New system build is driving me nuts...help!!

[Binks527]

Building my 1st system has really been a blast, and I thought that going from my Emachine 3200+ and 1.5gb with an X700 GT to my new specs below would be a lightyear of difference in BF2, but I have done everything I can think of and I still have not eliminated the in-game stuttering.

I will not stop until I've got it fixed but I need your help as this is my 1st build and might be missing something. Here's a list of what I have done so far:

I have loaded Windows XP Pro and ALL updates, including the Dual Core Hotfix.

Updated ALL drivers:Chipset, Video, Processors, Sound, Mouse,and Keyboard.

Ran Dual Core Optimizer from AMD.

Removed the Cobra soundcard and went with the onboard from ABIT...no change. Changed sound settings within game (per TweakGuides)

Changed MOBO from a BRAND NEW Asus A8s-x to an ABIT Fatal1ty 939 SLI thinking the Nforce4 chipset would be much better than the SIS 756..NO CHANGE! (Fatal1ty MOBO is awsome by the way!)

Went through Tweakguides and applied a lot of bf2 gametweaks....

Game settings have been all Medium by the way with no AA .......which should be maxed with my system ....

I am getting 50-100 Fps within game..

So what is it? should I upgrade my PSU? More $$!!!!

I am thinking of getting another PNY 7900 GS and run SLI....MORE $$$!!!

I have run Memtest86 all night with NO errors....I have run a stress test on the system and checked out.....

I am running stock settings...no overclocking

I have set the Affinity to 1 Cpu....no change.......

Take a look at my system specs and tell me what I SHOULD expect for game settings and Fps...

I am using wireless with Ping of under 100 on many servers with DSL ..

SO WHAT AM I MISSING!!! HELP

[Scinto]

Re: New system build is driving me nuts...help!!

how long do you stutter at the start?

[camper.]

Re: New system build is driving me nuts...help!!

Update Punkbuster, duh...

[=98=]

Re: New system build is driving me nuts...help!!

Defrag!

[Venomous]

Re: New system build is driving me nuts...help!!

How many times have you reinstalled?

[Binks527]

Re: New system build is driving me nuts...help!!

When in game its like I am pushing against a wall when running.....and if I look quickly to the side, it stutters and sometimes if i look up then I get this spinning affect ......the stuttering is throughout the whole game.....

I forgot to mention that PB update was the 1st thing that I did after patching BF2....when all complete then Defrag......

I had the initial install of course ....then with the new MOBO install.....and again one more time when I was going to Ghost the system and moronically reset during Ghost and crashed my drive.....and by the way, CS runs like butter as does everyother game as well,.......I know BF2 is a very taxing, finicky son of a -----, but what doesnt it like with my system???

Look at my system specs and tell me what kind of gameplay I SHOULD have with BF2............

[Jakg]

Re: New system build is driving me nuts...help!!

my PC runs super smooth with 4x AA, and mines a AMD Athlon 3700 KAB1E @ 3 GHz (Single core, but overclocked MUCH higher than your CPU - so in game it would be faster) with a 256 7950GT - i however only have 1 GB of RAM, and that should affect it a LOT more (esp seeing as my ram is TCCD running FUBAR'ed speed, and yours has nice low timings!)

Try re-installing the graphics drivers?

IMO, your PC needs no upgrade (and personally i hate SLi, for the price you could sell your card and grab a MUCH better 8800!), but theres a hardware problem, to me the stutering sounds like the HDD's, what do you have? and is there any background stuff running? ie Norton etc.

EDIT - You have a good quality WD HDD? then thats wierd...

i get stuttering too, however i've blamed it on my PC needing a format (The FPS DOESN'T drop, the game physically stops for about a second)

Try closing ALL background sh*t that could slow things down?

(BTW, i'm a massive overclocking geek)

EDIT 2# - Even though i don't think its the cause of your problem, if possible go to a wired connection, the pings might be good but with wireless you get packetloss which is NOT good for gaming

[Binks527]

Re: New system build is driving me nuts...help!!

Thanks Jakg.......I agree on the wireless issue, I will have to rerout the inbound line to the basement ...right now the router is on the 2nd floor.....sure wouldnt hurt.....

You would love the UGuru panel on the ABIT......it's really a nce overclocking feature..even has a CMOS reset right on the front panel as well as the ability to set overclocking to specific games....which I will do after I eliminate the stuttering some decade!!

[Jakg]

Re: New system build is driving me nuts...help!!

if its a bastard to get a cable there (been there!) then wireless is handy, if its just because cables look a little rubbish and because you want to be 1337 then its worth a change, but it seems like wireless is your only choice.

I've seen the Abit stuff, but its so expensive, for the price i can get DFi mobo's (ATM i'm on an Asus A8N SLi Premium, cracking overclocking board, although its far from the best), which are THE best for overclocking 939 CPU's, atm my mobo wont let me adjust the memory speed at all, even though my DDR400 sticks used to run at DDR558, and that was my CPU's limit!

The only thing i can think off is either drivers (try the chipset drivers from Abit rather than using the ones from nVidia, and vice versa), trying some different graphics drivers (i recommend these XtremeG 94.20's), you may also want to try different drivers for the sound card, however i'm not sure if thats the problem, tbh. I recommend that you remove the driver with DriverCleaner, reboot, THEN install the new drivers seeing as your only doing it because of a possible conflict.

Still, my bet is on background tasks though, perhaps you've got something dodgy loading at startup? (Autoruns, or plain old MSConfig could tell)
Perhaps a virus or adware? or just a lot of programs running in the background, maybe an anti-virus that wants to auto-scan your PC?

If the worst came to the worst, you could try a re-install just to see if that fixed it - then it would show if it worked properly its a software issue, although that doesn't really narrow it down much

[Binks527]

Re: New system build is driving me nuts...help!!

Thanks Jakg...I am running AVG also ran Trendmicro and reported clean....I am runnning gXtreme 97.92....tried stock nforce driver as well..always use Drivercleacner when changing...hmmmmm chipset is latest from ABIt as well as the Bios version......thanks a lot for your input!

[Sniper1432]

Re: New system build is driving me nuts...help!!

when I updated PB I stuuter A lot during rounds

[HypnosisFX]

I run the game smooth as silk on a widescreen with everything at Max when i wanna see some eye candy. But when i first built my rig i had a few issues but i fixed them quick.

Hey i live in CT too. I work in North Haven so im not far from ya.

[Sniper1432]

Re: New system build is driving me nuts...help!!

sweet

[Binks527]

Re: New system build is driving me nuts...help!!

Hypnosis, our systems have some similarity, (Yours is obviously faster)...have you ever had any issues with the dual-core single thread issue, and have you installed the dual-core optimizer from AMD and hotfix from MS?