Can't play 3D games; For advanced techs

[reflect]

All right. Let’s make this as easy as possible. My computer won’t play most 3D games. The only game that works so far is Land of the Dead; Road to Fiddler’s Green, however, sometimes it lags for a few moments. I have also experienced some skipping music in winamp whenever I’m typing, so at first I thought that it was a sound issue, but now I’m beginning to think otherwise. All other programs adobe premier, 3D studio max, windows, everything else functions normally, except games.

Here’s my specs;

--Asus Nvidia n-force A7N8X-X motherboard
--AMD XP Athlon 3200 (thunderbird) 400MHz FSB @ 1.1 ghz
--GeForce FX 5200 Graphics card @ 256 MB
--2 Gigs of ram 1000mb of Kingston (DDR 3200 400Mhz FSB) and 1000mb of Corsair Value Select (DDR 3200 400Mhz FSB)- tried running the programs with each set @ 1gb of ram, did not fix the problem.
--500 Gig Maxtor DiamondMax Hard-Drive

Here is a list of the games I’ve tried to play and the problems that I’ve encountered;

I have all of the settings on the lowest performance level, even though my system should be able to handle it.

FEAR- Incredibly lagged. I can’t function or move in the game. Sometimes it only shows up as a messed up screen, the walls being invisible and all I can really see are a few lines and the gun.

DOOM III- It’s slow and incredibly hard to function in the game, but I can play it with few problems other than it canceling out every once in a while.

Half-Life 2- I can play fine for about 5 minutes (it seems to vary), and then I get a blue-screen of death allotting to something like; “STOP: 0X00000008E(0XC0000090, 0X004B4BD8, 0XEE25885C, 0X00000000)
Beginning dump of physical memory.
Physical memory dump complete.............contact system administrator, etc.,”
ThenI have to restart my system.

So I thought maybe the games were too advanced for my system, even thought I should’ve been able to play. Then I installed 2 old games;

Unreal- Lags, and closes after a General Protection Fault Error – With “History: bla bla bla……:: Tick<-MainLoop.” Looks like something in the engine.

Blood 2: The chosen- Gives me a black screen and no visual. I cannot see the intro movies or anything. I can click on the game, but as soon as it starts I get a “Client MFC application” error.

The problem could also be in BIOS, so here’s my BIOS settings…I’ve tried so many possible solutions I have no idea what’s right anymore.

--Advanced settings;
CPU level 1 cache = Enabled
CPU level 2 cache = Enabled
Gate 20 A option = fast
Typematic Rate Setting = Disabled
APIC Mode = Enabled
OS/2 Onboard Memory >64MB Disabled

--Chipset Settings;
CPU Extreme Frequency MHz = 100 Mhz
CPU Frequency Multiple Setting = Auto
System Performance = Optimal
CPU Interface = Optimal
Memory Frequency = Auto
Memory Timings = Optimal
FSB Spread Spectrum = Disabled
AGP Spread Spectrum = Disabled
CPU V Core Setting = Disabled
Graphics Aperture Size = 256 MB
AGP Frequency = Auto
System BIOS Cacheable = Disabled
Video Ram Cacheable = Disabled
DDR Reference Voltage = 2.6 volts
AGP VDDQ Voltage = 1.5 volts
AGP 8x Support = Enabled
AGP Fast Write Capability = Enabled


Any ideas at all?

[oracle128]

Have those games only recently stopped working, or did they never work? First, make sure you're using the latest Forceware drivers. Beyond that, my guess would be either an insufficient power supply, or a bad video card.

[reflect]

they never worked to begin with. All drivers are up to date. When i messed around in BIOS I was able to get Half-life 2 and Quake 4 to run for a while, it'd just be jumpy when there was a lot of polygons on screen. That's probably just my processor, but Unreal and Blood 2 should run at warp speed. I have a 600watt power supply, so that should be well enough to handle it

[smurfy]

Hi there. GF5200 (Even with 256MB DDR) is still a low spec card for the likes of DIII or HL2.
But you're right, it should still scream through Unreal.

Assuming you do have the latest nVidia GRAPHICS drivers, do you have the latest nVidia Motherboard chipset drivers installed?
http://www.nvidia.com/content/drivers/drivers.asp

[reflect]

yes, all my drivers should be up to date, it's the first thing I did when I couldn't play dIII, the first game I tried. For some reason my processor is only running a 1.1ghz, but it's a 2.2ghz processor. Do you see a problem in bios?