Question about a 7800GTX

Hey guys,
I have been experiencing some issues with my 7800GTX card.
First off I play Call of Duty 2 and when I play the game, I get a 1 second lag every 15-25 seconds.
My FPS drops from 32 to 2, back to 32.
I thought my drivers are no good so I switched from 78.01 to 84.40 to 117.44.
All of the drivers have the same thing.
I also tested using 3DMark06 and have the same thing.
Frame drops from 32+ to between 2-7 FPS.
Not sure what else is going on.
Is my card going bad?
Any hints?

 

Have you checked your temps?

 

Yeah I used RivaTuner v1.08.
The temps are between 76-84C on max fan.
The room temp is 64F.
I even have a laptop cooler.

 

try to clean laptop fan with vacuum cleaner/compressed air

 

the only reason you will experience that (from my experience) is that the videocard is downclocking itself when it reaches a danger/threshold temp (which should be around (90-95C).

Remember to set RivaTuner to check the temps in-game with the OSD.

When was the last time you cleaned out your vents and fans thoroughly?

Read here for instructions to clean out the system:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=223816

.. focus on the vents because dust is clogged in there mainly.

 

I cleaned my vents and fans once a week. I also used the OSD as well cuz I want to know what is going on. If that's ture about the video card downclocking, then why is it downclock when is about 84C?
Maybe I didn't setup RivaTuner to check the temps right?

 

I have tested RivaTuner from 2.0 RCxx to the latest 2.08 ... they all seem to read the temps correctly.

84C is a safe temp.

But in your case, maybe your VBIOS of your card is set to downclock at 84C or your Rivatuner needs to be offset by +10C.

Does this happen with all games?
____________________
Oh one more thing....

Stutters in the games comes from fragmented harddrives or drivers/configs.

I had that issue with UT3 and Crysis, until I used Diskeeper and defragged my HDD... now its much smoother.

You must disable spyware software, and anti-virus/firewall suites when gaming.

Also remember to do a CHKDSK C: /F before doing the defrag.

get Diskeeper Lite (x86 + x64) for free here:
http://www.intel.com/design/motherbd/software/idu/download.htm

Its in the Intel Desktop Utilities... in the 88.9 MB download

Just extract the files from the EXE and you will see the Diskeeper folders (one for 32-bit, one for 64-bit).

Works great.

 

all nvidia mobile cards expreince the same problems when being "push"

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=207592
there's more but i cant find it.

 

It doesn't happen with Diablo 2 cuz it's Direct 3D only. Same with Warcraft 3 when I push to max settings. The only real game I get this problem is COD2. Also have the same prob is when I tested it with 3DMark06.

 

i get the same with my 8600m gs when im playing any game that really use
the gpu, it drops fps and go normal every 30-40 sec depending on the game.

gears of war
crysis
kane and lynch
etc

 

I use the stock 84.26 drivers which works fine for all games.

Now am testing the 167.xx drivers (laptopvideo2go), which are good but gives no added benefits as compared to the stock drivers.

I am waiting for a good build of the 169.xx drivers to test.

 

So if the card downclocks by "overheating" can a upgrade to a new video bios might help?
My gf has a Alienware m7700 with a 6600 Ultra and plays COD2 as well.
Even at max settings, she has not have any goof ups with the fps.
I even install Rivatuner on her laptop and was running fine at 86C.

 

I will try those drivers and see if it works.

 

I fixed the problem.
I went to sager download page and get the video drivers from them.
Version I downloaded is 86.63.
Ran 3DMark06 and played COD2 and I didn't get a single frame drop.
Played COD2 for 2 hrs after that and no lag.
The average temp is 90C for 2 hrs.
Thanks a lot guys for helping me out.

 

nice... but bring down those temps if you can.

Use the Fan Toggle (Fn+F2) when gaming.

... and use a good notebook cooler (like Zalman ZM-NC1000 or NC2000)