Beckham Digital • View topic

I received this query today
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I have been having a lot of computer problems of late and as my system
is over 5 years old I decided to get a new one. I took your advice &
ordered from Pcspecialist.

I also specified your suggested graphics card: Nvidia 512MB GEFORCE
8600GT PCI Express + DVI +TV-OUT. Well apparently It is now
discontinued and my order defaulted to a Nvidia 512MB GEFORCE 8600GS PCI Express but I did not notice.

Anyway I'm so disappointed as the card is rubbish, my pans are so jerky
it's like using ProShow. Pte slide shows that were perfect on my old
machine are juddering & jerking all over the place.
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My reply is below, but I would appreciate any thoughts you may have that I can pass on

This doesn't make sense, the card you have is an improvement on the one I have and I don't suffer any problems. Before you do anything drastic I think you should take a look at one or two settings first.

You are aware that I am no hardware expert, but here are some suggestions.

1. Make sure you have the latest drivers for your graphics card. I have
found that by the time they are made, shipped and find their way into your PC, the drivers are often updated. Go to your system hardware properties and select device manage.Double click your display adapter and look for the driver tab. You can click the update driver and your computer will search
for a later one.

Alternatively go to the Nvidia web site and there will certainly be a
download page with drivers for all their graphics cards.

2. Are you now using PTE6, if not download and install it from
www.wnsoft.com details here.

http://www.beckhamdigital.co.uk/audiovisual/update/update.htm

3. Open PTE 6 in in the Project options > Screen tab and make sure that the box is ticked that says Hardware Acceleration 3D3

4. Look at your graphics card settings go through every one looking for
anything that you can change to see if that cures the problem.

5. If everything fails and you should keep a note of what you have done.
Contact PCSpecialist and tell them this new machine performs worse than your old one and you are disappointed with it and would like something done

My feeling is that if the transition issues and "juddering" etc are only associated with PTE, then perhaps PTE is the problem and not the graphics card / driver, otherwise the graphics display should be affected on other aplications, especialy video No mention is made of how these other applications function, especially Photoshop or elements which can be graphics memory hungry.
Andy

Barry

I think your answer is as good advice as anyone can give. There does not seem to be, to me at least, a relationship with graphics cards and PTE smoothness, I get varying results on all of my computers.

On the face of it, it does sound like the card id not fully function, which can be a problem with configuration.

Slight amendment to Barry's reply above - and this applies to all drivers and not just the ones specific to this card.

There is little point in having Windows search for updated drivers. This does NOT check for all updated drivers but merely those within Microsoft's own database. This is almost always incomplete, to say the least! The likely answer to a search there would be that 'no better match could be found than what is currently installed'. This merely means exactly what it says - no better match could be found. It does not mean that no better match exists. Using this check often leads to no more than a false sense of well-being. In fairness to Microsoft, it isn't their responsibility to ensure that every driver from every maker is listed in the database (that'd be one seriously mammoth task). Yes, it'd probably be pretty accurate to say that every driver is out of date when we get them - things move on rather rapidly now.

Although the 8600 is, nowadays, quite an old card and far from the cutting edge it was a while ago, it is still a pretty decent card and I seriously doubt that this is the root of the problem. There are too many of this particular card in use, for PTE presentations, for the problem not to have surfaced before now. I suspect that this lies elsewhere, quite possibly with an imbalance in components or in resources being used less than optimally. In the long run, though, the machine doesn't at present fit into the "suited for the purpose for which it was intended" category (Sale of Goods Act phraseology), disappointing though that is. My reaction would be to take it back to PCSpecialist and get them to sort it. Of course, if the query comes from someone who specified certain components then the fault, eventually, lies with them. Basically though, take it back and interact directly with the assembler. It'd be virtually impossible to sort this sort of problem without the machine in front of us. Even then, it'd not be a foregone concusion. (As an aside, I did notice when Barry listed his configuration, eons ago, that there was a slight imbalance in component specification with the 667 memory very slightly choking output - 800 would have been a better balance. But there were, at that time, very good reasons for using the 667)

One possible reason for the jerkiness would be if, because of the configuration of system resources, the CPU was doing the rendering of the pans, etc. This is better done by the GPU on the card - it's what it's there for. That is no more than a twiddling of settings to fix though, hardly major.

Advanced Member Joined: 18 May 2008 Posts: 461

Get him to post a TEMPLATE of one of the shows (a short one) which is giving trouble on his PC and make sure that he has no problematic elements such as HUGE JPEGs, corrupted MP3s and that his settings are correct.

Once you have eliminated that angle then you can advise him on hardware.

He sounds like a PTE "novice" and his problems could be due to his inexperience and lack of knowledge of PTE and also his expectations of the programme.

His card is up to the task and it would be unlikely and unusual to be supplied with an incorrectly set up machine.

DG

DaveG wrote

it would be unlikely and unusual to be supplied with an incorrectly set up machine.

Dave, I knew you were a nice man - didn't realise you were such an optimist as well!!

The original query said

Quote

Pte slide shows that were perfect on my old
machine are juddering & jerking all over the place.

(yes, heard that one before too). Taking that at face value, I doubt that the fault lies with the production of the show unless he/she has changed something in the meantime. Stranger things have happened, as we know. It's certainly something to check though - is the jerk on the show or is it the producer.

Advanced Member Joined: 18 May 2008 Posts: 461

"Pte slide shows that were perfect on my old machine are juddering & jerking all over the place."

Apologies, that one slipped by me!

I still think that it's worth a try?

DG

Certainly is. I'm always wary when folks say "It was working perfectly....." - so often this is followed by "..... before I just changed xyz. Don't think that made any difference though.". Bit like the old thing about 'Grandma's broom - only had 7 new heads and 3 new handles'.

However, on the basis that the shows in question are .exe and not twiddled .pte files being previewed, I still think the problem most likely lies with the configuration.