Computer not performing like it used to

[Dru22]

Well my computer just isn't performing like it used to. Whenever i'm playing games it seems to always be freezing up for a second then will go on, it will continue to do this all the time, i used to be able to play Need For Speed Underground flawlessly with everything turned up, not with stuff even turned down it still freezes for a couple of seconds. My specs of my computer are below. I update the drivers to the 91.31, i'm running the BFG Tech 6800Gt, i never uninstall my old drivers after i update, should i do that or should i just go back to older drivers? If i need to uninstall the old drivers how do i go about doin that.

 

[KeithTalent]

Spyware/Malware?Pr0nware?

Use Drivercleaner Pro for the drivers: http://www.drivercleaner.net/

 

[Ayah]

Run antivirus scans, spyware scans and see if that works. (AVG, Avast, Adaware, Spybot)

 

[Dru22]

I'm pretty sure i don't have any spyware, malware, or Pr0nware on my computer.

 

[ku]

Those intermittent freezes are most likely software related. Most likely spyware, malware, etc. Make sure you scan your computer for viruses (online scans work well, or free programs ie. Bitdefender and AVG are a good combo). Also use Adaware, Spybot S&D, and Bazooka to look for spyware.malware. If you do all those and still come up with nothing, it would most likely be some sort of system settings or a driver of some sort (maybe system restore settings, virtual memory settings, etc.)

 

[topspin12]

You can also use ewido for antimalware and spyware, it seems to always pick up stuff the other programs miss

 

[out there]

hard-drive defrag time? need for speed (if i remember correctly) only loads part of a level and then loads the rest upon reaching a certain point... a messy disk will slow the loading.

 

[Dru22]

Ok i cleared off the old drivers, i check the temperature of my video card when i was playing the game, it was at like 85 degrees Celcius. which i know is too damn hot, but i'm not sure why its getting that hot.

 

[out there]

dusch it w/compressed air, there's probably too much dirt built up; alternatively, perhaps the grease has somehow lost it's grip, in which case, reattach the heatsink or install a different one.
worst case... upgrade the gpu, unless it's agp

 

[drpootums]

reformatting your hard drive/reinstalling Windows/reinstalling all your applications and drivers should bring your computer back to it's original speed, but i would only use that as a last resort.

 

[0roo0roo]

cr@p cleaner
and yes reinstall windows.

 

[Dru22]

Okay, cleared off all the old drivers for the video card, took the computer apart and clean it out very good, making sure all fans were free of any dirt or dust same with gpu, cpu, memory, etc. Assembled and played NFSU2 again, i noticed it went down about 1 degree celcius, but it is still running at 84C, last time i played it i noticed shapes popping up on my screen of different colors, i thought this was called fragmenting? i know that it does it when the card is over heating. I'm watching my idle temperature now and it reads 59C with the case open and 60-61 with it closed. Any other ideas? Should i move to water cooling?

 

[lamere]

Watercooling isn't going to fix anything, especially when you said your PC was running fine before. It will bring the temps down, but not fix the initial problem.
If possible I think reinstall winblows time

 

[Dru22]

What will reinstalling it do? Not saying that in a mean way, just asking, also i have Windows XP Home on this machine, i have Windows XP Pro, can i go ahead and upgrade to Pro and not lose any files?

 

[w00t]

you should scan your computer for virus` and spyware

If it doesn't find anything and it still seems sluggish time to reformat

and you say that your temps are 84C for your processor? you should never need water cooling air is enough a decent heatsink with active cooling is more than enough.

 

[Dru22]

No not 84C for the Processor, 84 is for the Video Card.

 

[SpeedZealot369]

bump, I have the same problem

 

[henryay]

I'm not sure if this applies to video cards, but if it gets too hot, the video card would throttle down therefore creating these freezes.

 

[SpeedZealot369]

WOW I did a spyware check and all my chugging is gone. I'm so happy right now, THANKS AT I LOVE U

-SZ

 

[ZimZum]

90% of the time this is due to spyware malware.

Other things you can do to improve performance:

1. Defrag hard drive
2. Clean your registry
3. start>run type: "msconfig", click startup tab, get rid of all the unnecessary programs that are loading on windows startup.
4. add more ram

 

[AgentJean]

Originally posted by: SpeedZealot369
WOW I did a spyware check and all my chugging is gone. I'm so happy right now, THANKS AT I LOVE U

-SZ

Stop downloading p0rn!

 

[Dru22]

Would spyware make my video card run hot, this is the problem.

 

[SlitheryDee]

Are you overclocking the video card? There's also the possibility that the chugging you're experiencing is caused by having too many programs running in the background. What do you have set to run on startup? What do you see listed when you go to start>run>msconfig>startup tab?

 

[Azndude2190]

Get a can of compressed air and clean out your rig.Check if you have any spyware/malware/virus.If you do remove them!Should fix your problems.You can always reformat the drive and install a fresh copy of your OS.Remember to save important files on a CD/Floppy.

 

[AgentJean]

Originally posted by: Dru22
Would spyware make my video card run hot, this is the problem.

Sounds like you have a dust buildup between the heatsink.

Get a can of Air and spay out the card(make sure you get under the headsink)

My Geforce 6800GT would idel at 80 degrees C :Q. Put the thing under the load of Battlefield 2 and it would reach the threshold of 135 in a few seconds and lock the machne up.

I wanted to remove the heatsink and apply some Article silver but I don't have the small screw driver so i settled for just blowing out the dust(alot of it too) thing Idels at 55 and goes to 60 under load(I also hacked the drivers to speed the fan up to 100% of it's speed instead of the default 50% speed)