Far Cry Opening Title Video and Game has momentary lag Every 3 seconds

[flyauburn41]

Hello,

I have recently upgraded from an old GeForce 3 64 meg GPU to the brand new (just shipped on the second) GeForce 7800 GS OC (overclocked) 256MB GDDR3 AGP card. It is awesome and it rocks all of my games at FULL settings, even with a 1.4 ghz processor, except Far Cry.

Now don't get me wrong, far cry looks incredible and the framerates are incredible. My problem is specific. Hear this loud and clear, NOT a framerate or graphics issue. There is some kind of overall problem with a momentary lag every 3 seconds during the opening video and in game.

Inbetween these 3 second bursts of half a second lag is nothing but silky smooth framerate. This did not happen even with my old crappy card. So what is the deal? It also still happens with all video and sound settings turned down ALL THE WAY.

Has anyone else had this problem? I'd appreciate any suggestions!

My computer:

Dell Dimension 8100
410 Watt PSU
Pentium 4 1.4 Ghz Processor
1024 Megs RDRAM
2 7200 RPM 60 Gig HDs
Nvidia GeForce 7800 GS OC 256MB AGP
USB 2.0/Fireware (3 and 2 slots respectively) PCI Card
Turtle Beach Santa Cruz Sound Card
56k modem (just collects dust)
DVD ROM Drive (LG)
DVD Burner (Sony)
Zip Drive (is not hooked up to power supply though)
3 1/2 floppy drive
Windows XP Home Edition

Peripherals:

Altec Lansing Power Cube Speakers
19 inch monitor
Standard Keeboard
Microsoft Intellimouse Optical
Saitek X52 Flight Control System (Awesome, You need one)
DVC 150b Video Capture Device
Net Gear 54mbps Wireless Router
Compaq Pocket PC
HP Photo Printer with data card reader (SD, etc.)
Visioneer Scanner
Cable Modem
Creative Webcam

 

[flyauburn41]

P.S. - I have the latest Nvidia GeForce drivers (81.98), latest edition of DirectX (9.0c), and latest patch of Far Cry (1.33). So that is not the issue.

 

[flyauburn41]

Can Anyone Help me here?

 

[Akifuddin]

Maybe your processor is your bottleneck, also, you might want to get a new power supply (450W+)

 

[flyauburn41]

I just got a new power supply.. 410 to 450 watt. It should be plenty. Also, like i said with the old video card and moderate settings i never had this every 3 second snag. And the snag exists even when all settings are turned down all the way!! So what gives?

That was a 250 watt PSU with an nvidia GeForce 3 64 meg card and this problem was not present. So why the sudden change after a brand new psu and more powerful video card. I don't have this problem with other games.

 

[stratocasted]

that you could play far cry with a 64 meg card is amazing to me, mine is 128 and far cry lags all day long. since it only happens for far cry it must be far cry's problem. You could reinstall the game if you haven't already. Does your computer make a different sound during the laggy moments, like a louder hum or whatever? Also if you have more than one DVD drive you could try it in the other drive which would rule that out. Beyond that Im clueless, so I wish joo luck pal.

 

[mattw]

your cpu will definately be holding you back, its only 1.4ghz. could be why...

 

[flyauburn41]

Thanks guys. I'm going to try reinstalling it on my other hard drive. Both are 7200 RPM Maxtors so don't know if it will make a difference, although the second hard drive is newer and a diff. model.

Then i'll try ruling out patches, starting with the oldest version and seeing if it is actually a patch that is screwing up. I'll also do as you suggested by trying both my DVD rom and burner to see if that makes a diff.

It doesn make a sound during the lag, like a hard drive or processing sound, barely audible.

I could understand this happening if i was using settings that my processor could not handle but it still happens no matter what the settings.

And i kid you not, my old card with 800x600 res. and lowered settings was very playable and didn't look so bad. Now it looks absolutely amazing and runs incredibly fast inbetween the snags.

I timed them, they are 4 seconds apart and the snag is half a second. It happens during the opening title screen video and during game play.

If you can believe this, i can run HL2, COD2, Battlefront2, at 1600x1200 with full settings and get 25 fps + . I know it sounds weird, but I do also have a gig of RAM so maybe that is helping me.

I'll let you know what happens. Thanks for all the input.

P.S. - Maybe this new Overclocked video card has something to do with it but i don't know. It absolutely rocks all of my other games though.

 

[flyauburn41]

Reinstalled the game, went through the different patches. Turned on and off every video card setting in the game and in the 81.98 nvidia options. Still no dice. What the hell? It's like it's accessing the hard drive way to much or something. really strange. at my wits end.