Why does SC2 skip/hang on my desktop?

[sime0n]

I installed a Radeon 5770 onto my desktop specifically for starcraft. The problem is that during gameplay I have noticed that it hangs for a second or so and then everything catches up. It does this throughout game play. I figure my desktop should have enough juice to play a RTS game. The only thing I can think of could be that my power supply is too weak for my new video card which is causing some hangups. I can't really compare playing with the old video card because it didn't play well at all on the old video card. Thoughts?

Specs:

Windows 7 64-Bit
Dell Inspiron Desktop D-530
2.40 GHz Intel Core2 Quad Q6600
2.5 GB RAM
250 GB HDD
ATI Radeon 5770
Dell 350 watt PSU

 

[ModeEngage]

Sounds like a latency issue more than a hardware issue to me.

 

[sime0n]

It's definitely not latency as I've experienced the same problem when lugging my computer to others houses. I thought that in latency it doesn't hang and then catch up, it just kind of lags and skips.

 

[lsv]

Sounds like HD/CPU lag, maybe the bios sleep or energy management modes are too aggressive. It is a Dell after all.

Have you googled your model and 'lag+gaming' or similar?

 

[power_hour]

Just a shot in the dark - memory of 2.5GB seems a bit low - 4GB would probably be better. Check resources during the game and see if that is an issue.

When the slowdowns occur do you hear your GPU fan spinning down? The power supply does look like its a bit weak sauce but I think for that level of GPU it could be ok. But again, you need to confirm things are running ok to be sure.

For performance, check your BIOS memory settings. Confirm they are optimal. Check event logs for any errors/warnings.

Any other games exhibit same behaviour? A/V scanning disabled during gaming? Maybe even exclude the executable as a precaution.

 

[Barfo]

I think you need more ram.

 

[shortylickens]

Because you touch yourself at night?


No, seriously I have no idea.

 

[Yoshi629]

I know this will probably sound obvious and you have probably already tried it, but just in case I thought I would mention it - have you installed the latest drivers for your video card

 

[sime0n]

Well, sounds like everyone votes RAM. 4GB is my mobo max so i'll go up to that and see how it does. I mean, my computer meets all the recommend specs so i dunno what's going on.

Blizzard PC Recommended Specifications:

Windows Vista®/Windows® 7
Dual Core 2.4Ghz Processor
2 GB RAM
512 MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 8800 GTX or ATI Radeon® HD 3870 or better

Also, I updated latest gfx drivers yesterday so that shouldn't be the problem either.

 

[exar333]

SC2 doesn't need a real beefy GPU (your 5770 is fine); your CPU is pretty solid too; your RAM is holding you back. My brother has 4GB and he utilizes 95% of his RAM regularly during SC2. I have 6GB, and use ~4GB quite often. Gaming with 2GB is likely your weak point here.

 

[sime0n]

I tried something I found here: http://aftabsultan.com/?p=79

"Aside from the previous fix I posted, I have another fix for the in-game lag in StarCraft 2. The lag could be caused by the GPU rendering the frames at max speed which might cause the video card to overheat and slow down the game.

The following will help by telling StarCraft 2 to limit the behavior:

Open My Documents\StarCraft II Beta\variables.txt using Notepad (or any other text editor)
Add the following two lines to the file:
Frameratecapglue=30
Frameratecap=60
Save the txt file and you’re done.
The frameratecapglue variable controls menu screens framerates. The frameratecap controls the in-game framerate. I have chosen 60 as I am running this game on a laptop (60 is the max refresh rate for my monitor) but you can choose any number that fits your configuration."

I've only played 1 game so far with these settings but so far it seems more smooth.