Is there something wrong with my hardware?

[PwnageSoul]

Hey guys, I think there's something wrong with my hardware. First off, my system setup is as follows:

-Intel Duo E8400 @ 3.0
-BFG GTX260
-eVGA 790i ultra mobo
-1000 watt PSU

When I play Left 4 Dead at 1680X1050, with 4X AA, 8X AF, all other settings very high, my FPS is around 90 fps when I'm in a narrow corridor, not doing anything. However, if I start shooting at just one zombie, my fps drops down to 35-45, probably due to all the blood the comes out of the zombie. When I'm outside, the FPS is around 50 when I'm idle. For other FPS games like Call of Duty 4, the FPS is fine, above 60 as it should be, however it doesn't "feel" smooth, because there's a lot of micro stuttering (I don't have SLI).

For third person games like Dragon Age and Prototype, there's massive stuttering when the camera moves. During in game rendered cutscenes and during actual gameplay, whenever the camera moves, it tends to stutter, or skip a lot. I'm not sure if this is normal because I've never seen this happen on any console games.

Is there anything wrong with my system? If so, what could be the problem? I used to have a 9800GX2, with the same problems, but I swapped that for my current GTX260. I also have the latest drivers

 

[obsidian86]

what power supply you got?

 

[Bluescreendeath]

Do you have the latest drivers?

Have you ever had an ATI card?

 

[PwnageSoul]

It's an Antec 1000watt psu

 

[PwnageSoul]

I have the latest drivers, and I've never had an ATI card

 

[Bluescreendeath]

Did this problem happen with older drivers?
Have you tried benchmarks and comparing the standard GTX260 benchmark-scores?

 

[coozie7]

How much RAM is installed?
How many programs are running?

 

[PwnageSoul]

4GB DDR3 ram is installed, and I'm only running one game at a time, with vital system processes. Nothing else is running. This also happens with older drivers. I compared my benchmarks to the ones at Tomshardware and most of the time its what it should be, except there's a lot of micro stuttering, skipping, and the FPS dips drastically when I actually do something in game (shoot a zombie).

 

[coozie7]

This sounds like a memory issue but the first rules apply: Restore the BIOS to default values then make such changes as are required for good operation such as changing the boot sequence and deactivating onboard sound/video devices. Uninstall and install ALL the drivers: MB, sound and video, updating as available and also update Direct X, it is not done by the normal Windows update.

 

[PwnageSoul]

^Have done all of that yet problems still persist. Is there any way to know for certain which part of my hardware is faulty? I've ran memtest and some other cpu burning programs for days, and they've found no errors.

 

[coozie7]

What I mean is that it seems as if the system has limited memory so when something needs extra textures they have to be loaded from hard drive, which causes this type of stutter and skipping.
Try a few of these (although I suspect you already have).:
Use GPU-Z to check the PCI-E link is set at X16 and the card memory is as it should be.
If possible, try the card in another machine.
Try running with one stick of memory at a time and see if that makes any difference.