GTX 260 jitters

[ochadd]

In Mass Effect and Oblivion I've been seeing some very strange jitters. I cant exactly call it a stutter as the frame rate is up in the 50s when this is happening. It's not dropping or spiking and in Mass Effect it's frequently up at the cap.

I game at 1920x1200 and other games I've noticed things being much smoother than with my old 3870. The hard drive the game is installed on is failing but I'm not sure how or why that would effect things once it's all loaded.

Anyone else notice this or do I have something screwy? I haven't checked my system memory usage with the new card (at work atm) but would cranking up the image quality at the same resolution cause these games to use much more memory? Always had 400-600MB free with the old card.

edit: WoW installed on a different HD also is having the jittering problem...

 

[videopho]

Which driver are you using?
I've had problem with the 260 due to bad driver.
I'm at the moment, using the Beta 177.79 (I think) w/o any more issue (yet).

 

[sticks435]

There was a whole big topic on this at one point. I think the conclusion was that dual core CPU's don't cut it for that game, and it causes the jitters, even if your FPS is way up, due to the CPU maxing out, and the GPU having to wait for the CPU to catch back up.

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: ochadd
The hard drive the game is installed on is failing but I'm not sure how or why that would effect things once it's all loaded.

A game may still poll the HDD after it is loaded.

 

[ochadd]

Originally posted by: videopho
Which driver are you using?
I've had problem with the 260 due to bad driver.
I'm at the moment, using the Beta 177.79 (I think) w/o any more issue (yet).

177.41 is what I'm running.

 

[ochadd]

Originally posted by: sticks435
There was a whole big topic on this at one point. I think the conclusion was that dual core CPU's don't cut it for that game, and it causes the jitters, even if your FPS is way up, due to the CPU maxing out, and the GPU having to wait for the CPU to catch back up.

I was running a 3870 when I played through it several times and it ran "perfectly" outside of the same problems everyone else has with it.

I did read that other post and it seems likely it's another symptom of console ports. Even if you are CPU limited the FPS should drop and FRAPS doesn't seem to notice that.

Guess I've already played through both games my complaints are with. Hopefully Mass Effect 2 avoids this issue or doesn't come until after Nehalem.

 

[videopho]

Originally posted by: ochadd

Originally posted by: videopho
Which driver are you using?
I've had problem with the 260 due to bad driver.
I'm at the moment, using the Beta 177.79 (I think) w/o any more issue (yet).

177.41 is what I'm running.

Avoid 177.41 like plague!
Get the 177.79 which may not fix all the issue you might have had but at least you know you have the latest driver being used.

 

[chizow]

Sounds like HDD thrashing/stutter. I've commented on this numerous times, how you won't see a noticeable drop in FPS but its very annoying. Its different than lack of vRAM as running out of frame buffer will typically result in both a drop in FPS and severe stutter/thrashing.

Only thing you can really do right now is improve your storage subsystem, upgrade to 64-bit and get more system RAM. Mass Effect is constantly streaming textures in an attempt to reduce its memory requirements and footprint, but that means any bump in that routine is going to translate into a disruption of gameplay smoothness.

 

[ochadd]

Originally posted by: chizow
Sounds like HDD thrashing/stutter. I've commented on this numerous times, how you won't see a noticeable drop in FPS but its very annoying. Its different than lack of vRAM as running out of frame buffer will typically result in both a drop in FPS and severe stutter/thrashing.

Only thing you can really do right now is improve your storage subsystem, upgrade to 64-bit and get more system RAM. Mass Effect is constantly streaming textures in an attempt to reduce its memory requirements and footprint, but that means any bump in that routine is going to translate into a disruption of gameplay smoothness.

If Mass Effect streams from the hard drive that would explain the problem. I didn't see the issue before but the drive has gotten progressively worse and is heading towards 60c operating temps.

My system memory had never been a problem. Haven't checked it since upgrading but I very rarely use more than 1.5GB and to my knowledge have never been over 2GB. Maybe someone else who is running 32 bit XP knows what Mass Effect is using?

I'll have to check tonight and update to the beta drivers. The disk needs to be replaced very soon so hope that covers it.

 

[sticks435]

A new hard drive may help it, but it won't probably won't eliminate it. I have the exact same CPU as you, and a SATAv2 hard drive, and I still get the micro studders. Granted I play on vista 32bit with 2 gigs of ram, but I think it's just a symptom of the streaming texture system of the U3 engine on dual core cpu's.

 

[ochadd]

Reinstalled WoW and I'm bouncing between 30 and 60 FPS. Seeing jitters in this too.

I've got WoW installed on a seperate HD and my memory usage is perfectly fine. Not sure if this is driver related or what. Incredibly frustrating and wishing I had given the 4870 a shot.

 

[ajaidevsingh]

May be a card problem!!!

RMA may be a answer but try a variation of drivers!!! Try the 177.35 WHQL drivers worked better than the 41's on an 280..!!

 

[ochadd]

Originally posted by: ajaidevsingh
May be a card problem!!!

RMA may be a answer but try a variation of drivers!!! Try the 177.35 WHQL drivers worked better than the 41's on an 280..!!

I had the 41s and have since upgraded to the 79 beta drivers. Didn't seem to make a difference. I can play games with 100+ FPS(HL2) and some(Crysis) in the high 20s and don't seem to get the jitter there.

If it's a hardware problem shouldn't I be seeing this across the board?

 

[sticks435]

It's the texture streaming system in the Unreal 3 engine. It doesn't preload anything, so as your running around, it's streaming textures in and out of memory. Crysis actually does the same thing, but it loads large portions at set intervals throughout a level. U3 engine games do it piece by piece.

 

[Mwing]

Is Bioshock a UT3 game?

I had the same problem as OP when playing Bioshock @ 1920x1200 with 9800GTX, Q9450, 4gb RAM, Velociraptor, Vista 32bit

Now I upgrade to 8gb RAM, GTX260, Vista 64, no more problem.