100% CPU usage & unresponsive during games

[prothean]

I've been having problems with my pc for a few weeks now, during games like Minecraft or World of Warcraft, but not with games like Peggle on steam. The issue is when I am actually in game not on login screens, after a short period my CPU usage will jump to 100% and the computer will become unresponsive. Playing minecraft the problem does not occur until after around 5 mins of play but on WoW it's after a few seconds. At first only the game freezes, then shortly the mouse begins to freeze and the rest of my pc, and it will take several minutes to ctrl+alt+delete the process, after which my pc returns to normal. If I don't terminate the process quickly, my monitor will then turn off and go into power saving mode, and I cannot switch it back on without a system reboot.

I have ran virus scans, disk defragments, system restores and even re-installed windows and it has not fixed the issue, which lead me to believe the problem was hardware related. After a few checks I am fairly positive the problem is my graphics card, which is pretty old (Nvidia GeForce 6600 GT). I came to this conclusion after slotting it into a different pc that was running fine prior to using the 6600, and it caused the same problems, only with a slightly delayed effect.

My question is, can anyone give me a definite diagnosis on the problem, and if there is anything else I can do short of replacing the card to fix the problem?

 

[Ghosty Dog]

Your card dates back to 2004. If the video card doesn't have enough ram to run the graphics in the large games, it will stress the cpu as well. One workaround is to set your graphics levels to low for the game. If that doesn't improve things, it's probably time to upgrade your card.

 

[prothean]

The thing is, I have been using that card for years now, and been playing games like the ones I mentioned for a long time too. No issues. The problem just sprang out of nowhere, with no trigger I can possibly think of. It was working one minute, and the next it wasn't. My pc wasn't even off when it stopped working lol. I run games on the lowest possible settings now to try and get it running again but that doesn't work.

I have no issue replacing the card, I just want to make absolutely sure that there is no way of salvaging my current one before I do replace it. Thanks for your input.

 

[Ghosty Dog]

If the issues are recent, and it's done the same thing on a different pc, then it sounds like the card is on the way out.