Need some advice (first time build)

[Newuser1000]

I put together a new system last week with :

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400
Asus P5Q
2 x 2 gig g-skill
thermaltake toughpower 700
sapphire hd4850

Everything went pretty smooth computer post with no issues and I installed winxp and all sytem drivers.

Everything is detected correctly in cpu-z and temps seem good. So far everything has worked very well and computer is very fast and responsive.

I have run several tests with 3dmark06 and get a score of around 11,700 without any problems what so ever.

I also installed a couple games to benchmark with Call of Duty 4 and BIOSHOCK.

So far BIOSHOCK has played very well and with very good fps with everything maxed on my 19" 1280x1024 monitor.

Call of duty 4 however has been a different story. I get video audio stutter pausing pretty bad in in-game cutscene videos and the activision intro when you first start the game. Gameplay is smooth without any problems it seems to be just the cutscene videos when they brief you for your missions.

All other video and audio files play good without any problem so far but the issue with Call of duty 4 is very concerning because I put this sytem together mainly to game with and COD4 is my favorite game. I was pretty dissapointed to say the least. I have tried the 8.7 and 8.6 catalyst drivers and same problem still occurs. I noticed that when I enable vsync in game it fixes the problem and keeps the frames set to 60 in the cutscenes.

At first I was not worried and assumed it was a driver problem but as it continues to bug me I have started to worry if my computer is set up right and if all my components are good. I only have a few weeks to return some of the parts if they are bad. What else can I do to test my computer and try to fix this problem with COD4?

 

[Roguestar]

It could be poor hard drive performance; the game usually tries to load everything while those videos are playing. What kind of HD are you using? Tried defragmenting? Scan disc for errors?

 

[Newuser1000]

I defragmented my drive of course and here ae some pics of me running hd-tune:

http://img362.imageshack.us/my...nchmarkwdcwd160af1.png

http://img70.imageshack.us/my....fowdcwd1600adfdbb0.png

http://img362.imageshack.us/my...rorscanwdcwd160ko5.png

I don't think the problem is the hard drive because It doesn't seem to be lag but the opposite. The frame rate when testing with fraps is in the hundreds during the intro and cutscenes that I have issues with. I think I remember on my old system and my 7950gt that the frame rate would stay at 60 for these parts of the game. I think that is why when I enabled vsync in-game it solved the problem because it kept the frames capped at 60 the hole time. I don't want to play with v-sync and I'm more concerned what the real problem is. I just tried to make a video with fraps so that I could show you what I'm seeing but the video and the game looks and sounds perfect when fraps 30 second video is being recorded because fraps keeps the frame rate to 30 fps for the duration of the video. For some reason whatever in the game that limits the frame rates for these scenes is not working. Very interesting also when I use the console command (/com_maxfps ) to cap the frame rate in the game that also dosn't work and the frame rate is still going way past the number I set it to.

I would really appreciate any advice on this specific issue and recommendations for other things to test for in my sytem.

 

[Roguestar]

Sympathy bump~

 

[DSF]

Sometimes a post like this will get more attention in the Computer Help forum. If this thread falls out of sight, maybe try asking over there.

 

[Newuser1000]

I tried making a new topic in the computer help section and got no help. I have narrowed down the problem to the .BIK files in COD4. These are Bink video files that are used by many games for cutscenes. I tried doing some research and found people suggesting to download the radtools program and try playing the files with radtools. This still didn't help and videos had the same problems when playing them with rad tools. I want to point out one more time that when I enable v-sync in the game everything works perfect. Is there a codec that I can install that will solve my problems with these video files? If this isn't a good place to post where else should I go for help? I tried posting over at guru3d and also not a single reply. This is starting to drive me nutty.