hardware problem

[eRe4s3r]

What you describe sounds like a DirectX related cpu overhead issue... your new GPU requires far more CPU power and this starves threads. With only 2 cores and that CPU you are right at the minimum requirement for Tropico 5 as well, your new GPU pushes your CPU below the minimum requirement. As better GPU means more overhead on the CPU means less CPU available for the threads Tropico 5 needs.

Bottom line. You have upgraded in the wrong order. Nothing lost though, your GPU will be extremely powerful once you throw away the MB/CPU/RAM for a current generation platform with at least 8 threads! or 4 cores.

The reason USB headset has this issue much more is very simple... you are adding an additional performance overhead on top of your already starved audio thread. The normal behavior for the issue you describe is usually about a second of normal sound followed by distortion/screeching which basically never stops once it starts. Unless you enter the menu or do hit pause, or do something else that reduces CPU usage. (Even background cpu usage) If you browse or have firefox open while playing things can even get much worse. And Steam itself also needs some CPU performance.

Basically, you need a new system 

Ps.: I am talking from personal experiences. I have had the exact same problem.

[zespri]

Reinstalled windows but that did not help. Off i go for the new cpu/mb/memory

[x4000]

Reinstalled windows but that did not help. Off i go for the new cpu/mb/memory

Make real sure that your power supply is up to the wattage that you'll be pulling with all that, too, just as an FYI.  You can really ruin a GPU/MB over time if the PSU isn't up to snuff.

Sorry to hear that it's upgrade time, though.

[zespri]

So I got Gigabyte z97n mobo, 16mb G.skill mem and i5-4590 cpu. Also picked up a case (BitFenix Prodigy) while at it (never buy this case - it's super inconvenient). Few hours later I can finally play.

It's funny how innocent computer game purchase leads to almost complete upgrade. PSU and HDDs are basically the only things that left from the old PC. And the monitor.

My PSU is 750W so I believe it should hold up. I "upgraded" from gtx 285 to gtx 760, and gtx 285 was "high-end" so naturally required a powerful PSU.

[mrhanman]

Awesome!  Glad you got everything going.  It sucks that your old system had to die, but upgrading is always a fun thing.  I've had stuff "die" on me, just so I had an excuse to upgrade it.   

The only upgrade I want right now is some better monitors.  I've got 3 22" LCDs, but they're only 1680x1050.  The nvidia surround has kinda spoiled me, but I can't afford to replace all 3, so I'll be stuck with them for a while, I'm sure.

[x4000]

Awesome setup, at least!  And yeah, 750 sounds just fine, haha.  I'm only runnning 550 and it's excessive in my book.  Which is good, it's best to be overpowered.

I remember building with 250W or 300W PSUs for years and years, though, it's funny.  I probably have built 70ish computers with <= 300W PSUs.  So anything higher than that still seems slightly extravagant to me.   I used to calculate out the wattages that we'd be using on workstations, and it's like, "okay, we need 220 watts, so a 250W it is!"

[zespri]

Now another question. I have a failing HDD and it has been problematic for some years.
I know that if you value your data and you have an HDD like that it's better to replace. In my particular case, though, I do not keep anything on this HDD that I don't have copy elsewhere. It's attached to a WDTV Live unit because it's faster to play content form an HDD attached like this, than from network.

Every now and then this HDD misbihaves. Like refusing to open a file saying that it does not exist (whereas it's listed in the folder). Or saying that a path is invalid or so on. I ran chkdsk on it, re-sync with the master copy and I'm good.

But sometimes chkdsk does not work either, it stops with an "unexpected error" code that looks like a guid (not really a guid just very long hexadecimal string) and then I go and reformat the whole thing, and it lives a little bit more. Quick format usually does not help much and it's a 1TB disk so full format takes awhile.

I'm wondering why chkdsk stops with "unexpected error" on this disk sometimes? Is it not supposed to deal with error, mark bad blocks or whatnot? I will eventually replace this disk, when it becomes to much a hassle to maintain it, but I wonder if there are any diagnostic utilities that can tell what's wrong with the disk and let me use it for a bit more?

[keith.lamothe]

I don't know if there's workarounds when chkdsk is failing, but honestly if a drive is getting that sketchy I'd be replacing it yesterday

And I don't keep anything particularly important on any one drive; I'd lose at most a few hours of work based on when my last svn checkin was, etc.

But drive failure is a big pain.

[zespri]

I don't know if there's workarounds when chkdsk is failing, but honestly if a drive is getting that sketchy I'd be replacing it yesterday

Yeah, I know. 

[mrhanman]

If the PC running chkdsk loses connection with the hard drive it's scanning, you can get an error like you're describing.  I'd stop messing with it and get another HD, were I you.