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SURVEY: Possible fix for Half-Life 2 stuttering (PSU related)

Feb 22, 2005 at 9:12 PM Post #16 of 37
So far so good.

I just found someone who had a 430W Antec PSU who had stuttering, and I assumed that it had active PFC (as most Antecs do), which would have turned my theory to pot
Bottom line - it had passive PFC, and couldn't believe the coincidence

Maybe this is why better manufacturers mostly use either no PFC or active PFC rather than the cheap passive PFC - because passive PFC affects quality

Can any electrical engineer please tell me -
How does passive PFC negatively affect the electric rails?

Could anyone with stuttering (I assume you have a passive PFC power supply) please, if you can, try upgrading to an active PFC power supply (not no PFC, because they usually have about 60% efficiency compared to >90% with active PFC. Passive PFC has around 75% efficiency)? I'm 75-100% sure that this will get rid of the problem, and you will have a nice future-proof PSU too =)

If this works I get to sleep with the Valve secretary, so please keep the results coming =)

Matt
 
Feb 22, 2005 at 11:50 PM Post #18 of 37
BTW, the same exact setup but before reinstalling after a video card upgrade was stutter city.

It makes a big difference if you reinstall steam and HL2 if you upgrade your video card. Apparently HL2 just doesn't know what to do.
rolleyes.gif


-Ed
 
Feb 23, 2005 at 1:36 AM Post #20 of 37
Quote:

Originally Posted by mattpwill
(not no PFC, because they usually have about 60% efficiency compared to >90% with active PFC. Passive PFC has around 75% efficiency)?


!! Active PFC PSU's do not have over 90% efficiency.

Oh and I did get stutter with 2 active pfc psus.
 
Feb 23, 2005 at 1:52 AM Post #22 of 37
Lol... I don't hope it's too of topic... just stumbled upon this:

Quote:

PFC: It means Power Factor Correction. It pretty much tried to regulate the current coming into your PSU. In the USA it's not really needed, as we have a very well regulated power input from our walls, but in Europe it is needed as it's not all universal


from: http://forums.anandtech.com/messagev...&enterthread=y
icon10.gif
 
Feb 23, 2005 at 1:56 AM Post #23 of 37
I thought that the EU wanted to be energy efficient, and that's why they enforce the law of a PFC requirement

What he says seems to be true

Specs of a Antec Phantom 350:

Power Efficiency at full load:
US: 86% with no PFC
EU: 82% with Active PFC

The power in the United States must be easier for the power supply to manage, although it doesn't show the figures at low load (which is always less efficient)

I'm starting to think it's not necessarily just a power supply issue, but a combination of memory used, motherboard used and PSU used. It shouldn't be a software problem in theory, because people reinstall their systems and it still works fine. On the contrary, people with hardware configuration Y make a clean reinstall many times but it still never works

I haven't heard anyone with a passive PFC power supply with which it works without stutter
 
Feb 23, 2005 at 5:34 AM Post #26 of 37
Antec Sonata w/Panaflo 120L1A @ 7v
Antec Phantom 350 PSU (Passive PFC)
Asus A7N8X Deluxe rev. 2.00 BIOS 1008
AMD AthlonXP Mobile 2500+ @ 2.5GHz (200MHz FSB * 12.5 Multiplier)
Thermalright SKL-800A w/Panaflo 80L1A & Arctic Silver 5
2x 512MB Crucial Ballstix @ 2-2-2-11 in dual channel mode (1GB total)
Sapphire Radeon Ultimate (fanless) Radeon 9800Pro BIOS flashed to 9800XT @ 418 Core/365 Mem
Adaptec 29160 SCSI Controller
RME DIGI 96/8 PAD
Hauppauge WinTV-PVR
2x Seagate Cheetah 15.3 36GB (1 for OS/Apps/Games & 1 for swap file & Ghost images)
2x Hitachi 250GB SATA (RAID1)
NEC ND-3500A DVD+RW
Plextor Premium 52/32/52 CD-RW
Asus CD-S520/A5 CD-ROM

I've never experienced any stuttering at all (and I've played through HL2 twice).
 
Feb 23, 2005 at 7:41 AM Post #27 of 37
I highly doubt it has anything to do with the power supply, but it doesn't happen on my system...

Athlon XP T-bred @ 3500+
1GB Corsair XMS
Radeon 9800 XT

PSU is Enermax eg851ax-vh
660 Watts, Active PFC, 4 12v rails, EPS compatible, extended atx size

extremely steady... I can plug in a SCSI HDD hotswap and the mobo voltages don't drop.
tongue.gif
 
Feb 23, 2005 at 8:19 AM Post #28 of 37
Antec Truepower 380W PSU (whatever comes with the sonata)

if i have my overclock set to 3200+ it cuts out in HL2, if it's at 2500+ it doesnt and runs completely flawless.
 
Feb 23, 2005 at 10:41 AM Post #29 of 37
Quote:

Originally Posted by mattpwill
Ed, Is that no PFC or passive PFC? I guess it's no PFC because you get no stutter after proper installation.

I've got the Ed Wood DVD, classic film lol


Passive PFC (for US model).

I was stating that the actual software (Steam, HL2) is more responsible than hardware.

I reinstalled Steam and HL2 after installing a new video card. Steam and HL2 detect what your hardware configuration is at it's first install, and pretty much locks into it. Even if you change your settings.

So it is best to do a complete reinstall of Steam and HL2 every time you upgrade or change major components like a video card.

-Ed
 
Feb 23, 2005 at 5:13 PM Post #30 of 37
I'm beginning to believe that it isn't the type of PFC your power supply has, but either one of 2 things:

the people that never get any problem choose a certain setting in HL2, that doesn't cause stuttering

the voltages that their motherboard supplies to either memory or the core chipset (most likely memory) are incompatible. To change the voltages you need to go to the BIOS, look at the real-time output voltage of memory, then try and match it with the rating of your memory
 
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