Games stuttering like hell.

Hi,
All of a sudden my games have started to stutter really badly. It's weird. In some games its constant, and lags like every 1-2seconds (like a spike), and in other games, its stutters every 2 seconds or so.
I am running windows 7, but i doubt this is the problem as its worked for weeks with no problems. But I can tell you my gpu is averaging an idle temp of approx 68-9C.
I tried turning powermizer off to see if that fixed it, but no joy.
Anyone got any ideas?
Thanks

 

win7 is a beta OS. problems are bound to show up. run the same game in Vista to eliminate hardware issues from the list of possible causes.

 

I don't have vista, but I tried it in xp, and there's exactly the same problem..

 

Is it in all games or just some? I get stuttering in older games with the 8800M GTX - because of the nVidia drivers, apparently they don' twork too well with some older games. Make sure you have the latest drivers - the 185.20s are actually ok in this respect.

 

If you minimize, Ctrl-Alt-Del and go to the Processes tab when the game is open, are you seeing a high amount of memory usage or CPU usage from certain services or programs?

 

Hey Napbree I had the same issue and I have the same specs as you. I found out that the issue was the hard drive, I had two things that held it back. #1 is that I had a 5400 rpm hard drive on SATA 1.5 and #2 is that I had this hard drive loaded w/ crap... Assuming u have a 7200 rpm hard drive, grab a good defrag program like Ultimate Defrage http://www.disktrix.com/... You can use this to make your own custom defrags that will greatly help performance... Also you should do a disk cleanup and get rid of any crap that could bog down your machine... and if all else fails do a clean install of windows...

Hope this helps
-John

 

Only $39.95? That's alot. Try JK defrag and it's free.

 

i second that... get Smart Defrag, it's freeware, and will do the job just as well.

EDIT: http://www.iobit.com/iobitsmartdefrag.html , for you lazy folks who don't want to use google.

 

Thanks guys, I'm running a defrag/optimise now. I honestly did think my harddrive was not running very fast (I still don't). My old laptop seems faster than this laptop :/. My old lapotp was 1.6ghz, 2gb, 120gb 5400rpm drive .

Hopefully this will sort it out.

 

Okay, I took a picture of dpc latency as well.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=30177&stc=1&d=1233347861

 

can you check your latency when idling? i think GRID is screwing up the reading... shut down as many processes as possible before running DPCLC.

 

Hmm, okay defrag and optimisation finished. A slight difference, but still lags.
Hmm

 

how's your latency?

 

just as bad.
But I dunno it doesn't seem to affect my typing :S. THere's no typing lag like in windows xp and i can type google or any other with double letters and it will show up. I type around 60-80wpm.
But I think it could be the latency affecting my performance? Should i downgrade to 32 (im at 34, and have been since i got it).

 

Test your ram yet?

 

my game is stuttering like hell now to my m17 is like 3 days old and it has done this before last night i played it on ultra high detail AF and AA on max and never got below 30 fps tonight i tried to play i put it on low AA and AF off and i did ok but still studdered some time. i had no backround programs or any thing cpu wasnt bottlenecking and ram was only at 70% and my temps barley hit 80c this was after 5 hours of gaming ....but it did it like right when i started playing so it wasnt heat....any idea guys? im useing E's drivers they game a huge increase in performance last night ...somethign else i noticed after i install E's drivers my CCC showed up as ati radeon 3870 x2 and tonight it showed up as ati radeon 3870 ... just sayin

 

Sounds like one of your cards might be a goner oO.

 

What do you mean?

 

The ram might be failing. This happened to my previous m5550. Run the Windows Diagnostics Memory test or MemTest.

 

I had this stuttering problem/issue as well.. computer would lag and games would stutter and mouse would flicker all over the place, choppy sound.. etc... after several calls to alienware and such they told me to return the machine which i have, may be the same issue with mine.. they called me the other day and said it was issues with the motherboard and are repairing it.. sigh

 

If it's not the Ram, it's the motherboard. That sucks.

 

I ran a test, and there's no errors. , it could be the motherboard :/

Fack.

 

But, it might also be the Video Card that's the problem. You tried running 3dmark and seeing if you are getting the standard score?

 

yeah like i said mine was the motherboard and your issue sounds like the same as mine... might have to send it back get it fixed... i know it sucks...

 

I can't open my 3dmark result (school blocks the server). So if I upload it can someone get it for me?
Thanks

 

I found the 3dmark test to be not a reliable way to test the system.. with my problem i still got normal scores but still had choppy gameplay and sound issues.. although it may be a good test to rule out video card issues.. then u know it is the motherboard

 

The 3dmark was very bad, the framerates where really low. And it dropped to 9-10fps at some points.

 

What kind of temps are you getting while playing games after a long period of time?
Same here school server blocks me from opening your results.

 

my peak is 95 degrees. (just now).
I also found out if I press f9 in grid, it slows it down a hell of alot, and if i press f9 again it goes back to normal (which is still quite laggy).

 

I take that back, peak of 105 now...

 

yeah, it's overheating. That's why you are getting the lagging. Any artifacts?

You should call the Roswell crew and let them know about this.

 

Nah, it lags at 75 degrees as well, only after its reached the peak and drops in temp...

 

I think the best route would be just to ask them to send you another video card in the mail, and if that doesn't help, then it's definitely your motherboard that's giving you problems.

 

Hmm, yeha I might do. Even flash games are stutterring. I'm going to try the intergrated...

EDIT: Yep intergrated stutters as well...

 

Napbree, how are your fans when you're playing a game? (In other words, can you hear them running and are they loud?)

 

Yeah I can hear them running, and they're loud. I am suspecting it's my HDD.

 

Perhaps.

Did you install any additional drivers before this problem started occurring?

Edit: Also, if you're peaking at 105C degrees, I suggest you not play any games until you sort this problem out. Although I'm pretty sure you already know that, I'm just reminding you that you should be wary of the potential damage this temperature might have on any of your other hardware components.

Edit #2: If you suspect your HDD is failing, you should try running an error scan with HD Tune and see if this is where the problem is coming from. I highly doubt it's your HDD that's causing the problem, but I suppose there's no really harm in checking anyway.

 

HD Tune, or just run the Windows Error Checking. Just go to "My computer" right click on the HD then go to "Properties" then "Tools."

 

I ran HD tune, and there's no damaged sectors or blocks. But that's not the problem, I suspect it's the spindle and the reading, it's not fast, and is glitchy.
So Im pretty sure HD tune won't show this.

 

Here are my hdtune results:



somethings up, right?

 

no, can't be, I'm getting similar results too.

 

have you tried calling AW and get them to figure out the problem?

 

You're going to want to run the Error scan. Click on the "Error Scan" tab in HD Tune and run the test. Might take awhile, but it should tell you if your hard drive contains bad sectors. If it shows up with a lot of bad sectors (shown in red), then that should be a good indication that your HDD is failing.

..and no, the screenshot you've posted seems fine. Mine looks just as funky on Windows 7.

The thing is, they don't support Windows 7. At least, not yet.

 

Just read through the thread.. couple of "quick" thoughts. What is your Power scheme set to?

How old is this unit? Have you cleaned out your vents, fans, sinks, etc?

Could you possibly post a screen shot of HWMonitor when running games, or whatever downclocks the system? HWMonitor logs low, and high temps.. and current temps.. screen shot it directly after leaving the game. Download HERE.

And.. just for testing if its the GPU or CPU.. download Furmark here to test ONLY the GPU and see how temps react..this thing will push GPUs..so be careful and watch temps.

Just some info that may help. Lemme know what you end up with

 

it is ok.


check your EVENT LOGs.
look in the SYSTEM category for errors/warning.

 

Hmm, one last question (from me, anyway). What power setting are you on right now?

 

don't be jumpin on my bandwagon

kiddin..of course

 

Oh rofl. I didn't realize you asked the same question. Totally my bad.

 

eh.. it's all gravy baby. Great minds think alike

If runnin Win7 I have a feeling he has it set to stock power scheme.. which, I believe is underpowering. Still not sure why the high temps, unless he's talkin in Fahrenheit and not Celsius. That's why I want screenies

EDIT: eh..he clarified Celsius..but I still want screenies!

 

It's in performance mode. And i will run the furmark now.