Super Desktop, Inferior Game Running :(

[Niv]

hmmm... I've just tooked my RAM sticks out and checked them... they're indeed both 2GB giving a total of 4 GB. :S . Sorry if I've doubted you guys, and thanks for letting me know about this before I run to the shop 5 km away like an idiot that I am.

The writings on both of them is... : 2GB JETRAM DDR 667 donno what they stand for yet :S

 

[hat]

Yeah. It only recgonizes 3GB because you have a 64-bit OS. Just to make sure... download CPU-Z, go to the memory tab, and where it says channels #, it should say either single or dual... of course, you want it to say dual.

 

[twicksisted]

he probably has 4gb ram... in 32bit os
thats why it shows up as 3gb

(ok i shouldve read the last page first)

 

[Hayder_Master]

which games have problems i am play crisis on very high

 

[Niv]

Yeah. It only recgonizes 3GB because you have a 64-bit OS. Just to make sure... download CPU-Z, go to the memory tab, and where it says channels #, it should say either single or dual... of course, you want it to say dual.

Does your suggestion do the same thing as this suggestion?

contrary to other peoples comments, this problem IS software. hardware problems result in crashing or consistent behavior, running smooth and then chugging/going crazy quite often points at software/viruslike behaviour.

hardware checklist: overheating CPU or video card

Software checklist: viruses, drivers
One important driver for the 'ultra fast' issue is the AMD dual core optimiser available here
http://www.amd.com/us-en/assets/content_type/utilities/AMD_Dual-Core_Optimizer_113.zip


Also, if you just moved your old windows hard drive across that wont work. you will need to format windows to make it work properly, and that would be my reccomended fix for your current problems anyway, if the above things i mentioned do not work.

 

[hat]

No.
http://www.cpuid.com/download/cpuz_145.zip

 

[Niv]

k it's getting real late here so I'll post the rest of my progress tomorrow and I guess we can continue then. Thanks a ton for eveyone's crazy enthusiasm in helping , when the problem is solved I'll make sure to spread good words to my friends about this forum. Till then, night guys.

 

[DonInKansas]

Does your suggestion do the same thing as this suggestion?

Nope; you'll definitely want to download the Dual Core Optimizer; now that Ithink back, my games were performing similarly until I happened across this little nugget of AMD goodness....(found here at TPU I think!)

 

[Mussels]

Okay, here's what I see from the IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers:
Primary IDE Channel
Primary IDE Channel
Secondary IDE Channel
Secondary IDE Channel
Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller
Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller

Can you let me know which one is Hard Drive, DVD drive and SATA drive?

as you go into each one, it should actually say. What channel has what drive all comes down to how they were plugged in!

All of those appear to be IDE actually.
the 'standard controller' is the main one, and each of those has a primary and secondary under it.

SATA drives show up as IDE unless they are set to SATA in the motherboards BIOS and the drivers installed, so even if you have SATA it appears your system was setup in IDE compatibility mode (this does not cause the problems you are experiencing, it merely disables some features such as hot-swap on SATA-II hard drives)

 

[Cybrnook2002]

Go in your BIOS and try turning off any power saving features like C1E etc......anything that would downclock your components.

 

[Mussels]

Go in your BIOS and try turning off any power saving features like C1E etc......anything that would downclock your components.

while i appreciate your attempting to help, we've already fixed the CPU related problems with the AMD dual core optimiser/forcing affinities.

However, i kindly request (and i mean this in a nice way) that you sit back, and learn a bit here - he has an AMD system, which does NOT have C1E or those 'other features' and actually requires a software installation before it can activate (AMD cool and quiet)

'Downclocking' from those features NEVER hinders performance, they speed back up in nanoseconds, and never slow anything down. its a myth.

 

[Niv]

Nope; you'll definitely want to download the Dual Core Optimizer; now that Ithink back, my games were performing similarly until I happened across this little nugget of AMD goodness....(found here at TPU I think!)

As I've said before, I've tried this method and it solved half the problems.

as you go into each one, it should actually say. What channel has what drive all comes down to how they were plugged in!

All of those appear to be IDE actually.
the 'standard controller' is the main one, and each of those has a primary and secondary under it.

SATA drives show up as IDE unless they are set to SATA in the motherboards BIOS and the drivers installed, so even if you have SATA it appears your system was setup in IDE compatibility mode (this does not cause the problems you are experiencing, it merely disables some features such as hot-swap on SATA-II hard drives)

Unforunately when I was check this last night I don't recall seeing those descriptions. It listed a bunch of channel names instead, and I couldn't figure out which is which. I can tell you that all of them has some thing like this currently selected (I didn't change them) "DMA if available".

**I called the shop keeper who sold me the desktop (that he put together for me) today, and he told me that there may be a problem with my OS. Apparently he believes that Microsoft Windows XP - Media Center is a bad OS to be used for gaming. (This might be possible, cause SYSTEM in the TaskManager's list does pop up everytime during the lag spiking some 10% more CPU usage. I furthermore noticed that, when the game is running ultra-fast (now normal speed thanks to the dual-core optimizer) the game uses 0~5% CPU. It is as if the game has be PRE-processed. I some how get the feeling that perhaps there is a mis-communication between my CPU, mother board and my video card. Well this is only a hunch. Keep the suggestions flowing. I will try them when I get back home. Keep helping me and thanks guys

 

[Mussels]

they'll say "DMA if available", and IF a drive is on that channel, they'll list the mode its on underneath that. List all the modes that are showing.

It doesnt matter which is which to be honest, if you list the modes they're in i can tell you if any are set wrong.

 

[Niv]

k here are some more new infos for good sir Mussels

Primary IDE Channel Properties
Device 0
- Device Type: Auto Detection
- Transfer Mode: DMA if available
- Current Transfer Mode: Ultra DMA Mode 4
Device 1
- Device Type: Auto Detection
- Transfer Mode: DMA if avilable
- Current Transfer Mode: Not Applicable

Primary IDE Channel Properties
Device 0
- Device Type: Auto Detection
- Transfer Mode: DMA if available
- Current Transfer Mode: Ultra DMA Mode 4
Device 1
- Device Type: Auto Detection
- Transfer Mode: DMA if avilable
- Current Transfer Mode: Not Applicable

Secondary IDE Channel Properties
Device 0
- Device Type: Auto Detection
- Transfer Mode: DMA if available
- Current Transfer Mode: Ultra DMA Mode 6
Device 1
- Device Type: Auto Detection
- Transfer Mode: DMA if avilable
- Current Transfer Mode: Not Applicable

Secondary IDE Channel Properties
Device 0
- Device Type: Auto Detection
- Transfer Mode: DMA if available
- Current Transfer Mode: Not Applicable
Device 1
- Device Type: Auto Detection
- Transfer Mode: DMA if avilable
- Current Transfer Mode: Not Applicable

Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller
- N/A (can't find the tabs listed above under ADVANCED SETTINGS)

Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller
- N/A (can't find the tabs listed above under ADVANCED SETTINGS)

 

[Mussels]

the UDMA 6 would be a SATA-II hard drive, while the UDMA 4 drives would be running ATA 100 or 133 (i cant remember which) which is normal for IDE hard drives.

Those are all perfectly fine, which means HDD's arent likely to be the problem here - if any of those had been in multi-word DMA or PIO mode, they would have been a very good cause for the problems you are having.

So far weve ruled out HDD's and CPU... i wonder whats left to check. Now that you have the dual core optimiser, can you give more in-detail reports of any problems you're having?

 

[Niv]

well this is all the info that I can provide for now:

SYSTEM in the TaskManager's list does pop up everytime during the lag spiking some 10% more CPU usage. I furthermore noticed that, when the game is running ultra-fast (now normal speed thanks to the dual-core optimizer) the game uses 0~5% CPU. It is as if the game has be PRE-processed. I some how get the feeling that perhaps there is a mis-communication between my CPU, mother board and my video card.

I think what I would like to stress is that the games start most of the time ULTRA-fast. Games run at 2x~3x their supposed speed for 5~10secs then lags to some incredible degree (as if the computer processed too fast and then decided to do nothing), then goes back to the 2x~3x hyper-speed again (as if computer realized that it has forgotten about the game program and decided to pick up the work again) which of course will result in the lag again. This process repeats at a steady pace as if the computer times it.

 

[Niv]

Also that when the game is lagging, the CPU of the game appears. When the game is hyper-speeding/smooth running, NO game CPU appears in the TaskManager.

 

[Mussels]

To be honest, i'm stumped. It makes me think its a virus or other software issue, i'd suggest formatting to a more common/accesible OS like vista x64 (mostly so you can use your 4GB of ram)

 

[Darren]

It's not a hardware issue it's software, either an application which you or your PC dealer has installed which is consuming an unnecessary amount of CPU resources and hence causing these spikes (possibly an anti-virus program in the middle of a scan?)

Download CPU-z it will give us a full run down of your systems specification and tell us your motherboard name/number and maybe we can help you find some motherboard chipset drivers.

Also download Nvidia's latest graphics card driver for the 8600 series-------> http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_175.16_whql.html

Also that when the game is lagging, the CPU of the game appears. When the game is hyper-speeding/smooth running, NO game CPU appears in the TaskManager.

You keep saying "the game" what game exactly are you attempting to play and does this happen with every title you play. Because if this problem only occurs with one game and all your other games are fine maybe you should look for a game specific patch.



Last resort would be to format your hard disk drive and re-install window, if that fails contact your PC dealer. This is why I stay away from prebuilt PCs, they charge you upto 2x more, mess up the build and give you crappy technical support.

 

[Mussels]

actually i should ask as this isnt in your specs - do you have G15 keyboard? i've heard of the LCD driver for them doing this kind of thing.

 

[Niv]

Sorry for the long wait. Exams were closing in and I got too busy to experimet with my desktop. I've found 2 more things about the problems. This lag problem seems to also be occuring OUTSIDE of game playing; when I was surfing the internet looking for desktop backgrounds, the lag starts to occur. Perhaps his has to do with my video card? I also noticed that on my motherboard driver installation disc, it says "Nvidia Geforce7050PV/nForce 60a Chipset Support CD Rev.407.01", my video card is Nvidia e-GeForce8200 GT" perhaps my video card is too much for my mother board to handle?

As I've greatly feared. The problems seem to be rooted from my hardware. I've just finished reformatting and reinstalling my OS into Windows XP pro (Serv. Pack 2) followed by the driver installations. Without installing ANYTHING else, I installed the games I was talking about, and once again the same problems has appeared. Atm, I'm stumped as in what piece of my hardwares could be causing this and how I should fix it.

It's not a hardware issue it's software, either an application which you or your PC dealer has installed which is consuming an unnecessary amount of CPU resources and hence causing these spikes (possibly an anti-virus program in the middle of a scan?)

Download CPU-z it will give us a full run down of your systems specification and tell us your motherboard name/number and maybe we can help you find some motherboard chipset drivers.

Also download Nvidia's latest graphics card driver for the 8600 series-------> http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_175.16_whql.html




You keep saying "the game" what game exactly are you attempting to play and does this happen with every title you play. Because if this problem only occurs with one game and all your other games are fine maybe you should look for a game specific patch.



Last resort would be to format your hard disk drive and re-install window, if that fails contact your PC dealer. This is why I stay away from prebuilt PCs, they charge you upto 2x more, mess up the build and give you crappy technical support.

Darren, hate to say this but I've said what games I'm talking about before for 3 times at least already. They are Voyage Century Online, Dawn of War, Caesar IV. And I've followed you advice, the results are said at the top of the post.

actually i should ask as this isnt in your specs - do you have G15 keyboard? i've heard of the LCD driver for them doing this kind of thing.

The key board I'm using is by logitech "Logitech Cordless Desktop EX110"

** As many of you have requested. I've ran the cpuz.exe posted for me and here are the results:

 

[Niv]

sorry I mean to say that the problem occurs ALSO* outside of game playing.

 

[Mussels]

i have an EX110. horrible keyboard

nothings wrong with the CPU-Z.

The only things i can think of here is that you mention a driver CD - you arent using that are you? you should install XP SP3 and get the latest updates for drivers direct from the manufacturer (EG, if its an Nvidia card get it from nvidia.com)

We already checked your HDD and CD drives, thats where i would have looked otherwise...

Heres an idea. go into power properties in the device manager, and make sure the HDD idle time isnt set to a low number - set it to infnite, or 2 hours.

 

[Scheich]

Your mobo sux. I had exact the same problem with an ASUS blahblah VM-SE. It was very cheap. The solution is simple, return it. If you cant do it, you could direkt a fan at one of the mobo heatsinks, maybe that helps. If you insist in keeping it, someday a big hammer will appear in your hand, autosmashing your computer, don´t let that happen !!!

I know this sounds ridiculous, but looking back at this piece of shit from Asus, i can still barely laugh about it

 

[largon]

Niv,
Your motherboard has an integrated GPU. Are you sure you have the monitor plugged into the actual video card (8600GT), not into the motherboard?