Stuttering Issues in Games

Errorsftl. · 09-28-2006, 05:44 PM

Recently I have been getting various stuttering issues in games, computer intensive or not, where games will stutter and slow down for a few seconds (5-6 seconds of stuttering) then continue on fine for a minute or so, then repeat. The games I have been having the most issue with are:
World of Warcraft (Stuttering)
Just Cause (Demo, expect the same for the final release)

And it's gotten really annoying, to the point where I can't play games anymore because the stuttering is so consistent. The copy of windows is fresh (reformatted a week ago). No spyware or adware, none at all. I think I might need to defrag the harddrive, but I want to know what else could be causing it. Anyway here are the specs:

Windows XP5.1 (Build 2600) Service Pack 2
OCZ Overclocking Ram 3-2-3-5? I think those were the timings 2048 MB
CPU :AMD Athlon™ XP 2800+
CPU Speed :2124.9 MHz
Sound card :Realtek AC97 Audio
Video Card:RADEON X850 Series
Motherboard: EPoX EP-8KRAIPRO Socket A (Socket 462) VIA KT880 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail

My sneaking suspision is that.. the onboard sound isn't 'playing nice'. I've heard that Realtek onboard sound wasn't that good. I know that I NEVER got such stuttering issues on my last ASUS mobo. Any suggestions?

Errorsftl. · 09-28-2006, 06:41 PM

For tonight I'm just going to reformat.. then maybe try putting in my brother's spare sound card and see if the problem is resolved. Realtek is becoming a real pain, and I know that it's the problem.

gamerman0203 · 09-29-2006, 06:28 AM

It very well could be. My laptop has Realtek and when I first installed Half Life2, it was constantly stuttering. I updated my sound drivers and turned the quality to medium and all went away. Another thing to check would be any background tasks that don't need to be running; shut them down. Also, defrag when you can. A fresh install of an OS can be VERY hard on your hard drive's file structure.

Errorsftl. · 09-29-2006, 05:26 PM

Actually by doing a little more reasearch into Just Cause, I'm seeing that other people are getting the same issues as I. Even though passed recommended reqs people are getting stuttering as well. I'm guessing that maybe it's a memory leak and something I can't do about.

09-28-2006, 05:44 PM	#1 (permalink)
Errorsftl. Registered User Join Date: Aug 2006 Posts: 18 OS: Windows XP	Stuttering Issues in Games Recently I have been getting various stuttering issues in games, computer intensive or not, where games will stutter and slow down for a few seconds (5-6 seconds of stuttering) then continue on fine for a minute or so, then repeat. The games I have been having the most issue with are: World of Warcraft (Stuttering) Just Cause (Demo, expect the same for the final release) And it's gotten really annoying, to the point where I can't play games anymore because the stuttering is so consistent. The copy of windows is fresh (reformatted a week ago). No spyware or adware, none at all. I think I might need to defrag the harddrive, but I want to know what else could be causing it. Anyway here are the specs: Windows XP5.1 (Build 2600) Service Pack 2 OCZ Overclocking Ram 3-2-3-5? I think those were the timings 2048 MB CPU :AMD Athlon™ XP 2800+ CPU Speed :2124.9 MHz Sound card :Realtek AC97 Audio Video Card:RADEON X850 Series Motherboard: EPoX EP-8KRAIPRO Socket A (Socket 462) VIA KT880 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail My sneaking suspision is that.. the onboard sound isn't 'playing nice'. I've heard that Realtek onboard sound wasn't that good. I know that I NEVER got such stuttering issues on my last ASUS mobo. Any suggestions?

09-29-2006, 06:28 AM	#3 (permalink)
gamerman0203 Games Team Asst. Manager Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Grand Rapids, MI Posts: 2,145 OS: XP MCE, Ubuntu Gutsy My System	It very well could be. My laptop has Realtek and when I first installed Half Life2, it was constantly stuttering. I updated my sound drivers and turned the quality to medium and all went away. Another thing to check would be any background tasks that don't need to be running; shut them down. Also, defrag when you can. A fresh install of an OS can be VERY hard on your hard drive's file structure. __________________ Follow These Steps First! CPU-Z \| SensorView \| WinXP Clean Boot \| Latest DirectX \| ATI Catalyst \| Nvidia ForceWare Posting System Specifications

09-28-2006, 06:41 PM	#2 (permalink)
Errorsftl. Registered User Join Date: Aug 2006 Posts: 18 OS: Windows XP	For tonight I'm just going to reformat.. then maybe try putting in my brother's spare sound card and see if the problem is resolved. Realtek is becoming a real pain, and I know that it's the problem.

09-29-2006, 05:26 PM	#4 (permalink)
Errorsftl. Registered User Join Date: Aug 2006 Posts: 18 OS: Windows XP	Actually by doing a little more reasearch into Just Cause, I'm seeing that other people are getting the same issues as I. Even though passed recommended reqs people are getting stuttering as well. I'm guessing that maybe it's a memory leak and something I can't do about.