Frameskip / stutter Problem with ATI x200M and VISTA - g

OK, I've just picked up a very cheap laptop for word processing on the move and decided to dip my toe into the vista waters. But I've hit a rather starnge graphics problem - in 3D apps, the framerate is ok but it skips / stutters at regular intervals (every few seconds) on fairly undemanding apps where the apparent fps is relatively stable. Its extremely annoying and I can't decide on whats causing it / how I can fix it / if its fixable!

Its a UK PACKARD BELL MZ35U005 with vista home premium. It came with a ATI x200M igp with a mixture of onboard and shared memory up to 256Mb which looked better than the integrated intels in similarly priced laptops. This was never intended to be a gaming laptop (I know the x200m is really bottom of the line) but nethertheless I hoped to install a few less demanding games such as Gal Civ II and few pretty screensavers (3Planesoft clocktower, lost watch etc - these screen savers are 3d but I've found them to be highly scaleable in theirs settings).

The skipping / stutter (can't think of a better way to describe it) is not constant but is reproducible. For example, in Gal Civ two, when you start a new game and select your civ, a small window (less than an 8th of the screen) shows your starship revolving - its smooth but stutters every second or so alsmost as if it dropped a frame in the animation. On the main game screen (about half the screen size) every things seems fine and the 3D zoom seems silky smooth, no apparent skipping as I move around the play area).

On the screen savers, if I play with the res settings, I can get 20 - 40 fps. There are no sudden jumps as it pans around the 3d clock (frames stays +-2-3 frames for a given scene) but I can visibly judders / steps in the graphics as it pans in some scenes whilst other are smooth. I even see this in 640 x 480 mode when the fps is upto 50 fps.

So whats causing it... here are my thoughts - can anyone suggest something else / highlight the most likely explaination?

1) ATI Driver problem - I'm using the approved vista driver (32 bit) catalyst 7.1. According to the details with is from nov last year (ie created last year). I've tried downloading and reinstalling the latest official driver using the new install manager but it says I have the latest version. Given that is sometimes smooth and ithertimes not, perhaps theres a probelm with one of the underly functions e.g. Anti-aliasing (tried switching on / off all the functions individually - no obvious link / reduction in frameskipping).

2) The shared graphics memory means 1 gig of ram is not enough for vista. Perhaps the page file is in constant use (not obvious from the hdd light / this laptop is particularly quiet)

3) Its a dual core problem

4) Its a legacy direct x 9.1 apps that hasn't been fixed in vista

5) Its a power setting problem - hidden deep in the pwer performance settings is an ATI powerplay setting for the chip which has a drop down box that says optimised for battery power (even on performace settings) - the drop down box works but there are no other options listed.

6) Some strange vista process is constantly interrupting the display (clutching at straws now).

7) Despite reasonable fps, the x200m is incapable of smooth 3D in any directX 9 app (it is supposedly a direct x 9 chipset though!) :-(


Just to clarify, the laptops works great with vista itself - silky smooth aero glass interface (and yes, i've tried turning aero off and played with all the settings in the ATI cat control panel - I can increase the fps but the stutter goes on). I don't seem to have a problem with DVDs (though I haven't investigated them as much) but I THINK i can occasionaly see skipping in onscreen movie playback e.g. tried the original Rise of Nations (ancient!) and little to no 3D) - plays fine but on the menu screen the background movie does appear to stutter (but I've been seeing PC in game movies stutter to varying degrees for the last 15 years so it might be totally unrelated )


Phew.. longer post than I planned but this glitch is driving me crazy and seriously detracting from an otherwise pleasing little laptop. I wasn't expexting to play oblivion but a stuttering low res 3D clock screensaver just seems wrong somehow (forgot to mention that several of the inbuilt vista screensavers also stutter to a lesser extent).

Anyone seen something similar / any thoughts on what my next course of action should be (thinking about buying some more mem but then the cheap laptop becomes not so cheap, and of couse a new ati driver will come along in a couple of weeks or so).

regards
Scott

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SPECS for the PB are as follows

Processor
Model Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T2060 Cache memory 1MB

Memory Installed memory 1024MB DDR2 (SO DIMM 4200 533mhz)

Hard Disk Drive HDD size 80GB

CD-RW / DVD-RW Optical drive DVD+/-R9

Graphics Chipset ATI Radeon™ Xpress 200M
Size of the shared memory 256MB shared (settings suggest 128mb on board with a further 128mb of system mem in use)

Screen Internal resolution 1280x800 Monitor size 15.4-inch with Diamondveiw
Technology and ratio TFT

Sound Chipset Realtek ALC861 integrated on motherboard

 

WOW you've written a lot

Integrated GPUs with Shared Memory slow down the PC a lot, as youll be left with less than 1 GB of RAM. And if you bought it new from somewhere like PC World, I Imagine it has a load of junk programs that run in the background all the time.

The shudderring I think is due to sudden drops in Frame Rates as background processes use up the remaining amount of RAM.

An OS reformat would be beneficial. The 200M is a Dx9 level chipset so its probably not an issue with the GPU or drivers.

 

Hi Lil
I've already been throught he laptop and removed mist of the junk (as far as I can tell - Vista noob) - As always, AOL proved the most stubborn to get rid of. As far as I can tell using the bulit in tools and the latest process explorer thats compatble with vista, the only things running (when I turned everything off) were (apparently essential) vista processes and norton internet security 2007 (which unlike previous versions doesn't obviously allow you to turn it off (unless someone can tell me otherwise)). As I said, turned off aero, closed the sidebar and other background programs etc- still getting a stutter every second or so). Not sure how to reformat the new laptop as it came with no discs (I made a PB recovery disk - but that would just put all the junk back surely?). So do you think a 1 gig ram stick (taking me upto 1.5 gig less the 128meg shared) would make this problem go away?

Does seem excessive that Vista needs to have a laptop with 1.5gig memory just to run a pretty screensaver

Scott