X800xl Stutter Problem...Not graphics card it seems

[Dracunus]

So I made a thread before about this...but I'm still having serious problems. My PC specs are:
p4 2.8ghz
1gb ram
256mb radeon x800xl
80gb harddrive

So I think something is bottlenecking my card because the video card itself is in fine condition (3dmark tests and wahtnot) and it's not overheating or anything. The game appears to run fine but it seems when I press a key, it doesn't register until late. There seems to be a delay and I'm getting in game lag because of it. This happens not only on high settings as well, but also all medium settings and you would THINK that I'd be getting better performance with my system.

Sometimes I'll be running even though im not pressing anything...and when I press things while I'm running, all of a sudden ill just end up looking a totally different direction. I end up having to fight the game for control and usually by the time i regain I'm dead. It's a bitch to play with.I have no idea what the problem was and was wondering if anyone experienced a similar problem.

I was thinking it's the processor but my friend can run it fine on a p4 2.6ghz and he also runs all on high with a 9800 pro with an 3.0ghz athlon.

I tried installing diff versions of ATI drivers...tried the Omega drivers...tried renaming the exe...did a full reformat...defrag, etc etc, setting PCI latency to 64...cahnging the AGP aperature size. Still no luck. Does anyone have any ideas?

Thanks alot, I really appreciate it!

[zymyo]

Re: X800xl Stutter Problem...Not graphics card it seems

There is so much you can do for your own computer to avoid these problems...

One of the major problems is overheating, we all know x800XLs love to express themselves with heat, and that your computer when you bought it came with a low end graphic card that didn't require much cooling... when you play bf2 and your game starts to slow down or messup on you it means that your x800XL has already overheated on you and that it must take cycle measures to underclock so it doesn't burn itself to death.

Also there is a pretty neat program out there which I highly recommend you to use called page defrag, as little the file maybe, it will deffinetly be the new car filter for your rig.

Download link - http://www.sysinternals.com/Files/PageDefrag.zip -

Run it along with your pc daily and you should be fine.

<edit> if you can't afford any cooling devices open your case, it will help your graphic card.

[Dracunus]

Re: X800xl Stutter Problem...Not graphics card it seems

Okay, so that DID seem to help and I'm getting better framerate BUT, I think I should probably make the problem more detailed. IT seems that my computer is registering key presses...Like Ill press forward and I will keep moving even when I let go of the key. I'll press another key or so while he's moving forward and all of a sudden I will step in that direction of the key press, but it will be long after I actually pressed it. It only happened a couple times in the last game I played, but it's still quite annoying. Does anyone have a similar problem like this or any ideas on how to fix this?

Thanks for the quick response...I opened the case and I now have a fan blowing in on it. No case fan so it's pretty ghetto, but I noticed an improvement definitely to some extent.

[1Cruiser1]

Re: X800xl Stutter Problem...Not graphics card it seems

Hi,

I had heaps of trouble with slowing down and stuttering on my computer and after many hours of trying fixes it definitly came down to processor heat. Many forums discuss this problem but no forum had an answer.

Recently redrider did testing and proved it was overheating of the processor that caused the slow down and stuttering. Your best fix is to get a good quality fan and heat sink for your processor. I did and it now runs as smooth as silk.

Oh Yeh Changing from 1mb Ram to 2mb is a huge difference as well.

[Dracunus]

Re: X800xl Stutter Problem...Not graphics card it seems

I don't think it's the heat anymore as I have a HUGE fan blowing in with my case open...so I'm pretty sure that's all the cooling I need.

It's not just stuttering....it's game delay, even though it seems to be playing at full speed. THe game is playing at full speed but it's responding lags behind my key presses...ALOT. by a couple seconds, at least. It's really strange. Any ideas?

[redearedslider]

Re: X800xl Stutter Problem...Not graphics card it seems

read a couple of post earlier posted the same problem.... if you have catalyst 6.1 switch to an earlier one... or check if your sound has EAX on and switch it off... put sound on low or medium and it will go away... fixed it for me i had the same problem

[Dracunus]

Re: X800xl Stutter/Hiccup Problem...Not graphics card it seems

What drivers did you roll back to?

Also, I was wondering...I have a 3dmark05 score of 4864, with no OCing or anything like that. Is that normal for an x800xl about? I worry about overclocking so I'm not sure of a safe way to do it or even I SHOULD do it.

But yeah, I'm still getting some problems so if anyone has any ideas, I would really appreciate it!

[redearedslider]

Re: X800xl Stutter Problem...Not graphics card it seems

really ?? go to 5.13 drivers but you SURE you checked eax... put sound to LOW and SOFTWARE and see if those are ok... also check if you've got the latest sound driver

[Verzili]

Re: X800xl Stutter Problem...Not graphics card it seems

as mention before about the heat of youre prosseser,
how long have u had the 2.6chip?
have u ever cleaned the dust out of the heatsink/fan?
do u no that its a good idea to apply some new thermal paste in youre heatsink(heatsink2prosseser contact)
it is recomended to do this every 12 months.

also did u buy youre gfx card as a add-on to youre 2.6 p4?

if so you may need a bit more power in youre powersupply,as faster cards need a little more.and maybe the psu that came with youre 2.6 is a bit old and warn out.(i maybe wrong as u may have a new psu)to check look on youre gfx card box for a minimum psu.

i do think its a heat problem you have though!!

putting a fan next to youre pc is a good idea but wont help mutch if youre prosseser is geting very hot,check the contact from heatsink to prosseser and see how he thermal paste looks<-- important to have a small spread of paste bettween them,overtime it will fade away(resulting is major heat)

if you not sure on how to apply themal paste dont worry.
go and buy a new heatsink and fan (they normally come with a square of it on heatsink,they are not expensive to buy.

hope this helps you with youre problem and goodluck

[Verzili]

Re: X800xl Stutter Problem...Not graphics card it seems

Hi,

I had heaps of trouble with slowing down and stuttering on my computer and after many hours of trying fixes it definitly came down to processor heat. Many forums discuss this problem but no forum had an answer.

Recently redrider did testing and proved it was overheating of the processor that caused the slow down and stuttering. Your best fix is to get a good quality fan and heat sink for your processor. I did and it now runs as smooth as silk.

Oh Yeh Changing from 1mb Ram to 2mb is a huge difference as well.

you no that :) nit
i no my post had a similar answer as youres but 2 ppl saying it may perswade him a bit more :)