COD2 Lag mystery. Help?

[DaveTibbetts]

Hi, ive been having some problems with call of duty 2, i've had the games for a while now and its played perfectly. But now i get really bad lag (around 12 - 15 FPS) i'm not a computer noob but i'm not a computer expert. I have no idea what has happened. I was wandering if this has happened to anyone else and they could help me to fix it. It would be greatly appreciated.

I'm running,

MS-6533 Micro Star Motherboard.
768mb RAM
Nvidia Geforce 6200A (256mb) ZOTAC Technologies (just installed recently)
2 Hard Drives C and F.
Intel pentium 4 1.7gig.

Temperatures:
Motherboard: 33 o C
CPU: 42 o C
GPU Diode:43 o C
(Its not the greatest computer ever lol)

Thanks for the help.

[RockmasteR]

Hello DaveTibbetts, and welcome to TSF

did you recently upgraded your RAM? the memory could make a great issue when upgrading.
waiting for your reply

[DaveTibbetts]

Thanks for the reply, my RAM was not recently updated, as i say the game was running fine before and i can't think of anything i have done to disturb the gameplay. I know i havent got any viruses because i'm running Kaspersky Internet Security. Would installing a new game onto my system effect the gameplay of another? (COD 2)
Thanks, waiting for your reply.

[RockmasteR]

no, if you install another game, it won't bother the other and won't affect it.
is anything else plays better? (any game else then COD2?)

[DaveTibbetts]

I'll try CS:SOURCE and give you an update, this used to play perfectly on all HIGH settings. I'll give it a try now. Ill post in about 10-20 mins thanks mate.

[DaveTibbetts]

Ok. i've tried CS:Source and i seem to be having problems with that to! Even on the lowest settings. Any ideas?

[koala]

Did the problem start after you installed the new graphics card?

Does the new card have higher power requirements than the previous one? What PSU are you using?

Did you do a clean install of the graphics driver? (uninstall driver, reboot to VGA mode, disable antivirus, install new driver, reboot)

Are all your motherboard and device drivers up to date?

How much free hard drive space is left? Windows needs a minimum of 15% free space to run efficiently.

Have you defragged lately?

Do you have any other programs running in the background while playing games? Any security programs with their real-time scanning options set too high?

[DaveTibbetts]

Hey Koala, thanks for the reply.
The problem did not start after installing the graphics card.
I upgraded from Nvidia Geforce Mx 440 which is old!
But it still ran COD2 ok, better than my 6200A at the moment.

My motherboard drivers and device drivers are all upto date.
But i have spotted something, my main hard drive C:\ has 2% memory left (816mb)
I will clean that up to around 20% more.
The last time the computer was defragged (about 2 months ago.)

Kaspersky internet security runs in the backround of my games,
i've tried turning it off then playing.
No difference occurs.
I also get a tiny pause after every few seconds on playing.
ALL GAME SETTINGS ARE SET TO THE LOWEST POSSIBLE.

Thanks for all your help. ;]

[koala]

Originally Posted by DaveTibbetts

But i have spotted something, my main hard drive C:\ has 2% memory left (816mb)

I also get a tiny pause after every few seconds on playing.

This could indicate hard drive activity caused by the lack of free space. After you've made some more hard drive space available, run defrag and try playing the game again.

Before playing, open the Task Manager with ctrl-alt-del, click the Processes tab and clik the CPU column header twice to reorder the list high to low. If you start to notice any lag, alt-tab out of the game to see how much CPU is being used. You can also click the Performance tab to see how much RAM and virtual memory is being used during gameplay.

[DaveTibbetts]

I'm in the process of doing that at the moment.
I was looking at my RAM, i used a system scanner.
It says Total memory: 768Ram Free Memory 312Ram
How can i free up my ram?
Thanks.

[koala]

Those RAM figures look normal. Windows and any programs or games running will be using a large chunk of your 768MB, so 312MB free looks about right for your system (if you took the readings during gameplay). No need to free up any more RAM as it looks like your problem is caused by having not enough free hard drive space.

[DaveTibbetts]

Hard Drive C:\ Now has 5.79Gb Remaining.
Hard Drive F:\ Now Has 20.8Gb Remaining.
Note: All my games including COD2 are on hard drive F:\
Tried running COD2 Again and there appears to be no difference. :S
Thanks.

[koala]

What size are both of your hard drives? Do they both have at least 15% free space now?

Are they separate physical drives or partitions on just one drive?

Have you defragged them both?

Is your GeForce 6200 PCI or PCIE? If it's PCIE, check the PSU label to see how many amps are on the +12V line. It should be at least 28A.

[DaveTibbetts]

My GeForce is the AGP version.
My hard drives are 40Gb each.
They are 2 seperate hard drives is my tower.
I have not yet defragged them no.
I will defrag now.
thanks again.

[koala]

It doesn't sound like a power problem. I just like to check these things to get a clearer picture of your system. The 6200 and MX440 have very similar power requirements, just a few watts difference.

AGP cards have a lower power requirement than PCIE cards, so as long as your PSU has at least 18A/+12V you're ok. The PSU label will give you this info.

Have you tried reverting to an earlier version of the graphics driver, such as the one that's on the graphics card CD?

[DaveTibbetts]

The power for my card is ok.
I don't see how reverting to an earlier driver can help.
It was working fine before?

The C:\ Drive is now at 19% Free Space before defragment.
The F:\ Drive is at 55% Free Space before defragment.

[RockmasteR]

it's a good idea what Koala said, some older games just conflict with newer drivers, so try to remove the new Geforce driver (use driver cleaner to clean the remaining) then install the driver that came with your card. after that try to play the game. if that didn't work, it means that unfortunately it could be a conflict between your Vcard and any other card installed on the board or maybe RAM and Vcard
can u please specify the PCI cards installed on the board?

[DaveTibbetts]

PCI Ethernet Controller.
The card for my mouse keyboard speakers e.t.c

I've just seen that there is a new driver for my card.
Shall i try that first?

[koala]

I would try the version on the CD first. If that makes no difference then try the latest. Make sure you uninstall, reboot to VGA mode and disable antivirus before each driver install to avoid conflicts.

But before all that, defrag both drives fully and reboot.

[DaveTibbetts]

Ok ill keep you updated
thanks again.