Periodic lag even with dual-core

[996GT2]

I have an Athlon X2 3600+ Brisbane OC'd to 2.6 GHz (Superpi/Orthos stable) and have installed the dual core optimizer and all other necessary software/BIOS updates. However, when I am multitasking (such as browsing the web in Firefox while encoding a video file in SUPER or burning a DVD in Nero), my system will just freeze/lag every 10-15 seconds. This lag only lasts a few seconds, after which the system returns to usual. This lag seems to be most noticeable in Firefox, since in IE and other programs the lag is minimal and barely lasts fractions of a second at a time. I have tried reinstalling the latest version of Firefox, and this has not helped the issue. I have also set CPU affinity manually for the intensive programs such as NERO and SUPER to be on Core 1 while Firefox runs on Core 0, and this too has not helped the issue.

Does anyone have suggestions? This is really annoying me.

 

[dclive]

Originally posted by: 996GT2
I have an Athlon X2 3600+ Brisbane OC'd to 2.6 GHz (Superpi/Orthos stable) and have installed the dual core optimizer and all other necessary software/BIOS updates. However, when I am multitasking (such as browsing the web in Firefox while encoding a video file in SUPER or burning a DVD in Nero), my system will just freeze/lag every 10-15 seconds. This lag only lasts a few seconds, after which the system returns to usual. This lag seems to be most noticeable in Firefox, since in IE and other programs the lag is minimal and barely lasts fractions of a second at a time. I have tried reinstalling the latest version of Firefox, and this has not helped the issue. I have also set CPU affinity manually for the intensive programs such as NERO and SUPER to be on Core 1 while Firefox runs on Core 0, and this too has not helped the issue.

Does anyone have suggestions? This is really annoying me.

If you clock normally does this happen?

Are there errors in the Windows event logs when this happens?

 

[robisbell]

how many programs are autostarting, have you tried using a less memory and resource hogging burning software?

 

[Modelworks]

If your burning a dvd at the same time your encoding video your problem is likely I/O related.
Even with dual/quad cores the hard drive can only service one process at a time.
If you have both hard drives on the same channel then your also restricting them to one at a time access.

Try placing the dvd image your burning on a different drive than that the other software is using. Make sure the drives aren't sharing the same channels.

 

[996GT2]

I have 2 GB, usually have 1.3 GB free while in everyday use...even when I'm gaming, free RAM doesn't drop below about 700MB.

When I encode with SUPER I usually encode to a different drive than my Windows drive. When I burn a DVD the burner is on a SATA channel while the HDD is on the IDE channel...so technically they shouldn't interfere, right?

Also, I don't have many autostarting programs (only internet sercurity/firewall and a few other important programs).

Kinda confused here.

 

[seemingly random]

What os?
Has this always happened?
What happens with no cpu or ram oc?
Any unexplained windows event errors?
Does it happen with the nic cable disconnected?

 

[dclive]

Can you answer my questions?

 

[996GT2]

OS is XP Pro
This started happening recently IIRC
without any OC (like I have it temporarily for now) it still happens
nothing in event log that is abnormal
disconnecting network cable doesn't affect anything

thanks, appreciate any help

 

[tk11]

Chances are it's disk activity causing the delays.

In firefox go to the url about:config. search for "cache" and double click on "browser.cache.disk.enable" to disable the disk cache.

See if that prevents the delays in firefox. If it does check your drive controllers in device manager to make sure they are using a DMA transfer mode. Also make sure your using recent chipset drivers. Finding a copy of a microsoft utility called dskcache.exe (Q811392) to enable your drives write cache may also help quite a bit. I have a very similar setup and it made a noticeable difference.


Good luck

 

[seemingly random]

Originally posted by: 996GT2
This started happening recently IIRC

This is key. What's changed? recent os or app update? recent app install? malware?

It doesn't look like a h/w problem. I assume temps are acceptable and haven't changed recently - and that hd smart reports are acceptable.

Although extreme, a reformat/reload would eliminate a lot of variables. I would uninstall a lot of stuff - testing after each change - before I would reload though.

 

[dclive]

Run MPSReports (see my .sig or website) and send me the resulting computername.cab file, and let's take a look at what's going on.

 

[robisbell]

what programs are autostarting exactly?

 

[dclive]

Originally posted by: robisbell
what programs are autostarting exactly?

If he'll run MPSReports and send you (too) the output, you'll can take a look at that too.

MPSReports is handy stuff.

 

[996GT2]

I already sent it to you dclive