Steep drop in FPS every 5 minutes

HanLe · 09-08-2008, 04:07 PM

Hey this is my first time posting on this forum and I apologize if I break any rules or if this was answered elsewhere, I tried searching but didnt find anything.

Anyway the problem:

In hl2, call of duty, Bioshock, or whatever I have been playing lately, the first 20 or so minutes the game runs fine. Then after that, my FPS drops to like 10-15 for a few minutes, goes back to normal for like five minutes, then drops again. This doesnt stop until I am forced to turn off the game from fustration.

The weird thing is, it seems to only happen in first person shooters (because I can run company of heroes fine), and my brother had been using this computer for a year or so before without any problems.

My videocard is an Nvidia geforce 7800 GTX. I just updated drivers and it didnt solve the problem. The rest of my specs are well above the minumum requirements.

Honestly I have no idea what could be the problem, but then again I am an idiot. Any suggestions?

HanLe · 09-10-2008, 12:08 AM

bump :(

**koala** · 09-10-2008, 05:55 AM

Please post your full system specs, including the details from the PSU label.

What are your temperatures and voltages in BIOS and during gameplay?

Do you have the latest chipset drivers, device drivers, DirectX and MS Updates?

Any yellow or red flags in Device Manager?

Have you cleaned the dust out of your case lately? Are all the fans clean and spinning?

How much free hard drive space is there, and do you defrag regularly?

HanLe · 09-10-2008, 04:36 PM

intel core 2 duo 6400 2.13ghz
2 gigs ddr2 pc 5300 ram
nvidia geforce 7800 gtx

power supply is a thermal take (not sure the exact details but it was enough to run the computer just fine for a year and a half?)

anyway i attached a picture of speedfan when I turned on my computer and about 20 mins into bioshock when it started crapping out. Holy **** this is the first time I saw it, 108 degrees?! that cant be normal?

all drivers are updated, no red/yellow flags, and the case/fans only have a very little ammount of dust, but ill clean it just in case, and there is 75 gigs of free harddrive space. I just got this computer from my brother so im not sure if he defragged it regularly but I am doing that right now

**koala** · 09-10-2008, 05:03 PM

The PSU voltages look good, but your graphics card and CPU are overheating.

Replace the thermal paste on the CPU and GPU, and make sure the heatsink and fans are firmly attached. There should be no movement at all if they are correctly fitted.

Make sure all the fans are spinning. How many fans do you have and how are they positioned?

HanLe · 09-10-2008, 05:18 PM

I have 1 fan at the top of my case, 1 on the backside, one on the cpu, one on the gpu, and the one from the powersupply

09-08-2008, 04:07 PM	#1 (permalink)
HanLe Registered User Join Date: Sep 2008 Posts: 4 OS: Windows XP sp2	Steep drop in FPS every 5 minutes Hey this is my first time posting on this forum and I apologize if I break any rules or if this was answered elsewhere, I tried searching but didnt find anything. Anyway the problem: In hl2, call of duty, Bioshock, or whatever I have been playing lately, the first 20 or so minutes the game runs fine. Then after that, my FPS drops to like 10-15 for a few minutes, goes back to normal for like five minutes, then drops again. This doesnt stop until I am forced to turn off the game from fustration. The weird thing is, it seems to only happen in first person shooters (because I can run company of heroes fine), and my brother had been using this computer for a year or so before without any problems. My videocard is an Nvidia geforce 7800 GTX. I just updated drivers and it didnt solve the problem. The rest of my specs are well above the minumum requirements. Honestly I have no idea what could be the problem, but then again I am an idiot. Any suggestions?

09-10-2008, 12:08 AM	#2 (permalink)
HanLe Registered User Join Date: Sep 2008 Posts: 4 OS: Windows XP sp2	Re: Steep drop in FPS every 5 minutes bump :(

09-10-2008, 05:55 AM	#3 (permalink)
koala Moderator Hardware Team Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: UK Posts: 12,416 OS: XP/7/Ubuntu My System	Re: Steep drop in FPS every 5 minutes Please post your full system specs, including the details from the PSU label. What are your temperatures and voltages in BIOS and during gameplay? Do you have the latest chipset drivers, device drivers, DirectX and MS Updates? Any yellow or red flags in Device Manager? Have you cleaned the dust out of your case lately? Are all the fans clean and spinning? How much free hard drive space is there, and do you defrag regularly? __________________ 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

09-10-2008, 05:03 PM	#5 (permalink)
koala Moderator Hardware Team Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: UK Posts: 12,416 OS: XP/7/Ubuntu My System	Re: Steep drop in FPS every 5 minutes The PSU voltages look good, but your graphics card and CPU are overheating. Replace the thermal paste on the CPU and GPU, and make sure the heatsink and fans are firmly attached. There should be no movement at all if they are correctly fitted. Make sure all the fans are spinning. How many fans do you have and how are they positioned? __________________ 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

09-10-2008, 05:18 PM	#6 (permalink)
HanLe Registered User Join Date: Sep 2008 Posts: 4 OS: Windows XP sp2	Re: Steep drop in FPS every 5 minutes I have 1 fan at the top of my case, 1 on the backside, one on the cpu, one on the gpu, and the one from the powersupply