Lag in games

I have an issue when i play games, just games that demand a decent vid card.

I have an X2 64 6000+
2.5 gig pc 6400
sata drive
8600 ddr3 w/ 512
Fresh install of xp pro (2 weeks old)
I can uncompress 3 archives, move a fer gig folder to and external and ther is no slowdown on my box.
When I run UT3 or Witcher. or Crysis itrs real jerky.
Anyway I can test and see where the problem is.
or fixing it?
I have updated dx9c and my vid card driver.
what else can I do ?

 

How much memory do you have installed?

 

2.5 gigs

 

Note to self: Actually read the opening post next time.

Next stupid question then, have you fully patched both the games and the OS?

 

yea patched everything of game drivers DX9 windows update. I had an idea. since the fan on the 8600gt spins faster as needed, perhaps my PS wont cut the musterad when the cad is used heavily. thats the only thing i can posibly think of for why it is jerky thru out the opening scene and worse in the game. UT is not as demanding but it still does it
.

 

That was going to be next question... how strong is your power supply? Also, what do you have running in the background when you run the games?

With the Witcher, unplug your internet cable and turn off firewall, antivirus, and every other background process that you don't need, and see if that helps.

 

turned off everything and unplugged my router. played much better but not enough. i know the broc ram and vid card work so it has to be power right?

 

UT is almost playable now.. i guess i need to order a PS what do you recommend?

 

I still don't know anything about your current PSU. What are the power requirements on your videocard, and what is the PSU capable of giving you?

 

I dont know what the vid card needs and i have a 550 or a 600 watt okia psu
Im gonna look it up.

 

550-600 should be enough to run your video card.

You said the games run better if you turn off some background services, I would look closer at that. What do you have installed that might cause conflicts? Do you have enough hard drive space, optimized game settings, and so on?

 

I unpluged one of my optical drives and i could almost play witcher it is the PS. thanks for helping me think

 

computer is a month old
hdd has lots of space

 

avg, threatfire, skype, YIM, Daemon tools thats it on the background services
Ill buy a better PS tomarrow

 

Good luck! Let me know how it works out.

 

I put a Trupower 600w 95$ PSU in it now lets see what it can do ..

 

slightly lessens issue but still there. so i took care of the power issue. now the background service and tasks.. i got it down to 27 if i take the net down i should be able to pull 25 or 26.. then ill test

 

Curious, what resolution are you playing at? Are you maxing out all the graphics?

Ir so, try, lowering all the graphics options to bare minimum, then try playing. If it works, try, upping a couple, and see if that decreases the performance.

BTW, an 8600 gt needs a 350 watt power supply
8800 ULTRA needs about a 500 watt power supply.

 

I tried lowering the settings made a small difference. It auto defaults on resolution to 1920x1200 Ill try changing it to 8x6 or 1024x768. i have a 600wat tru power PSU in it now and it has improved but not much.

 

I tried ever resolution the game offers and it behaves the same on any resolution so maybe it not my video card. what else could it be?

 

Don't just change resolutions. Turn off soft shadows and anti-aliasing as well.

 

Those options are set as low as they can go

 

Okay, last resort. Go to this place and run the Game-o-meter. See what it tells you about how well your PC should be able to play the game. If you are somewhere between manufacturer's recommended and YouGamers' recommended, I admit to being stumped and outsmarted by your computer.

 

all the games are either between manuf. recomended and yougames min. UT3 is the same as yougames recomended

 

So in other words, while your system is able to run these games, it is on the weaker side. I'd say your options are to either tone down all settings, and turn off as many background processes as possible, or start upgrading. Sorry.

 

While it's not a likely culprit, I'm wondering what kind of sound card you have in your computer? And have you tried updating the drivers for that?

In addition, I've found either GameOS or Game Accelerator Pro to be very userful tools for playing demanding games. I just posted in another thread about those two game playing utilities here:

http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=153178

Finally, have you done some malware/spyware scans to see if you might have some sort of malware that's drawing away some of your system resources? What kind of anti-virus and anti-spyware do you have running and have you done full scans with them since this problem started?