Video Driver Issue? Please Help

I have the 7811fx laptop and I recently purchased Call of Duty: World at War. I play in native resolution of 1920x1200, no AA. Fraps, displays a fairly consistent 45-65fps during mp gameplay, which is fine for me. However, and it never fails, each map triggers this fps lag (usually lasting the remainder of the round). During this time, my fps is around 15-25. Sometimes it will correct itself in the same map, otherwise it will correct itself during the next map rotation.

After tinkering with several graphic configuration (including resolution) and different video drivers (I used the one on gateways site and the beta nvidia), still no luck. Yesterday I decided to give up on Wold at War but because I enjoyed the gameplay so much, I purchased Call of Duty 4.

Long story short - Call of Duty 4 (while having better fps) eventually did the same exact thing. I guess not totally surprising since both games run on the same engine, but I was hoping World at War was just borked on my machine for whatever reason.

I think I can rule out overheating because other games (TF2, for example) run without a hitch. I monitored the temp during COD gameplay and when it went haywire, the temp was 70c, which people here had said is ok. I also pressed the windows key to get back to desktop and return to the game one time. That seemed to eliminate the problem temporarily - again, negating a heat issue.

You guys are my only hope to play Call of Duty at this point. Please provide me with some suggestions. I will be extremely grateful if anything works. Thank you.

Here's some more system information:

-Running Windows Vista 64bit
-Norton Internet Security (which I have tried disabling during gameplay as well)
-Currently running nvidia beta drivers: 179.28
-I keep my running processes to a minimum

 

Have you tried some of the 3rd party drivers?

I use the DOX 180.70, but others say the 180.84 is great as well

Honestly though i cant figure out why "all of the sudden" your FPS would drop and then lock down so low. Is there something comman thats happening to cause it or it just randomly happens?

Is there maybe a patch you havent installed to the game?

 

Thanks for the reply. My next step is probably to look into these 3rd party drivers. As far as patches - yeah, everything is patched and up-to-date. I'm running both Call of Duty games within Steam.

It's kind of hard to pin point exactly what sets it off. I've had times when nades would go off and that would do it. Another time I ran next to a tank and that would trigger it. And last night I ran through a smoke nade and that started the fps lag.

It's not your typical lag where it goes away after the smoke nade is gone (using the last example). It's like an event triggers the lag and no matter where I go in the map, the lag stays with me. Prior to the lag, the game runs smooth as butter.

 

I'm not going to get excited yet but...

I uninstalled the nvidia beta drivers, rebooted, and the pc installed the stock 176.15. I have played 3 maps so far without the lag - never done before.

Now I will say this - when going between video drivers, I never uninstalled first. This was the first time I did. I've heard some people differ on opinions on whether to uninstall first or not. Could this have been the problem?

I'll have to run some more tests...

 

I always uninstall drivers before upgrading.

 

Ah... yeah you always uninstall the drivers before installing new ones.

THey can cause conflicts with each other other wise

 

Well now the question is:

Keep the drivers (stock) that are working or...

Roll the dice with the beta?

 

Get the DOX 180.70 and enjoy a whole new video card experience

I got a HUGE increase over stock drivers with the 180.70 drivers (enough that i now down clock my vid card to get cooler temps and still get great frame rates)