let me post my computer specs first:
Processor: AMD Athlon 64 Processor 3800+ 2.41Ghz
RAM: 2x1G sticks bought from ebuyer
Motherboard: WinFast 6150K8MD - GeForce 6150 chipset
Master Harddrive:SEAGATE ST380011A 80GB
Slave Harddrive: Western Digital WD1200JB 120GB
PSU: (updated) 530W Hyper PSU - {35A on 12V rail and 30A on 5V rail}
Gfx card: Sapphire X1950 PRO 256MB PCI-e
Keyboard/Mouse: Wireless Logitech MX3000
Operating System: XP Professonal SP2
anyway, yeah i bought the x1950 gfx card yesterday and installed it and the ATI catalyst drivers that came with the cd, everything was fine to begin with, but then i noticed that after about 5-10 minutes of playing a game the computer will stutter/lag pretty much exactly every 4 seconds!
The lag/stutter will stop the game in its tracks for about 0.5 of a second and then will continue, it also mucks up the audio, makes it jutter (if thats a word)
The lag will continue after ive left the game as well, onto my desktop, and doesnt show any signs of stopping, for example, now just movinhg my mouse around, the mouse will stop every 4 seconds etc
rebooting my computer has ocasionally fixed the problem, but sometime it boots up with the lag - the only thing which seems to bring on the lag however, is by playing a game (in my example i tried it out on GTR2 and Guildwars - got lag in both)
I have tried various things to solve this already - all of the test preformed had the X1950 gfx card in apart from test 4, i will list them here:
1. everytime i get lag i checked task manager to see if any processes were spiking and using the cpu - NO CPU SPIKAGE DURING LAG
2. Uninstalling drivers (running with default) - STILL GET LAG
3. Reinstalling ATI up to date cat drivers -STILL GET LAG
4. Taking graphics card out and using motherboard Nvidia 6150 - ***DO NOT GET LAG***
5. Running MEMtest on my memory - NO PROBLEMS WITH MEMORY
6. Checking core temperature - DOESNT SEEM TO GO ABOVE 59C UNDER INTENSE GAMING (not ideal but shuddnt cause problems)
7. Disabled all antivirus - STILL GET LAG
8. Booted into safe mode - STILL GET LAG
9. Turned off indexing service/system restore - STILL GET LAG
10. Tried taking the side off my case and letting cool air in - STILL GET LAG
11. Tried graphics in both of the two DVI connections in my gfx card - STILL GET LAG ON BOTH
Think ive done a few more things but cant remember:
A few observations ive made as well:
1. My PSU is clearly not very good, only 305W and my gfx card recommends 450W - however I know that PSU tend to be overrated and that u normally dont need as high W as they recommend, and in the BIOS my V settings look alrite - also because of the periodical nature of the lags (every 4 seconds pretty precisely) It leads me to believe that this is probably not PSU problem - even tho i cud clearly use a new one - maybe you know different from me im no expert?
2. Also, because of lagging in safe mode it leads me to beleive that its probably a hardware issue not a software (I also fresh installed windows XP the day before)
3. Maybe my graphics card is overheatting? Im not sure if you can monitor the temperature of the X1950, however i doubt it would be this anyway, as im still lagging about 30 minutes after playing a game, and all ive been doing is writing on this forum! so nothing intensive, the temp shud have come down
4. Every time it lag, somthing from the inside of my computer makes a very light scratching noise for the duration of the lag - im pretty sure its from the graphics card, but might be from the harddrive in which case might mean a harddrive problem?
I have also attached my dxdiag.txt file for anyone who wants the details
Thanks a lot and sorry about the essay! thought it best to provide you with a lot of info!
Any help would be very very very appreciated im going crazy!!!!
Cheers
Dom
Processor: AMD Athlon 64 Processor 3800+ 2.41Ghz
RAM: 2x1G sticks bought from ebuyer
Motherboard: WinFast 6150K8MD - GeForce 6150 chipset
Master Harddrive:SEAGATE ST380011A 80GB
Slave Harddrive: Western Digital WD1200JB 120GB
PSU: (updated) 530W Hyper PSU - {35A on 12V rail and 30A on 5V rail}
Gfx card: Sapphire X1950 PRO 256MB PCI-e
Keyboard/Mouse: Wireless Logitech MX3000
Operating System: XP Professonal SP2
anyway, yeah i bought the x1950 gfx card yesterday and installed it and the ATI catalyst drivers that came with the cd, everything was fine to begin with, but then i noticed that after about 5-10 minutes of playing a game the computer will stutter/lag pretty much exactly every 4 seconds!
The lag/stutter will stop the game in its tracks for about 0.5 of a second and then will continue, it also mucks up the audio, makes it jutter (if thats a word)
The lag will continue after ive left the game as well, onto my desktop, and doesnt show any signs of stopping, for example, now just movinhg my mouse around, the mouse will stop every 4 seconds etc
rebooting my computer has ocasionally fixed the problem, but sometime it boots up with the lag - the only thing which seems to bring on the lag however, is by playing a game (in my example i tried it out on GTR2 and Guildwars - got lag in both)
I have tried various things to solve this already - all of the test preformed had the X1950 gfx card in apart from test 4, i will list them here:
1. everytime i get lag i checked task manager to see if any processes were spiking and using the cpu - NO CPU SPIKAGE DURING LAG
2. Uninstalling drivers (running with default) - STILL GET LAG
3. Reinstalling ATI up to date cat drivers -STILL GET LAG
4. Taking graphics card out and using motherboard Nvidia 6150 - ***DO NOT GET LAG***
5. Running MEMtest on my memory - NO PROBLEMS WITH MEMORY
6. Checking core temperature - DOESNT SEEM TO GO ABOVE 59C UNDER INTENSE GAMING (not ideal but shuddnt cause problems)
7. Disabled all antivirus - STILL GET LAG
8. Booted into safe mode - STILL GET LAG
9. Turned off indexing service/system restore - STILL GET LAG
10. Tried taking the side off my case and letting cool air in - STILL GET LAG
11. Tried graphics in both of the two DVI connections in my gfx card - STILL GET LAG ON BOTH
Think ive done a few more things but cant remember:
A few observations ive made as well:
1. My PSU is clearly not very good, only 305W and my gfx card recommends 450W - however I know that PSU tend to be overrated and that u normally dont need as high W as they recommend, and in the BIOS my V settings look alrite - also because of the periodical nature of the lags (every 4 seconds pretty precisely) It leads me to believe that this is probably not PSU problem - even tho i cud clearly use a new one - maybe you know different from me im no expert?
2. Also, because of lagging in safe mode it leads me to beleive that its probably a hardware issue not a software (I also fresh installed windows XP the day before)
3. Maybe my graphics card is overheatting? Im not sure if you can monitor the temperature of the X1950, however i doubt it would be this anyway, as im still lagging about 30 minutes after playing a game, and all ive been doing is writing on this forum! so nothing intensive, the temp shud have come down
4. Every time it lag, somthing from the inside of my computer makes a very light scratching noise for the duration of the lag - im pretty sure its from the graphics card, but might be from the harddrive in which case might mean a harddrive problem?
I have also attached my dxdiag.txt file for anyone who wants the details
Thanks a lot and sorry about the essay! thought it best to provide you with a lot of info!
Any help would be very very very appreciated im going crazy!!!!
Cheers
Dom