Ask the Nerd: Know Your Graphic Limits

[#1]

In the HP customer support forums, the people are helped by two separate yet equally important groups: the HP employees who voluntarily investigate computer issues and fellow forum goers who help try to troubleshoot problems. These are their stories.

[The advice and solutions provided here – and in the forums – are tips from individuals trying to help, not an official line from HP.]

When you buy a car, there are some unwritten rules of the road. Stay on the correct side, change your oil every couple thousand miles depending upon how your drive….and, for the love of God, don’t push the engine too hard into the red line! Doesn’t matter if you’re driving a Yaris, Yugo…or a Ferrari – the same rules apply.

So, when you hear your engine straining to accelerate on the freeway do you….

a) Jam on the gas and ride it out until you hit 88 and hopefully go back in time? Or

b) Slow down to actually keep your car running and in good condition?

Don’t tell me your answer. I’m just gonna assume “B.” Well, let me pose this question to you: Why does nobody ever think of using a computer the same way?

OK, so I’m a self-confessed gamer. I know that when I lay my hands on a new rig (like, say, the ENVY 17 3D or ENVY 14 Beats Edition), I’m going to try and slam it with back-to-back performance benchmarks. Here’s something to consider, though:  Just because in my tests a machine can run at “Very High” settings for a period of time, it doesn’t mean you’re supposed to drive it that way all the time. GPUs operate within certain thresholds and if you rev any graphics card too long at high settings, you can – and will – run into the possibility of overheating a GPU. That means burning out circuitry and causing permanent damage to the graphics chip. So, how do you prevent this from happening at home? I’m glad you asked….

Listen to the fan, look at the gauges

The first – and most obvious – tell-tale sign of strain is to listen to your PC. In the same way that you can hear your car’s motor hum at high acceleration rates, same goes for any fan-cooled PC. If the fan fires up, it’s because the computer is working overtime and temperatures inside the machine are climbing.

Desktops usually have much better airflow and higher temperature tolerances. Laptops are designed to jam as much power into as little space as humanly possible…and still have good airflow. So with that in mind, you should keep your ears tuned to the computer…and even if it’s running silent, look at performance gauges for the CPU. It could be an onboard app like the ATI Catalyst Control Center. Or it could be a free, downloadable Windows 7 Gadget like GPU Observer.

Limit the graphics

Just because your PC is capable of running something at 1920 by 1080 resolution at 60-plus frames per second during a test, doesn’t mean you need to have it running at that spec all the time, does it? You can do one of two things and I bet that you’ll barely notice the difference whether you’re watching a movie or playing StarCraft 2.

First is drop the resolution and maybe adjust some of the in-game settings. For example, I recently wrote a piece where you could do all sorts of tweaks to make Crysis 2 run better on your PC. Try knocking the resolution down one notch. Then, maybe tinker with toggling graphics settings if you need it. You’ll still get great graphics fidelity, but you’ll go easier on your machine.

The second thing to consider is limiting the frame rate. Basically, you’re putting a cap on how fast the GPU is allowed to run. Some games allow you do adjust this within the options menu. Try setting your frame rate to 50 and I’m willing to bet that in many games you won’t notice a difference. (The human eye can’t notice frame rates more than 30…provided that it’s consistent).

Another way to lower the frame rate: After you lower screen resolution in a game, consider choosing the “Enable Vsync” option. With Vsync, you’re basically telling the computer to match the monitor’s refresh rate. (When Vsync is turned off, the graphics card works as hard as it can). The catch there being if you’ve got a high-end monitor and a flailing GPU, you might inadvertently push the card too hard.

(There are 3^rd party freeware apps like Frame Limiter or ATI Tray Tools, which can also help, but they are for high-end users ONLY and require a LOT of scrutiny or you risk permanently damaging your gear if you’re not careful. )

The burnout signs

Sadly, it’s the same story I’ve heard a million times – from roughly as many friends and online that might be pushing their machines too hard. Everything’s fine at first: “I was playing everything from [insert newest game here] to Photoshop and everything in-between and it worked great. Then, suddenly, it’s having problems with freezing and video issues. Maybe it looks like you’re getting a little on-screen static….like line-noise you’d see on old TVs. Or the computer is suddenly struggling to play even 3D demos in browser-based apps. My fear is that you might’ve pushed the GPU past the red line and ignored the warning signs.

If you’re at this stage in the game, maybe the frame-limiting tip mentioned above will work for you. Maybe if you drop the resolution settings a couple notches it’ll still work. But, most important, I’d recommend hitting the forums and HP support to see what options are available to you.

[#2]

September 2010 to April 2012

DO NOT BUY HP! THEY HAVE PROBLEMS WITH THEIR HP PAVILION DESKTOP AND THEY WILL NOT STAND BEHIND THEIR PRODUCT!!!

I purchased an HP Pavilion desktop pc in August 2010 and since that time it has been a complete lemon. The HP Pavilion has good reviews and is the company purportedly has great customer service, but my experience is that the HP Pavilion desktop pc is a terrible value for the price. The HP Pavilion desktop pc is a lemon and customer service has been horrendous. I purchased the HP Pavilion desktop pc just to browse the internet and to work in Microsoft Office – neither of which puts a great deal of strain on any components.

Three days after purchasing and setting up the computer, it started shutting down unexpectedly. I would be away from my office and the HP Pavilion desktop would shut down when I came in to work. I would push the power button and it would immediately come back on in a blue screen, stating that my computer was shut down improperly and asking me if I would like to start in safe mode.

I called technical assistance for my HP Pavilion desktop immediately and over the next five months I spent over 50 hours on the phone with technical assistance for my HP Pavilion desktop, following their instructions to clean out the HP Pavilion desktop tower, remove the HP Pavilion desktop RAM and re-seat it, even wiping the hard drive of my HP Pavilion desktop clean and starting over. None of the actions repaired the problem, so I asked HP if they would send my HP Pavilion desktop in for repairs, but was told that they could not do so.

The following five months were just as hectic—my HP Pavilion desktop would shut down unexpectedly, I would call technical support and get nowhere. Finally, when my warranty was nearly up, I sent the CEO of HP a letter stating my problems, after which my HP Pavilion desktop was sent in for repair.

I received the HP Pavilion desktop back and hooked everything back up to it on July 26, 2011. Within 30 minutes of starting the computer and logging in, it had shut down again. The repair order said that the motherboard was repaired or replaced, but this has not helped the performance of the HP Pavilion desktop. The HP Pavilion desktop keeps shutting down while it sits idle and it has also been locking up while I am using the internet and Microsoft Word at the same time.

I called for technical assistance with my HP Pavilion desktop on July 28 only to be kept on hold for nearly 26 minutes after being connected. After that, I was transferred to someone else without even being told what was happening. The person I was transferred to was an escalation manager, but he told me that he could not help me at all with my HP Pavilion desktop.

On July 29, 2011, I received a phone call from a Keith in the HP home office who was disrespectful, rude, and would not even let me finish a sentence. I am not sure if he was having a bad day, but he did not identify what department from which he was calling—instead asking me what my problem was with my HP Pavilion desktop.

When I proceeded to tell Keith the issues I was having with my HP Pavilion desktop, he would not let me finish one sentence, interrupting me several times by talking over me and telling me what the standard warranty plan is instead of listening to me. I got frustrated and told him to let me finish a sentence, so he sat there in silence as I told him my issue and asked him if he could help me. He did not answer my question at all but sat there in silence on the phone until I asked if he was still there. He responded by asking if it was okay if he spoke now.

This is the most childish behavior I have had to deal with from a professional company ever in my life. I immediately told Keith to let me speak to his supervisor and he put me on the phone with a case manager named James.

While James did listen and act professionally, he was not able to help me in any way with my problem. I am so confused by this phone call because I was assuming it was to address the issues I have been having for a year with my HP Pavilion desktop but instead it was just to insult me. Nothing came of the conversation, except James emailed my escalation manager, Andrea, who was supposed to contact me by 6pm this evening concerning my HP Pavilion desktop. I never did receive that phone call.

On August 1, 2011, I called the HP corporate office number that was emailed to me from the CEO’s office only to be transferred without notice (I was in the middle of a sentence) to a non-working line or a line that was busy and I was cut off. I spent over 45 minutes on the line to the HP corporate office above to a man named Sambra who is yet again telling me that he cannot do anything to help me with my HP Pavilion desktop. Is there anyone at HP who can or will handle this problem with my HP Pavilion desktop? I am seriously starting to doubt it because I cannot receive a single email or phone call from someone who has the authority to help me since my case manager Andrea will not do her job.

HP has the absolute WORST customer support team I have ever had the disgust of having to deal with, concerning my HP Pavilion desktop, in my entire life. I have been trying for over a year to get someone to fix my absolute junk HP Pavilion desktop pc that I purchased. It took HP’s "award-winning" customer support nearly a year to getting around to finally sending in my desktop for repair, just before the warranty expired and to no effect. Again, through no fault of mine the proper item was not repaired--I received the HP Pavilion desktop back with the EXACT same problem.

After my fifth letter to the CEO of HP, a case manager, Susan, contacted me about my HP Pavilion desktop. She ordered another motherboard and sent a technician to my house to look at the HP Pavilion desktop. The technician came out and ran a bunch of tests on my HP Pavilion desktop and could not find anything causing the problem. He told me that HP has a good product and that it is possible that this specific HP Pavilion desktop has a problem that is unpredictable and that it may be a lemon. He said that he would state in his report that if the problem with shutting down happens again on my HP Pavilion desktop, that it should be replaced.

On August 22, 2011, the HP Pavilion desktop was shut down again. I called Susan, my HP escalation manager, and she told me that they would have to send the HP Pavilion desktop in for repairs again. I do not understand this at all—nobody can find the problem but I have to keep going without a computer. I am a graduate student and I cannot go without my computer for even one day—my job depends on my ability to get on a computer, do research, and write as well. When I explained this to Susan at HP, she said that this is the process for taking care of problems with the HP Pavilion desktop. I am at a loss for what to do because no matter what I do, HP will not stand behind their HP Pavilion desktop product.

I have a lemon HP Pavilion desktop and HP will not do the right thing and replace a defective product. Offering to send the HP Pavilion desktop in for repairs, again, will accomplish nothing. I tried for a year to get HP to send in the HP Pavilion desktop for repairs, asking them to do them over the summer when I was not busy, but HP kept dragging their feet and now I am in a position where I cannot win and cannot get help with my HP Pavilion desktop.

I explained this to Susan and she offered to extend my warranty by one year once the repairs are completed on my HP Pavilion desktop. Again, this does me no good—a warranty is only as good as the company behind it and so far HP has not held up their end of the bargain. I would highly recommend that you stay completely away from HP Pavilion desktop and HP as a company (August 2011).

It is now April 2012 and I am STILL dealing with HP and their junk HP Pavilion desktop pc. They will not stand behind their product and continue to tell me that once the warranty is out of date, they will no longer service the computer. Apparently Susan at HP did not note that my warranty was extended by one year on my HP Pavilion desktop. Do not buy HP Pavilion junk!!

Here is my HP Pavilion desktop information:

Model #: HP Pavilion p6533w

Product #: WW609AA#ABA

Serial #: 4CE0221D2L

Software Build #: 10NASUMW610#SABA#DABA

Service ID #: 033-011

PCBRAND: Pavilion

[#3]

Hey Devildog,

In case you missed it, I responded the first time you posted on this. I'm going to do my best to hook you up with the people that I know over at @hpsupport and see if we can get this resolved.

Thanks,

Darren

TheNextBench.com