I've just installed a nvidia 8800 GT, And I sure as hell hope I didn't get a lemon. or that somehow some minute charge damaged it.

What's happening is that, no matter what game I play, from Crysis to World in Conflict, to Sins of a Solar empire, there will be a lag spike, 20 - 30 seconds into the game, and then it will leave, then return, every now and then. I've updated my drivers, reinstalled from an old one twice.

This never happened with my old 7900 GT.

could it be a CPU issue ? all i know ,is that mine goes up to 3.0 ghz.

Got computer working! Hopefully it stays that way, lol Got PSU tester and it tested ok, got new mobo but think that the sound may have been acting weird (reinstalling drivers at random) cuz I had a 120mm fan plugged into the onboard fan power. Or I just damaged it when I was messing with the risers that came right off the case (cuz I used the wrong size screw :(

Hope it's ok now :((

Wish u luck too

PS Vista was still acting all funnny with this setup, it was really fing weird. The screen would change red if I changed the UAC, it blinked red, so did minor stuff. It seems so much more stable on XP its' bizarre :L

could it be a CPU issue ? all i know ,is that mine goes up to 3.0 ghz.

whats your processor? sounds like a bottle neck. could be a hardware problem.

You might try updating your BIOS if you aren't running the most current one.
http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=2873591

whats your processor? sounds like a bottle neck. could be a hardware problem.

Intel Pentium 4 3.2 GHz

You might try updating your BIOS if you aren't running the most current one.
http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=2873591

Huh. Ok. but how do I know which driver to download ?

Go here, http://support.asus.com/download/download.aspx?SLanguage=en-us&model=P5LD2 . If in doubt, take a look at How To Check Your BIOS Version on the left. Definitely read the tutorial if you've never flashed the BIOS before.

Intel Pentium 4 3.2 GHz

if you are running at low resolutions(1024×768 for ex.) then im pretty sure its a bottleneck. try and raise the resolution-maybe it will help?

Lag spikes in games aren't necessarily caused by the graphics card, what they can be caused by is either the Memory having bad addresses or being over sourced to other programs (Close background programs) or further still the actual Virtual RAM. If your Harddrive is slow, over filled or hasn't been de-fragmented in a long time it can affect performance.

Just to explain what I see:
When you play a game as you move through levels your system attempts to precache textures. The higher quality the textures, the more RAM they consume. Some information is stored directly in the RAM while the rest is cached in a Paging file on your drive. If your system has too many programs running in the background then you have less available RAM, you also potentially limit your available paging file. On top of this there is the potential that RAM errors can cause problems or if the drive is over filled or slow it too can cause problems.

My suggestion is that you:

Delete any unnecessary files if you have less than 15% unused drive space. (Not systems files, I mean things like downloads you don't want any more, empty your internet cache's etc)
Defrag your drive
Close down any extra programs and use a site like www.blackviper.com to work out which unnecessary services you can stop. You can even CTRL-ALT-DEL and kill the explorer.exe process, this will remove your windows environment but you can reclaim it by CTRL-ALT-DELing later on and typing "explorer.exe" into the run dialogue.
By all means get a program to test your RAM to make sure it's not gone bad or has dodgy addresses. There are ways to REM out address ranges so they are not used, however most modern RAM checking software can do that for you.

The problems began with the new graphics card. An 8800 is going to be bottlenecked by a P4 3.2. But so was the 7900, just to a lesser degree.

Do you use a graphics benchmark program such as 3d Mark? If so, what was your score before and after? If not, go get one (http://www.futuremark.com/) and run it. What is your score, and how does it compare to similarly equipped systems?

The link in my earlier post was an example of someone with a similar computer, where they had a strange problem after upgrading to an 8800 graphics card. A BIOS update cured their problem. You've mentioned wanting to upgrade to a dual core CPU, and you need to upgrade your BIOS to do that anyway (and a CPU upgrade will allow you to get full use out of your new graphics card). So worst case scenario is the update doesn't cure your graphics issue, but you are still ready for a new CPU. Best case scenario, it solves both issues.

The problems began with the new graphics card.

When you upgrade to a new card you obviously also attempt to use higher settings to put it through it's paces. If it's just going to perform at the same level as your old card, why bother upgrading?

This is why the suggestion about RAM and hard drive related
points, after all higher settings means larger textures being used and perhaps a number of new shaders and other assorted visual extras. The simplest method would actually be to test the games on the same settings as used by the previous card to see if the lag stops, then you can find out if the problem is cache related.

The problems began with the new graphics card. An 8800 is going to be bottlenecked by a P4 3.2. But so was the 7900, just to a lesser degree.


a 8800 bottleneck will be higher then a 7900 one. its just sounds like a bottleneck because of an old processor, so if thats the case im pretty sure higher resolution will decrease the bottleneck. if not then thats obviously not the case.

I don't think it's a bottleneck, usually that slows the framrate down constantly, not just every 20 seconds. Sounds more like something in the background is periodically accessing the hard drive or using up other system resources. This might have been happening before but made more noticeable now that you're running games at higher framerates and quality settings.

Close down everything in the background that doesn't need to be running while you play, especially any anti-virus software, and see if that helps. If not I'd update the BIOS like Repo Man said, and do what Stryder suggests. Just be careful when flashing the BIOS, if you do it wrong you've got a big mess on your hands.

If nothing seems to help you could try running the Omega (http://www.omegadrivers.net/nvidia.php) drivers instead of nVidias.

An update so far.

Seems like Spock was right, I changed the resolution, and the lag seemed to have gone, but I have yet to run crysis with this resolution.

As for Repo Man, I did attempt to install the new drivers, but due to a my un tech savvyness, I just got a cmd box, which opened then closed, when I attempted to install the new drivers.

Oddly enough, my RAM usage really calmed down when i switched to a higher resolution, so did my idle CPU. I'm glad I didn't buy a new one.

EDIT: NO DICE. seems like it was a stopgap measure, As soon as I would re load a game, the lag returned.

An update so far.

Seems like Spock was right, I changed the resolution, and the lag seemed to have gone, but I have yet to run crysis with this resolution.

As for Repo Man, I did attempt to install the new drivers, but due to a my un tech savvyness, I just got a cmd box, which opened then closed, when I attempted to install the new drivers.

Oddly enough, my RAM usage really calmed down when i switched to a higher resolution, so did my idle CPU. I'm glad I didn't buy a new one.

EDIT: NO DICE. seems like it was a stopgap measure, As soon as I would re load a game, the lag returned.

at the same resolution? then its probably not a bottleneck.

eh? Sound like PSU weakness? Also it may be HD is IDE?

Either way you'll never solve it, this kinda thing usually requires a new system because nobody knows what the hell is causing it and they argue with eachother.

yeah.
PSU is rated for the graphic's card, and my HD's are SATA II.

You don't have Norton antivirus do you? :p

LOL.

Yes, but I switched all non essential processes and disconnected my internet before playing.

I talked to a few friends, and most agree that I should get a new processor, but not before applying a BIOS update to my current motherboard.

This might interest you:

8800GT CPU Scaling (http://www.digit-life.com/articles3/video/g92_scaling.html)

Norton is a POS that causes more problems than it solves. Some of it doesn't even show up in the task manager, so there's no way to shut it off completely, and it's always doing stuff like hogging resoures and grinding the hard drive. Horrible program.

Is it pretty regular, the lag spike? Or more random? It's hard to figure out what causes this kind of thing, could be almost anything. I'd say a new CPU would probably be the best bet. The P4 is definately bottlenecking the card, I'm just not sure if it's the cause of the lag spikes too.

Yes, regular lag spikes. usually last a while, then speed up, then come back.
Of course, the intervals where it's normal are short.

This might interest you:

8800GT CPU Scaling (http://www.digit-life.com/articles3/video/g92_scaling.html)

Norton is a POS that causes more problems than it solves. Some of it doesn't even show up in the task manager, so there's no way to shut it off completely, and it's always doing stuff like hogging resoures and grinding the hard drive. Horrible program.

Is it pretty regular, the lag spike? Or more random? It's hard to figure out what causes this kind of thing, could be almost anything. I'd say a new CPU would probably be the best bet. The P4 is definately bottlenecking the card, I'm just not sure if it's the cause of the lag spikes too.

if the card doesnt causes any problems on another platform you can at least rule out hardware malfunction-for the card of course.

I just tried a BIOS update, and despite it being the latest from ASUS. It still goes, unknown CPU found. Which didn't occur before, I might just try loading the original driver from the Cd.

On the graphics problem, lag has decreased only slightly, and the spikes became slightly shorter. But they're still there and is still hampering me when playing.

That shouldn't happen... a BIOS update should be the same as an older version with added support, not less support. What version number do you see when you go into the BIOS screen? Is this with a new CPU or your old one still? Did you find out what version your motherboard is?

Found the motherboard vers. 2.01 G. great.

Still using same CPU pent 4 3.2 GHz.

Will get back on the BIOS vers.
Last updated to 1208. P5LD2 SE. and I checked the site, It's the latest update. considering I bought my comp in 07, and the board was brand new then.

What a relief, my Motherboard supports other CPU's V. 2.01 G.