Games Stuttering

The_bobb · 08-21-2009, 12:51 PM

Hi there, I'm not sure if "stuttering" is the correct term. But a few games of mine have been stuttering quite badly lately. Normally i'd just chalk this up to my cheap computer. BUT, these games have been running fine, then all of a sudden about a week ago, this problem started.

Now, by stuttering i mean, it looks like the game is skipping. It'll run fine for a few minutes, then just start. In MOST cases it'll return to normal after a few more minutes then start again. Most notably in Fallout 3 and Civ 4. So i did some research and found a few things that i've tried and haven't worked.

Just a few of these "fixes" include, forcing the GPU to turn off Vsync on all the games, changing a few things in the games ini files. And yes, before you ask i lowered the graphics.

Like i said, what has me really miffed is that these games ran fine before. And other games run just fine. I haven't made any hardware changes and the only software changes were some patches for Fallout 3, but i reinstalled it and the problem persists.

If you need to know anything else, ask. I've searched the web and can't seem to find anything that works. Can anyone help? Or link me a site that can? Thanks in advance.

System Spec: (yes i know it sucks)
Windows Vista Home Premium
NVidia Geforce 9400 GT
AMD Phenom 8400 Triple Core
3Gigs RAM

**floop12444** · 08-21-2009, 01:35 PM

Hi and welcome to TSF,
Could you please post your Power Supply brand and wattage and also the amps on the 12v rail.
Thanks.
PS, your system doesn't suck.

The_bobb · 08-21-2009, 02:13 PM

i BELIEVE it's a 400watt Dynex, but i'm not 100% sure..

**floop12444** · 08-21-2009, 02:20 PM

Well just to make sure i would recommend that you open the case and read the label.

The_bobb · 08-21-2009, 04:16 PM

Yes it's a 400w dynex

Mcninjaguy · 08-21-2009, 06:41 PM

I would recommend you getting a Corsair 550w. Its way more stable and a 400w Dynex is around a 250w quality PSU.

Corsair 650w (same price as the Corsair 550w)
$100
after rebate $80

The_bobb · 08-21-2009, 08:31 PM

Yeah i admit it's not the best, BUT why all of a sudden? it ran these games flawlessly before....

**Lord Sirian** · 08-21-2009, 09:26 PM

That's what often happens with low quality PSU's. As they get older, their faults really start to show themselves and you start having problems all over the place.

The_bobb · 08-22-2009, 09:19 AM

Alright well thanks for the help guys, i'll go check out some PSU's later.... think i'll get the 650, then atleast i won't need a new one for a long time... thanks again.

**Lord Sirian** · 08-22-2009, 09:23 AM

Make sure you get a good quality one like the one Mcninjaguy suggested, any old 650W PSU WILL NOT DO.

Wattage is only half the story when it comes to PSU's; the quality is equally important.

The_bobb · 08-26-2009, 11:48 AM

Alright, so the store didn't have any Corsair's, BUT they did have an Antec 650. And i've used Antecs before without any problems so i got it... but guess what? No change in the stutter... So ran the SIW thing and my GPU is running at... 89 degree's C...

I'm thinking the card is getting hot... unless that's normal...

The_bobb · 08-26-2009, 12:46 PM

Now it's running at 98 Degree C.... and all i'm doing is surfing the web with my case open...

urban_chaos 2.0 · 08-26-2009, 01:39 PM

The stuttering is moslt likely due to the temperatures the gpu has to go trough. try placing a fast fan right next to your open pc case to cool off the system. maybe the gpu fan has collected alot of dust and stuff. remove it and clean it out nicely. blow the dust out. and clean any other fans. like the cpu fan

urban_chaos 2.0 · 08-26-2009, 01:52 PM

try this link... if you already have, then try doing what i advised in the previous post.

http://forums.tweakguides.com/showthread.php?p=51918

The_bobb · 08-26-2009, 04:41 PM

Hmmm, well darn... I guess it's the temp, a large Table top fan pointed at the insides of my computer seem to have fixed it...

So why the hell is this card over heating already? i mean it's only like half a year old.... IF not younger. So frustrating.

Mcninjaguy · 08-26-2009, 07:45 PM

Can you tell me the GPU temperatures using GPU-Z.
Can you also tell me the CPU's temperatures using Coretemp.

The_bobb · 08-27-2009, 04:19 AM

GPU-Z: 80-83C with 100% Fan. No Table Fan, just ITunes and Google Chrome running.
CoreTemp: 48-51C. No Table Fan. Google Chrome and ITunes running

Mcninjaguy · 08-27-2009, 04:45 AM

Can you check if the fan for your graphics card is working? looks to me like it is not.

The_bobb · 08-27-2009, 04:25 PM

Yeah it's running... and i cleaned it off as per Urbans suggestion, when i did that i checked it and i don't see any cracks or anything. and it's not making any unusual noise. Just don't get it...

There's no chance some kind of virus or anything might be causing it to run more than normal is there? Cuz a new vid card is kind of out of the question financially

urban_chaos 2.0 · 08-28-2009, 01:05 PM

Did you overclock this card at some point? Or do you use any hardware monitoring/tweaking tools like speedfan, rivatuner, powerstrip, etc

08-21-2009, 12:51 PM	#1 (permalink)
The_bobb Registered User Join Date: Aug 2009 Posts: 13 OS: Win Vista Home Prem.	Games Stuttering Hi there, I'm not sure if "stuttering" is the correct term. But a few games of mine have been stuttering quite badly lately. Normally i'd just chalk this up to my cheap computer. BUT, these games have been running fine, then all of a sudden about a week ago, this problem started. Now, by stuttering i mean, it looks like the game is skipping. It'll run fine for a few minutes, then just start. In MOST cases it'll return to normal after a few more minutes then start again. Most notably in Fallout 3 and Civ 4. So i did some research and found a few things that i've tried and haven't worked. Just a few of these "fixes" include, forcing the GPU to turn off Vsync on all the games, changing a few things in the games ini files. And yes, before you ask i lowered the graphics. Like i said, what has me really miffed is that these games ran fine before. And other games run just fine. I haven't made any hardware changes and the only software changes were some patches for Fallout 3, but i reinstalled it and the problem persists. If you need to know anything else, ask. I've searched the web and can't seem to find anything that works. Can anyone help? Or link me a site that can? Thanks in advance. System Spec: (yes i know it sucks) Windows Vista Home Premium NVidia Geforce 9400 GT AMD Phenom 8400 Triple Core 3Gigs RAM Last edited by The_bobb; 08-21-2009 at 12:53 PM.

08-21-2009, 01:35 PM	#2 (permalink)
floop12444 Senior Tech, Games Team Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: England Posts: 1,024 OS: Windows XP SP3 My System	Re: Games Stuttering Hi and welcome to TSF, Could you please post your Power Supply brand and wattage and also the amps on the 12v rail. Thanks. PS, your system doesn't suck. __________________ Everest Home Edtion ♦ System requirements test ♦ Nvidia Drivers ♦ ATI Drivers ♦ Revo Uninstaller ♦ GPUz Forum Rules Steps Before Posting

08-21-2009, 02:13 PM	#3 (permalink)
The_bobb Registered User Join Date: Aug 2009 Posts: 13 OS: Win Vista Home Prem.	Re: Games Stuttering i BELIEVE it's a 400watt Dynex, but i'm not 100% sure..

08-21-2009, 02:20 PM	#4 (permalink)
floop12444 Senior Tech, Games Team Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: England Posts: 1,024 OS: Windows XP SP3 My System	Re: Games Stuttering Well just to make sure i would recommend that you open the case and read the label. __________________ Everest Home Edtion ♦ System requirements test ♦ Nvidia Drivers ♦ ATI Drivers ♦ Revo Uninstaller ♦ GPUz Forum Rules Steps Before Posting

08-21-2009, 04:16 PM	#5 (permalink)
The_bobb Registered User Join Date: Aug 2009 Posts: 13 OS: Win Vista Home Prem.	Re: Games Stuttering Yes it's a 400w dynex

08-21-2009, 06:41 PM	#6 (permalink)
Mcninjaguy Temporarily Banned Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Posts: 10,422 OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit My System Blog Entries: 1	Re: Games Stuttering I would recommend you getting a Corsair 550w. Its way more stable and a 400w Dynex is around a 250w quality PSU. Corsair 650w (same price as the Corsair 550w) $100 after rebate $80

08-21-2009, 08:31 PM	#7 (permalink)
The_bobb Registered User Join Date: Aug 2009 Posts: 13 OS: Win Vista Home Prem.	Re: Games Stuttering Yeah i admit it's not the best, BUT why all of a sudden? it ran these games flawlessly before....

08-21-2009, 09:26 PM	#8 (permalink)
Lord Sirian Mentor, Games Team Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Australia Posts: 1,667 OS: Windows XP SP 3 My System	Re: Games Stuttering That's what often happens with low quality PSU's. As they get older, their faults really start to show themselves and you start having problems all over the place. __________________ "Come forth for the cattle call Confront the evil river you can't control Wicked ways and venomous eyes Just human nature in disguise..."- Clouds over California

08-22-2009, 09:19 AM	#9 (permalink)
The_bobb Registered User Join Date: Aug 2009 Posts: 13 OS: Win Vista Home Prem.	Re: Games Stuttering Alright well thanks for the help guys, i'll go check out some PSU's later.... think i'll get the 650, then atleast i won't need a new one for a long time... thanks again.

08-22-2009, 09:23 AM	#10 (permalink)
Lord Sirian Mentor, Games Team Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Australia Posts: 1,667 OS: Windows XP SP 3 My System	Re: Games Stuttering Make sure you get a good quality one like the one Mcninjaguy suggested, any old 650W PSU WILL NOT DO. Wattage is only half the story when it comes to PSU's; the quality is equally important. __________________ "Come forth for the cattle call Confront the evil river you can't control Wicked ways and venomous eyes Just human nature in disguise..."- Clouds over California

08-26-2009, 11:48 AM	#11 (permalink)
The_bobb Registered User Join Date: Aug 2009 Posts: 13 OS: Win Vista Home Prem.	Re: Games Stuttering Alright, so the store didn't have any Corsair's, BUT they did have an Antec 650. And i've used Antecs before without any problems so i got it... but guess what? No change in the stutter... So ran the SIW thing and my GPU is running at... 89 degree's C... I'm thinking the card is getting hot... unless that's normal...

08-26-2009, 12:46 PM	#12 (permalink)
The_bobb Registered User Join Date: Aug 2009 Posts: 13 OS: Win Vista Home Prem.	Re: Games Stuttering Now it's running at 98 Degree C.... and all i'm doing is surfing the web with my case open...

08-26-2009, 01:39 PM	#13 (permalink)
urban_chaos 2.0 Registered User Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Pretoria, South Africa. Posts: 18 OS: windows xp 32 bit. My System	Re: Games Stuttering The stuttering is moslt likely due to the temperatures the gpu has to go trough. try placing a fast fan right next to your open pc case to cool off the system. maybe the gpu fan has collected alot of dust and stuff. remove it and clean it out nicely. blow the dust out. and clean any other fans. like the cpu fan Last edited by urban_chaos 2.0; 08-26-2009 at 01:44 PM.

08-26-2009, 01:52 PM	#14 (permalink)
urban_chaos 2.0 Registered User Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Pretoria, South Africa. Posts: 18 OS: windows xp 32 bit. My System	Re: Games Stuttering try this link... if you already have, then try doing what i advised in the previous post. http://forums.tweakguides.com/showthread.php?p=51918

08-26-2009, 04:41 PM	#15 (permalink)
The_bobb Registered User Join Date: Aug 2009 Posts: 13 OS: Win Vista Home Prem.	Re: Games Stuttering Hmmm, well darn... I guess it's the temp, a large Table top fan pointed at the insides of my computer seem to have fixed it... So why the hell is this card over heating already? i mean it's only like half a year old.... IF not younger. So frustrating.

08-26-2009, 07:45 PM	#16 (permalink)
Mcninjaguy Temporarily Banned Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Posts: 10,422 OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit My System Blog Entries: 1	Re: Games Stuttering Can you tell me the GPU temperatures using GPU-Z. Can you also tell me the CPU's temperatures using Coretemp.

08-27-2009, 04:19 AM	#17 (permalink)
The_bobb Registered User Join Date: Aug 2009 Posts: 13 OS: Win Vista Home Prem.	Re: Games Stuttering GPU-Z: 80-83C with 100% Fan. No Table Fan, just ITunes and Google Chrome running. CoreTemp: 48-51C. No Table Fan. Google Chrome and ITunes running

08-27-2009, 04:45 AM	#18 (permalink)
Mcninjaguy Temporarily Banned Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Posts: 10,422 OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit My System Blog Entries: 1	Re: Games Stuttering Can you check if the fan for your graphics card is working? looks to me like it is not.

08-27-2009, 04:25 PM	#19 (permalink)
The_bobb Registered User Join Date: Aug 2009 Posts: 13 OS: Win Vista Home Prem.	Re: Games Stuttering Yeah it's running... and i cleaned it off as per Urbans suggestion, when i did that i checked it and i don't see any cracks or anything. and it's not making any unusual noise. Just don't get it... There's no chance some kind of virus or anything might be causing it to run more than normal is there? Cuz a new vid card is kind of out of the question financially Last edited by The_bobb; 08-27-2009 at 04:30 PM.

08-28-2009, 01:05 PM	#20 (permalink)
urban_chaos 2.0 Registered User Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Pretoria, South Africa. Posts: 18 OS: windows xp 32 bit. My System	Re: Games Stuttering Did you overclock this card at some point? Or do you use any hardware monitoring/tweaking tools like speedfan, rivatuner, powerstrip, etc