Game Stutter on High Performace Computer(Need help with frusturation!)

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emceeness

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Jan 5, 2009
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Hi, I built a new PC, and its pretty much up to date for 2009. All games I tested running at low or high quality have some sort of game stutter. A good example is World of Warcraft, the visual game is actually running fine, but theres a half second lag every 10-15 seconds. It tends to piss me off a lot, it makes no sense. I ran Team Forttress 2 and Half Life 2: Source, and it still has the same problem. Even with Call of Duty 4, the game tends to have that weird game stutter. I thought it could be the internet, but I tried games offline, and it has the same problem. I also switch the video cards, and the lag still persist on another card. I also switched out the RAM, and the lag still persist, so I really do questiont the motherboard & cpu. The quality of the video is very clean, but the lag is very unusual, it seems to stutter(1/4 of a second or 1/2 of a second). I tried everything from updating the drivers, updating the bios, and currently I am at the position where I might have to start buying parts to test it out the problem. Did anyone have the same problem and figure out the answer? I am totally stump, and my new computer is just been sitting there in sad mode =(

What seems to be the problem?

Is ther motherboard faulty?
Is the CPU faulty?

What do you guys think?

Here are the specs:

Microsoft XP(Updated to Windows Service Pack 3)
MSI K9A2 Platnium(Updated BIOS from 1.2 to 1.6)
AMD 9750 Quad Core CPU
Kingston HyperX 4GB of DD2 1066(configured ram to run stable at 800mHZ)
ASUS ATI Radeon 4870
Zalman 600HP Crossfire Ready PSU
750GB Seagate HD & 250GB Seagate HD.

Monitor: ASUS 25.5 widescreen


 
Run some stability tests and try to get FPS measurements while you are in game. I have not dealt with MSI mobos personally but they seem to have a lot problems so that may be the source. That is a fairly large monitor so its possible that your system can't keep up with the resolution you are running at, although I don't think that is the problem if you say that your system is running smooth until your lag, I would think the lag would be more consistent.
 



I am running at 87FPS stable on WoW, and all the games do not have no FPS jumps at all. Its a weird sort of lag, and its definitely not the monitor because this is just an upgrade(other monitor currently lagged) I am currently testing out the motherboard, and finding what if its some sort of driver issue. I have read that some of the newer motherboards need drivers installed in a certain order, will update on testing
 



Yes, the funny thing is that it runs crappier at 800X600. The lag still persist at lower resolution and high resolution. Every 15-20 seconds it will lag for 1/2 to 1/4 of a second. Its quite odd, and I believe this is consider "game stuttered". Theres a big article on tweakguides about game stutter, and I read that I could ran into a "driver issue" I am going to reformat for the third time using a different order, could use some expertise advice on this one, anyone out there know how the driver system should work for my set up?

Heres my thoughts once computer is reformatted:

Step 1: Windows XP
Step 2: System Restore
Step 3: Install DirectX 9.0 and its 9.0c distrubition
Step 4: MSI Live Update 3(Update all the drivers through MSI windows)
Step 5: ATI Radeon 4870 VGA Drivers(Factory Disk)
Step 6: Catylist 8.12+

Is this sequence order the correct order, or is there anything missing in between?

Rigg set up is:

Microsoft XP(Updated to Windows Service Pack 3)
MSI K9A2 Platnium(Updated BIOS from 1.2 to 1.6)
AMD 9750 Quad Core CPU
Kingston HyperX 4GB of DD2 1066(configured ram to run stable at 800mHZ)
ASUS ATI Radeon 4870
Zalman 600HP Crossfire Ready PSU
750GB Seagate HD & 250GB Seagate HD.
 
Do the AMD quad cores need the multi-core CPU driver? I know the AM2 dual core did.

This is what I would do:

Install windows
Install chipset drivers
Install video & sound drivers, dont bother with factory cd drivers. Get the latest from the web.
Windows update
 
Reply to Merlinbadman:

What temps are you running at, high temps may cause stuttering.
Is there a newer BIOS for your mobo? Check the MSI website.

The bios has been updated already to the latest BIOS. My computer is actually a lot cooler inside than the temperate outside, and there is no "heat" issue for this lag. CPU is running at like 20C and the video card is running at 36-42C while playing any video game at 1900X1200. The computer is pretty much a gaming rig, and I got the cooling down very good. Heat is not the issue, this seems to be some sorta driver problem, or some sort of hardware issue with the motherboard. Anyone else have any other opinions on what sort of lag this is?

The best way to describe this lag is, picturing yourself playing the game you like the most at max settings, and every 10-15 seconds you get a 1/2 to 1/4 second lag. The lag is not mouse or keyboard lag, its not internet related, and its not heat issue related. BIOS and all drivers are updated, and I am working on a way to figure out how the drivers should be installed, maybe the order does make a difference for MSI motherboards, I will find out through trial and error.
 



I might try this out, is this the best way to install a fresh reformat, and where would directx9 be installed during that process? I figure before the installtion of video and sound drivers.
 
Just curious, have you tried using the vsync setting? I know my new 9600gt had a bit of problems on a game with lines every once in a while, turned on vsync and it cleared a lot of it up. A lot of guys don't like vsync, b/c I think it actually caps the frames your card can put out so that your monitor can keep up, but if it makes the game look and play better, might be worth a shot.
 
Reply to ohiou_grad:

Yes V-sync is turn off via video card and via in-game. I will try to turn it on both game, and video card settings, later on tonight. Thanks for being informative!

Thanks ohiou_grad, lets hope I figure this out soon, its killing me that I cant play WoW and source without the game stutter =(
 
Update:

So I talked to an IT professional at work. He suggested a lot of things that I tried out already. He suggested I try out the "Frys Policy" deal, and get the same exact motherboard and see if the stutter exist. He stated that the motherboard could be faulty, due to the fact that all my other components were replaced and the lag still persist. I have replace the video card, and the RAM, I partition games on different drives to test out if it was the harddisk. I question the CPU, but Mike(the IT professional) told me if the CPU was faulty, I would definitely know from the gecko. I am going to reformat once again this weekend, and see if I can fix this hellhole problem, if not then I definitely need to try out another motherboard or the same exact one.
 



I tested the vsync on yesterday still same problem, it seems like it stutters more with vsync. Still in sad mode =(
 
Is it possible your hard drive is acting up? I know the Seagate 7200.11 hard drives tend to have issues. Just a thought, I don't know if a beginning-to-fail HD would cause stuttering or if it would just outright crash. My hitachi hard drive was acting very slow and then started crashing before it completely failed.
 
Update:

1:22PM

Re-installing Windows Vista Ultimate!

I am taking everyones advice posted above, and trying to implement it. Thanks everyone, lets hope this works if not I need to start replacing parts to figure out this issue.
 
While this is an old thread, I thought I might as well note that hardware monitoring software can interfere with gaming. Not sure what it is specifically that causes this, but Hardware Monitor causes my WoW to stutter in the same manner as which you described.
 
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