Big problem. Help please!

Hi everyone.
I'm here to ask you one question about my problem.
So, down there you can read my system info, and here's the thing.
My friend and I often play games over LAN, and his PC is not as good as mine, I don't remember his specs at the moment but I can tell that he has nVidia 9600 GT graphic card.
And in most games that we play, I get something like small lags, it just isn't as smooth as his game is.
I look at his monitor and see game go way more smoothly than mine. Don't understand why since my PC is better than his (won't say pretty much better, but still it's better).
And sometimes in some games like Split/Second, I get like epic lags at some points of gameplay, and when I look at his monitor, his game is running smoothly again.
Same was when we played "Inversion".
We even played at the very same graphic settings just to see if my PC would lag again, and it did.
Don't understand what the problem is, my PC is stronger, newer and better than his, and yet, his PC is running games better than mine.
I take care of my computer a lot, clean its registry, use Tune Up Utilities 2012. Simply I'm keeping it clean as much as I can.
And he never does those things, he doesn't even know what his PC specs are. He's running Windows 7 Ultimate which I installed on his PC.

Summary:
My PC, better than his.
My disk space, A LOT higher and freer than his.
I keep my PC clean, he doesn't.
We play games sometimes at the same graphic settings.
I turn off all unnecessary programs when we play games, he doesn't.
Games run much more smoothly on his PC than on mine despite the facts from above.

I have all my drivers updated, not a bit of dust in my case, but also I have an old monitor (which I thought could be the problem - or not) - SAMSUNG SyncMaster 793DF, and he has SAMSUNG SyncMaster920NW.

At first I thought it could be 'cause I got ATI Radeon and he got nVidia (which seems to be better).

Here is my "dxdiag" *in short*


Time of this report: 9/6/2012, 01:55:36
Machine name: TITAN-PC
Operating System: Windows 7 Professional 32-bit (6.1, Build 7601) Service Pack 1 (7601.win7sp1_gdr.120330-1504)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: MICRO-STAR INTERNATIONAL CO.,LTD
System Model: MS-7597
BIOS: Default System BIOS
Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) II X2 220 Processor (2 CPUs), ~2.8GHz
Memory: 2048MB RAM (DDR3)
Available OS Memory: 2048MB RAM
Page File: 882MB used, 3212MB available
Windows Dir: C:\Windows
DirectX Version: DirectX 11
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
User DPI Setting: Using System DPI
System DPI Setting: 96 DPI (100 percent)
DWM DPI Scaling: Disabled
DxDiag Version: 6.01.7601.17514 32bit Unicode
**GFX: ATI Radeon HD5550 1024 MB DDR2**



And here's my friend's "dxdiag" *in short*


Time of this report: 9/6/2012, 00:00:45
Machine name: GERAYA
Operating System: Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit (6.1, Build 7601) Service Pack 1 (7601.win7sp1_gdr.120330-1504)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: MICRO-STAR INTERNATIONAL CO.,LTD
System Model: MS-7529
BIOS: Default System BIOS
Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) Dual CPU E2180 @ 2.00GHz (2 CPUs), ~2.0GHz
Memory: 2048MB RAM (DDR2)
Available OS Memory: 2048MB RAM
Page File: 767MB used, 3326MB available
Windows Dir: C:\Windows
DirectX Version: DirectX 11
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
User DPI Setting: Using System DPI
System DPI Setting: 96 DPI (100 percent)
DWM DPI Scaling: Disabled
DxDiag Version: 6.01.7601.17514 32bit Unicode
**GFX: nVidia 9600 GT**


Please help! Thanks in advance!

 

Anyone? :s

 

Does this only happen when playing LAN or Online games?
Does it happen when playing single player?

Given all the info you have given I would be leaning towards the network setup, unless one of your components is dying.

Also usually in my experience a hardware issue will cause a pretty much continuous stuttering or low frame rates with exceptions of high detail or "busy" sections of the games.
If it's more of a sudden freeze and release but runs fine the rest of the time would suggest something more to do with you LAN (possibly hardware) setup.

Also, please be patient, many of the great minds on here are from all four corners of the world and sometimes wont come on every day, I'm more than certain someone else will throw some thoughts your way, it may just take a day or 2 for them to see and reply.

And Welcome to MG's

 

Well this happens while playing single player alone as well.
No the gameplay is fine, example: Call of Duty 4 runs @ 125 constantly. No "epic" lags and stuff like that.
I was thinking also that it could be the monitor because my monitor is SAMSUNG SyncMaster 793DF which is really really old one, and my friend has SAMSUNG SyncMaster 920NW. I thought that my monitor can't handle some games and run them as smooth as my friend's monitor can. :s

Some games are ok, no laggs and stuff. But some games really do lagg, like Split/Second.
My gameplay suddenly starts lagging like hell when some bigger explosions and "Powerplay level 2" is on *it's a feature of the game when you blow everything up*, but besides that, the game runs ok.
I really don't know what the problem is, but it's really confusing and frustrating. I know that my PC can run better, but it for some reason doesn't. :/

Oh and, I have another problem regarding hardware.
I tried a few times to remove my graphic card, but it just wouldn't move when I try to plug it out.
Yes, I unscrewed all the screws, and I even looked at youtube tutorial, but I just couldn't pull it out of the motherboard. I'm afraid if I pull it harder that it could break or something. :/

 

I meant to say that his graphic card is:

Geforce 8600 GT!!

I posted again because I couldn't edit the previous posts. :/

 

Well as I said in the above post, most games will slow your PC down during busy sections, such as your power plays and explosions.
You have to remember, you're plodding along and your PC is drawing the scenery and everything and then on top of that it then has to draw fire and smoke (smoke being one of the heaviest things a GPU has to run). So it might be that you simply don't have the power.
You compare to your friends PC, but is the exact same thing happening when you look at his?

Split Second apparently had/has some issues. I found this link which might prove helpful.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/306565-33-split-lagging-6850-1024x768

To explain what I mean, I can run Crysis maxed out at 45FPS and then later on when the aliens attack etc it will drop down to 25 or even down to 15fps.
And I'm running a 6 core CPU with a 1.5gb GTX480 and 8GB of ram.
Sometimes it's the game is not coded very well for specific hardware, meaning it will run better on 1 card over another even if the one it runs poorly on is a better card.
I get a lot of stuttering on several games but I know it's the game and not my PC and there's little I can do about it.
Unfortunately these are facts of gaming.

You seem to have most issues with Split Second, so have a look at the above link and we'll go from there.

 

Hey, thank you for your response. :]
Anyway, I understand those things about drawing, smoke and explosions. But when I look at my friend's monitor, he really, honestly, experiences no "epic lagg" like I do. :/

I had seen that link even before I posted here, but I thought that there could be some real solution to it (not waiting for patches).

I run COD4 smoothly, no laggs, 125 FPS constant by the way, which why I guess it's the Split/Second itself that causes laggs. Ah well, I should just move on to the next game.

 

Yeah unfortunately the games don't always get fixed, Fallout New Vegas even after all the patches and tweaks still stutters for me. Sucks but it's part of the gamers life.