Help with "older" computer (Lineage 2 related)

[Bleako]

So my younger brother has an old computer - it has a 1.8ghz processor, 512 meg of ram, an onboard soundcard, and a Geforce 2 MX 64 meg videocard.. And the whole computer has some lagging issues. Now I know you're all thinking right now that the answer is obvious - his computer isn't really powerful. But the thing is, even though I keep it as clean as it can be (I've had my share of problems in the past, so I know what to do to protect and maintain a computer), It sometimes runs almost as fast as the old Pentium 2 I used to play with when I was younger, and I know it shouldn't - 1.8ghz is still decent. The games that he plays with (Unreal Tournament Classic, Lineage 2, etc) all get weird lagging moments and sound glitches here and there. The most frequent problem is that there is a strange, very short lag every 2-3 seconds, and it's very constant. Usually, it stops after a few minutes, but in online games like Lineage 2, after a while, he sometimes gets loading issues (he's in the field and everything freezes for a minute), slow frames per second, and sound glitches.

I have no idea what to do. Everything on this computer is clean, and I let very few programs running in the background. I'm using the best drivers for the Geforce 2 MX (not the new nVidia drivers, they slow down older video cards alot) and the graphics are set on "performance" settings. In-game, I've seen that it doesn't matter if I put the graphics on the lowest setting(without shadows, grass and stuff like that) on 800x600 display, or on the highest setting with 1024x786 display - when there are no lagging issues or sound glitches, the games run the same way on both resolutions and settings. Also, (not game-related) the frequent, very short lag problem appears when I'm watching videos. This problem usually stops after a few minutes, but usually reappears after a while.

I've been on nVidia's website and tried a program called "System Requirements Lab Analysis", which compares the game's (in this case, Lineage 2's) requirements with my computer's statistics, and as you can see, I have more, sometimes alot more than what I need to play the game on lowest settings.

CPU Speed
Minimum: 800 MHz
You Have: 1.80 GHz PASS
System RAM
Minimum: 256 MB
You Have: 512 MB PASS
Video Card
Minimum: 32MB Direct3D Card (32 MB GeForce 2 class video card or higher)
You Have: NVIDIA GeForce2 MX/MX 400 (GeForce2 MX/MX 400) PASS
Video Card 3D Acceleration: Required - Yes , You have - Yes
Video HW Transform & Lighting: Required - Yes , You have - Yes
DirectX Version
Minimum: 8.1
You Have: 9.0c PASS
Sound Card
Minimum: DirectX 8.1 compatible sound card
You Have: Contrôleur audio Intel(r) 82801BA/BAM AC'97 PASS

Sorry for the long post, but can anyone give me advices on what I should do to get rid of those problems?

[pharoah]

click the follow these steps first link in my sig.see if any of that helps if not post back.

[Bleako]

Nope, nothing helped. I do have a wireless connection, but the problem is there even with or without it connected.

Motherboard – Compaq Evo D500.
CPU – Intel Pentium 4, 1800 MHz
RAM – 3 types of SDRAM memory chips (Micron Tech, KF) all running at 133mhz, total size of 512mb
Video Card(s) – nVidia Geforce 2 MX/MX 400 (PCI) 64mb.
Hard Drive(s) – Maxtor 6Y080L0 (ATA) 80 gb, 35gig free (With MaxBlast Installed).
Operating System - Windows XP Home with SP2

I have no idea what's the name of the power supply I got, but I checked on the internet and they gave me these informations:

Power Supply – Device Type: Power supply
Voltage Required: AC 110/220 V ± 10% ( 50/60 Hz )
Power Provided: 120 Watt
Compliant Standards: EPA Energy Star

[Bleako]

I've tried a little program that checked my internet connection's transfer rates and etc.. maybe they're useful informations, I don't know..

Tested on = 2007-01-10 22:33:10
Test Duration = 00:02:10
Upload Bandwidth = 490882 bps
Download Bandwidth = 542996 bps
Latency = 202 msec
P2P = Type A
UPnP Port Map = Success

[pharoah]

3 different kinds of ram could be the problem try memtest,and see if they are playing nicely together.

[Bleako]

Originally Posted by pharoah

3 different kinds of ram could be the problem try memtest,and see if they are playing nicely together.

Do you have an alternative to this option? This comp doesn't have a floppy drive, nor can it detect one if it's forced to read an added floppy drive; I tried before.

[koala]

Are you sure the PSU is 120W? Open the case and check the label on the side of the PSU. It will look similar to this:



Post back with the details marked in red.


There is an ISO image you can download to create a bootable memtest CD. Run it for each stick of RAM separately for at least 10 passes each.

[Bleako]

Ok here goes..

Output:
Model: HP_V250xC3
+5V +3,33V +12V +12.8V
11A 17A 5A 7,5A
250W MAX

Then, I ran Memtest, but I didn't remember you had told me to pass it 10 times for each chip. Still, here are the results I got from them. In all cases, I didn't get any error.

256Mb ram stick:
L1 Cache: 8 13891 MB/s
L2 Cache: 256k 11851 MB/s
Memory: 255M 509 MB/s

Cached 255m, RsvdMem 19m, MemMap e820-Std, Cache on, Test Std

128Mb ram stick (both gave me the same results)
L1 Cache: 8 13891 MB/s
L2 Cache: 256k 11851 MB/s
Memory: 127M 513 MB/s

Cached 127m, RsvdMem 19m, MemMap e820-Std, Cache on, Test Std

Then, I ran the test twice with all memsticks put in, and I got these results:
L1 Cache: 8 11851 MB/s
L2 Cache: 256k 10397 MB/s

Cached 511m, RsvdMem 19m, MemMap e820-Std, Cache on, Test Std

Does anything look suspicious?

edit1: I wonder, what does "ECC Disabled" mean? and in all case, the FSB was at 99Mhz... is this related to the 133Mhz speed my memory chips are supposed to run at?

[KoLAddict]

Is it an overheating issue? Sounds like it could be to me.

[Bleako]

Maybe.. but how can my computer overheat when there's a fan on top of the processor, in the PSU box, behind the case under the PSU and on the Geforce 2 MX?

Anyway, I'm going to try and put another fan in there, and see if there's any difference...

[pharoah]

what you might need to do is use http://www.techsupportforum.com/arti...rsviewpro.html to check your temps.just to be sure.

[Bleako]

When Idle:

CPU: 33C / 92F
AUX: 28C / 83F
HD0: 27C / 81F
CPU Usage 5-10%
Memory Usage: 30%

After a minute of playing Lineage 2:

CPU: 50C / 122F
AUX: 33C / 92F
HD0: 27C / 81F
CPU Usage: Goes nuts, usually near 100%
Memory Usage: Around 94-98%

While starting Lineage 2, the memory usage often goes near 100%, and that's when I hear lots of HD scratching.. I'm used to that, but I don't understand, why is the memory usage to 30% when the computer is idle?

edit1: If this problem really was a memory problem, do you know of any kind of "memory optimizer" available for download that could be useful?