~1 second pause in games

[jackace]

Ok I built a new computer and everything is running great except the random ~1 second pause. I have not overclocked anything but the video card I bought is an EVGA 460 superclocked edition. In games I get a random ~1 second pause and everything returns to normal. I can go 30-40 minutes without a problem, and it can happen 2-3 times in a 5 minute time period. It's very random and weird. I have had GPUz monitor the temps and they never get above 60C. I'm using a corsair 650w PS which should be plenty for a single 460.

I'm just not sure what is causing this problem, and the only thing I can think to try now is return the video card to stock 460 settings and see if that is the problem. I have read that some people use a GPU stress testing program to make sure the problem is actually the video card, would that be a good step for me to take? If so what is a recommended program for stress testing my video card?

 

[cusideabelincoln]

Is there hard drive activity associated with these pauses?

What games show the symptoms?

Any more info you can add, the better.

 

[KyleGates]

Hmm, sounds odd but (in my travels), issues due to a facotry OC are usually maifested in artifacts or hard lockups. Guess my advice would be...

-Make sure drivers are the latest

-Maybe try an OC program and UNDERclock the card to factory defaults, that should rule out the OC being the issue.

-Check for a program running in the background that may interfere?

Maybe let us know the rest of the specs too, maybe its not vid card related at all.

 

[jackace]

All my drivers are up-to-date as of Friday last week.

I have checked programs and processes running in the background and nothing is using up resources before I start playing or after the pause happens. The pause is so quick though I can't really check anything when it happens. Only after

I have also scanned my computer with both malwarebytes and spybot just to make sure it was not a virus or malware and it came back clean.

Seems to happen in every game. Right now I'm mainly playing WoW with the expansion so that is where I see it the most.

I have not checked for HD activity during the pause, but the pause is so quick I really don't have time to check anything before its over. The only way I was able to check temps was to have it running a log and then going back and checking it after a pause.

edit -

Nothing on the computer is overclocked and is at stock settings.

ASUS P7P55D-E LX - using onboard audio
i5-760 - temps never go above 40C
WD HD - 2tb
G. Skill ram - 8bg
Win 7 pro 64

Edit 2-

I never get or at least never notice the pause doing anything but games.

 

[Qbah]

A wild guess, but... are you using Digsby (IM client)? I have the weirdest issue ever with Digsby - when it's running, my games stutter (I get pauses every second for like a split second), in every single game - it was driving me nuts! Literally, I couldn't play games at all (was driving me crazy). I close Digsby and presto - buttery smooth. Digsby running in the background doesn't increase CPU usage or disk usage (checked hardware monitor) but still causes every game to stutter like crazy. The developers are aware of it but have no idea why it's happening and how to solve it.

Perhaps there's something running in the background? Anything? Mind listing what exactly is loaded into memory when you're gaming?

 

[Soulkeeper]

here's some off the wall questions:

what speed are you running your pcie bus at ?
what hard drive are you using ?
how much memory do you have ? is your system swapping(using virtual memory maybe) ?

 

[Will Robinson]

Does that game run Punkbuster?,it might be the update poller.

 

[MustangSVT]

what anti virus program are you using?

 

[jackace]

No digsby

PCIe bus is running at 16x according to GPUz

HD is a WD green drive 2tb.

I have 8gb of ram so there should not be much swapping.

No WoW doesn't use Punkbuster.

I'm using security essentials right now.

I can't list things running in background right now, I'm at work. I have msconfiged out all startup programs and all non-MS processes, except AV, Mouse software for mapping keys (razer naga) and logitech software (g13).

 

[Destiny]

I'm experiencing the exact same thing with my EVGA Super Clock GTX 470... I turned off everything running in the background... I even down clocked the GPU to reference specifications and I'm still experiencing the same issue... I didn't experience this with my previous PNY GTX 470 - even when gaming for 5 hours straight...

 

[jackace]

I'm experiencing the exact same thing with my EVGA Super Clock GTX 470... I turned off everything running in the background... I even down clocked the GPU to reference specifications and I'm still experiencing the same issue... I didn't experience this with my previous PNY GTX 470 - even when gaming for 5 hours straight...

Yeah I'm considering getting another video card, even an my old 4850 and seeing if that fixes the problem.

 

[Absolution75]

No digsby

PCIe bus is running at 16x according to GPUz

HD is a WD green drive 2tb.

I have 8gb of ram so there should not be much swapping.

No WoW doesn't use Punkbuster.

I'm using security essentials right now.

I can't list things running in background right now, I'm at work. I have msconfiged out all startup programs and all non-MS processes, except AV, Mouse software for mapping keys (razer naga) and logitech software (g13).

You have a slow HD (5400rpm)

WoW streams textures and map data from the HD - this is why you see those pauses.

If you get a real 7200RPM hd, those pauses will likely be less obvious.

 

[jackace]

You have a slow HD (5400rpm)

WoW streams textures and map data from the HD - this is why you see those pauses.

If you get a real 7200RPM hd, those pauses will likely be less obvious.

I plan to get an SSD once I can catch a good deal on one, and this drive is going to be the storage drive.

Edit - I sometimes play wow on a laptop with a 5400 drive and I don't get those pauses.

 

[Absolution75]

Might be something like superfetch running in the background. Or another program like an AV. I'd check to see if you have any software differences.

Use performance monitor in windows to see what is using the most disk time.

 

[jackace]

Might be something like superfetch running in the background. Or another program like an AV. I'd check to see if you have any software differences.

Use performance monitor in windows to see what is using the most disk time.

The laptop is the same as my PC. Msconfig out everything except AV (which is security essentials), Mouse software, and logitech software. I have checked the performance monitor and nothing is using resources before or after the pause/freeze. I can't tell you for sure during the pause/freeze because it's literally 1-2 seconds at most.

 

[Rhoxed]

Another wild guess, but have you set-up Windows Media Center? it has an odd problem with a network client gobbling ram, and was causing my 1090T rig to skip in games every now and then (sometimes 3 mins sometimes 30)

 

[jackace]

Another wild guess, but have you set-up Windows Media Center? it has an odd problem with a network client gobbling ram, and was causing my 1090T rig to skip in games every now and then (sometimes 3 mins sometimes 30)

Don't use windows media center at all.

After doing some googling many people are saying it might be indexing causing the problem. I will have to try turning off indexing on my game folders and see if that fixes the problem.

 

[BathroomFeeling]

If that doesn't work, try disabling the on-board audio.

 

[Arkadrel]

Could be memory right? or HDD load times?
Might be the gfx card though... how badly is it overclocked?
Might want to run some tests for stability and see how it does.

 

[Soulkeeper]

I agree with the sentiment above, a 2TB green drive as the boot drive is a bottleneck. I've heard people talk about how these drives do excessive head parking or "sleep" behavior. This could be the case when most all the textures and game files are loaded into memory (drive goes to sleep), then when one is needed it wakes back up causing the delay. Just a theory.

 

[Termie]

One thing to try is running evga's monitoring software in the background so you have a graph of frames per second. It should show you where the blip occurs and what's happening with other vga settings at that point. You should also run a cpu monitor. I have one on my windows sidebar but windows task manager will do the same thing. You want to see if both cpu and gpu are dropping in use during the slowdowns. This would suggest it's something else like your drive or drivers.

 

[Acanthus]

I agree with the sentiment above, a 2TB green drive as the boot drive is a bottleneck. I've heard people talk about how these drives do excessive head parking or "sleep" behavior. This could be the case when most all the textures and game files are loaded into memory (drive goes to sleep), then when one is needed it wakes back up causing the delay. Just a theory.

I'm actually thinking this might be it.

The large WD "green" series drives go to sleep excessively often.

here is a link with a fix
http://www.storagereview.com/how_st...ern_digital_2tb_caviar_green_wd20ears_wdidle3

 

[exar333]

I'm actually thinking this might be it.

The large WD "green" series drives go to sleep excessively often.

here is a link with a fix
http://www.storagereview.com/how_st...ern_digital_2tb_caviar_green_wd20ears_wdidle3

This could be it. I have a 1.5 green drive from WD, but I use it as a storage drive and not an O/S drive. I can definitely see a delay sometimes when accessing files from it and it was in some sort of sleep mode. I have not used it as a primary drive, however, so I can't speak to if this is exactly the issue the OP is describing.

 

[Kuzi]

Just guessing but there is a big chance it's the audio drivers. Check online if you can find the latest audio drivers, also open the audio settings in Wow, maybe change some stuff there and see what happens.

 

[taltamir]

@OP: what games are those? where in those games does it specifically happen? could it be that the game is automatically saving your progress, which causes a short pause as it waits for the HDD?