Freezing / FPS drops during Gaming

djsiik · 12-30-2007, 09:18 PM

Hi,

I am experiencing freezing during gaming - specifically UT3. It occurs when loading games and during games, online or offline. The problems only occur during games, unfortunately i have only tried UT3, not really much of a gamer excet UT and Quake seres. Normal Operation of my computer is fine. I have tried numerous things to fix the problem but none of them have worked so far. My setup

ASUS p5K deluxe
C2D E6850 stock @ 3.0GHz
4GB Kingston Ram
ASus HD 3850 / NVidia 6800GT
4 x SATA 250GB
Roland FA-101 Firewire Audio Interface
DVD Burner
450W Antec case and PSU. SilentCase or something i think

OK. Things i have tried so far.

Updated all my BIOS, drivers, UT3 patches etc. No joy. Tried some UT3 ini edits/tweaked my GFX card.

I have tested memory. Ran Memtest 86. Actually found a faulty ram stick and got it replaced.

Thought it could be a heat issue. Opened the case ran a exernal fan and still no help. My GPU gets up around 85 C during games, but apparently that is OK for this GPU. CPU is around 45-50 C, i think that is acceptable.

Tried another GPU. I orginally had a 8600GT. Pretty crap card but it ran the game OK at low res. Still though i had freezes.

Tried O'c and not O'c on my GPU. No help. Neva o'c my CPU coz it neva booted when i tried. Happy with stock CPU speeds anyways.

Possibly a PSU issue? I havent tried another PSU yet but i have noticed something strange during games when the freezes occur. The game freezes and the audio loops. No mouse or keyboard input works. Just before the computer un-freezes, i can hear a tick (like the HDD tick) and then a spin up or whirr up sound just before the computer is responsive again. Almost seems as if its losing power and then starts up again. So im leaning towards a PSU issue. Could anyone please shed some light?

Thanks for you help.

Simon.

**Aus_Karlos** · 12-31-2007, 11:32 PM

The ticking noise from the HDD means its near its end its when the disks randomly stop/crash. Ive got a HDD that does that. Before it was my gaming HDD and all my games would crash. Replace the HDD and that should stop the freezing.
Also download everest and check the temps and voltages on idle and full load and post them.
also 85c for a 6 series is very high. Try and get the temp down, clean out dust and make sure there is sufficent air flow throughout the case.

djsiik · 01-02-2008, 07:05 PM

Thanks for your help. i think it was the HDD, ill have to test it a bit more but thanks. 85 degrees is for my HD 3850 not the 8600GT, i understand they can go up to 100. Now my monitor stopped working after rebooting for a windows update. Cant enable the second monitor in CCC. What next!!!

Simon

**Aus_Karlos** · 01-05-2008, 05:15 AM

85c for a HDD is extreme. Data corruption happens at about 55c-60c. HDD can be stored at -10c-120c but operation temps are from 5c-60c. So if there is no dust and there is sufficent airflow then you have a problem with the HDD.

**koala** · 01-05-2008, 10:45 AM

Are the 4 drives setup as RAID? You'll need to backup any important data if any of the drives are faulty.

Run the diagnostics tests from the hard drive manufacturer's site. The extended test wil try to fix any problems it finds, if possible.

Does the drive only click when playing this game?

Enter your full system specs into this power calculator and set Capacitor Aging to 25%. Click the Calculate button, then add 30% to the total to allow for PSU inefficiency.

djsiik · 01-05-2008, 04:54 PM

I did have 2 of the drives setup as raid. So i have reformatted them and returned them to AHCI. One of the raid drives looks like its on its way out so i now have a backup of it. Thanks for your help. I have noticed the drive tick during other things now, only i never noticed them becasue of what i was doing. It is nice to have a indication of failure :)

Simon

12-30-2007, 09:18 PM	#1 (permalink)
djsiik Registered User Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 19 OS: Vista x64	Freezing / FPS drops during Gaming Hi, I am experiencing freezing during gaming - specifically UT3. It occurs when loading games and during games, online or offline. The problems only occur during games, unfortunately i have only tried UT3, not really much of a gamer excet UT and Quake seres. Normal Operation of my computer is fine. I have tried numerous things to fix the problem but none of them have worked so far. My setup ASUS p5K deluxe C2D E6850 stock @ 3.0GHz 4GB Kingston Ram ASus HD 3850 / NVidia 6800GT 4 x SATA 250GB Roland FA-101 Firewire Audio Interface DVD Burner 450W Antec case and PSU. SilentCase or something i think OK. Things i have tried so far. Updated all my BIOS, drivers, UT3 patches etc. No joy. Tried some UT3 ini edits/tweaked my GFX card. I have tested memory. Ran Memtest 86. Actually found a faulty ram stick and got it replaced. Thought it could be a heat issue. Opened the case ran a exernal fan and still no help. My GPU gets up around 85 C during games, but apparently that is OK for this GPU. CPU is around 45-50 C, i think that is acceptable. Tried another GPU. I orginally had a 8600GT. Pretty crap card but it ran the game OK at low res. Still though i had freezes. Tried O'c and not O'c on my GPU. No help. Neva o'c my CPU coz it neva booted when i tried. Happy with stock CPU speeds anyways. Possibly a PSU issue? I havent tried another PSU yet but i have noticed something strange during games when the freezes occur. The game freezes and the audio loops. No mouse or keyboard input works. Just before the computer un-freezes, i can hear a tick (like the HDD tick) and then a spin up or whirr up sound just before the computer is responsive again. Almost seems as if its losing power and then starts up again. So im leaning towards a PSU issue. Could anyone please shed some light? Thanks for you help. Simon.

12-31-2007, 11:32 PM	#2 (permalink)
Aus_Karlos Moderator, Games Team Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Western Australia Posts: 3,462 OS: Vista Ultimate x64, Windows XP 32-bit/64-bit, Ubuntu x64, Windows 7 x64 Beta My System Blog Entries: 2	Re: Freezing / FPS drops during Gaming The ticking noise from the HDD means its near its end its when the disks randomly stop/crash. Ive got a HDD that does that. Before it was my gaming HDD and all my games would crash. Replace the HDD and that should stop the freezing. Also download everest and check the temps and voltages on idle and full load and post them. also 85c for a 6 series is very high. Try and get the temp down, clean out dust and make sure there is sufficent air flow throughout the case. __________________ MemTest86 / Nvidia Drivers / ATI Drivers / DirectX 9.0c / Sys Requirements / Everest Folding@Home

01-02-2008, 07:05 PM	#3 (permalink)
djsiik Registered User Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 19 OS: Vista x64	Re: Freezing / FPS drops during Gaming Thanks for your help. i think it was the HDD, ill have to test it a bit more but thanks. 85 degrees is for my HD 3850 not the 8600GT, i understand they can go up to 100. Now my monitor stopped working after rebooting for a windows update. Cant enable the second monitor in CCC. What next!!! Simon

01-05-2008, 05:15 AM	#4 (permalink)
Aus_Karlos Moderator, Games Team Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Western Australia Posts: 3,462 OS: Vista Ultimate x64, Windows XP 32-bit/64-bit, Ubuntu x64, Windows 7 x64 Beta My System Blog Entries: 2	Re: Freezing / FPS drops during Gaming 85c for a HDD is extreme. Data corruption happens at about 55c-60c. HDD can be stored at -10c-120c but operation temps are from 5c-60c. So if there is no dust and there is sufficent airflow then you have a problem with the HDD. __________________ MemTest86 / Nvidia Drivers / ATI Drivers / DirectX 9.0c / Sys Requirements / Everest Folding@Home

01-05-2008, 10:45 AM	#5 (permalink)
koala Moderator Hardware Team Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: UK Posts: 12,429 OS: XP/7/Ubuntu My System	Re: Freezing / FPS drops during Gaming Are the 4 drives setup as RAID? You'll need to backup any important data if any of the drives are faulty. Run the diagnostics tests from the hard drive manufacturer's site. The extended test wil try to fix any problems it finds, if possible. Does the drive only click when playing this game? Enter your full system specs into this power calculator and set Capacitor Aging to 25%. Click the Calculate button, then add 30% to the total to allow for PSU inefficiency. __________________ 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 Last edited by koala; 01-05-2008 at 10:46 AM.

01-05-2008, 04:54 PM	#6 (permalink)
djsiik Registered User Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 19 OS: Vista x64	Re: Freezing / FPS drops during Gaming I did have 2 of the drives setup as raid. So i have reformatted them and returned them to AHCI. One of the raid drives looks like its on its way out so i now have a backup of it. Thanks for your help. I have noticed the drive tick during other things now, only i never noticed them becasue of what i was doing. It is nice to have a indication of failure :) Simon