8600GT doing some weird things

Hi,

I just received my Dell XPS 1530 this weekend and I've already gone about downloading new drivers for the GPU and doing some overclocking.

I play Lord of the Rings Online, which is surprisingly graphics intensive. However, with overclocking I'm able to get around 30 FPS on Ultra High settings.

The problem begins when I go into a graphics intensive area, with lots of small, constantly moving things (trees, people). Sometimes the game just bogs down, and my FPS will be stuck at 6-7.

Then I minimize the window, pop it back up, and it starts running fine with 20-30 FPS. I can run around that same place and the FPS won't drop back down. Minimizing the window does the trick, so does switching to windowed mode then switching back. Switching to a low graphics setting and then switching back also works!

How strange! My experimenting leads me to think this has something to do with the VRAM, or the way the game handles it. Any insight?


Thanks!

P.S. My system RAM is only 2gb right now, running Vista. Might that have something to do with it?

 

It might be because you overclocked your GPU???

OR maybe you have Windows Vista Aero turned ON. Maybe its sucking up on your GFX at the same time along with Lord of The Rings.

 

I heard of this somewhere, and actually there was a youtube video just can't find it at the moment. Some 8600m GT's were exhibiting what was essentially a "memory leak" typically found in poor software code. For some reason minimizing and maximizing it back cleared the leak. I'll see if I can find the video or forum topic.