Yeah that's the problem. The only x16 slot is slot 1 which won't work, can't tell if it's the BIOS or the slot itself. And slot 2 has a max of 4x... soooo yeah. I may try replacing both parts, GPU and MB. Current MB is the ASUS P5WD2. (non-premium version.) The main issue I'm having is with freezing in games. Upon trying to launch WolfQuest 2.7.1, it's always freezing after I create my wolf when it's loading the game, and the audio loops, display blinks, goes black, and one time went to a strange white screen with random hyphens/dashes everywhere.
And in TES Oblivion, it froze when I got out of the sewer and was around the water. I saved at that point, and upon loading the save, facing the water and turning it's quality up caused the freeze. I turned the water quality way down, loaded the game, ran AWAY from the water, then came back, no freeze... until I walked into the water. Once again, display blinks, audio loops, whole system is froze requiring hard reset.
I'm really wondering if it's the GPU, MB, or possibly even the CPU. I haven't gotten a BSOD, the temperatures are perfectly fine, FurMark didn't cause the GPU to freeze either. Maybe it's got something to do with rendering water? WolfQuest also has water in the map... Aye, there are just too many variables. It could also be that it's somehow overloading the 4x slot causing a freeze? I kind of doubt that though, but then I wonder if it's the CPU. Pentium 4 530 HT @ 3.0 GHz. If the CPU is overloaded could it also cause a freeze?
Perhaps you can understand my frustration with this, lol.