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Resolved Constant freezing/stuttering in games

Discussion in 'Windows 7' started by LiTos456, 2011/01/07.

  1. 2011/01/07
    LiTos456

    LiTos456 Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    Hey folks.
    It's been a while since I had a serious computer issue, but things seem odd once again so I come here for aid. I hope I'm posting in the right section.

    I have an issue where while playing games on my PC, since recently, every now and then it would drop down to maybe 1-3 FPS for a few seconds. The frequency and rate of this varies; sometimes I play fine, and sometimes it begins to do this. Sometimes it happens once a minute, sometimes it happens every 10 seconds.

    I suspected it might be my OS hard drive (note that the games are not installed on the OS drive). My OS drive is a 40GB SATA that currently has 6.79 GB free. I have to constantly monitor it as it was a poor choice I made a long time ago to run my OS on a small hard drive. I think soon I might move some programs over to other drives as I have plenty of space elsewhere.
    I know my OS HD isn't the most stable out there. I've had issues with it in the past. The most notable is that every once in a while it would decide to bug out and freeze my computer entirely. This could happen in a manner of ways; usually on boot, when my programs are loading up, it would slowly begin to make them unresponsive, eventually getting to explorer itself and everything else.
    What seems to work is whenever this happens, I simply open up my PC and rewire the sata cables connecting it to the board. This would fix it and it would work fine for a while. If it would happen again, I'd do the same, etc.
    Recently I decided to replace the cable altogether, before I simply unplugged and plugged back, this time I put in a new cable altogether. To my surprise this sped up my computer and it would boot all my programs (and I have a lot) in 2-3 seconds, which pleased me every time.

    Anyway, this is why I suspect it might be my HDD. I ran a defrag on it recently so that should be fine; also I don't think it's the hard drives where the games are installed because I have games on two different HDDs and they all show the same symptoms.

    I ran a little test of my hard drive with HD Tune, and here's a screenshot of it. A friend of mine who does this kind of diagnostic as a job told me that it looks fine in the result, so we couldn't figure out the issue. He suggested I try a different SATA slot in my motherboard to plug it into, which I'll try later.

    I also don't think it's my GPU. I just cleaned it out along with the rest of my PC, and even turning the fans up to 100% didn't do any effect. I'm running a GTX 260. Drivers are the latest available. Everything seems working fine with it.

    A little more detail on the games for some information: The ones I've noticed this in are Bad Company 2, Assassin's Creed 2, Wings of Prey and EVE Online. I hadn't tested any other games. It started on Wings of Prey when I first downloaded the demo version of the game. After some time of playing, it would begin doing this freezing up thing. I thought it was just a problem with the game, and I bought the game anyway because I loved it and it only happened maybe 40% of the time. Also alt tabbing for ~10 minutes seemed to smooth it out for a bit.
    The next time it happened was in EVE Online, but the first time it showed up was when I was recording footage of it with FRAPS. It seemed to only happen then, not when I was actually playing. I'm not sure at this point whether it ever happened to me while actually playing the game. My memory hints at the possibility but I cannot recall anything for sure, so don't take my word for that. [EDIT: I can now confirm that this happens in EVE Online during gameplay as well. Not as often, but it does.]
    Then I noticed it in Bad Company 2, followed by Assassin's Creed 2. AC2 seems to have the worst of it, stuttering like this every 10 seconds or so. Mind you sometimes it works - I played it a few days ago just fine, and now I just tested it AFTER cleaning my PC and turning up my fans and it would lag and freeze with all its' glory, probably the worst I've seen yet.

    I think that's as much detail as I could provide for now. Here's my DxDiag. I could really use some help on this as it's becoming a serious issue and really concerning me. It's still livable, I mostly play EVE and it mostly works fine anyway, but tonight I've had bad luck with it with both BC2 and AC2, before and after restarting, cleaning, speeding up GPU fan, etc.

    Thanks in advance everyone, I'll really appreciate all the help I can get. Cheers!

    -Ed
     
    Last edited: 2011/01/07
  2. 2011/01/08
    markmadras

    markmadras Banned

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    OK, this sounds more like a memory fault considering that it causes more problems when you are playing games which is when the memory is under the most amount of load.

    Your specs indicate 4GB of memory, I assume that is two or more modules. Remove one module at a time and run the PC to see if the problem persists, if it does then swap the modules around until you have eliminated all of them.

    If this doesn't show up any problems then you could test your hard drive. This is best done with the disgnostics from the manufacturer. Follow this guide below.

    I would also suggest your check all your internal connections and reseat all PCI cards.

    If you have any overclocking, switch it back to default.


    Please also follow this guide to get your system details into your profile. That makes it much easier for anyone trying to help to see at a glance what you have in your system, much easier than using the link in your post.

     
    Last edited: 2011/01/08

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  4. 2011/01/09
    LiTos456

    LiTos456 Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    Alright, thanks. I'll try testing my ram tonight if I have time and I'll let you know the result.

    UPDATE: Alright I've done the tests.
    First, I have 4 1GB Ram sticks. I took each one of them out one by one and ran Assassin's Creed 2 when one of them was out. So a total of 4 tests... With no avail. It seems that neither of the sticks are causing the issue.

    I've ran a quick hard drive test also. It returned no errors. I decided not to run an extended test as I'm pretty sure my hard drive is fine because it's performing great everywhere (computer boots in ~4 seconds).

    However, I did notice strange behavior from my CPU performance.
    While playing the game on my last test, the issue occurred. I became displeased as this meant that none of the sticks caused the problem. Before exiting the game, I decided to open task manager and put it on my second screen so I could watch it while playing the game and see if I could notice any changes in performance.

    I was mainly watching the RAM, however when the lag spikes occurred, I instead notice that the number for "CPU" was going up from late 50s and 60s to late 70s. When the spike was over, the CPU number went back down.

    I decided to get a little more detail and went into the performance tab and done the same test again. I've noticed that during the lag spikes, Cores 1 and 4 are spiking up all the way to 100% usage. Cores 2 and 3 show spikes as well, but they do not reach 100%. Here is a screenshot to show you guys what I mean:
    [​IMG]

    As you can see, I've marked the spikes with a little red circle. There are two on each: This is because I experienced 2 lag spikes within 10 seconds or so.
    Each of the cores show both of the spikes. As I explained earlier, cores 1 and 4 seem to reach 100% on both of the spikes. You can also notice that cores 1 and 4 seem to generally run at a higher percentage than cores 3 and 4.

    Now, I am not an expert, so I don't know if this is a valid observation. But following common sense, it seems to be one. The spikes are definitely displayed in my processor performance as opposed to RAM. In fact, as you can see on the screenshot, RAM usage didn't even twitch during the test.

    I am running an Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 2.83Ghz processor.
    Mind you, it's not very old. I bought the processor only last year, upgrading from an E6550 (if I remember right) that I've been using for 2 years with no problem before that. Seeing this is disappointing, as I expected it to be durable judging from my previous intel experiences (I've always been running intel).

    Money is tough at the moment so if the processor needs a replacement I'm going to have a problem. Of course at the same time, this would open up new opportunities: Perhaps I can land save up to land myself a new motherboard and an i7, since there is no use getting another Q9550 because it's about the second best processor in its' family. Or, perhaps even migrate to AMD processors; they seem to be releasing a lot of good stuff lately, with their new hex cores, and yet still with a calmer price tag than the intel.

    Either way, I need to see what you guys say first.

    Thanks,
    -Ed
     
    Last edited: 2011/01/09
  5. 2011/01/10
    Zander

    Zander Geek Member Alumni

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    Open task manager. Click on the processes tab and then click on the cpu column to sort them by cpu usage. Doing so will place the processes that are using the cpu the most at the top of the list. Then, start a game and when the lag spike occurs, look at task manager and see what processes are using the cpu the most. Obviously, the game will be up there but if the spike is being caused by a process of some sort, it will be at or near the top.

    If it's a process that can be killed without affecting windows, kill it and then see what happens.
     
  6. 2011/01/10
    LiTos456

    LiTos456 Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    Alright, I've been trying to do that but with no avail. When the game freezes up task manager does also, so it's hard to ever catch the process that increases in CPU usage if there is even one. They just kind of rush by when they unlag but I can't make anything out of it; the process order changes every second because I have it filtered by CPU usage.

    I started looking for some information on graphics drivers, just to see, and found out that some people had issues with EVGA Precision and Nvidia drivers. I'm running it, but after disabling it, they still happened.

    It wasn't happening as often today; I had to wait quite a while for it to show up at first. After I turned off Precision (but also after being minimized for a while) same thing happened, I even got my hopes up, but then it started again and increased in frequency.

    I'll be trying to figure out the issue with Task Manager but I don't think I'll be able to get any results, I just can't catch anything. I really don't know what to do at this point. Also, this time it's cores 1 and 2 that were spiking up to 100%.

    UPDATE:
    Okay, something is really weird with my temperatures.
    I checked speed fan and found something really strange. First, I have the 4 individual core temperatures, I have the GPU temp, and 3 temperatures labeled as Temp 1, Temp 2, and Temp 3.
    I was playing EVE and I noticed that All four cores were at negative temperature, which was good. However, Temp 1 was at 95C and temp 2 was at a blazing 127C. I have no idea what those even stand for to be honest.

    Then as I exited the game, for some reason, my core temperatures just lit up. Right now they're jumping between 80C to 100C. I have no clue how that could even happen so fast, or if its normal, or just whats going on overall.

    You guys think this might be a problem with my fan, or my thermal paste or something? Perhaps it simply needs some new paste put on there?
    I dont get how its so cool during gameplay and blazing hot when I'm not in-game though...

    This is worrying me since it's becoming difficult to even isolate the problem. Does anybody have any more suggestions?
     
    Last edited: 2011/01/10
  7. 2011/01/11
    Arie

    Arie Administrator Administrator Staff

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    Look at the temperatures while in your BIOS.

    The problems you describe can also be caused by a weak or failing power supply.

    Please enter your System Details. It helps us in answering your questions!
     
    Arie,
    #6
  8. 2011/01/11
    LiTos456

    LiTos456 Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    Alright I've updated my system specs. I'll go look at the temperatures some more.
     
  9. 2011/01/11
    Zander

    Zander Geek Member Alumni

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    Another thought, albeit a long shot, are these games online games? Rather than something in Windows causing the problem, it could be something related to your router or modem losing it's connection. Lose your connection and the game stops and waits while it tries to get connected again. Any problems with your internet connection in general?

    If these games are online games, next time it stops on you, have a look at the lights on your modem and/or router and see if things look normal there or not.
     
  10. 2011/01/11
    LiTos456

    LiTos456 Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    Well... Two of them are online, and AC2 and Wings of Prey both have little launcher things that require a connection to play.

    I was playing a lot of EVE today and I don't think it did it once. It seems that if I give the CPU a workout by playing a heavier game at first, such as AC2, then it would lag in that game and whatever I play after. I didnt play anything other than EVE today, and EVE is pretty light, so.... another pointing to overheating maybe? Thermal paste issue?

    Edit: Yeah, 1 minute in playing some BC2 and it starts to lag. :(

    Edit2: Hey guys, check this out. Started monitoring speedfan - so normally the temps are in negatives when Im playing, but during the spikes, Core 1 spikes up to 99C or so. PARTICULARLY core 1, nothing else. What do you think?

    Edit3: Tried setting the games' affinity to exclude Core 1. Didn't work, core still heats up, game still lags.

    Edit4: Its strange how despite not being used by the game, as indicated by Speedfan, CPU 1 still spikes up to 100C and 100% usage during these spikes. Other than that its on low % of usage while the other cores are puffing in the game. And yet this doesn't happen outside of the game - I predicted it would still spike up by itself when not in game, I just wouldnt notice it because of the other cores not being dragged up by anything. This is quite strange...

    Edit5: Been doing some research and came across this. Its a similar thread, although they're talking about memory leaks which I don't think I have; at the top of this page the guy mentions changing the NetworkService value in Svchost in regedit. Somewhere else I saw someone mention that svchost sometimes "kicks into overdrive" and for a few moments overloads the CPU. Just throwing what I find in here.

    Isolating this problem to "FPS drop, CPU Inrease" yielded a lot of results on forums for various different games. It seems that this problem is out there; but nobody can really figure it out. One guy mentioned that opening the side of his PC and putting a boxfan there actually fixed his problem. Another guy used a large services tweaking guide and something there seemed to have helped him. But I don't have time to go through all that and don't want to mess with my services, when clearly 90% of the evidence links to heating problems.

    Again, could be thermal paste, or maybe it's time to get a new fan that's not stock. I'll keep doing research but this problem seems to exist around the globe with other gamers. Just none of them seem to want to believe it's actually something with their hardware as opposed to their systems (or a combination of the two).

    I am wondering about this svchost thing though. The guy described it pretty accurately. I downloaded Process Explorer and will do some tests later to see if anything happens to it.

    Edit6: Saw some people talking about pagefile and more memory stuff. I don't think that's the case though, I already went over this, it's the CPU that's getting hogged. Core 1 in particular overheats for some reason.

    That's it for me for tonight. Hopefully this will give you some things to go off of. If anything, typing things on google like "cpu fps drop" or "fps drop cpu increase" might yield some similar threads to look at. Cheers
     
    Last edited: 2011/01/11
  11. 2011/01/13
    markmadras

    markmadras Banned

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    One thing that might be worth a look. I noticed in the screenshot of your Task Manager you have 90 processes running, I believe the normal level is more within the 40's area.

    Take a look at what is running and check each process in this link, you may find quite a few that you do not need.

    http://www.answersthatwork.com/Tasklist_pages/tasklist.htm
     
  12. 2011/01/14
    LiTos456

    LiTos456 Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    I may take a look at that later but it won't fix my issue. I've had many processes like this for a long time and before it was working fine.

    Guys, I need some confirmation on this. I suspect I might need a thermal paste replacement and/or a new heatsink. I've mentioned this before, but can someone give me a comment on this? Like a confirmation or disregard? I need to know now because it's the weekend and I might be able to go to the store to pick up some thermal paste. The situation is getting really tire right now: I'm playing EVE as I'm typing this, with a pretty important task at hand, and it is lagging unlike ever before. And it's strange that this is seen in EVE - it's usually the lightest of my games.

    I really need a confirmation on this, I don't mind spending money on some paste to try to fix this... But right now everything points to overheating (of particularly Core 1 I guess).

    Edit: Wow I think I just burned out CPU 1 completely, lol. Its constantly at 95-100C now (I did set the affinity not to use it as well as CPU 0, playing EVE right now).
    Either way I'm getting thermal paste tomorrow, not much else I can do.
     
    Last edited: 2011/01/14
  13. 2011/01/15
    Arie

    Arie Administrator Administrator Staff

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    Nope, I'd say that's only 90 processes. I'm running 101 right now. There's no "normal" level. If you have the resources, you can run whatever you want.

    Yea, on a virgin Windows 7 with nothing but the OS installed you get to around 45.
     
  14. 2011/01/15
    Arie

    Arie Administrator Administrator Staff

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    I'm assuming you are running the stock Intel cooler? Then definitely YES, get a good cooler (and yes, you'll need new paste when you install a new CPU cooler).

    I'm running the i7, for which I would recommend the Noctua NH-U12P SE 2 CPU Cooler, this cooler also fits your CPU.

    Only make sure it fits in your case, as it is huge.

    More info at Noctua.
     
  15. 2011/01/15
    markmadras

    markmadras Banned

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    You'll be amazed how much difference a new application of thermal paste can make. When burning movies my CPU was up 100ºC, put new paste on and it doesn't go higher than 65ºC. New paste maybe all you need.

    Guess I got that wrong about the number of running processes, I have never seen it over 50 on any PC I have ever owned.
     
  16. 2011/01/15
    PeteC

    PeteC SuperGeek Staff

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    From the Update in Post #5 I suggest you download Coretemp and keep it 'on top' for a while - it shows current as well as max, min temps and load on each core (screenshot).

    I also run an i7 with the cooler Arie noted.
     

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  17. 2011/01/15
    LiTos456

    LiTos456 Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    Okay, thanks guys. I feel quite relieved now. I am indeed running a stock cooler and when I was getting this processor I wanted to get a custom one however was kind of running out of money.

    I'll check out Coretemp, thanks.
    Anyway I think I'll go to the local store here today to check out if they have any thermal paste and maybe any good new heatsinks for sale. Don't worry I won't buy anything without research. If nothing good is there, I'll just order online.
    I'm using an NZXT Tempest case. It's pretty big, I can fit a hippopotamus in there. But check it out anyway, to see if the heatsink fits, lol.

    Thanks everyone, I'll let you know how it goes after I check out the store.
     
    Last edited: 2011/01/15
  18. 2011/01/19
    Arie

    Arie Administrator Administrator Staff

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    Please keep us updated.
     
  19. 2011/01/19
    LiTos456

    LiTos456 Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    Oh, yeah, sorry that I forgot to post - I'm waiting for my Arctic Silver 5 thermal paste to arrive that I ordered. I think it might come today.

    The reason is that the store had a very questionable looking thermal paste that I didn't want to use at all... So I went ahead and ordered Arctic from Newegg.
     
  20. 2011/01/21
    LiTos456

    LiTos456 Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    Applying the new thermal paste tomorrow morning - been busy with school finals and such, so sorry for the delay and no updates. I'll let you know what happens tomorrow, cheers.
     
  21. 2011/01/22
    LiTos456

    LiTos456 Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    Hey guys - sorry for triple post, but wanted to make sure you notice the update.
    The CPU is working great now, thermal paste worked like a charm. Games are all running nice and smooth, no lag and I'm very satisfied. Thanks everyone!

    One thing though: When I checked my temps in BIOS before booting it up, I noticed that it said my CPU Frequency is at 2.33 GHz - shouldn't it be at 2.83 GHz, like its shown everywhere else? Is this normal, or am I really running underclocked?

    I'd rather get full speed out of my CPU honestly... If all this time I've been running 2.33, that makes little difference from my old dual core, which was running at the same frequency. Anyone?
     

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