Laggy/stuttering Games

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robertwj

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I am playing some fairly new games and they keep lagging at parts and jumping/stuttering.

My specs:
OS: Windows 7 Professional 64 Bit
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 OC to 3.0GHz
RAM: 4 GB DDR3
Board: Msi G41
Graphics: MSI R6850 1GB 256Bit Cyclone Power OC Edition
Storage: 500GB Western Digital Green 32mb cache
Power: 450Watt PSU

I have the latest drivers for my components and graphics card.

I am playing games such as Skyrim for example and the settings are not even on full yet it looks amazing and runs great but every few seconds it skips a little bit and its very annoying. It does this with almost every game that i play. I know my card is decent so i don't think it is that. Other games that i play: World Of Warcraft, FIFA 08-12, Need For Speed The Run, Saints Row: The Third.

Is it possible that the WD Green Hard drive is not fast enough for gaming and as a primary system drive? Any other suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
 
robertwj said:
I am playing some fairly new games and they keep lagging at parts and jumping/stuttering.

My specs:
OS: Windows 7 Professional 64 Bit
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 OC to 3.0GHz
RAM: 4 GB DDR3
Board: Msi G41
Graphics: MSI R6850 1GB 256Bit Cyclone Power OC Edition
Storage: 500GB Western Digital Green 32mb cache
Power: 450Watt PSU

I have the latest drivers for my components and graphics card.

I am playing games such as Skyrim for example and the settings are not even on full yet it looks amazing and runs great but every few seconds it skips a little bit and its very annoying. It does this with almost every game that i play. I know my card is decent so i don't think it is that. Other games that i play: World Of Warcraft, FIFA 08-12, Need For Speed The Run, Saints Row: The Third.

Is it possible that the WD Green Hard drive is not fast enough for gaming and as a primary system drive? Any other suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...

I'm not saying this is definitely THE reason, but the lag could be related to the constant swapping of data between memory and hard disk (aka paging).

Depending on the graphics options you've set, such as resolution, (and especially if you're using HIGH/ULTRA texture quality) your VRAM won't be enough.

If you can (maybe borrow from a friend?), try and get your memory higher...to something like 8GB and see if it makes a difference.

Even with a 7200RPM hard disk, swapping can cause stuttering and lag.

HTH
 
Polygon said:
I'm not saying this is definitely THE reason, but the lag could be related to the constant swapping of data between memory and hard disk (aka paging).

Depending on the graphics options you've set, such as resolution, (and especially if you're using HIGH/ULTRA texture quality) your VRAM won't be enough.

If you can (maybe borrow from a friend?), try and get your memory higher...to something like 8GB and see if it makes a difference.

Even with a 7200RPM hard disk, swapping can cause stuttering and lag.

HTH
Click to expand...

His ram is hardly the issue there. I'd rather bet the cpu is at it's end cycle of what it can do for "latest games". It might be time for a i7/amd something upgrade...

:edit
However it seems to be an issue skyrim itself
 
Last edited:
Turn off hyperthreading.

Many games react badly when it's on. You should also test your memory and hdd. Also ensure nothing to chowing your cpu
 
Should i turn off Page File?
I do not play at ultra settings.
I know the WD Green drives are slower than 7200rpm at times
 
robertwj said:
I know my card is decent so i don't think it is that.
Click to expand...

The first thing you usually exclude from the suspect list is usually the culprit. Have you tried your card on another computer? How old is your PSU? When last did you format your PC? Have you tested your RAM using Memtest86 yet?

How long have you been having this problem? Did the problem start to happen suddenly after some software/driver/hardware upgrade?


Pr⊕phet said:
His ram is hardly the issue there. I'd rather bet the cpu is at it's end cycle of what it can do for "latest games". It might be time for a i7/amd something upgrade...
Click to expand...

There is no way that 'older' games like FIFA should not be working fine on his CPU.
 
ld13 said:
There is no way that 'older' games like FIFA should not be working fine on his CPU.
Click to expand...

Kapitan obvious ;)

I didn't read that far down. Skyrim has issues, that's hardly new.
 
Well it has been doing this for a long time. recently i have upgraded my card, but like i said it was doing this before i upgraded my card.
 
IMO it's the hard drive. Get yourself a nice SSD and use the 500gb as a data drive to keep your files on. I'm willing to bet you won't see it stutter anymore.
 
I'm also certain it is the hard drive I think they write at 5900RPM and it could be a problem for gaming. I'm going to borrow 2 hard drives tomorrow and I will post back on my results. Hopefully that fixes things
 
Ok i tested a better drive and i noticed a slight improvement, not much though.
I then tested a higher watt PSU, same problem.
The last thing it can come down to is the CPU, either not up to par with todays game or its near its end?
 
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