[alphaethan]

Hello all:

I purchased an ATI 9600SE video card about a year ago, and I've just started to experience serious lagging problems with online gaming (even when both me and other players online have nice low pings) and minor lags with non-online games. I just purchased a new hard drive and reinstalled my XP Pro OS, and I also updated my Bios plus the driver for each physical component. Even with all that done, I started to experience lag!! Now, I'm talking about games such as Wolfenstein Enemy Territory (which you can run on a normal laptop), with minimal graphic requirements!

I don't understand it, I contacted ATI personally and checked few other things, but the problem seems to exist still. I know it's not a top-of-the-line video card, but it played Far Cry (high graphics) without a problem at medium level! I updated my chipset driver, graphics driver and all other drivers I can think of. Is it still a software problem? It's a retail graphics card from a store, so it's not a refurbished or used card, it shouldn't be physically malfunctioning.

Specifically, the lags are present during intense gaming, such as sitting on a train watching the train moving with rhythmic lagging (patterned), and I also see other people lagging, with nice low pings!!!! Especially when I get into a gun fight (duel) with another player, I see they lag heavily, but myself not lagging to them.

I hope that's detailed enough to eliminate common problem possibilities, because it's not a common problem (at least I don't think).

Any ideas?

Thanks!

Alphaethan

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First things first. How hot does your computer get? It sounds like the graphics card might be over heating, thus causing your stutter and lag. Also, the fact that you first noticed it with online games leads me to believe that when you play online games, your computer is stressing your video card, harddrive, RAM, PSU, and on top of that, your network card. All of this contributes to the heat that builds up in your machine. I would look into getting a GPU cooler for your video card, this will cut down on the heat and the lag that you have been experiencing.

--Chris

[cheathawk1]

First things first. How hot does your computer get? It sounds like the graphics card might be over heating, thus causing your stutter and lag. Also, the fact that you first noticed it with online games leads me to believe that when you play online games, your computer is stressing your video card, harddrive, RAM, PSU, and on top of that, your network card. All of this contributes to the heat that builds up in your machine. I would look into getting a GPU cooler for your video card, this will cut down on the heat and the lag that you have been experiencing.

--Chris

[alphaethan]

thank you for taking the time to help me solve this problem.

My computer is a self-built one, and I have been monitoring the temperature on both the CPU and system itself, they run below 50 deg C, most time around 42-45. I think this temperature is quite acceptable, considering the fact that it's been running like this for a year now without graphics problem. When it comes to gaming, I only play Wolfenstein ET online, which required only 1/2 spec on my graphics card, very low graphics setting. I know you would stress the fact that, what about the graphics card's temperature? The thing is, it didn't come with a cooler, and I don't think it needs one since I barely ever run in high spec.

Therefore, I believe it may be a driver problem or settings problem (which I tried almost everything), since this problem didn't show up until I reinstalled my computer. Physical damage is very unlikely, but it's not impossible.

Again, thanks! I may get a new graphics card soon, but I would like to know what's wrong with this one, because I will give to my friend.

Anyone other suggestions? I really appreciated it.

Best,

Alphaethan

[audioboy]

your temps sound good for the cpu. since you say these problems only started after you reinstalled everything, I would tend to agree its a settings issue.
check your AGP settings in BIOS, see what speed agp is set at (4x, 8x, lower?), if fast write is enabled or not, size of graphics interface, etc. play around with those settings some, it may clear things up.

also check how many background applications you have running, those can slow a system right down when gaming. if you have lots of other apps running (system monitors, email, things like that) it can cause what your describe as well. as an example, if a spyware or antivirus scan starts on my machine when I am gaming, it bogs me right down.

also check inside the case, see if the video heatsink and fan are clean (no big dust buildup in heatsink), fan is running well, etc.

[alphaethan]

thanks, actually I've done all that already, and i usually don't run any other programs besides e-mule P2P program in the background. This program never bothered my internet speed, even during gaming. My ping was alwys nice and low. As for my case, it's crispy clean, because I bought an Antec Sonata case that's just so easy for me to take parts out and dust them with an air spray can. Furthermore, imagine 1.5gig of RAM and 2.2ghz of Athlon XP power, 2 Hitachi SATA raid HD's, it's a high-end PC! lol, no wonder I was so angry with stupid things such as this:)

Well, I just reformated the hard drive and reinstalled all my drivers in a logical order, especially before I installed any anti-virus program. The ATI tech told me to diable any anti-virus program before installing. I did all that, and the problem seems to be fixed. I don't experience any more lag, and the graphics is back to normal. I think it's just a glitch somewhere with the software settings or drivers.

Well, thank you all very much for supporting.

Best,

Alphaethan:)

p.s. Hopefully this stays stable for at least a year, if not, I might convert to Linux Fedora Core II, system instability is frequent with Microsoft, arrrr........

[audioboy]

glad to hear its working!

the format was probably overkill, likley could have gotten by with reinstalling chipset drivers, then video drivers.
but then again, there is something so nice about a totally clean system...

enjoy!

[UV_Power]

but then again, there is something so nice about a totally clean system...

agreed!