[SOLVED] Games SUDDENLY became choppy

[tebes]

This is my first post here - I've done quite a bit of searching through similar threads, but I don't think I've seen any solutions that apply to my particular setup.

I know a few things about getting computers working, but I'm in no way even remotely close to being an expert.

Some background - I VERY recently (ie, in last 2 weeks) replaced my motherboard, videocard, RAM, and power supply, so these are all new parts. When I re-seated my CPU and heatsink, I cleaned off the dried old thermal compound (silver), and applied some new stuff, a white paste.

For a while my computer was working wonderfully. I was playing all my new games - Call of Duty 4, Team Fortress 2 - all with fairly high settings and it was smooth as can be.

All of a sudden, yesterday I tried a game of TF2, and it was unbelievably choppy. It's worse in areas where there are a lot of players, it's basically behaving as if I had a woefully underpowered video card. The weird thing is it's been absolutely fine up until now.

Specs:
ASUS P5K motherboard
Pentium 4 3.2 Ghz
Windows XP, service pack 2
1 GB 667Mhz RAM
evga nvidia 8600GTS
430W Antec Earthwatts PSU
DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)

I had an inkling that it might be overheating. Circulation in my machine isn't the best - my video card has it's own fan, and I've got a fan on the CPU, and obviously the one that's inside the PSU. I have no case fans whatsoever. So I tried letting the computer cool off overnight, and when I started it up today, I immediately loaded up TF2, and same problem, unplayably choppy.

Here are the results of Speedfan:
Temp
System: 42C
CPU: 59C
AUX: 119C
HD0: 42C
Core: 61C
Ambient: 0C

I have no idea what's reading 119C... I should also mention that when I run speedfan, it USUALLY reads CPU temps at over 60.

Voltages
VCore: 1.22V
+12V: 11.40V
AVcc: 3.22V

My PSU has dual 12V rails with a max load of 17A each. My video card requires a 400W supply with 26A on the 12V rail. I asked a few people and they say this should be fine.

Again, I would worry about temperatures, but the problem persisted when I started up my computer first thing in the morning. I shut down AVG and loaded up TF2, and same problem.

Also, windows explorer and other programs seem to be smooth as usual, I'm only noticing the slow down in games.

I've tried running a system stability test several times in ntune, but it never WORKS. Which is infuriatingly ironic.

Any help would be HUGELY appreciated - if anyone needs to know more info, just let me know what to find and how to find it, and I'll get it to you.

Thanks so much in advance!

[tebes]

Another note, something I just now noticed - I tried playing through some Half Life 2. For the most part, it was smooth, but it would slow down anytime I came near pretty much anybody. It was mostly playable, but otherwise the framerate was downright obnoxious. But something else I noticed this time that I haven't seen playing TF2 or Call of Duty 4 - other graphical glitches.

It's some kind of weird texture tearing - certain textures come out all yellow, and every now and then I notice these yellow lines stretching across the screen. It's not very much, just certain things - for example, in the game, if I shine a flashlight on a tv set, the screen turns solid yellow. The one-eyed aliens don't have textures on their eyes, just a solid beige.

I'm over halfway through the game, and up until now this has NOT been an issue. It's just all of a sudden. I've updated my nvidia drivers and directx, and no dice.

[1 g0t 0wn3d]

your 12v is to low time for a new psu

[tebes]

Originally Posted by 1 g0t 0wn3d

your 12v is to low time for a new psu

Really? How can you be sure?

As I mentioned, an 8600GTS requires 26A on the 12V rail. I don't even think it's legal for more than 20A to be carried on a single rail, hence the dual rails that are prevalent in PSUs now. I know you should never max out both rails, but theoretically this PSU should be capable of delivering 34A, which is well over the 26 listed on the 8600GTS specs.

If there's anything I'm missing, please let me know, because I got a few opinions on this power supply before purchasing with an 8600GTS, and the people I talked to said I should be just fine. How can I tell if I'm overloading it?

Another note: I ran Rivatuner's temp monitor while playing TF2, and checked speed fan right after closing the program - the GPU reached a max of 67C, and the CPU went over 70 (71 is where it was at when I first closed TF2).
Is this something I should be worried about?

Also, in regards to the texture problem I noticed in Half Life 2, I found this post at Nvida, which is EXTREMELY similar to what I'm seeing in my game:

http://forums.nvidia.com/lofiversion...hp?t34082.html

[tebes]

Another interesting piece of information I noticed in rivatuner - my core clock/shader domain is off the chart, above the default maximum of 1500, coming in at a steady 1566.

Could this be the cause of the yellow artifacts in HL2? What about the sluggish framerates?

I apologize for knowing so little about this - that's what forums like this are for though I guess.

[1 g0t 0wn3d]

it could cause the artifacts if the card is over heating what temps does it get to under load

the rail voltage is at and will go below under load of the limits +or- 5% of the rail value 11.4 or 12.6

[tebes]

The GPU temp got up to 67C during the game.

Is there a tool I can use to monitor voltage in real time during the game?

[1 g0t 0wn3d]

you can use speedfan in my sig

[pharoah]

yeah this problem looks like voltages,or heat.possibly a combination of both.

[tebes]

Okay, another update - I uninstalled ntune and nvidia drivers, re-installed the newest update, reboot and tried again.

This time, a couple of minutes into another choppy TF2 performance, the computer just shut itself down. Which tells me I'm most likely dealing with a hardware issue.

So, considering how unbelievably broke I am, let me make sure that I take the right steps in fixing this:

Voltage - going to have to fork out cash for a better PSU, right? If this is a 12V rail issue, what specifically am I looking for in a PSU? To reiterate, my current one is a 430W Antec with dual 12V rails, each with a max amperage of 17A.

Heat - I'll buy a chassis fan or two, that's a given... But could this also have anything to do with the generic no-brand white thermal compound I'm using between my CPU and heatsink? What relatively inexpensive steps can I take to keep everything cooler? I'm more worried about my CPU than my GPU, but I know that air circulation isn't the best it could be in my case right now without any kind of chassis fan.

Also, does anyone know why these things may have started going wrong ALL OF A SUDDEN? I would imagine that they would have been problems right away, but everything's been smooth for a couple of weeks now.

[pharoah]

2x17=34 34a x12v=408

now when you figuire in efficiency.your power supply cant possibly be throwing all its watts to just the 12v.a 430w psu is a bit light for that system.

[tebes]

computer dead... currently on PS3.

ripped out PSU, planning on picking up another today.

advice? i'm looking @ Antec Trio, but it's $120 & might be overkill... 650 W I think. not even sure it'll fit my case!! Antec SLK2650-BQE mid tower.

[1 g0t 0wn3d]

The antec trio will fit a mid tower case made by antec (btw that is a very good power supply and it will be good to you)

[tebes]

DONE!

I got the Antec Truepower Trio 650W from NCIX for a great deal - 80 bucks. I picked up 4 fans as well - a new CPU fan (Arctic Cooling Freezer Pro 7), and 3 case fans - 1 intake on the front and 2 out in the back and side.

Games are running smoothly, and speedfan is reporting that my components have never burned this cool under load.
It's only been day one, and I'm bracing myself for something to come up within the next 2 weeks (as happened last time), but I'm mostly optimistic that things might just finally be stable. The biggest hurdle has been talking to a Microsoft robot for 10 minutes because my copy of windows wouldn't re-activate.

It's a bit crowded in the case - the PSU's fan is on the bottom, so part of it is blowing directly into the CPU heatsink, but I figure that fan should help send it out the back where a 120mm is doing its thing.

Thanks to everyone here for the support - I wouldn't have known to replace the PSU if not for you guys.

[pharoah]

your welcome glad ya got it fixed.you shouldnt have any more problems that trio 650 can handle your system.the old one could not.