Help Please [RESOLVED]

Asian · 05-31-2007, 03:34 PM

Hi there everybody, this generally involves a lot of my gaming issues with my computer. I generally try to figure most computer issues by myself, but with my mediocre knowledge I know little compared to those here at TSF. So I felt I could bring my issue here and find out what's wrong and what I'm doing wrong.

1.) My first issue would have to be the fact that, I have a computer that is optimized to handle pretty much anything, some of the parts need some upgrading but besides that it's a great computer. Now when I play games, one example being Counterstrike: Source, I experience a lot of FPS lag. Yes, I have tried configuring my settings in-game, nothing has worked, even at ALL low settings I get a lot of FPS lag. Now if you look at my computer profile which I posted in my user profile here, you'll see my graphics card, processor, memory and etc. aren't too shabby at all. Some people have suggested that I have too many processes running in the backround, but whenever I play a game like CS:S or any other PC game, I always close and end un-needed processes so when I play the game I experience a little less "lag filled" performance. So there is no way that is the issue.

2.) My second issue would have to relate to FRAPS, now I don't know if this applies to PC gaming issues, but I thought I'd get some help here. I've read numerous posts from other forums stating they experience "lag" whenever they film while live play is in session. I wanted to know, because being that my computer isn't a media center, I've tried optimizing the settings and how many frames it records during play. I still experience ALOT of frame lag, even though I feel that my computer is well enough to handle it. Trust me, I've done all suggested from others in the FRAPS user community, it still doesn't work as planned. If I select the lowest frame rate I still get major lag during filming and can't film during live play but can only film with little or no lag while watching a replay of myself.

Basically, I think that my computer is ready to handle most games on the computer even on high quality or above average. But is it really? I'd like to know whats up.

Indoril Nerevar · 05-31-2007, 06:23 PM

Welcome to TSF, Asian.

The first thing we really need to know is your full, detailed specs. For example, you've filled out your CPU as "Intel", but you haven't said what model or speed it is.

Please run through all of the steps listed under "Common Game Issues" in my signature, and post back with results.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Asian

Basically, I think that my computer is ready to handle most games on the computer even on high quality or above average. But is it really?

To be honest, your system is actually getting fairly old now, so newer games will have a fair bit of trouble running. The very latest games likely won't work at all on your system. I can't comment on the CPU, because you haven't listed the model, but the Radeon 9600 will definitely hold you back in newer games - it's now three generations old.

However, all that being said, your system should be able to run CS:S, especially at low detail. So follow the steps in that thread, and tell us your full specs, and we'll see what we can work out.

Asian · 05-31-2007, 11:10 PM

Alright, I've posted my CPU speed and model, I was kind of in a rush on making my account and decided to just leave it at Intel until I got back to my computer.

I'm about to try your common game issues, and I will edit the post with the results.

Asian · 06-01-2007, 03:12 PM

Okay, here's my results, see if anyone can help me. I'm always open to suggestions of upgrades and such, but I've got a limited budget as of now.

Quote:

1. Check that your system meets the minimum required specs for the game. If it does not pass every single aspect, then there is a high likelihood that you will not be able to get the game to work. There are several online scanners you can use to check your system specs against game requirements, including System Requirements Lab and the Futuremark Game Advisor (links below). Note that these scanners will have to download an ActiveX controller to your system - see their site and privacy policies for more info.

Yes, my system meets the MINIMUM required specs for ALL of my games. I've used Everest in order to find my system specs and will be posting below this.

Quote:

2. Restart your computer. A lot of the smaller problems encountered are just glitches, and can be fixed by simply restarting your system.

Yes, I've restarted numerous times, no improvement at all.

Quote:

3. Check to make sure you don't have anything running in the background. Some common background problem-causers are: downloading, wireless network connection, internet connection, instant messaging, and antivirus scanning. There are many others, but these are the most common. You can check your running applications and processes in the Task Manager, by pressing Ctrl + Alt + Del. Have a look at what's there, and end any tasks which aren't required. Also check the system tray (right hand side of the taskbar), and close any programs which aren't absolutely necessary.

Everytime I play a PC game, I always check for un-needed processes and alwyas terminate them through the Task Manager. So yes, I've done this step many times.

Quote:

4. Update your DirectX to the latest available version. Microsoft release a new version of DirectX every couple of months. This means that you can have "DirectX 9.0c" and yet not have the latest version. Keeping your DirectX up-to-date helps eliminate conflicts, as well as helping your games run as well as possible. The latest version of DirectX is available for free download below.

Updated as always.

Quote:

5. Update your video card and sound card drivers. If you all ready have the latest drivers, uninstall and reinstall them, as drivers can quite easily become corrupted. There are some very important points to note about the latest video card drivers - for more info and links for driver downloads, see below.

I've tried updating and reinstalling many times.

Quote:

6. Update the game with the latest patch. You are probably not the first to encounter the specific problem you are having, so the game manufacturers may all ready have provided a fix for it. Some games require more than one patch to be applied, so make sure you follow the instructions carefully. Patches are usually found in the Support or Downloads section on the game's website.

I always keep games updated to the latest patch.

Quote:

7. Check the game CD or DVD for scratches, and test it in another computer. This mainly applies to problems during installation, but can also be an issue during play. CD's and DVD's can be scratched or marked quite easily, and the smallest scratch can cause big problems.

Most of the PC games I play do not require CDs and if they do I always take care of the discs and experience no problems.

Quote:

8. Reinstall the game. Often, game files become corrupted during installation or play, and all that is needed to fix the problem is a reinstall. This may be tricky or annoying to do in some cases (Half-Life 2, for example), but it is still an important step.

I always do this when games give me issues, yes I've also done Half-Life 2 which was a horrible experience.

Quote:

9. If, after running through each of the above steps, you are still having the problem, then post your issue in the appropriate section, along with your full system specs (see the link below for info on posting system specs), and indicate that you have run through these steps. Someone will take a look at your thread as soon as possible.

System Specs

Power Supply - No idea, I have no way of identifying this, it doesn't say it around the cord at all, nor do I remember what it was. All I know is it's not anything fancy, an old power cord that supplies enough energy for standard computers.

Motherboard – Asus P4P800 SE Socket 478

CPU – Intel Pentium 4 Socket 478 3.2GHz

RAM – 1536MB PC3200 DDR SDRAM (1 512MB and 1 GB)

Video Card(s) – ATI Radeon Sapphire Edition 9600XT AGP 256MB DDR Memory

Hard Drive(s) – 1 80GB 1 20GB Dell Manufactured Internal // 1 320GB Seagate External

Operating System - Windows XP Home Edition SP2

Nothing of my system is overclocked.

Thanks TSF for your support, hope I get a quick response.

Asian · 06-02-2007, 03:56 PM

Bump, I know somebody must know what I should do.

redsunx · 06-02-2007, 04:11 PM

well i noticed that your card has ddr memory and im using ddr3 that might be your problem but yeah should be fine on low detail maybe because its ATI >_>

matter of fact you have some old memory and alot of other things that are kinda outdated
btw wat the gpu on the card?

Asian · 06-02-2007, 09:50 PM

Well, I don't really know what exactly a GPU is but I do know that it's the acronym for Graphics Processing Unit. So I took a look at Everest and it didn't display any GPU when I clicked on the section for it.

Strange, so it seems that a lot of my gear is outdated and worn down by age? So I'm guessing it seeems I should upgrade?

redsunx · 06-02-2007, 09:53 PM

ayup upgrade and keep that system to play older games on

Asian · 06-02-2007, 09:55 PM

Well I already spent some money tuning it up, especially on the ATI graphics card and the processor, any suggestions on what I should tune up for a good gaming machine that's able to handle everyday tasks along with alot of gaming?

redsunx · 06-02-2007, 10:37 PM

you have that other post i put a few things there for ya

**koala** · 06-02-2007, 10:43 PM

On my last computer, which had lower specs than yours except for the graphics card (GPU) which was a Radeon 9800, I could play Counter Strike and similar games at medium settings.

How much free space do you have left on your internal hard drives? Do you defrag regularly?

Which graphics driver do you have installed, and have you tried Omega (the optimized version of the standard Catalyst driver for the Radeon)?

As long as you don't mind playing newer games on low settings, your current system is fine. We just need to find the cause of this problem. I don't think it's to do with your specs being too low as Counter Strike is not very demanding.

Asian · 06-03-2007, 01:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by koala

On my last computer, which had lower specs than yours except for the graphics card (GPU) which was a Radeon 9800, I could play Counter Strike and similar games at medium settings.

How much free space do you have left on your internal hard drives? Do you defrag regularly?

Which graphics driver do you have installed, and have you tried Omega (the optimized version of the standard Catalyst driver for the Radeon)?

As long as you don't mind playing newer games on low settings, your current system is fine. We just need to find the cause of this problem. I don't think it's to do with your specs being too low as Counter Strike is not very demanding.

Heh, funny thing is, I don't defrag regulary and I have around 2.25GB left of space out of an 80GB internal. Maybe thats the reason why I've been getting so much frame lag lately? When my computer was clean and barely had anything I could play games very smoothly at medium settings as well.

No I have not tried Omega but I will. Would the best solution for my problems be to transport all of my internal harddrive's items to my 320GB external? I mean thats probably why I've been running so slowly lately.

**koala** · 06-03-2007, 11:00 AM

You need to keep at least 15% free space on each hard drive for Windows to operate efficiently (about 12gb for an 80gb drive). I think defrag won't even start with less than 15%, or will run very slowly.

Try clearing some space and doing a defrag. You can move media files, documents etc to the external, but leave the system and program files where they are to avoid problems.

If this doesn't help, then uninstall your current graphics driver and any ATI entries from Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs, reboot into VGA or Safe Mode, disable antivirus, install the new driver and reboot.

Asian · 06-03-2007, 03:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by koala

You need to keep at least 15% free space on each hard drive for Windows to operate efficiently (about 12gb for an 80gb drive). I think defrag won't even start with less than 15%, or will run very slowly.

Try clearing some space and doing a defrag. You can move media files, documents etc to the external, but leave the system and program files where they are to avoid problems.

If this doesn't help, then uninstall your current graphics driver and any ATI entries from Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs, reboot into VGA or Safe Mode, disable antivirus, install the new driver and reboot.

Well, I've got about 23% free space on my hard drive. I cleared it up last night and then I defragged as well. I have about 20GB free out of the 80GB hard drive. I also tried uninstalling and reinstalling my graphics driver, it didn't really make a difference. I dunno, but would the easiest way to get out of this bind would be to upgrade my internal? I would much rather do that and not have to deal with anymore problems.

**koala** · 06-03-2007, 04:05 PM

It doesn't look like a PSU issue, but it's worth checking this just to cover all bases before you spend any more money.

btw, the PSU is not the cable, it's the box inside the case that the cable plugs into. A weak PSU can cause the computer to overheat leading to games crashing, onscreen artifacts, memory errors, etc.

Open the case and copy down the details from the PSU label. It will look something like this.

We need the make/model, total watts, and the amps for +3.3V, +5V and +12V.

Enter your full system specs into this power calculator, and add 30% to the total to allow for PSU inefficiency. The total should come to below the total watts value from the PSU label.

Asian · 06-03-2007, 05:27 PM

Alright, I opened my case and took a look at the information. Here is the specs on the power supply box:

Make: Echo Star
Model: N/A (Not listed)
Total Watts: 600 Watts (Max)
Amps +3.3V - 45A
Amps +5V - 42A
Amps +12V - 22A

I tried using the power calculator but a lot of the things on there went in depth into my computer hardware and I had no idea what most of them were. I was going to take a guess at each thing, but I decided not to as the results may turn out weird. I'm not very knowledgable about computer parts, I usually had specialists install things for me.

Asian · 06-03-2007, 10:23 PM

Update, I now cleared up another 20GB on my external, I still experience a little bit of choppy-ness while gaming. I have 45.3GB of free space in my 80GB internal.

This is kind of frustrating.

Asian · 06-04-2007, 07:32 PM

Well, I'm really leaning towards the decision of just upgrading my internal hard drive. 80GB is kind of small and I'm a gamer who plays a lot of upscale games that do takeup a lot of space. I'm also a media junkie that likes to watch movies and listen to ALOT of music. Anyone have any suggestions on what I should buy or if I should even do it?

**koala** · 06-05-2007, 12:48 AM

Are the games installed on the internal 80gb or the external 320gb? Internal will be quicker for games.

When you say your games lag, what exactly happens? Is it when new levels are loading, cut-scenes are starting, lots of activity onscreen or just general gameplay? Does the mouse become unresponsive? Does the screen freeze for a short time before resuming?

See if any of your games have an option to display the fps whle playing. Does it drop at particular times?

Have you tried a temperature monitoring utility yet? SensorsView will run in the background while you're gaming and will monitor the temperature and PSU voltage changes. Alt-tab out of the game to see the SensorsView window when your game starts to lag. Take a screenshot of the temps/volts values and post back here.

Upgrading your 80gb hard drive won't necessarily improve your game lags, it will just give you more storage space.

However, if your current drive is an old 5400rpm model, then replacing it with a newer 7200rpm with a large cache (16mb ideally) will improve access times. If you're planning on using the computer for media storage and lots of games, install a couple of good quality 250gb SATA drives.

Asian · 06-05-2007, 01:04 AM

My games are installed on my internal hard drive. Most games don't lag while I observe and such, it's just while I'm in game and playing I usually experience frame lag even with the lowest settings possible. Yes, I also experience it during high rates of activity on screen, but other than that I hardly experience frame lag. Just to put it short, I experience FPS lag when I DON'T need it to happen, such as while I'm playing etc. The mouse and the keyboard are responsive I just get slowed rates in-game which causes the reaction time of my mouse and keyboard to appear in slow motion along with the activity in game.
I can check my frame rates by using my FRAPS program, it has a benchmark analysis function included in it. I'll be sure to try sensorview and post back with my results.
My hard drive is most likely one of the older models because I bought this computer around '99, and havn't upgraded anything but the motherboard, graphics card, and processor.
I was reading around and saw a lot of the factors of lag are from dust clotting up the computer parts making it heat up and slow down speed. I live in a very dusty house, do you think dust buildup could be a contributing factor to my frame lag? I've noticed when I opened my case my graphics card and processor are very dusty.

05-31-2007, 03:34 PM	#1 (permalink)
Asian Registered User Join Date: May 2007 Location: Clearwater, FL Posts: 17 OS: Windows XP Home Edition SP2 My System	Help Please [RESOLVED] Hi there everybody, this generally involves a lot of my gaming issues with my computer. I generally try to figure most computer issues by myself, but with my mediocre knowledge I know little compared to those here at TSF. So I felt I could bring my issue here and find out what's wrong and what I'm doing wrong. 1.) My first issue would have to be the fact that, I have a computer that is optimized to handle pretty much anything, some of the parts need some upgrading but besides that it's a great computer. Now when I play games, one example being Counterstrike: Source, I experience a lot of FPS lag. Yes, I have tried configuring my settings in-game, nothing has worked, even at ALL low settings I get a lot of FPS lag. Now if you look at my computer profile which I posted in my user profile here, you'll see my graphics card, processor, memory and etc. aren't too shabby at all. Some people have suggested that I have too many processes running in the backround, but whenever I play a game like CS:S or any other PC game, I always close and end un-needed processes so when I play the game I experience a little less "lag filled" performance. So there is no way that is the issue. 2.) My second issue would have to relate to FRAPS, now I don't know if this applies to PC gaming issues, but I thought I'd get some help here. I've read numerous posts from other forums stating they experience "lag" whenever they film while live play is in session. I wanted to know, because being that my computer isn't a media center, I've tried optimizing the settings and how many frames it records during play. I still experience ALOT of frame lag, even though I feel that my computer is well enough to handle it. Trust me, I've done all suggested from others in the FRAPS user community, it still doesn't work as planned. If I select the lowest frame rate I still get major lag during filming and can't film during live play but can only film with little or no lag while watching a replay of myself. Basically, I think that my computer is ready to handle most games on the computer even on high quality or above average. But is it really? I'd like to know whats up.

05-31-2007, 11:10 PM	#3 (permalink)
Asian Registered User Join Date: May 2007 Location: Clearwater, FL Posts: 17 OS: Windows XP Home Edition SP2 My System	Re: Help Please Alright, I've posted my CPU speed and model, I was kind of in a rush on making my account and decided to just leave it at Intel until I got back to my computer. I'm about to try your common game issues, and I will edit the post with the results.

06-02-2007, 03:56 PM	#5 (permalink)
Asian Registered User Join Date: May 2007 Location: Clearwater, FL Posts: 17 OS: Windows XP Home Edition SP2 My System	Re: Help Please Bump, I know somebody must know what I should do.

06-02-2007, 04:11 PM	#6 (permalink)
redsunx Registered User Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 466 OS: Vista Ultimate x64 (And loving it) My System	Re: Help Please well i noticed that your card has ddr memory and im using ddr3 that might be your problem but yeah should be fine on low detail maybe because its ATI >_> matter of fact you have some old memory and alot of other things that are kinda outdated btw wat the gpu on the card? __________________ He said, you are the chosen one! And I didn't even graduate from High School. Last edited by redsunx; 06-02-2007 at 04:12 PM.

06-02-2007, 09:50 PM	#7 (permalink)
Asian Registered User Join Date: May 2007 Location: Clearwater, FL Posts: 17 OS: Windows XP Home Edition SP2 My System	Re: Help Please Well, I don't really know what exactly a GPU is but I do know that it's the acronym for Graphics Processing Unit. So I took a look at Everest and it didn't display any GPU when I clicked on the section for it. Strange, so it seems that a lot of my gear is outdated and worn down by age? So I'm guessing it seeems I should upgrade?

06-02-2007, 09:53 PM	#8 (permalink)
redsunx Registered User Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 466 OS: Vista Ultimate x64 (And loving it) My System	Re: Help Please ayup upgrade and keep that system to play older games on __________________ He said, you are the chosen one! And I didn't even graduate from High School.

06-02-2007, 09:55 PM	#9 (permalink)
Asian Registered User Join Date: May 2007 Location: Clearwater, FL Posts: 17 OS: Windows XP Home Edition SP2 My System	Re: Help Please Well I already spent some money tuning it up, especially on the ATI graphics card and the processor, any suggestions on what I should tune up for a good gaming machine that's able to handle everyday tasks along with alot of gaming?

06-02-2007, 10:37 PM	#10 (permalink)
redsunx Registered User Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 466 OS: Vista Ultimate x64 (And loving it) My System	Re: Help Please you have that other post i put a few things there for ya __________________ He said, you are the chosen one! And I didn't even graduate from High School.

06-02-2007, 10:43 PM	#11 (permalink)
koala Moderator Hardware Team Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: UK Posts: 12,457 OS: XP/7/Ubuntu My System	Re: Help Please On my last computer, which had lower specs than yours except for the graphics card (GPU) which was a Radeon 9800, I could play Counter Strike and similar games at medium settings. How much free space do you have left on your internal hard drives? Do you defrag regularly? Which graphics driver do you have installed, and have you tried Omega (the optimized version of the standard Catalyst driver for the Radeon)? As long as you don't mind playing newer games on low settings, your current system is fine. We just need to find the cause of this problem. I don't think it's to do with your specs being too low as Counter Strike is not very demanding. __________________ New members: Subscribe to your thread (Thread Tools) to receive an instant email notification when you get a reply. TSF Folding@Home Team 85015 - details here

06-03-2007, 11:00 AM	#13 (permalink)
koala Moderator Hardware Team Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: UK Posts: 12,457 OS: XP/7/Ubuntu My System	Re: Help Please You need to keep at least 15% free space on each hard drive for Windows to operate efficiently (about 12gb for an 80gb drive). I think defrag won't even start with less than 15%, or will run very slowly. Try clearing some space and doing a defrag. You can move media files, documents etc to the external, but leave the system and program files where they are to avoid problems. If this doesn't help, then uninstall your current graphics driver and any ATI entries from Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs, reboot into VGA or Safe Mode, disable antivirus, install the new driver and reboot. __________________ New members: Subscribe to your thread (Thread Tools) to receive an instant email notification when you get a reply. TSF Folding@Home Team 85015 - details here

06-03-2007, 04:05 PM	#15 (permalink)
koala Moderator Hardware Team Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: UK Posts: 12,457 OS: XP/7/Ubuntu My System	Re: Help Please It doesn't look like a PSU issue, but it's worth checking this just to cover all bases before you spend any more money. btw, the PSU is not the cable, it's the box inside the case that the cable plugs into. A weak PSU can cause the computer to overheat leading to games crashing, onscreen artifacts, memory errors, etc. Open the case and copy down the details from the PSU label. It will look something like this. We need the make/model, total watts, and the amps for +3.3V, +5V and +12V. Enter your full system specs into this power calculator, and add 30% to the total to allow for PSU inefficiency. The total should come to below the total watts value from the PSU label. __________________ New members: Subscribe to your thread (Thread Tools) to receive an instant email notification when you get a reply. TSF Folding@Home Team 85015 - details here

06-03-2007, 05:27 PM	#16 (permalink)
Asian Registered User Join Date: May 2007 Location: Clearwater, FL Posts: 17 OS: Windows XP Home Edition SP2 My System	Re: Help Please Alright, I opened my case and took a look at the information. Here is the specs on the power supply box: Make: Echo Star Model: N/A (Not listed) Total Watts: 600 Watts (Max) Amps +3.3V - 45A Amps +5V - 42A Amps +12V - 22A I tried using the power calculator but a lot of the things on there went in depth into my computer hardware and I had no idea what most of them were. I was going to take a guess at each thing, but I decided not to as the results may turn out weird. I'm not very knowledgable about computer parts, I usually had specialists install things for me.

06-03-2007, 10:23 PM	#17 (permalink)
Asian Registered User Join Date: May 2007 Location: Clearwater, FL Posts: 17 OS: Windows XP Home Edition SP2 My System	Re: Help Please Update, I now cleared up another 20GB on my external, I still experience a little bit of choppy-ness while gaming. I have 45.3GB of free space in my 80GB internal. This is kind of frustrating.

06-04-2007, 07:32 PM	#18 (permalink)
Asian Registered User Join Date: May 2007 Location: Clearwater, FL Posts: 17 OS: Windows XP Home Edition SP2 My System	Re: Help Please Well, I'm really leaning towards the decision of just upgrading my internal hard drive. 80GB is kind of small and I'm a gamer who plays a lot of upscale games that do takeup a lot of space. I'm also a media junkie that likes to watch movies and listen to ALOT of music. Anyone have any suggestions on what I should buy or if I should even do it?

06-05-2007, 12:48 AM	#19 (permalink)
koala Moderator Hardware Team Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: UK Posts: 12,457 OS: XP/7/Ubuntu My System	Re: Help Please Are the games installed on the internal 80gb or the external 320gb? Internal will be quicker for games. When you say your games lag, what exactly happens? Is it when new levels are loading, cut-scenes are starting, lots of activity onscreen or just general gameplay? Does the mouse become unresponsive? Does the screen freeze for a short time before resuming? See if any of your games have an option to display the fps whle playing. Does it drop at particular times? Have you tried a temperature monitoring utility yet? SensorsView will run in the background while you're gaming and will monitor the temperature and PSU voltage changes. Alt-tab out of the game to see the SensorsView window when your game starts to lag. Take a screenshot of the temps/volts values and post back here. Upgrading your 80gb hard drive won't necessarily improve your game lags, it will just give you more storage space. However, if your current drive is an old 5400rpm model, then replacing it with a newer 7200rpm with a large cache (16mb ideally) will improve access times. If you're planning on using the computer for media storage and lots of games, install a couple of good quality 250gb SATA drives. __________________ New members: Subscribe to your thread (Thread Tools) to receive an instant email notification when you get a reply. TSF Folding@Home Team 85015 - details here

06-05-2007, 01:04 AM	#20 (permalink)
Asian Registered User Join Date: May 2007 Location: Clearwater, FL Posts: 17 OS: Windows XP Home Edition SP2 My System	Re: Help Please My games are installed on my internal hard drive. Most games don't lag while I observe and such, it's just while I'm in game and playing I usually experience frame lag even with the lowest settings possible. Yes, I also experience it during high rates of activity on screen, but other than that I hardly experience frame lag. Just to put it short, I experience FPS lag when I DON'T need it to happen, such as while I'm playing etc. The mouse and the keyboard are responsive I just get slowed rates in-game which causes the reaction time of my mouse and keyboard to appear in slow motion along with the activity in game. I can check my frame rates by using my FRAPS program, it has a benchmark analysis function included in it. I'll be sure to try sensorview and post back with my results. My hard drive is most likely one of the older models because I bought this computer around '99, and havn't upgraded anything but the motherboard, graphics card, and processor. I was reading around and saw a lot of the factors of lag are from dust clotting up the computer parts making it heat up and slow down speed. I live in a very dusty house, do you think dust buildup could be a contributing factor to my frame lag? I've noticed when I opened my case my graphics card and processor are very dusty.