Gaming rig but games lag offline?

[RiverPhoenix]

I am able to run any pc game on ultra settings with no trouble at all but this is my problem:
I get a contant rate of 60 frame rates but every 1 minute or 2 the frame rates drop to about 17-18 and the game lag really bad but there is no difference in visuals then after about 15 seconds the frame rates shoot back up to 60 again and the game is back to normal? Why is this happening ive tried everything possible to fix this for nearly 6 months now its sucks! Games i play are Far cry 3, dishonored, War Z, Black light retribution, Diablo 3, Assassins creed 3 etc..

specs are:
AMD FX 8120 8-core 3.1GHz cpu

ASRock 880GM-LE FX motherboard

8 gigs of hyper kingston ram

1TB seagate HDD

GTX 660 TI

Cooler master 700 power supply

And i have 4 fans in the system too

thanks

 

[Karstein]

Update all drivers. Run a disk check on your HDD.

 

[RiverPhoenix]

Update all drivers. Run a disk check on your HDD.

yeah ive updated all my drivers and done a disk check the only thing weird is that my read/write time starts off really good then suddenly drops really low then slowly climbs back up again?

 

[Kalmah]

Just a couple of things to poke around with.

If you have multiple monitors open up your task manager and put it on the resource monitor while playing. See if your cpu is spiking when it happens. I have no idea what this will solve by knowing but it may prove useful eventually.

Also have a look at the event viewer in admin tools. See if there are any errors going off every couple of minutes and try to figure out what it is.

You could also try disabling things systematically. I'd start by playing a game with all sound turned off. If it stops doing it then you can believe it has something to do with your soundcard.

Do you use a gaming mouse with polling rate maxed out way high? Not sure but I've read that this can cause problems like this. May be BS though.

 

[RiverPhoenix]

Just a couple of things to poke around with.

If you have multiple monitors open up your task manager and put it on the resource monitor while playing. See if your cpu is spiking when it happens. I have no idea what this will solve by knowing but it may prove useful eventually.

Also have a look at the event viewer in admin tools. See if there are any errors going off every couple of minutes and try to figure out what it is.

You could also try disabling things systematically. I'd start by playing a game with all sound turned off. If it stops doing it then you can believe it has something to do with your soundcard.

Do you use a gaming mouse with polling rate maxed out way high? Not sure but I've read that this can cause problems like this. May be BS though.

yeah i checked but my cpu doesnt spike?

yeah i tried with the sound and other things turned off but it still occurs :/

i had a look in the event log and there were no errors neither?

 

[Kalmah]

Did this computer always do this? If not, has anything changed or been installed around the time it started?

Is all of your software legit? (legal OS?)

 

[RiverPhoenix]

Did this computer always do this? If not, has anything changed or been installed around the time it started?

Is all of your software legit? (legal OS?)

yep its been doing it evr since i built it which was 9 months ago ive been trying to fix it ever since!
and yeah everything in my system is legal

 

[Kalmah]

yep its been doing it evr since i built it which was 9 months ago ive been trying to fix it ever since!
and yeah everything in my system is legal

I'm starting to think that some hardware is faulty, compatibility problem between certain hardware, or something is configured wrong in the bios.

First thing I'd try it running something to test your ram. If it's windows 7 or 8 there should be a memory tester utility on the cd. Make sure cd rom is set to boot before hd in the bios and boot the computer up to run it.

It might run from within windows as well. I'm not sure.

Another option is memtest86 http://www.memtest.org/

 

[RiverPhoenix]

I'm starting to think that some hardware is faulty, compatibility problem between certain hardware, or something is configured wrong in the bios.

First thing I'd try it running something to test your ram. If it's windows 7 or 8 there should be a memory tester utility on the cd. Make sure cd rom is set to boot before hd in the bios and boot the computer up to run it.

It might run from within windows as well. I'm not sure.

Another option is memtest86 http://www.memtest.org/

yea i thought that aswell ive ran mamtest86 and the default windows ram test and the ram passes its fine?

 

[styrafoam]

It sounds like some driver or software is doing something at the hardware level. Can you take a screen shot of the process tab of the task manager and post it?

Typical things that could be doing this: Wifi card drivers, printer drivers, digicam software, personal media player software, so on and so on.

 

[Kalmah]

Any other weirdness outside of gaming?

 

[RiverPhoenix]

It sounds like some driver or software is doing something at the hardware level. Can you take a screen shot of the process tab of the task manager and post it?

Typical things that could be doing this: Wifi card drivers, printer drivers, digicam software, personal media player software, so on and so on.

yeah ill take one while im gaming!

i dont have a wifi card in my build, printer driverr cause i dont have one, or a digi cam cause i have no internet connection

 

[RiverPhoenix]

Any other weirdness outside of gaming?

no i played a movie off my HDD and there were no frame drops or lag stutter i did the same thing but played a movie off an actual dvd and nothing happened either? :/

 

[styrafoam]

yeah ill take one while im gaming!

i dont have a wifi card in my build, printer driverr cause i dont have one, or a digi cam cause i have no internet connection

Doesn't have to be while you are gaming, just trying to get a look at what you have running in the background.

 

[RiverPhoenix]

It sounds like some driver or software is doing something at the hardware level. Can you take a screen shot of the process tab of the task manager and post it?

Typical things that could be doing this: Wifi card drivers, printer drivers, digicam software, personal media player software, so on and so on.

ok heres the screen shot while playing far cry 3

http://postimage.org/image/k19ec0atv/

 

[RiverPhoenix]

Doesn't have to be while you are gaming, just trying to get a look at what you have running in the background.

ok heres the screenshot http://postimage.org/image/k19ec0atv/

 

[BrightCandle]

Get GPU-Z and have it track the stats in the background. If it starts going slow give it a few seconds and then alt tab out and take a picture of the GPU-Z graphs. There is a chance your GPU is downclocking on isn't being fully utilised.

Would be useful to capture the frame times with fraps as well so we know just how much of a problem there is (in fraps turn on frame time and then F11 from within the game).

PS - Its not lag, that is a term meaning that the network packets are taking a long time causing warping of other characters. What you have is a performance problem, its definitely not lag.

 

[RiverPhoenix]

Get GPU-Z and have it track the stats in the background. If it starts going slow give it a few seconds and then alt tab out and take a picture of the GPU-Z graphs. There is a chance your GPU is downclocking on isn't being fully utilised.

Would be useful to capture the frame times with fraps as well so we know just how much of a problem there is (in fraps turn on frame time and then F11 from within the game).

PS - Its not lag, that is a term meaning that the network packets are taking a long time causing warping of other characters. What you have is a performance problem, its definitely not lag.

no its not my gpu because the same problem occurred with my GTX 560Ti

the frame rates only go to 13 and the problem has always gone to 13 and it lasts for roughly 15 seconds then it shoots straight up to 60fps again


yeah its stutter lag...

 

[HydroSqueegee]

turn off ALL power saving features including all power saving features in the BIOS for the CPU.

 

[BrightCandle]

no its not my gpu because the same problem occurred with my GTX 560Ti

Humour me!

It doesn't obviously show in the CPU chart, but it might in the GPU one.

 

[RiverPhoenix]

Humour me!

It doesn't obviously show in the CPU chart, but it might in the GPU one.

ha ha ha.

whatever you say hero. I'll try it just for

 

[Tweak155]

Usually this occurs for one of the following reasons:

1 - Hard drive activity occuring outside the game. I.E virus scanner, windows updates, etc

2 - CPU spike or alternatively the CPU is being throttled. I.E runs at 50% and won't budge past it

3 - Hard drive degredation or bad quality.

One other possible speculation is how your mobo is handling power from the PSU. If it gets inconsistent quality power, it could be throttling the CPU arbitrarily (or if you have weak power from the wall). I'd try using an extension cord from another room and see if it helps.

 

[power_hour]

Couple of things:

Easy stuff:
1. Check to see how your audio is setup. Ensure your mobo/audio drivers are upto date
2. Disable your AV during testing
3. Disable all non core services
4. Reset your router and ensure your not running QoS on the router
5. Disable any second monitor

Harder stuff:
1. Open case and ensure CPU fan/heatsink are placed correctly
2. Blow out any dust bunnies
3. Confirm none of the cables are crimped
4. Check the capacitors looking for any leakage

If it were my system and I tried all the above and I still had issues, here is what I would do:

1. Pull the drive, put it aside
2. Buy new SSD
3. Install Windows 7, run all updates (don't activate it yet)
4. Run a full backup to external drive
5. Install best VGA driver you think works
6. Install games and test
7. Keep testing VGA drivers to see if any of them work better than any others
8. Don't install anything else until you finished testing, don't even surf the web with this system.
9. If this fails to solve problem, pull the SSD, put the original drive back and start looking at hardware again (assuming the drive is in good shape).

Good luck.

 

[Zenoth]

Just wanted to add a potential thing to look for, in the NVIDIA's Control Panel make sure that all options are at default to start with, then test games from that setting (from default options). If you prefer you could also just try to force V-Sync On (regardless of the V-Sync option within the games themselves).

In my case I had issues with Borderlands 2, such as sudden frame drops and occasional black screen issues (but video signal was not lost and I could alt-tab to the desktop while the game's sounds kept going in the background). I tried a few things until I decided to enable and disable some options in the NVIDIA's CP and went from there with an elimination process, one by one, until I got to the V-Sync option. It was normally set to Off (forced) since I usually don't actually need any V-Sync. Then I tried Adaptive but still had issues, then I tried to force it On... and for some reason now all my Borderlands 2 issues are gone (even though V-Sync in the game itself is forced Off, go figure). Maybe it's just coincidence... but it's been four days since I made the change and so far so good.

Note, however, that in my case the issues I had were only in Borderlands 2. I play many other games and none so far have ever crashed or slowed down to a crawl out of nowhere for 10 seconds, or things like that. So try that V-Sync stuff, or, as I said, at least try to make sure that all options in the CP are set at default, and from there do some elimination process one by one. It takes some time sure, and you need to test gaming with each options you try for at least 30 mins or so, might take you a few days if you test with all your games but in the end you'll know it's not related to the CP options, or related to one of them.

Or maybe it's something completely different, difficult to know for sure. I just wanted to add my suggestions amongst all others previously given, hope it helps!

 

[RiverPhoenix]

Usually this occurs for one of the following reasons:

1 - Hard drive activity occuring outside the game. I.E virus scanner, windows updates, etc

2 - CPU spike or alternatively the CPU is being throttled. I.E runs at 50% and won't budge past it

3 - Hard drive degredation or bad quality.

One other possible speculation is how your mobo is handling power from the PSU. If it gets inconsistent quality power, it could be throttling the CPU arbitrarily (or if you have weak power from the wall). I'd try using an extension cord from another room and see if it helps.

i think its the second option because my mobo only supports up to 95 watts where as my cpu is 125 watts?

Couple of things:

Easy stuff:
1. Check to see how your audio is setup. Ensure your mobo/audio drivers are upto date
2. Disable your AV during testing
3. Disable all non core services
4. Reset your router and ensure your not running QoS on the router
5. Disable any second monitor

Harder stuff:
1. Open case and ensure CPU fan/heatsink are placed correctly
2. Blow out any dust bunnies
3. Confirm none of the cables are crimped
4. Check the capacitors looking for any leakage

If it were my system and I tried all the above and I still had issues, here is what I would do:

1. Pull the drive, put it aside
2. Buy new SSD
3. Install Windows 7, run all updates (don't activate it yet)
4. Run a full backup to external drive
5. Install best VGA driver you think works
6. Install games and test
7. Keep testing VGA drivers to see if any of them work better than any others
8. Don't install anything else until you finished testing, don't even surf the web with this system.
9. If this fails to solve problem, pull the SSD, put the original drive back and start looking at hardware again (assuming the drive is in good shape).

Good luck.

thanks man ive tried all of those things you mentioned in your 2 first lists but ive aslo tried your 3rd option as well not with an SSD though but a faster drive than an ordinary mechanical one it was a laptop gaming hardr drive i had spare but after i tried it the problems still persisted so ive ruled out my haddrive, ram, gpu,cpu so now i know its my motherboard any you could suggest between 80-100 bucks?

Just wanted to add a potential thing to look for, in the NVIDIA's Control Panel make sure that all options are at default to start with, then test games from that setting (from default options). If you prefer you could also just try to force V-Sync On (regardless of the V-Sync option within the games themselves).

In my case I had issues with Borderlands 2, such as sudden frame drops and occasional black screen issues (but video signal was not lost and I could alt-tab to the desktop while the game's sounds kept going in the background). I tried a few things until I decided to enable and disable some options in the NVIDIA's CP and went from there with an elimination process, one by one, until I got to the V-Sync option. It was normally set to Off (forced) since I usually don't actually need any V-Sync. Then I tried Adaptive but still had issues, then I tried to force it On... and for some reason now all my Borderlands 2 issues are gone (even though V-Sync in the game itself is forced Off, go figure). Maybe it's just coincidence... but it's been four days since I made the change and so far so good.

Note, however, that in my case the issues I had were only in Borderlands 2. I play many other games and none so far have ever crashed or slowed down to a crawl out of nowhere for 10 seconds, or things like that. So try that V-Sync stuff, or, as I said, at least try to make sure that all options in the CP are set at default, and from there do some elimination process one by one. It takes some time sure, and you need to test gaming with each options you try for at least 30 mins or so, might take you a few days if you test with all your games but in the end you'll know it's not related to the CP options, or related to one of them.

Or maybe it's something completely different, difficult to know for sure. I just wanted to add my suggestions amongst all others previously given, hope it helps!

wow cheers man! ive changed nearly every setting in the nvidia cp options i get a few changes for the good but it doesnt last long see you raised a good point it only happened to you in one game BL2 it happens to me in every game fom ac3 to minecraft hahhhah