Severe Choppiness/Lag in ALL my games, PLEASE HELP.

This is seriously driving me crazy. In every modern game I have (Mass Effect 3, Skyrim, MW3, Saints Row The Third, etc) the FPS drops significantly with severe choppiness for a few minutes and then goes back to normal, and repeats. When they run normally, the FPS is generally high and very smooth. Mass Effect 3 in particular has this choppiness for like 5 minutes and happens more frequently. I know it's not my graphics card or CPU overheating because im checking my temps and they are always below 45 degrees C. What is the problem, can it be the hard drive? The hard drive is roughly 6 years old.

My build:

Windows 7 64 bit
AMD Athlon II X4 630 @ 2.8 GHz
EVGA GTS 250 512mb
6GB RAM DDR2
550W PSU

Running on 1440x900 for most games except ME3 which is at @ 1280x720.

I really need to know the source of this problem, I cannot enjoy my games anymore.

This is seriously driving me crazy. In every modern game I have (Mass Effect 3, Skyrim, MW3, Saints Row The Third, etc) the FPS drops significantly with severe choppiness for a few minutes and then goes back to normal, and repeats. When they run normally, the FPS is generally high and very smooth. Mass Effect 3 in particular has this choppiness for like 5 minutes and happens more frequently. I know it's not my graphics card or CPU overheating because im checking my temps and they are always below 45 degrees C. What is the problem, can it be the hard drive? The hard drive is roughly 6 years old.

My build:

Windows 7 64 bit
AMD Athlon II X4 630 @ 2.8 GHz
EVGA GTS 250 512mb
6GB RAM DDR2
550W PSU

Running on 1440x900 for most games except ME3 which is at @ 1280x720.

I really need to know the source of this problem, I cannot enjoy my games anymore.

Chiddaling

You have a very weak graphics card that is 3 generations old. Get a new card and your framerates will soar.. What's probably happenign is all your video ram is being used. Once this happens things get choppy.

Time for a new graphics card my man.

[QUOTE="Chiddaling"]

This is seriously driving me crazy. In every modern game I have (Mass Effect 3, Skyrim, MW3, Saints Row The Third, etc) the FPS drops significantly with severe choppiness for a few minutes and then goes back to normal, and repeats. When they run normally, the FPS is generally high and very smooth. Mass Effect 3 in particular has this choppiness for like 5 minutes and happens more frequently. I know it's not my graphics card or CPU overheating because im checking my temps and they are always below 45 degrees C. What is the problem, can it be the hard drive? The hard drive is roughly 6 years old.

My build:

Windows 7 64 bit
AMD Athlon II X4 630 @ 2.8 GHz
EVGA GTS 250 512mb
6GB RAM DDR2
550W PSU

Running on 1440x900 for most games except ME3 which is at @ 1280x720.

I really need to know the source of this problem, I cannot enjoy my games anymore.

Endgame_basic

You have a very weak graphics card that is 3 generations old. Get a new card and your framerates will soar.. What's probably happenign is all your video ram is being used. Once this happens things get choppy.

But I always get 50 FPS in ME3, Skyrim and MW3, 40 in Saints Row The Third. I get these frames every time It doesnt get choppy.

New graphics card would help alot with newer games, try some other drivers (old and new), if nothign works then reformat your comp.

New graphics card would help alot with newer games, try some other drivers (old and new), if nothign works then reformat your comp.

kozzy1234

Besides specs.....you say your HD is 6 years old? When was the last time you reformated and did a clean install? Do you do regular maintenance at all like defragging? Free space matters too.

Besides specs.....you say your HD is 6 years old? When was the last time you reformated and did a clean install? Do you do regular maintenance at all like defragging? Free space matters too.

vfibsux

[QUOTE="Endgame_basic"]

[QUOTE="Chiddaling"]

This is seriously driving me crazy. In every modern game I have (Mass Effect 3, Skyrim, MW3, Saints Row The Third, etc) the FPS drops significantly with severe choppiness for a few minutes and then goes back to normal, and repeats. When they run normally, the FPS is generally high and very smooth. Mass Effect 3 in particular has this choppiness for like 5 minutes and happens more frequently. I know it's not my graphics card or CPU overheating because im checking my temps and they are always below 45 degrees C. What is the problem, can it be the hard drive? The hard drive is roughly 6 years old.

My build:

Windows 7 64 bit
AMD Athlon II X4 630 @ 2.8 GHz
EVGA GTS 250 512mb
6GB RAM DDR2
550W PSU

Running on 1440x900 for most games except ME3 which is at @ 1280x720.

I really need to know the source of this problem, I cannot enjoy my games anymore.

Chiddaling

You have a very weak graphics card that is 3 generations old. Get a new card and your framerates will soar.. What's probably happenign is all your video ram is being used. Once this happens things get choppy.

But I always get 50 FPS in ME3, Skyrim and MW3, 40 in Saints Row The Third. I get these frames every time It doesnt get choppy.

Try close your anti-virus while playing , do a defragment and ofc ...check for virus/malware.... A good trial program is malwarebytes

Also can you tell me if these chops occur when you are in open areas and stop when you are in small rooms? If thats the case , thats GPU issue

Play with options. Very demanding for power are shadows ( who cares if are high , go low or even none!! if theres an option ). It will boost FPS for sure. Then play with other options and see if theres a difference. If there are significant differences on FPS while you downgrade graphics and/or resolutions then its GPU issue or RAM

[QUOTE="Chiddaling"]

[QUOTE="Endgame_basic"]

You have a very weak graphics card that is 3 generations old. Get a new card and your framerates will soar.. What's probably happenign is all your video ram is being used. Once this happens things get choppy.

AzatiS

But I always get 50 FPS in ME3, Skyrim and MW3, 40 in Saints Row The Third. I get these frames every time It doesnt get choppy.

Try close your anti-virus while playing , do a defragment and ofc ...check for virus/malware.... A good trial program is malwarebytes

Also can you tell me if these chops occur when you are in open areas and stop when you are in small rooms? If thats the case , thats GPU issue

Play with options. Very demanding for power are shadows ( who cares if are high , go low or even none!! if theres an option ). It will boost FPS for sure. Then play with other options and see if theres a difference. If there are significant differences on FPS while you downgrade graphics and/or resolutions then its GPU issue or RAM

Turn off your antivirus and if using Steam try playing in offline mode.

Go into your power save settings and make sure it's always using full power.

Clean your fans and your heatsink.masterdrat

A new gfx card would do you wonders, 40+ fps with lag spikes sounds like a bottleneck.

ME3 and MW3 run on UE3 and a modified Quake 3 engine, as far as I recall, both of which have been worked on for a decade; they generally run very well on most hardware. Skyrim is hit and miss, but generally undemanding as well.

I can't be certain at all but your gfx card probably chokes.

[QUOTE="masterdrat"]Clean your fans and your heatsink.Chiddaling