[ZKEEPER11]

I NEED HELP I JUST BOUGHT THIS RIG AND ALL THE GAMES I LOAD UP EITHER 9X OR 10X, THE GAMES SO FAR ARE CRYSIS AND HALF LIFE 2 EPISODE 2 THE SCREEN FLICKERS LIKE A STROBE LIGHT, NO HIT TO THE FRAME RATES JUST THE FLICKER. DELL HAS LOADED UNLOADED THE DRIVERS AND NOTHING HAS CHANGED IT ONLY HAPPENS IN FULL SCREEN MODE NOT WHEN I OPEN AND PLAY THE GAME IN A WINDOW HELP

[mcbarker]

I'm assuming that your system has NVIDIA graphics since I haven't seen any other options for that particular system. You didn't give any details about your system's configuration, so this is a guess. Does your Dell have two video cards configured in SLI mode? If so, try this. Right click on the desktop and open the NVIDIA Control Panel, and make sure you have Advanced Settings enabled. In the window on the left, open Manage 3D settings. Click on the Program Settings tab (NOT the Global Settings tab), and find one of the games (in the top window) which causing the flicker problem, and click on it. In the bottom window, scroll down until you find the SLI performance mode setting, and click on the setting (on the right). An option box will open. Remember the original setting so that you can go back and change it if necessary. The default setting is NVIDIA recommended (SLI). Change the setting to Single-GPU, then Exit the NVIDIA Control Panel, and save if you're prompted to. See if that makes any difference when you load that game. If it works, do the same for any other games which are giving you the flickering problem.

[ZKEEPER11]

YOU GOT THE SYSTEM CONFIG RIGHT, I BELIEVE THEY (DELL) TRIED THAT THEY ALSO SAID TO UNISTALL THE OS AND TRY REINSTALLING IT DELL ALSO DOWN LOADED SOME 3D BENCH MARK PROGRAM AND THRU ITS ENTIRE TEST, DELL SAID MAYBE THE CARDS WERE DEFECTIVE. I DON'T THINK THIS IS THE CASE. AND I DON'T BELIEVE RE INSTALLING THE OS WILL HELP EVERYTHING IS UP TO DATE DRIVERS ECT DELL EVEN WENT SO FAR AS TO TELL ME TO DE COCK IT HELP? THE FRAME RATE IS FANTASTIC IN THE WINDOW MODE

[coastie65]

Hi ZKEEPER, That last thing that Dell told you to do, has got me scratching my head. My guess is they were thinking that the card was O/Ced ( Over clocked) and want you to reverse it. I can't imagine anyone recommending to U/C ( Underclock) a Video card though. You must have gotten the Bangladesh branch of Dell's Tech service. To be honest, I've been prowling around the web and checking, and haven't run across anything that mentions a strobe effect with those cards. Incidently, mcbarker, who first checked in has, I believe, an XPS 720 H2C Dell. That is why he knew the configuration so well. I guess it is possible to have one card that is defective in an sli conf, and no telling what kind of trouble that would cause, but to have both cards turn out defective doesn't sound very likely to me. The other thing is, you say it runs fine in the Window mode but not in full screen. If you have XP, in games, you should have a pin ball machine. If so, try to run that in the full screen mode and see what happens. One other thought. Check your screen refresh rate, and set it as high as it will go. Mine with a single 8600GT card will max out at 75 HZ. You may also have a setting on the monitor as well. coastie65

[mcbarker]

I still think this is an SLI problem. I had a similar experience (flickering screen, with the bottom half turning black) when I tried to play Sid Meier's Pirates! and Doom 3. The steps I suggested fixed the problem for me. I suggest disabling SLI altogether and see if that makes any difference, and then you'll know where to start if it does. By the way, when you make the changes, remember to reboot for them to take effect.



The only thing that can be overclocked (in the BIOS) on that system is the CPU. The GPU can be overclocked using the nTune utility (available from NVIDIA for free), but I don't recommend it.

[ZKEEPER11]

I WENT HOME AND UNISTALLED THE OS AND REINSTALLED IT NOTHING CHANGED I HAVE WINDOWS VISTA ULTIMA AND MY MACHINE IS A H2C ALSO EVERY THING RUNS GREAT EXCEPT THAT. AND BASICALLY DELL DID TELL ME TO DECLOCK EVERYTHING GO FIGURE OH AND THIS IS THE SECOND ONE I RECIEVED THE FRST ONE THE GRAPHICS CARDS OR POWER SUPPLY WAS JUNK THE MACHINE HAD AKNOCKING SOUND AND THEN THE SCREEN WOULD TURN PIXEL GREEN. THAT ONE IS SITTING NEXT TO THIS ONE THAT STROBES 5K AND THEY DON'T DO WHAT THEY ARE SUPPOSE TO. I HAVE A DELL3700WP ITS MAX REFRESH RATE IS 65 HERTZ AND MY COMPUTER IS SET TO THE SAME I BELIEVE THIS IS THE MAX SETTING

[coastie65]

Hi ZKEEPER, By any chance, have you tried to use a different monitor with that machine ? I'm asking this in the off chance that it could possibly be an issue with the monitor itself. Just when I was beginning to think Dell may have gotten a winner with that XPS 720 H2C. coastie

[mcbarker]

If you're using an LCD monitor the screen resolution should be either 60 or 120Hz. I believe that those are the only two LCD refresh rates supported by LCDs at this time (most are 60Hz). An unsupported refresh rate might mess up your display. If you're using a CRT monitor with your XPS720, you should be able to get a refresh rate higher than 65Hz. Since I don'r use Vista, I can't really help troubleshoot for driver problems. Have you looked for updated video drivers for your card on the Dell Support Driver Download site?

[coastie65]

Hi mcb, I'm using an LCD monitor and at present I have the refresh rate set at 75 Hz. I may have to set it back, as I've noticed some anomalies in one app ( Game) that might be attributable to that. Coastie being Coastie, I'll max out everything I can, whether it is a good thing or not. :D . coastie

[mcbarker]

Hi Coastie. LCDs don't show the same annoying refresh flicker that CRTs do below approximately 70Hz, so setting it at 60Hz is fine. I'm surprised that you were able to set it to something other than 60Hz.. You must have enabled the "Hide modes that this monitor can't display" option. Bad bad Coastie...



!http://forums.pcworld.com/legacyimages/
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[coastie65]

Hi mcb, I set it back to 60 Hz. As I said there were some anomalies and I figured I'd probably over tweaked things a bit, so set it back. It took care of the anomalies that I had noticed. I guess sometimes more ain't better, even if it will let you have it !http://forums.pcworld.com/legacyimages/
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[ZKEEPER11]

WELL IT LOOKS LIKE ITS THE SLI SETTING THE GAMES WORK IN SINGLE CARD MODE NATUARALLY CRYSIS TAKES A BIG HIT BUT HALF LIFE PLAYS GREAT ANY IDEAS I DON'T WANT DELL TALK TO DELL YET

[mcbarker]

I'm glad it finally works for you. I was bummed that Doom3 wouldn't work in SLI mode, but it didn't really cause any slowdown in the game on my system. I'm not really fond of the idea of patching two graphics cards together... Seems like a recipe for a bug event waiting to happen, but at least you can play your games now.



!http://forums.pcworld.com/legacyimages/
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[coastie65]

I've found that it is good to read the release notes as some games that you would think would run in sli / crossfire won't. I am a bit surprised about Crysis though. It does seem to run OK on this 8600GT with the settings on High and the AA turned off. coastie

[ZKEEPER11]

I'M VERY DISAPPIONTED IN THE SYSTEM SO FAR I'M CONTACTING DELL TONIGHT TO SEE IF THEY CAN FIX THE SYSTEM, IF THEY CAN'T BACK IT GOES NO QUESTION ASKED. 5K PLUS I WANT IT TO WRK AS ADVERTISED I'M EVEN GOING TO TRY AND CONTACT NVIDIA. ALSO I'LL TRY SOME OTHER GAMES BIO SHOCK STALKER MAYBE JUST REALLY DISAPPIONTED

[coastie65]

Hey, I've never been a big fan of Dell, But I was pretty impressed with the XPS 720 H2C, to the point of maybe considering getting one. If I remember correctly, those things come with either the Nvidia 8800 GT or 8800 GTS forgot which. Crysis should run just fine on either one as a single card configuration. as I said previously said, it runs quite well on my 8600GT with the settings on high and the AA turned off. I've actually got one older game that won't run in Dual Core mode, I have to go to Single Core mode in order to play it. coastie

[ZKEEPER11]

IT HAS ULTRA THIS THING SHOULD HAVE CRYSIS SCREAMING

[coastie65]

If I recall right, you said you were running Vista Ultima. Is this the 64 bit version? If so, then that could be a problem, as most games are still being written to 32 bit . If it is 64 bit, you could go into your display settings and drop then back to 32 bit when playing a game. coastie65