Choppy Gameplay (video Included) Update

[grumpyuncle]

Hey guys I'm new here. I signed up here a while ago with plans on learning how to overclock when a problem with my new machine occurred. I've been trying to figure this out for the last month or so. Nobody has been able to figure it out so far so I thought I would try here. My specs are:

e8400 Intel

2 8800gt Superclocked Evga cards

Evga 750i FTW

4 gigs OCZ Reaper 1066

Corsair 750w PSU

2 90gx2 Monitors 19" 1280 x 1024

Win Xp 32

(Everything is stock. No overclock)

Basically my new machine is suffering from choppy game play (Cod4, Quake, and COD2.)I put the machine together and had it running for 3 weeks and everything was great. Games played extremely fast and smooth. Suddenly one day out of the blue games get choppy. Its tied in with mouse movement. Whenever I turn around in a game it stutters. Change the sensitivity on my mouse and it gets even more choppier. Now the only way to play a game is with dpi and sensitivity turned way down and even then it is tough to play. I switched my G5 with another mouse (Razer Lachesis) and it does the same exact thing. I have tried old, new and beta drivers , tried removing mouse drivers, replaced audio drivers, switched anti virus's , and reinstalled Xp so software at this point has been eliminated. I have tried 3 monitors and they all played the same. I tested the PSU out and it reads fine with volt meter and in bios. I ran prime 95 and memtest and both showed no errors. I have have even replaced the motherboard (EVGA's suggestion.). I have tried both video cards individually as well as in SLI and it does the same thing. My question is does this look like a video card problem or does this seem like another hardware issue altogether? EVGA is even unsure at this point and they suggested I RMA both cards to be sure. I figured while I was waiting for my RMA to be approved I would try posting here and see if anybody has any insight to what would be causing this. Any ideas would be appreciated.

Here is the link to the video.

 

Thanks

Grump

Edited August 13, 2008 by grumpyuncle

[Shadowfactor]

what settings are you using in the Nvidia Software. like the display drivers. because if you force really high settings in the NV control panel, sometimes problems occur.

 

another thing to just try. Take 2 gigs out and try then. It could be a possible voltage issue

My board is really really picky about things like that.

 

The only other thing I can really think of at the time. Bios settings. MY board has something thats supposed to accelerate the graphics cards.

It's called NVidia EX. It's a bios settings. I notice if I turn it on, I loose about 10 FPS

Edited August 7, 2008 by Shadowfactor

[Jhester]

No chance it could be any viruses or trojans? They cause this type of deal. Saw you tried re-installing Windows...

Check out your RAM too, just run with one in, then the other.

 

Also, try running with just one core enabled on your CPU. It's strange it'd just start out of nowhere but some games act like that in dual core settings when they aren't properly optimized for it. You can disable them by right clicking in Task Manager under processes, and using the menu to select how many cores to utilize.

 

-Jhester

Edited August 7, 2008 by Jhester

[grumpyuncle]

Thanks for the ideas guys. I appreciate you guys trying to help. Unfortunately the problem remains. I tried taking one stick out and only running two gigs and it still was choppy. Swapped sticks and it was still the same. I also disabled one core and it did the same thing. All my Nvidia settings are set stock and the problem is there even if I turn everything down. I forgot to mention, I average about 190 fps with one card while gaming. Even though the game becomes choppy, the fps will stay the same. Talk about frustrating.

Grump

[Jhester]

What kinda hard drive do you have?

[IIxNullxII]

Did you fresh install XP, or attempt a repair? If so, any viruses or Trojans causing this would remain after a repair.

[DLS2008]

What game are you averaging 190 fps with one graphics card? Are you playing multiplayer online when it becomes choppy, or are you playing single player on your computer, or does it happen regardless of single/multiplayer? What are the temps on your graphics cards hitting? Heat can be an issue with cards, if it gets too hot, they start having problems.

[grumpyuncle]

Again guys thanks for the replies. I did a complete reinstall of xp. I actually bought a new wd 160g 7200 sata drive the second time I loaded xp. My second drive is a new 640g wd 7200 sata. I have loaded games on both drives. Choppiness occurs on both single player and multi player. I average 190fps in COD4. I loaded the other games just to see how they play. There was a time when I first put the system together they were climbing to around 79c but the guys at evga said that wasn't a problem. I added some pci slot coolers anyway and used evga precision to crank the fans up and now they stay pretty cool. According to NVIDA system monitor my cards are only around 65c under stress. At one time I thought it was my e8400 overheating. A friend suggested I run occt to stress my chip. I ran occt to and it and it would fail within the 3 minutes of stress testing. Temps would go up 24c within those three minutes (it read my temps 10c more than the bios.) It turns out the stock heat sink was a piece of junk. I added a ocz vendetta 2 and now I can run the test the whole hour and only go up 10c. I forgot to mention in my original post, when I move open windows around my screen in XP sometimes they streak and the edges break up while moving them quick. I tried moving a few open windows around the screen on my old computer and notice noticed no streaking and edges remained smooth. Don't know if this is related or not.

Edited August 8, 2008 by grumpyuncle

[Crazy_Nate]

Have you memtested? I *always* start there with new hardware or a new configuration.

 

http://www.memtest86.com/download.html

 

Verify memory voltages and primary timings in BIOS.

 

Burn the ISO. Boot from it. Run tests #5 & #8 for ten passes a piece, then all tests for several hours. If you get any errors, either your BIOS settings are wrong, or your memory is faulty.

 

Go into windows, download the latest version of prime95. Download either coretemp or realtemp.

 

Run the blend stress test for at least 8 hours (if you've crashed OCCT, you'll probably not pass this). WATCH YOUR TEMPERATURES with either program above. If it gets above 60C I would start considering stopping the torture testing.

 

What kind of cooling do you have on the CPU..? What temperatures are you getting...idle and full load?

[Waco]

Is it just tearing you're running into? Have you tried enabling Vsync and triple buffering?

 

EDIT: After watching the video it's obviously not tearing. Is your mousepad clean?

[damian]

Is your mousepad clean?

 

believe it or not....QFT

i cant think of anything else. You did say you tired different drivers but for what only the mouse? or also for the video card?

[grumpyuncle]

Thanks for replying guys. I ran prime 95 for twelve hours the other days with no errors. I ran memtest for 8 hours when this problem first occurred and there no problems. Temps on my cpu are around 29c to 34c according to the bios. All temp software read different with this board but real temp says 39c and 36c which seems the most accurate. Vsinc on or off is the same as well as triple buffering. I have a brand new exact mat mouse pad and have tried my desk as well. I have tried mouse , display drivers and motherboard drivers. One thing that is tough to see in the video is as I move around there is slight fuzziness and blurring in the game. The only way I can describe it would be like my refresh rates are low. Changing between 60 - 75 though doesn't change anything and my old crt does the same thing.