Graphics card? what is this?

bayonet · Mar 21, 2009, 05:07 PM

Hi, I wasn't entirely sure if I should post this in the ATI section or here, so feel free to move my thread if you have to.

I'm having a strange problem playing games on my pc. While playing any of my steam games (CS:S, DOD:S, TF:2,HL:2) I get lots and lots of lag. I checked the FPS from the console while playing and it goes down to 2 FPS. Here is the problem though. If I restart my pc, it will work fine from sometimes 1-2 hours with average FPS (around 40), sometimes in less time from 10 minutes of play to 30 minutes. It seems to get gradually worse as I play till it gets down to 2 FPS. it's worse in a larger server with more people playing with lots of explosions. I checked the temperature in CCC and it sits anywhere around 65 degrees, it hasn't changed since I got the pc. Here's the strangest part. Setting my graphics lower does abosultely nothing, I get the same FPS with settings beyond what my limit should be, as the lowest settings possible (800x600 res, every detail and shader set to low). I have no idea what this means at all, I'm not a graphics card genius but I can confidently tell you that it is not my graphics card, as I can run games with more extreme graphics with higher settings with more FPS! I tried changing power settings, I tried updating and rolling back drivers to alot of previous versions, I turned off indexing in my vista just in case, I ended all CCC processes in the processes list, I have tried just about everything an average pc mechanic can do. I can't for the life of me find the problem. I tried showing my friend who has a certificate in fixing computers, and he told me it might be a memory leak or try turning up the fan speed. I tried doing that with atitool but it locked up my computer so I uninstalled it. Any advice at all? I have worked out numerous problems with pc's before, but I can't figure out what this is at all. If anyone can help, I will be truly greatful. Here are my PC specs.

OS: Windows Vista 32 bit home premium
Processor: intel pentium D dual 3000mhz
Graphics: ATI radeon X1650
Memory: 2.3GB
Monitor: Acer AL1916W 1440x900

Keep in mind I have nearly tried everything I tried matching screen res to the game, disabling windows vista aero ( i always ran on vista basic), I've tried lots of things to get my steam games to run better, but the fps still remains terrible. Anyways, what do you guys think?

Judas · Mar 21, 2009, 05:29 PM

this sound like a memory error/leak or something that is gradually failing.. specially if a restart will resolve it for a short while.

I'd suggest running Memtest86+ for a few hours and see if any memory problems pop up..

you can get memtest86+ @ Memtest86+ - Advanced Memory Diagnostic Tool download the ISO bootable version and burn the image to a CD... then restart and boot from the cd to let the memtest run.

P4raDoXx · Mar 25, 2009, 02:51 AM

Deleted

Mar 21, 2009, 05:07 PM	#1
bayonet DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 1 Rep Power: 0	Graphics card? what is this? Hi, I wasn't entirely sure if I should post this in the ATI section or here, so feel free to move my thread if you have to. I'm having a strange problem playing games on my pc. While playing any of my steam games (CS:S, DOD:S, TF:2,HL:2) I get lots and lots of lag. I checked the FPS from the console while playing and it goes down to 2 FPS. Here is the problem though. If I restart my pc, it will work fine from sometimes 1-2 hours with average FPS (around 40), sometimes in less time from 10 minutes of play to 30 minutes. It seems to get gradually worse as I play till it gets down to 2 FPS. it's worse in a larger server with more people playing with lots of explosions. I checked the temperature in CCC and it sits anywhere around 65 degrees, it hasn't changed since I got the pc. Here's the strangest part. Setting my graphics lower does abosultely nothing, I get the same FPS with settings beyond what my limit should be, as the lowest settings possible (800x600 res, every detail and shader set to low). I have no idea what this means at all, I'm not a graphics card genius but I can confidently tell you that it is not my graphics card, as I can run games with more extreme graphics with higher settings with more FPS! I tried changing power settings, I tried updating and rolling back drivers to alot of previous versions, I turned off indexing in my vista just in case, I ended all CCC processes in the processes list, I have tried just about everything an average pc mechanic can do. I can't for the life of me find the problem. I tried showing my friend who has a certificate in fixing computers, and he told me it might be a memory leak or try turning up the fan speed. I tried doing that with atitool but it locked up my computer so I uninstalled it. Any advice at all? I have worked out numerous problems with pc's before, but I can't figure out what this is at all. If anyone can help, I will be truly greatful. Here are my PC specs. OS: Windows Vista 32 bit home premium Processor: intel pentium D dual 3000mhz Graphics: ATI radeon X1650 Memory: 2.3GB Monitor: Acer AL1916W 1440x900 Keep in mind I have nearly tried everything I tried matching screen res to the game, disabling windows vista aero ( i always ran on vista basic), I've tried lots of things to get my steam games to run better, but the fps still remains terrible. Anyways, what do you guys think?

Mar 25, 2009, 02:51 AM	#3
P4raDoXx DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Edmonton, AB, Canada Posts: 65 Rep Power: 0	Re: Graphics card? what is this? Deleted __________________ P4RADOXX: Intel Core Quad Q6600 @ 2.40Ghz \| BFG nVidia GTX 260 OCX \| eVGA nVidia nForce 680i \| 2GB DDR2 800Mhz Mushkin XP2 \| 80GB Seagate 7800.10 (System Drive) \| 500GB Seagate 7800.10 (Storage Drive) \| PC Power and Cooling 600 \| Creative X-Fi Xtreme Gamer \| Antec P-182 SE \| Windows Vista Home Premium (x64) \| Acer AL2223W 22" Widescreen \| Logitech G9 Mouse \| Logitech G15 Keyboard PCMARK06: 10,035