Seemingly inexplicable hiccuping/skipping while playing games

My PC seems to hiccup or skip whenever I'm playing a game, Skyrim in particular.

I'll boot up the game and It'll run perfectly smoothly for the first five minutes or so, then the hiccups begin, a minute or so in between, then down to about 30 seconds, and eventually the hiccups are occurring every 5 minutes or so. In between the hiccups the game runs perfectly fine.

I've tried running the game with my antivirus off, no dice. Defragmented the hard drive, still nothing. I've run a clean start up and I've run anti virus scans and havent found anything. Not really sure what to do about this issue.


Thanks for the help:)

Intel i7 quad @ 2.20 ghz

6 GBRAM

ATI Radeon 6770M

Rather than add to my wall-o-text I thought I'd also mention something else you can do in Windows. If you run msconfig (Windows Key + R then type msconfig in the box - then hit enter), you'll find a "Boot" tab. Click "Advanced" and you should find a checkbox/dropdown for NUMPROC (number of processors). What I always do with multi-core CPU's is to set this to the highest number available. While it may not make a difference in games/benchmarks, it seems to make Windows more responsive at least. You'll also want to restart after you make the change.

Oh, and you may want to actually set Windows to 'no page file' - restart - defrag - then set the page file to around 8192 or so - then restart again. The shortcut to System Properties is the Windows Key + Pause/Break - or right click on "Computer" and click properties.

Tried all of those things. Still nothing. And my hard drive is 7200 rpm.

Tried all of those things. Still nothing. And my hard drive is 7200 rpm.

ABERES11

Similar situation here: http://www.gamespot.com/forums/topic/28958888/preformance-drops-gaming-on-my-laptop?tag=platform-forums%3Brecent%3B3

It happens in other games but Skyrim is the real culrprit.

It happens in other games but Skyrim is the real culrprit.

ABERES11

It sounds like the same issue that was driving me crazy on my Laptop. My problem ended up being the Advanced Power Management for the laptop's HDD. The APM reduces the performance of the hdd if it isn't used for a short period of time, and the result is a small freeze or hiccup when the game goes to stream info from it again. I found a small program called CrystalDiskInfo that, among other things, allows you to disable the APM. I have to disable it anytime I want to game on the laptop, but that solved my issue. Could be worth a shot for you too. Good luck!

Disabled the APM. Didn't help. Fack.

Disabled the APM. Didn't help. Fack.

ABERES11

I'm afraid I do not know how to do that!

I'm afraid I do not know how to do that!

ABERES11

Did it, restarted, doesnt seem to have done anything. Am I missing something?

Did it, restarted, doesnt seem to have done anything. Am I missing something?

ABERES11

Already did that. Nothing.

Already did that. Nothing.

ABERES11

Nada. This is so frustrating!

Nada. This is so frustrating!

ABERES11

None at all.

Have you made sure windows is not power throttling your CPU?

under powermanagement, in Control Panel, there will be an option to set your minimum and maximum cpu speed. Set both of these to 100%.

When the cpu has to throttle up and down in speed like that, it will create pauses while gaming in some games. Esepecially high resource games.

Another thing, While the game is running, Cntr +Alt+del, and bring up task manager, locate the game exe in processes. Right click it and set priority, Set it to HIGH, NOT THE HIGHEST(could freeze your pc). It should be at normal or something by default this may also help a bit, helped smooth out Splinter Cell Conviction a little bit for me.

Hope any of these help a little.

Tried everything you said. Still nothing -_-

None at all.

ABERES11

http://tinypic.com/r/ifu43b/5

http://tinypic.com/r/ifu43b/5

ABERES11

Uninstalled antivirus. Still happening.

Update on the issue: almost every time i perform an action in game (attack, select an option during dialogue, etc.) it hiccups. Some hiccups last longer than others.

Update on the issue: almost every time i perform an action in game (attack, select an option during dialogue, etc.) it hiccups. Some hiccups last longer than others.

ABERES11

Yes, nothing changed. Also I've noticed similar lags in microsoft word. Not sure if it's related but I thought it was worth noting.

Yes, nothing changed. Also I've noticed similar lags in microsoft word. Not sure if it's related but I thought it was worth noting.

ABERES11

hmmm. Have you tried reformatting? if it does it then. After you get all your drivers loaded and whatnot, it could be hardware issues. I'm no expert though!

It often seems as if the PC is caculating something after I click anywhere in game. I click, it pauses, and the action occurs. If i keep the camera still and dont click on anything everything runs perfectly. Perhaps the pc is having trouble processing mouseclicks? Is that a possiblity? If so, what could I do to remedy that?

It often seems as if the PC is caculating something after I click anywhere in game. I click, it pauses, and the action occurs. If i keep the camera still and dont click on anything everything runs perfectly. Perhaps the pc is having trouble processing mouseclicks? Is that a possiblity? If so, what could I do to remedy that?

ABERES11

Already tried that no results