20 minutes into gaming - lag spikes in games

moshearg

Posts: 7   +0
So, lets start with Hello.
I would appreciate any help on the subject.
The problem: I've recently bought this awesome new gaming computer (specs later on)
and I got some new games on it such as; Crysis 3, FarCry 3, Payday 2, The Witcher 2, and on.
After about 10-20 minutes of gaming, I start noticing lag spikes in the game as in - momentarily FPS drop, which are pretty frequent, but aren't extremely massive that freeze my screen, but in irritating little stops of 0.05 secs every other second. they are eye-noticeable but I have no idea how to better describe them.
Now to my (pretty much what I think is awesome top 5% world computer) SPECS:
-Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-3570 CPU@3.40GHz (4CPUs) 3.80GHz.
16.0(GB) RAM. 64x. Win 7 Home Premium SP1
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660. my screen is Samsung's SyncMaster T190.

I've monitored my computer's temp using HWMonitor, and nothing seems too high. the CPU keeps going on +- the same temp while gaming and while not.

Thanks for any help ! :)
 
If you could provide us with the actual temps (numbers) it would be helpful. But, firstly, when something like this occurs. It's good to do a clean uninstall and reinstall of the latest graphic drivers. Is this something you've already tried?

Also, what settings are you trying to play these games on? While the GTX 660 is a pretty decent card. You can't expect it to play at MAX settings with desirable frame rates.
 
The CPU's temp while not playing varies from +/- 45 to +/- 55. and while gaming it goes from +/- 52 to +/-67 (max I've seen).

I'll try to reinstall the graphics card asap and update you on the progress.
About the settings - NVIDIA GeForce Experience - has this recommended settings per game for your graphics card. so I used the optimal it said there (for that specific game).
 
So I've reinstalled the driver and everything.. still seems bad.
I set my monitors Refresh Rate to 75Hz, thinking it might be it, but the problem still occurs.
The temps goes up to 70*c while gaming.(speaking of the i5 3570 cpu)

Any ideas?
 
70C is low for a GPU. Download GPU-Z from here. Once you install it and open it, go to the sensors tab, tell me if you see large fluctuations in any sensors while in game. What is the fan speed? Also, set your power profile to high power.
 
epc.png

thats the screen image of GPU-Z while FarCry3 is on.
How can I set the power profile to high ?
 
c8e.png
this is when I quit the game.
2k3.png
this is after I restart the computer.


fk.png
this is when I start the game and I dont have any fps problems.
 
The GPU load is 99% on Far Cry 3, while it isnt on games you do not have the problem in. Try lowering the in game settings so that your GPU doesnt have to work so hard. It is interesting because only 600MB of memory is being used while the GPU is being 99% utilized.
 
So it might be a problem with the graphics card?
You can see later on that when I dont have the problem - the GPU load is at 80% and the memory used is at 666mb, while 20 minutes later, the problem occurs and the GPU load goes up to 99% and the memory is at 617mb.
Even after I quit the game when this problem occurs, looking at the desktop, I have 236mb used with 99%, and when I restart the computer - It goes back to "normal" - rational state of - 208mb and 0%GPU load.
 
I dont think the VRAM is a big issue. I am just wondering why the GPU is working at 99% a lot of the time. Do you hear the fans? Are they loud?
 
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