weird problem just started

krskipp · 08-03-2009, 11:45 AM

For the last couple of weeks my games have been stuttering heavily after about 30-40 minutes of playing. Started with GTA4 and now company of heroes has started doing it. Both will play absolutely fine for half an hour and then just on GTA4 the frame rates will drop heavily and it's clearly struggling even though nothing major is happening graphically and it just carries on and on. With CoH it starts stuttering with the sound looping as if it's about to crash but the game continues but never gets back to normal. Re-starting the games seems to fix it i.e shutting them down completely but then it's just a matter of time. Not sure about other games as I usually don't play them for long periods.

Intel Q6700 at stock speed
4 gig of RAM (Windows XP 32bit however)
Xpertvision Geforce 9600GT

Also got Norton Internet Security which is switched to silent mode when I'm gaming. This means it won't do any auto-scanning or downloading of updates etc.etc. so it shouldn't be interfering. Norton logs confirm there's nothing happening when the game is stuttering.

No other 3rd party software running afaik.

I'm at a loss as to what it could be? any suggestions? games work perfect for 30 minutes then they start struggling like something's suddenly running in the background and hogging the resources.

Phædrus2401 · 08-03-2009, 03:27 PM

What are your full system specs? Motherboard, power supply in particular. If it was a prebuilt computer what brand and model is it? Also, download GPU-Z: http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/ and record your GPU temperatures both on the desktop and during games.

**emosun** · 08-03-2009, 05:27 PM

Get rid of norton also. Programs like norton/mcafee use wayyyyy to many resources and still are not as good as avg. I wouldn't be surprised if it was the cause even if it said it wasn't scanning.

krskipp · 08-04-2009, 02:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phædrus2401

What are your full system specs? Motherboard, power supply in particular. If it was a prebuilt computer what brand and model is it? Also, download GPU-Z: http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/ and record your GPU temperatures both on the desktop and during games.

Coolermaster Cosmos Case
Q6700 stock speed
4Gig RAM but using Windows XP 32bit
Xpertvision 512 Mb 9600GT
2x320Gb HD RAID 0
EVGA nforce 780i SLI motherboard
Coolermaster RealPower 700M PSU
Titan Amanda TTC-NP04TZ CPU fan

Per-build by cyberpowersytem.co.uk (.com in US) nothing added or taken away except memory and that was over a year ago. Problem only last couple of weeks

Will check temperatures - but I would be surprised if it was that, as although it starts after 30-40 minutes it goes back to normal if I restart the game, which suggests it's software. I'll check them though and post back later

krskipp · 08-04-2009, 02:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by emosun

Get rid of norton also. Programs like norton/mcafee use wayyyyy to many resources and still are not as good as avg. I wouldn't be surprised if it was the cause even if it said it wasn't scanning.

Me neither - although I've had Norton since I got the computer over a year ago and this problem is only recent.

krskipp · 08-04-2009, 05:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by krskipp

Coolermaster Cosmos Case
Q6700 stock speed
4Gig RAM but using Windows XP 32bit
Xpertvision 512 Mb 9600GT
2x320Gb HD RAID 0
EVGA nforce 780i SLI motherboard
Coolermaster RealPower 700M PSU
Titan Amanda TTC-NP04TZ CPU fan

Per-build by cyberpowersytem.co.uk (.com in US) nothing added or taken away except memory and that was over a year ago. Problem only last couple of weeks

Will check temperatures - but I would be surprised if it was that, as although it starts after 30-40 minutes it goes back to normal if I restart the game, which suggests it's software. I'll check them though and post back later

Sorry should have wrote custom built by cyberpowersystem.co.uk

08-03-2009, 11:45 AM	#1 (permalink)
krskipp Registered User Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 26 OS: WindowsXP SP3	weird problem just started For the last couple of weeks my games have been stuttering heavily after about 30-40 minutes of playing. Started with GTA4 and now company of heroes has started doing it. Both will play absolutely fine for half an hour and then just on GTA4 the frame rates will drop heavily and it's clearly struggling even though nothing major is happening graphically and it just carries on and on. With CoH it starts stuttering with the sound looping as if it's about to crash but the game continues but never gets back to normal. Re-starting the games seems to fix it i.e shutting them down completely but then it's just a matter of time. Not sure about other games as I usually don't play them for long periods. Intel Q6700 at stock speed 4 gig of RAM (Windows XP 32bit however) Xpertvision Geforce 9600GT Also got Norton Internet Security which is switched to silent mode when I'm gaming. This means it won't do any auto-scanning or downloading of updates etc.etc. so it shouldn't be interfering. Norton logs confirm there's nothing happening when the game is stuttering. No other 3rd party software running afaik. I'm at a loss as to what it could be? any suggestions? games work perfect for 30 minutes then they start struggling like something's suddenly running in the background and hogging the resources. Last edited by krskipp; 08-03-2009 at 11:47 AM.

08-03-2009, 03:27 PM	#2 (permalink)
Phædrus2401 Hardware Tech Team Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: New Orleans Posts: 3,782 OS: Vista Ultimate x64 SP1 + Ubuntu 9.04 My System	Re: weird problem just started What are your full system specs? Motherboard, power supply in particular. If it was a prebuilt computer what brand and model is it? Also, download GPU-Z: http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/ and record your GPU temperatures both on the desktop and during games. __________________ Good PSU brands: Corsair, SeaSonic, CWT, PC Power and Cooling, Thermaltake Toughpower, CoolerMaster Real Power Pro On 80+ Certification - PSU Information and Selection - Power Supply Myths You don't get what you don't pay for.

08-03-2009, 05:27 PM	#3 (permalink)
emosun Moderator Hardware Team Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: usa Posts: 6,951 OS: xp pro sp2 My System	Re: weird problem just started Get rid of norton also. Programs like norton/mcafee use wayyyyy to many resources and still are not as good as avg. I wouldn't be surprised if it was the cause even if it said it wasn't scanning. __________________ Gpu Benchmarks Cpu-Z Power supply information and selection Gpu-Z Video card quick list