Overclocking Leads to Connections Issues w/ NS2?
RedDog
Las Vegas Join Date: 2013-02-22 Member: 183267Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Gold, WC 2013 - Shadow
Las Vegas Join Date: 2013-02-22 Member: 183267Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Gold, WC 2013 - Shadow
Hi All,
So I have an Intel i7 Q740 CPU. I have an overclocking program that works great (SetFSB) and I decided to use SetFSB and MSI Afterburner to overclock my CPU and GPU. After scoring a 1987 on 3Dmark11 before I overclocked and reaching 2344 AFTER - I was quite happy (and it was stable!).
Anyway - I then ran a bunch of games off steam and was getting an amazing increase in FPS for all of them. All ran fine. I played online matches, etc - nothing wrong.
Now enter NS2. Using the same settings, I launch it get to the main menu - slamming over 100 FPS easily (before I wouldn't even be close). Happy with that, I join a server -- and this is where it began. Once I joined, I got a red connection icon flashing on the bottom left side of the screen. I check my ping - 47 - so I was confused. However, it just seemed like I was dropping packets or something. I exited NS2, launched Speedtest and my connection was fine (35Mbps down / 31.3 Mbps up).
I then though - hmm I wonder if NS2 doesn't like my overclocking? But then again, why would overclocking CPU or GPU present to me an internet connection problem icon? To test this, I removed overclocking on both my GPU and CPU and launched NS2 again. It worked fine. Ok... so now I have to whittle down which one is causing this issue. I exited and overclocked my GPU and relaunched NS2. Worked fine, good FPS, no connection icon flashing. I then exited and turned down my GPU to normal and then overclocked my CPU. Back into NS2 and BAM - connection icon - stuttering, snapbacks, etc.
So - I am so perplexed here. My FSB originally runs at 132.7 MHz and I overclock to a stable 156.7 MHz. Through trial and error, I found that NS2 begins to 'chop' and give me that connection icon at anything above 136.7 MHz - which isn't even enough of an increase to be worth 'overclocking'.
Remember, With both my GPU and CPU overclocked to the max (and stable), it ran 3dmark11 benchmark fine and ALL my other games just fine - internet play and all. *Only* NS2 has this problem.
Has anyone ran into this or is there something in the NS2 code that hates overclocking?
So I have an Intel i7 Q740 CPU. I have an overclocking program that works great (SetFSB) and I decided to use SetFSB and MSI Afterburner to overclock my CPU and GPU. After scoring a 1987 on 3Dmark11 before I overclocked and reaching 2344 AFTER - I was quite happy (and it was stable!).
Anyway - I then ran a bunch of games off steam and was getting an amazing increase in FPS for all of them. All ran fine. I played online matches, etc - nothing wrong.
Now enter NS2. Using the same settings, I launch it get to the main menu - slamming over 100 FPS easily (before I wouldn't even be close). Happy with that, I join a server -- and this is where it began. Once I joined, I got a red connection icon flashing on the bottom left side of the screen. I check my ping - 47 - so I was confused. However, it just seemed like I was dropping packets or something. I exited NS2, launched Speedtest and my connection was fine (35Mbps down / 31.3 Mbps up).
I then though - hmm I wonder if NS2 doesn't like my overclocking? But then again, why would overclocking CPU or GPU present to me an internet connection problem icon? To test this, I removed overclocking on both my GPU and CPU and launched NS2 again. It worked fine. Ok... so now I have to whittle down which one is causing this issue. I exited and overclocked my GPU and relaunched NS2. Worked fine, good FPS, no connection icon flashing. I then exited and turned down my GPU to normal and then overclocked my CPU. Back into NS2 and BAM - connection icon - stuttering, snapbacks, etc.
So - I am so perplexed here. My FSB originally runs at 132.7 MHz and I overclock to a stable 156.7 MHz. Through trial and error, I found that NS2 begins to 'chop' and give me that connection icon at anything above 136.7 MHz - which isn't even enough of an increase to be worth 'overclocking'.
Remember, With both my GPU and CPU overclocked to the max (and stable), it ran 3dmark11 benchmark fine and ALL my other games just fine - internet play and all. *Only* NS2 has this problem.
Has anyone ran into this or is there something in the NS2 code that hates overclocking?
Comments
some people called its the "Ram" wich shouldnt be increased if possible - so you might try that out
A overclock can become unstable after only x set of times.
When you test memory, use something like memtest. It has to be booted from cd. Trust no good results untill you had around 7 passes. (yes that means it checked the whole memory 7 times, yes I saw fails only after 7 passes. )
Same for stuff like prime97 to test your cpu.. let it run, a lot & long.
Not having the problems in other games while overclocking is no guarantee the overclock is stable. only long tests & benchmarks will indicate if it is stable.
As that takes far far more time then I want to invest, I tend to not overlock.
A speedtest is not a stability test for connections. Start ping tests.
* in a console in windows (cmd)
* type without quotes "ping www.unknownworlds.com /t"
* you should get a continues uninterrupted stream of pings now. The MS is the milisecond it takes to reach the domain. See nothing bad? No big times? No drops?
* close console and start a new one.
* without quotes "ping www.unknownworlds.com /t >> C:\Test\pingtest1.txt" where you change C:\Test to the folder you want. Pingtest1.txt is the logfile. Hit enter
* the cmd screen will go black and give NO OUTPUT. This is normal, it is outputting to the logfile.
* let it run and go play NS2. After your problem occurs, close ns2, close the cmd screen and check the logs.
* want to test connection to modem while you are at it? "ping 192.168.1.1 /t >> c:\Test\pingmodem1.txt" where you of course replace foldernames & modem ip with your correct info.
* you can run both the www and the modem cmd together while playing ns2.
Thanks for the help.
I have ruled out a network issue as the second I de-clock my CPU I can play perfectly and the second I overclock, it begins the problems again. ("Ping" and "Tracert" commands in CMD show no errors or timeouts - and I pinged/tracert'ed directly to the server IPs I was trying to connect to).
As far as stability of my system, I am now on my 6th hour of continuous running with my CPU overclocked and no freezes, etc. I did run 3 3dmark11 tests back-to-back with no problems. I've been monitoring my temperature using Core Temp and even during benchmarks, peak at about 70C (anything below 90C for an i7 is fine) - so it can't be an overheating issue. And if it were, how that's only centered around NS2 would be odd hehe
Everything else suggests my rig is running fine. The problem only happens when I try to play NS2. Frustrating really.
Anywho - no matter I guess. I can overclock my GPU and it plays fine. Would have been nice to get the little extra FPS from an overclocked CPU as well, but not a big deal I guess.
Thanks again, all!
benchmark program runs as a test are overrated
yes, especially on i7. Well spotted Scardybob.
"it ran a benchmark" or "it doesnt die" is not testing tbh.
@OP : have you tried overclocking with the multiplier? This is how I do it with my i7 920 up to 4 ghz and I don't see these symptoms
Edit : as a test lower the steam server refresh rate in steam options to something low.. it *could* be something related to an oc cpu pinging more..
Thanks for all the discussion.
I ended up running Memtest back-to-back for about 3 hours and no errors came up. I then played (w/ CPU+GPU OC'ed) multiple games for hours: Alice, Chivalry, Deus Ex, Skyrim, BF:BC2, Empire: TW, and SimCity (that one I binged on for 7 or so hours straight). Out of all of them, not one hiccup, stutter, connection problem, etc. Heat from my CPU was steady at 60-70C during heavy load and idle at 50C. GPU peaked at 60C and idle at 50C. So not a temp problem either.
System doesn't freeze at all in the Windows environment and I have also been playing games this morning with no problems ( I know this doesn't count, but I left it on OC'ed all night as well when I went to sleep and woke up with it not frozen - temps throughout the night were 40-50C). With all this, I then tried to load up NS2 and boom - connection error and snapbacks, etc.
By the process of elimination, I have ruled out already many factors. It just has to be something with NS2.
Ironhorse - To answer your question, I have not tried to OC with the multiplier - only bus. Do you recommend a program similar to setFSB that I could do that with?
Thanks!
"Edit : as a test lower the steam server refresh rate in steam options to something low.. it *could* be something related to an oc cpu pinging more.. "
Also thanks, read this after I posted. Will try that too.
I also used the program Prime95 which is a CPU stress testing program. It consistently keeps your CPU load at 100% by constantly calculating prime numbers so you can check for freezes in an OC.
I kept it on for a couple hours straight - no problems.
Seems you did actually test so im out of ideas.
ill go with Jiriki. ^^
@Ironhorse : Thanks. However, I'm perplexed as to why this is only happening with my NS2 and nothing else? So I'm wondering how an OC with a multiplier would be any different considering that everything else other than NS2 is working with an FSB OC?
@Jiriki : I will Google that and try it. But same here as I told Ironhorse above - how this seems to only be an NS2 issue is simply confusing me.
@DC_Darkling : Thanks for your input!
I encountered this exact issue in the early beta where my system passed a double, 24hour Prime95 stress test, only to BSOD when playing NS2.
My point exact, hence I said hours of testing, preferably with prime.
Scardybob's post is accurate and correct.
NS2 thrashes CPU performance more than any game i know (way more than BF3 or source / unreal 3 games) so its not surprising that it'd highlight issues.
Bottom line imo: its worth testing other things like the multiplier and spread spectrum and steam refresh rate etc etc.
let us know what you find
Much appreciated!