everyone wanted their games to run in, which is the same as refresh speed of most monitors, but now we're aiming for, presumably, 120fps? Or is it 60fps in 120Hz, that we want? But still, why? Therefore:

What are the advantages of running a monitor in 120Hz in 2D ? (general use, films and games)

I understand why 120fps in 3D is good (single eye flickering, whatever it's called, which in effect produces 60fps), but in 2D? Please someone explain! Cheers.

Answer

The frames per second of the game is different to the refresh rate of the monitor.

Higher refresh rates on the monitor give you a more stable picture - regardless of whether that picture is being changed by the computer at 60 frames per second or 1. When monitors were cathode ray tubes it was definitely the case that you could see flickering at 60Hz or even higher refresh rates so a 120Hz monitor would effectively be "flicker free". With LCD and LED displays this is less of an issue, but going to 120Hz could be beneficial, but it's unlikely.

However, it's more likely that it's because the monitor is operating in 120Hz anyway regardless of the 2D/3D mode.

Check more discussion of this question.

Is a wireless mouse less reactive than a classic mouse?

Question

When I play a FPS with my wireless mouse I feel that the game reacts more slowly than my movements. Is a wireless mouse less reactive than a classic mouse? Is there a loss of performance with wireless mouse? What is the latency of a classic mouse or wireless mouse? How can I test that?

Answer

Wireless mice have several disadvantages for gaming, latency being one of them. They also have a nasty habit of dying just as you're about to get the game-winning kill. It may or may not be the biggest/only bottleneck to your gaming performance, but it's certainly true that more gaming mice exist that are wired than wireless.

As far as testing it goes, you could take a look at this article, which contains testing suggestions and tuning opportunities to measure the latency of you wireless mouse versus a wired one.

Check more discussion of this question.

Is Intel i7-2600K integrated graphic card enough for gaming? [closed]

Question

My system has the core i7 2600K on Intel DZ68DB motherboard with integrated graphics 3000 support, no graphics card and 8gb RAM.Is there a need for me to buy a dedicated graphics to play games like NFS, FiFa, BattleField and Prince of Persia? Will my processor will be sufficient? I'm a newbie to the gaming world.

I used to play NFS hot pursuit on my Pentium 4 , FIFA and also Prince of Persia..I don't know much of the current games.

Answer

For any games you were playing on your Pentium 4, (if you were playing them without a graphics card) it should be sufficient.

For any newer game, you might just be able to get by (almost, and only if you are ok with non-smooth framerates) if you play them on the absolute lowest setting.

Here are some benchmarks, from early in the year (January, 2011), of the i7 w/ No graphics card, against some low-end ATI cards.

Check more discussion of this question.

Joystick in Battlefield 3

Question

I wanted to use joystick (Saitek Cyborg-X) in Battlefield 3, but it's not working at all. The game doesn't detect it at all.

Is there any way to get it working? Flying jets with mouse isn't fun.

Answer

Check more discussion of this question.

Minecraft crashes after logging in: A fatal error has been detected by the Java Runtime Environment

Question

Minecraft crashes after I click "Login" at the Minecraft Launcher Window. The credentials are valid, and minecraft.net and notch are up because I have tried to launch minecraft on another computer and it works. Things that I have tried and haven't worked:

• Reinstalled java
• Installed Java SE7, JDK7, JRE7
• Reinstalled minecraft, forced update
• Deleted .minecraft and deleted Minecraft.exe
• Restarted the computer
• Forced minecraft to update
• Checked my internet connection
• Deleted everything to do with minecraft, including Windows PF files and reinstalled minecraft

Interesting Observations

I noticed that the command that the minecraft.jar file is being run with says that it can have up to 1024mb of ram. I only have ~500mb of ram, so it would be referencing pointers in an unknown location. I also notice a gl issue, which I'm not really sure how to fix.

I have no idea what to do next. After Minecraft crashes, it generates a file named hs_err_pd(random number) which has some interesting crash information. The contents of the file is posted below (with personal information starred out):

Update

The issue does not have to do with Java 7. Updated log file.

#
# A fatal error has been detected by the Java Runtime Environment:
#
#  EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION (0xc0000005) at pc=0x5278b517, pid=2480, tid=228
#
# JRE version: 6.0_26-b03
# Java VM: Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (20.1-b02 mixed mode windows-x86 )
# Problematic frame:
# C  [atioglx1.dll+0x3fb517]
#
# If you would like to submit a bug report, please visit:
#   http://java.sun.com/webapps/bugreport/crash.jsp
# The crash happened outside the Java Virtual Machine in native code.
# See problematic frame for where to report the bug.
#---------------  T H R E A D  ---------------Current thread (0x49e4c400):  JavaThread "Minecraft main thread" daemon [_thread_in_native, id=228, stack(0x49c30000,0x49c80000)]siginfo: ExceptionCode=0xc0000005, reading address 0x000000beRegisters:
EAX=0x00000000, EBX=0x00000000, ECX=0x00000000, EDX=0x49c7f4f0
ESP=0x49c7f4b0, EBP=0x52a58040, ESI=0x00000000, EDI=0x52a8e0a8
EIP=0x5278b517, EFLAGS=0x00010206Top of Stack: (sp=0x49c7f4b0)
0x49c7f4b0:   529de368 00000000 42353434 44324645
0x49c7f4c0:   30305c7d 4f5c3030 476e6570 72505c4c
0x49c7f4d0:   000000f0 00000065 00000000 00000000
0x49c7f4e0:   00000000 00000000 527abc8b 49c7f518
0x49c7f4f0:   00000000 00000608 00000000 00008000
0x49c7f500:   00001000 00000000 00000000 00000000
0x49c7f510:   00000000 00000000 49c7f474 49c7f55c
0x49c7f520:   49c7f55c 7c90e920 7c910060 ffffffff Instructions: (pc=0x5278b517)
0x5278b4f7:   e8 74 f5 ff ff b8 01 00 00 00 5f 5d 5e 5b 83 c4
0x5278b507:   30 c2 04 00 cc cc cc cc cc 83 ec 30 53 56 8b f1
0x5278b517:   8a 86 be 00 00 00 84 c0 8b da 74 1c e8 68 07 00
0x5278b527:   00 8a 86 be 00 00 00 84 c0 74 0d 5e b8 c8 00 00 Register to memory mapping:EAX=0x00000000 is an unknown value
EBX=0x00000000 is an unknown value
ECX=0x00000000 is an unknown value
EDX=0x49c7f4f0 is pointing into the stack for thread: 0x49e4c400
ESP=0x49c7f4b0 is pointing into the stack for thread: 0x49e4c400
EBP=0x52a58040 is an unknown value
ESI=0x00000000 is an unknown value
EDI=0x52a8e0a8 is an unknown valueStack: [0x49c30000,0x49c80000],  sp=0x49c7f4b0,  free space=317k
Native frames: (J=compiled Java code, j=interpreted, Vv=VM code, C=native code)
C  [atioglx1.dll+0x3fb517]  atiPPHSN+0x356267Java frames: (J=compiled Java code, j=interpreted, Vv=VM code)
j  org.lwjgl.opengl.WindowsContextImplementation.nCreate(Ljava/nio/ByteBuffer;Ljava/nio/IntBuffer;Ljava/nio/ByteBuffer;)Ljava/nio/ByteBuffer;+0
j  org.lwjgl.opengl.WindowsContextImplementation.create(Lorg/lwjgl/opengl/PeerInfo;Ljava/nio/IntBuffer;Ljava/nio/ByteBuffer;)Ljava/nio/ByteBuffer;+10
j  org.lwjgl.opengl.Context.<init>(Lorg/lwjgl/opengl/PeerInfo;Lorg/lwjgl/opengl/ContextAttribs;Lorg/lwjgl/opengl/Context;)V+104
j  org.lwjgl.opengl.Display.create(Lorg/lwjgl/opengl/PixelFormat;Lorg/lwjgl/opengl/Drawable;Lorg/lwjgl/opengl/ContextAttribs;)V+88
j  org.lwjgl.opengl.Display.create(Lorg/lwjgl/opengl/PixelFormat;)V+9
j  org.lwjgl.opengl.Display.create()V+13
j  net.minecraft.client.Minecraft.a()V+135
j  net.minecraft.client.Minecraft.run()V+6
j  java.lang.Thread.run()V+11
v  ~StubRoutines::call_stub---------------  P R O C E S S  ---------------Java Threads: ( => current thread )
=>0x49e4c400 JavaThread "Minecraft main thread" daemon [_thread_in_native, id=228, stack(0x49c30000,0x49c80000)]
  0x49e4cc00 JavaThread "Timer hack thread" daemon [_thread_blocked, id=1168, stack(0x49b80000,0x49bd0000)]
  0x48ff4400 JavaThread "Keep-Alive-Timer" daemon [_thread_blocked, id=1608, stack(0x49570000,0x495c0000)]
  0x003b6800 JavaThread "DestroyJavaVM" [_thread_blocked, id=3492, stack(0x009c0000,0x00a10000)]
  0x490ac400 JavaThread "TimerQueue" daemon [_thread_blocked, id=2700, stack(0x49510000,0x49560000)]
  0x49068400 JavaThread "AWT-EventQueue-0" [_thread_blocked, id=3992, stack(0x494c0000,0x49510000)]
  0x4903b800 JavaThread "AWT-Windows" daemon [_thread_in_native, id=2284, stack(0x49310000,0x49360000)]
  0x4903a400 JavaThread "AWT-Shutdown" [_thread_blocked, id=1032, stack(0x492c0000,0x49310000)]
  0x49037000 JavaThread "Java2D Disposer" daemon [_thread_blocked, id=3456, stack(0x49260000,0x492b0000)]
  0x48cdf400 JavaThread "Low Memory Detector" daemon [_thread_blocked, id=3980, stack(0x48f30000,0x48f80000)]
  0x48cdc800 JavaThread "C1 CompilerThread0" daemon [_thread_blocked, id=3968, stack(0x48ee0000,0x48f30000)]
  0x48cd7c00 JavaThread "Attach Listener" daemon [_thread_blocked, id=2500, stack(0x48e90000,0x48ee0000)]
  0x48cd6400 JavaThread "Signal Dispatcher" daemon [_thread_blocked, id=2496, stack(0x48e40000,0x48e90000)]
  0x48cc9800 JavaThread "Finalizer" daemon [_thread_blocked, id=3056, stack(0x48df0000,0x48e40000)]
  0x48cc5000 JavaThread "Reference Handler" daemon [_thread_blocked, id=3296, stack(0x48da0000,0x48df0000)]Other Threads:
  0x48cc1000 VMThread [stack: 0x48d50000,0x48da0000] [id=740]
  0x48cea000 WatcherThread [stack: 0x48f80000,0x48fd0000] [id=3964]VM state:not at safepoint (normal execution)VM Mutex/Monitor currently owned by a thread: NoneHeap
 def new generation   total 157248K, used 79087K [0x02a90000, 0x0d530000, 0x17fe0000)
  eden space 139776K,  56% used [0x02a90000, 0x077cbc10, 0x0b310000)
  from space 17472K,   0% used [0x0b310000, 0x0b310000, 0x0c420000)
  to   space 17472K,   0% used [0x0c420000, 0x0c420000, 0x0d530000)
 tenured generation   total 349568K, used 0K [0x17fe0000, 0x2d540000, 0x42a90000)
   the space 349568K,   0% used [0x17fe0000, 0x17fe0000, 0x17fe0200, 0x2d540000)
 compacting perm gen  total 13056K, used 12886K [0x42a90000, 0x43750000, 0x46a90000)
   the space 13056K,  98% used [0x42a90000, 0x43725b78, 0x43725c00, 0x43750000)
No shared spaces configured.Code Cache  [0x00a10000, 0x00bc0000, 0x02a10000)
 total_blobs=1031 nmethods=797 adapters=169 free_code_cache=31814784 largest_free_block=0Dynamic libraries:
0x00400000 - 0x00424000     C:\Program Files\Java\jre6\bin\javaw.exe
0x7c900000 - 0x7c9b2000     C:\WINDOWS\system32\ntdll.dll
0x7c800000 - 0x7c8f6000     C:\WINDOWS\system32\kernel32.dll
0x77dd0000 - 0x77e6b000     C:\WINDOWS\system32\ADVAPI32.dll
0x77e70000 - 0x77f03000     C:\WINDOWS\system32\RPCRT4.dll
0x77fe0000 - 0x77ff1000     C:\WINDOWS\system32\Secur32.dll
0x7e410000 - 0x7e4a1000     C:\WINDOWS\system32\USER32.dll
0x77f10000 - 0x77f59000     C:\WINDOWS\system32\GDI32.dll
0x76390000 - 0x763ad000     C:\WINDOWS\system32\IMM32.DLL
0x629c0000 - 0x629c9000     C:\WINDOWS\system32\LPK.DLL
0x74d90000 - 0x74dfb000     C:\WINDOWS\system32\USP10.dll
0x7c340000 - 0x7c396000     C:\Program Files\Java\jre6\bin\msvcr71.dll
0x6d7f0000 - 0x6da9f000     C:\Program Files\Java\jre6\bin\client\jvm.dll
0x76b40000 - 0x76b6d000     C:\WINDOWS\system32\WINMM.dll
0x6bd00000 - 0x6bd0d000     C:\WINDOWS\system32\SYNCOR11.DLL
0x6d7a0000 - 0x6d7ac000     C:\Program Files\Java\jre6\bin\verify.dll
0x6d320000 - 0x6d33f000     C:\Program Files\Java\jre6\bin\java.dll
0x76bf0000 - 0x76bfb000     C:\WINDOWS\system32\PSAPI.DLL
0x6d7e0000 - 0x6d7ef000     C:\Program Files\Java\jre6\bin\zip.dll
0x6d000000 - 0x6d14b000     C:\Program Files\Java\jre6\bin\awt.dll
0x73000000 - 0x73026000     C:\WINDOWS\system32\WINSPOOL.DRV
0x77c10000 - 0x77c68000     C:\WINDOWS\system32\msvcrt.dll
0x774e0000 - 0x7761e000     C:\WINDOWS\system32\ole32.dll
0x773d0000 - 0x774d3000     C:\WINDOWS\WinSxS\x86_Microsoft.Windows.Common-Controls_6595b64144ccf1df_6.0.2600.6028_x-ww_61e65202\COMCTL32.dll
0x77f60000 - 0x77fd6000     C:\WINDOWS\system32\SHLWAPI.dll
0x5d090000 - 0x5d12a000     C:\WINDOWS\system32\comctl32.dll
0x5ad70000 - 0x5ada8000     C:\WINDOWS\system32\uxtheme.dll
0x74720000 - 0x7476c000     C:\WINDOWS\system32\MSCTF.dll
0x755c0000 - 0x755ee000     C:\WINDOWS\system32\msctfime.ime
0x7c9c0000 - 0x7d1d7000     C:\WINDOWS\system32\shell32.dll
0x6d230000 - 0x6d27f000     C:\Program Files\Java\jre6\bin\fontmanager.dll
0x6d600000 - 0x6d613000     C:\Program Files\Java\jre6\bin\net.dll
0x71ab0000 - 0x71ac7000     C:\WINDOWS\system32\WS2_32.dll
0x71aa0000 - 0x71aa8000     C:\WINDOWS\system32\WS2HELP.dll
0x6d620000 - 0x6d629000     C:\Program Files\Java\jre6\bin\nio.dll
0x71a50000 - 0x71a8f000     C:\WINDOWS\System32\mswsock.dll
0x76f20000 - 0x76f47000     C:\WINDOWS\system32\DNSAPI.dll
0x76d60000 - 0x76d79000     C:\WINDOWS\system32\iphlpapi.dll
0x76fb0000 - 0x76fb8000     C:\WINDOWS\System32\winrnr.dll
0x76f60000 - 0x76f8c000     C:\WINDOWS\system32\WLDAP32.dll
0x64000000 - 0x64025000     C:\Program Files\Bonjour\mdnsNSP.dll
0x76fc0000 - 0x76fc6000     C:\WINDOWS\system32\rasadhlp.dll
0x662b0000 - 0x66308000     C:\WINDOWS\system32\hnetcfg.dll
0x71a90000 - 0x71a98000     C:\WINDOWS\System32\wshtcpip.dll
0x68000000 - 0x68036000     C:\WINDOWS\system32\rsaenh.dll
0x769c0000 - 0x76a74000     C:\WINDOWS\system32\USERENV.dll
0x5b860000 - 0x5b8b5000     C:\WINDOWS\system32\netapi32.dll
0x605d0000 - 0x605d9000     C:\WINDOWS\System32\mslbui.dll
0x6d780000 - 0x6d788000     C:\Program Files\Java\jre6\bin\sunmscapi.dll
0x77a80000 - 0x77b15000     C:\WINDOWS\system32\CRYPT32.dll
0x77b20000 - 0x77b32000     C:\WINDOWS\system32\MSASN1.dll
0x4a220000 - 0x4a28b000     C:\Documents and Settings\***********\Application Data\.minecraft\bin\natives\lwjgl.dll
0x5ed00000 - 0x5edcc000     C:\WINDOWS\system32\OPENGL32.dll
0x68b20000 - 0x68b40000     C:\WINDOWS\system32\GLU32.dll
0x73760000 - 0x737ab000     C:\WINDOWS\system32\DDRAW.dll
0x73bc0000 - 0x73bc6000     C:\WINDOWS\system32\DCIMAN32.dll
0x77c00000 - 0x77c08000     C:\WINDOWS\system32\VERSION.dll
0x6d350000 - 0x6d356000     C:\Program Files\Java\jre6\bin\jawt.dll
0x69000000 - 0x694ff000     C:\WINDOWS\system32\atioglxx.dll
0x52390000 - 0x52a08000     C:\WINDOWS\system32\atioglx1.dllVM Arguments:
jvm_args: -Xms512m -Xmx1024m 
java_command: C:\Documents and Settings\******************\Desktop\Minecraft.exe
Launcher Type: SUN_STANDARDEnvironment Variables:
CLASSPATH=.;C:\Program Files\Java\jre6\lib\ext\QTJava.zip
PATH=C:\WINDOWS\system32;C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\System32\Wbem;C:\Program Files\PC-Doctor for Windows\services;C:\Program Files\ATI Technologies\ATI Control Panel;C:\WINDOWS\system32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0;C:\WINDOWS\system32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0;C:\Program Files\QuickTime\QTSystem\;C:\Program Files\Java\jre6\bin
USERNAME=********
OS=Windows_NT
PROCESSOR_IDENTIFIER=x86 Family 15 Model 2 Stepping 9, GenuineIntel---------------  S Y S T E M  ---------------OS: Windows XP Build 2600 Service Pack 3CPU:total 2 (1 cores per cpu, 2 threads per core) family 15 model 2 stepping 9, cmov, cx8, fxsr, mmx, sse, sse2, htMemory: 4k page, physical 523244k(80324k free), swap 1278552k(391804k free)vm_info: Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (20.1-b02) for windows-x86 JRE (1.6.0_26-b03), built on May  4 2011 00:50:59 by "java_re" with MS VC++ 7.1 (VS2003)time: Mon Aug 08 16:10:07 2011
elapsed time: 31 seconds

Answer

Let's look at what is happening: Minecraft is trying to do something which returns 0xc0000005.

In ntstatus.h, a list of error code definitions, 0xc0000005 is STATUS_ACCESS_VIOLATION.

MSDN - Analyze Crashes to Find Security Vulnerabilities in Your Apps reports:

Access violation exceptions (STATUS_ACCESS_VIOLATION) are generated by modern processors when a memory access caused by an instruction or program execution does not satisfy certain conditions defined by the processor architecture or memory management unit structures.

So, we now know that Minecraft does something that causes invalid memory access.

---

But, what exactly is Minecraft doing?

j  org.lwjgl.opengl.WindowsContextImplementation.nCreate(Ljava/nio/ByteBuffer;Ljava/nio/IntBuffer;Ljava/nio/ByteBuffer;)Ljava/nio/ByteBuffer;+0
j  org.lwjgl.opengl.WindowsContextImplementation.create(Lorg/lwjgl/opengl/PeerInfo;Ljava/nio/IntBuffer;Ljava/nio/ByteBuffer;)Ljava/nio/ByteBuffer;+10
j  org.lwjgl.opengl.Context.<init>(Lorg/lwjgl/opengl/PeerInfo;Lorg/lwjgl/opengl/ContextAttribs;Lorg/lwjgl/opengl/Context;)V+104
j  org.lwjgl.opengl.Display.create(Lorg/lwjgl/opengl/PixelFormat;Lorg/lwjgl/opengl/Drawable;Lorg/lwjgl/opengl/ContextAttribs;)V+88

Here we see, Minecraft tries to allocate an OpenGL Device Context buffer in memory.

The thread mentioned by Ben Blank has a different stack trace and thus is irrelevant.

---

We first have to get more knowledge about your memory, which you gave:

I noticed that the command that the minecraft.jar file is being run with says that it can have up to 1024mb of ram. I only have ~500mb of ram, so it would be referencing pointers in an unknown location. I also notice a gl issue, which I'm not really sure how to fix.

Given that low amount of memory, I'm going to guess that your graphics card uses 128 MB shared memory which means that it uses RAM memory to operate. I'm guessing that your Windows uses another 100 MB. There is only 250 MB of memory remaining for Minecraft, and your page file.

---

Minecraft uses from 512 MB to 1 GB, consider that playing Minecraft will cause disk trashing.

VM Arguments:
jvm_args: -Xms512m -Xmx1024m 

---

So, now, where does the problem lie?

"so it would be referencing pointers in an unknown location" -- no. Just because you tell it it's allowed to use 1024 MB doesn't mean it ignores allocation errors when it runs out of space and creates invalid addresses out of thin air to reference. For all I know it wouldn't even matter, Windows would just give it space in the page file. - Matthew Read

This comment on the question is not 100% correct, there are exceptions that don't use the page file.

Exactly, OpenGL Device Context buffers must be in RAM; the solution is to buy more RAM.

I doubt if 1 GB will do the job given that Minecraft can use up to 1 GB; better to be safe than sorry and get 2 GB to avoid future problems. This also makes sure you don't experience disk trashing to the page file, which can have a great impact on the performance...

Or well, I could be all wrong and it could be a driver problem. But seriously, 512 MB isn't enough...

Check more discussion of this question.

How can the PS3 do so much with so little RAM and VRAM?

Question

If you look at the hardware specs of the PS3 (in Wikipedia, for example) you will notice that the system have 256MB RAM and 256MB VRAM. What is going on here? Is the processor or is it something more that I'm missing? For me is way too little compared with good looking games need in PCs, for example.

Answer

As requested, I've converted my comment to an answer, and added a few more details:

More with less, but still less
An important thing to note is that consoles do relatively more (graphics-wise) with less (hardware-wise) than PCs due to lighter OSes and (usually) thorough optimization by game devs, but in the end gaming PCs have much more to work with than consoles do, so they do produce much better results than consoles.

Low-end PCs are still better than consoles
Even if you were to define "Gaming PCs" very broadly as "any PC with a low-to-mid-range graphics card made in the last few years and at least 2GB of RAM" (which means relatively cheap PCs still qualify), such a "Gaming PC" should be able to render games at higher resolutions and with more effects than consoles.

Consoles take shortcuts
The first way game developers get around the hardware limitations imposed by consoles is they make the console render the game at a lower resolution, and then upscale the images to fit the TV. For example, consoles run CoD4 at 1024x600 pixels with 2x anti-aliasing, which would be rather pathetic on a PC.

Here are some lists of actual PS3 game resolutions:
Beyond 3D forums - this seems to be where the upscaling was first noted and documented
Even more details from Beyond 3D - this is a more complete list of actual game resolutions/effects

Furthermore, consoles generally use lower-quality textures than are available in their PC-based versions, since they lack the RAM to load more detailed textures. Here's a good comparison of the textures Dragon Age, and here's a comparison of screen shots in Fallout3, Dead Space, CoD:WAW, and GTA4.

Check more discussion of this question.

Fixing scrambled graphics on SNES console

Question

Whenever I try playing a game on my old SNES console, the graphics come out either scrambled or completely black, but the audio plays correctly, and the controls seem to work just fine. I initially thought the problem was a dirty connector on the game cartridge, but even though cleaning it did remove some dirt, it didn't improve the graphics at all. I have the same problem with each of my game cartridges, although some cartridges come out with worse graphics than the others. I double-checked the connection to the TV, and tried both the RCA connectors and the RF switch, but I have the same problem with each. It seems as though the problem is with the console itself.

My SNES was in perfect working order as little as two years ago. What else can I try to do to fix the problem and return my SNES to a usable state?

Answer

Most likely one of your RAM chips has gone bad. Considering you can buy a replacement console on eBay for as little as $18, you may want to evaluate purchasing a used console vs. what your time is worth fixing the old one.

Check more discussion of this question.

Xbox 360 powers on but does not boot

Question

When I try to start my Xbox 360, I get most of the noise and none of the action.

• The cooling fans spin up
• The 1/0-logo in the middle of the led ring is lit, all four parts of the ring are dark.
• The four lights on the controller blink when started with the controller.

After that just sits there humming, no signal over HDMI and after 300 seconds it turns itself off. The same thing happens whether I start it with the controller, the power button or the eject button.

The console is an 120GB Elite model from around the time Forza 3 came out. It's under warranty until December.

The thing is- I already sent it to Microsoft and it came back with a "dear customer, we looked but we couldn't find anything and therefore didn't fix anything" letter. Indeed, when it came back it was working perfectly fine for the next four or five times, then the exact same symptoms were back. (They did apparently reset the firmware, I had to update that).

It seems clear that I need to send it back again, but it looks like I'll have to include a heck of a cover letter to avoid further embarrassment.

Things I checked:

• The wall socket puts out 234 volts. This is nicely within the 220-240 range it's supposed to.
• The XBox has (for the entire time that I own it) been attached to a power strip with an on/off switch that I turn off at night and when I leave the house. I've had it directly in the wall socket for the past few days to see if that makes a difference (it doesn't).
• Tried booting without the hard drive, no difference.
• Tried standing the console up and lying it down, no difference (it stood upright most of its life).
• Inspected the back of the face plate, as suggested by Microsoft's online troubleshooter. That's undamaged.

One thing I noticed is this: when I plug the power adapter into the wall socket, its status light is orange. Only when I power the console does it turn green. Microsoft's online troubleshooter is unclear about whether this is correct or whether it's supposed to be green all the time. I don't have access to another unit to swap parts with. Question: what color is the light on your power adapter when it's plugged in and the console is turned off?

Is there anything else I could try before sending it in again?

Microsoft's instructions are clear about sending only the console and none of the peripherals. If I included the power adapter, can I expect to get it returned or would I end up with only a console and no power?

Answer

I just checked my adapter, the light is amber when the system is powered off and green when on.

I've noticed that the 360 won't boot up unless the HDMI finishes a handshake with the TV first. Can you try with a different HDMI cable or with an RCA or Component Video and see if that has the same effect?

I also have a 120GB Elite.

Check more discussion of this question.

How do you capture video of your Wii gameplay?

Question

I'd like to be able to capture video of me playing games on my Wii, especially when getting past tricky levels so I can share my techniques/tricks with others. Obviously, I could just point a camera at the screen, but the quality of the capture is extremely poor and would take up physical space in the area where I normally sit to play.

What's the best way to capture that so I can post it to YouTube, Vimeo, etc? Can I use Mac OS X? Windows? what hardware do I need? Software?

Answer

Probably the cheapest way to do it is to use a USB capture card. Personally I use the EzCap116 which works nicely. Now, you can use a capturing software to play your Wii on your computer screen, but there tends to be input delay and lag compared to a TV.

To circumvent this problem, you'll probably want to get a stackable RCA/composite cable splitter, similar to the ones sold here on eBay:

If you want to see an example of this setup, here's a video of somebody connecting their Xbox 360 in this manner; it will work the same for the Wii.

EzCap also has their own official YouTube channel, with a setup video, but I like the example I provided better. Three female-female splitters is overkill when you can just get a single stackable one.

(You don't need to use my links for your purchases, these are just examples. A word of warning though: products named "EzCap" are made by an official company, products named "EasyCap" are cheap Chinese ripoffs. I bought mine from that Amazon link and can verify that they are legit and work well)

You may also want to check out EzCap's official website.

Check more discussion of this question.

Do PS1 games play quietly on a PS2?

Question

I've got a slim silver PS2 and wanted to buy some PS1 games. I've noticed that the PS2 games that come on CDs instead of DVDs (blue disc vs normal silver) spin loudly - it's like I left a hairdryer in my game cabinet! Just like how CDs spin up noisily in a PC or laptop DVD drive - I always found it an obnoxious design flaw.

Well my question is do you know if PS1 games are like this in the PS2? If so I'll probably spend the extra few $$$ to get a PS1 to catch up on my vintage gamez.

Thanks

Answer

I don't recall any PS1 games being particularly noisy in my PS2. Generally the drive speed is slower for PS1 games unless you change the settings in the menu.

Check more discussion of this question.

Does the Wii still corrupt 1019 GameCube memory cards?

Question

I just bought Eternal Darkness and intend to play it on my Wii.

I apparently need a GameCube controller and memory card, so I've done some shopping for a Wavebird (man, they're expensive!) and memory card. A quick search reveals that many people have seen their Wii corrupt all their data stored on 1019 GameCube memory cards.

Is this still the case? Should I just buy a 251 memory card and call it a wrap?

Answer

If the corruption problem was caused by the hardware, then the Wii will still corrupt those specific GameCube memory cards today, as there have not been any substantial hardware changes to the Wii since release - and the hardware changes that have occurred were primarily to prevent hacking the Wii.

If the corruption problem was caused by software, we don't know if it is fixed or not, as Nintendo has never acknowledged the issue, nor specifically said that a new version of the OS has fixed it.

If you are concerned about it, just buy a different card.

Check more discussion of this question.

XBox powers on but does not boot

Question

When I try to start my XBox 360, I get most of the noise and none of the action.

• The cooling fans spin up
• The 1/0-logo in the middle of the led ring is lit, all four parts of the ring are dark.
• The four lights on the controller blink when started with the controller.

After that just sits there humming, no signal over HDMI and after 300 seconds it turns itself off. The same thing happens whether I start it with the controller, the power button or the eject button.

The console is an 120GB Elite model from around the time Forza 3 came out. It's under warranty until December.

The thing is- I already sent it to Microsoft and it came back with a "dear customer, we looked but we couldn't find anything and therefore didn't fix anything" letter. Indeed, when it came back it was working perfectly fine for the next four or five times, then the exact same symptoms were back. (They did apparently reset the firmware, I had to update that).

It seems clear that I need to send it back again, but it looks like I'll have to include a heck of a cover letter to avoid further embarrassment.

Things I checked:

• The wall socket puts out 234 volts. This is nicely within the 220-240 range it's supposed to.
• The XBox has (for the entire time that I own it) been attached to a power strip with an on/off switch that I turn off at night and when I leave the house. I've had it directly in the wall socket for the past few days to see if that makes a difference (it doesn't).
• Tried booting without the hard drive, no difference.
• Tried standing the console up and lying it down, no difference (it stood upright most of its life).
• Inspected the back of the face plate, as suggested by Microsoft's online troubleshooter. That's undamaged.

One thing I noticed is this: when I plug the power adapter into the wall socket, its status light is orange. Only when I power the console does it turn green. Microsoft's online troubleshooter is unclear about whether this is correct or whether it's supposed to be green all the time. I don't have access to another unit to swap parts with. Question: what color is the light on your power adapter when it's plugged in and the console is turned off?

Is there anything else I could try before sending it in again?

Microsoft's instructions are clear about sending only the console and none of the peripherals. If I included the power adapter, can I expect to get it returned or would I end up with only a console and no power?

Answer

I just checked my adapter, the light is amber when the system is powered off and green when on.

I've noticed that the 360 won't boot up unless the HDMI finishes a handshake with the TV first. Can you try with a different HDMI cable or with an RCA or Component Video and see if that has the same effect?

I also have a 120GB Elite.

Check more discussion of this question.

Playstation Vita hardware specs

Question

Do you know which are the full hardware specs of Playstation Vita? Are that specs already frozen and officially available?

Answer

Official Spefications have been released by Sony, at TGS 2011

• Model number: PCH-1000 series
• CPU: ARM® Cortex™-A9 core (4 core)
• GPU: SGX543MP4+
• Main memory: 512MB
• VRAM: 128MB
• External Dimensions: Approx. 182.0 x 18.6 x 83.5mm (width x height x depth) (tentative, excludes largest projection)
• Weight Approx: 279g (3G/Wi-Fi model), 260g (Wi-Fi model)
• Screen: 5 inches (16:9), 960 x 544, Approx. 16 million colours, OLED, Multi touch screen (capacitive type)
• Rear touch pad: Multi touch pad (capacitive type)
• Cameras: Front camera, Rear camera; Frame rate: 120fps@320x240(QVGA), 60fps@640x480(VGA); Resolution: Up to 640x480(VGA)
• Sound: Built-in stereo speakers, built-in microphone
• Sensors: Six-axis motion sensing system (three-axis gyroscope, three-axis accelerometer), Threeaxis electronic compass
• Location: Built-in GPS (3G/Wi-Fi model only), Wi-Fi location service support
• Keys/Switches: PS button, power button, directional buttons (Up/Down/Right/Left), action buttons (Triangle, Circle, Cross, Square), shoulder buttons (Right/Left), right stick, left stick, START button, SELECT button, volume buttons (+/-)
• Wireless communications: Mobile network connectivity (3G/Wi-Fi model only), 3G modem (data communication): HSDPA/HSUPA *specification for Japanese region, IEEE 802.11b/g/n (n = 1x1)(Wi-Fi) (Infrastructure mode/Ad-hoc mode), Bluetooth® 2.1+EDR ?A2DP/AVRCP/HSP?
• Slots/Ports: PlayStation®Vita card slot, memory card slot, SIM card slot (3G/Wi-Fi model only), multi-use port (for USB data communication, DC IN, Audio [Stereo Out / Mono In], Serial data communication), headset jack (Stereo mini jack) (for Audio [Stereo Out / Mono In]), accessory port
• Power: Built-In Lithium-ion Battery: DC3.7V 2200mA, AC adaptor: DC 5V
• Operating environment temperature: 5??35?
• Supported AV content format: Music - MP3 MPEG-1/2 Audio Layer 3, MP4 (MPEG-4 AAC), WAVE (Linear PCM). Videos - MPEG-4 Simple Profile (AAC), H.264/MPEG-4 AVC High/Main/Baseline Profile (AAC). Photos - JPEG (Exif 2.2.1), TIFF, BMP, GIF, PNG

PlayStation Vita has a battery life of between three and five hours during gameplay.

The PlayStation Vita WiFi model will be priced at ¥24,980 (£206.40 / $324.80), while the 3G model will be priced at ¥29,980 (£247.70 / $389.80) with 3G support provided by NTT Docomo. Via Digital Spy

Check more discussion of this question.

Mouse moving out of the Game with dual screen

Question

I'm using a dual-screen setup and some games seem to not lock the mouse to the screen, especially in Battlefield 2142 a while ago I often left the game with my cursor, which was bad when I tried to turn around quickly to shoot someone, suddenly I was back in Windows and quite dead in the game because I clicked on the Windows desktop or another window on the second screen which caused BF2142 to minimize.

The last game I played a few days ago that had this problem was Stubbs the Zombie (of which I heard here on GSE) which didn't even try to keep the mouse on the screen, I couldn't turn right much or my mouse ended up on the second screen minimizing the game when I clicked at the wrong moment.

I remember a few other games where I had this problem a little longer in the past, so is there a solution to this problem without forcing me to disable the second monitor?

Answer

There may be a built in Windows way to do it but this Lifehacker link suggests a tiny program called MouseJail to keep the mouse on the correct screen.

Check more discussion of this question.

Can I verify an xbox 360 game isn't damaged by installing it?

Question

If I buy a used game the first thing I do is install the game onto my hard drive. I figure that this process must read the entire disc and so will verify the disc is not damaged.

Does anyone know if I'm right?

EDIT

ChrisF has seen games that won't play from disc but will install and subsequently play. That leads me to add another sub-question:

Has anyone installed a game successfully but then been unable to play it, either due to disc damage during the startup disc check or due to some other corruption?

Answer

I don't have a reference, but from personal experience I think you nearly right.

If the disk is too badly damaged then you won't be able to install at all.

However, it appears to be that the installation process is slightly more tolerant of damage than playing directly, so you could get a disc that's too damaged to play but will still install. This could be for a number of reasons including that it does more error checking and retrys when installing than playing for example.

From personal experience there have been a couple of games that occasionally failed to load/play direct from disc. In these cases we have installed the games to the hard drive and successfully played them from there.

So your test won't verify that the disc is not damaged, but will verify that it's playable.

Check more discussion of this question.

What is the average battery life of an NES cartridge?

Question

How many years does an NES cartridge battery last?

Answer

According to this page, the batteries last 15-20 years.

Check more discussion of this question.