Video performance degradation

[tracgain]

I am running an Elsa Gladiac2 GTS w/32 meg ddr. My problem is the longer my computer is running the slower my graphics card becomes. If I reboot, my performance comes back.
I am using the Nvidia driver 4.12.01.0650. Can someone tell me why I lose performance the longer my system is on, by about half according to 3Dmark 2000? I don't think it is heat related, because I warm boot and the performance comes back.

Thanks,
Rod

System:
Asus A7V mobo
AMD Athlon 800 w/AMD approved cooling fan
256 MB PC-133 module
300 W AMD approved pwr supply
Elsa Gladiac2 GTS w/32 meg DDR
Viewsonic A70 17" monitor
SBLive Value
Linksys PCI Ethernet card
30 gig Maxtor 7200 ATA/100 using the promise controller on mobo
hard drive cooling fan
hp cd-writer 9100 series
cd-rom 40x
3 1/2 floppy
HP Deskjet 722c
MS Natural Keyboard - using keyboard port
MS Intellimouse Explorer using USB port
Windows ME
IE 5.5
Internet provider is ATT @HOME

 

[Yzzim]

sounds like something is taking up all your free ram, thus degrading your performance. Would make sense cause when you reboot the memory is freed back up again.

How long is the system on before you see a drop in performance?

Also, try turning programs off on the taskbar.

 

[borealiss]

like yzzim said, how long is the system on before the degradation begins? a matter of days is normal for winME. get win2k.

 

[madthumbs]

Why do you blame the video card? Maybe it's a program you're running. I usually have to reboot after some programs. If you get rambooster (freeware) you can monitor your free ram and cpu usage. Then you can see what programs are screwing things up for you.

 

[Slugbait]

My wife had the same problem. Her resources kept dwindling to the point where the system dragged horribly, until a reboot (several reboots each day). She kept telling me it was either her machine or Windows. I told her to stop closing and re-opening the digitizing software she uses (she would close/re-open multiple times a day), and just launch it once and leave it running all day. Problem disappeared.

She was surprised it wasn't caused by Windows, since so many people bash it so much for just this kind of problem.

 

[tracgain]

This has happened even after nothing is running and the system sits idle for 30 mins or longer. I can reboot and before anything is running let the system wait 30 mins before entering my password to log on, and then let windows load everything else and it will give me poor performance. But when I immediately check my performance it is good. I don't know if it is the video card, mb, some program running.

I have checked my resources at startup and after I have decreased performance and there isn't a drop of more than 5%.

 

[nortexoid]

if you're overclocking your video card, it might be a heat problem...

even if u warm boot, the video clock resets to default giving it time to cool again, until it enters windows (and the registry sets the clock higher again), and the heat increases gradually until performance degrades..

your vid card should have hardware monitoring, non?...check it out...or, try it with your finger...touching the heatsink that is..initially and later.