What would cause a drop in frame rates?

[daddog]

My system is 3-4 years old. Been rock solid apart from a couple HD crashes. Just a few days ago I started getting some frame rate drops. Frame rates are normally in the 60's but can drop to the 30's in furballs, but now they are suddenly dropping to 6-10 frames for a few seconds and then back up. Seems to be getting worse, (more frequent). Was playing just a bit ago and it happened 2 or 3 times within a minute.

I was actually in the market for a new system, but was thinking about handing this off to one of my children so I want to figure out what the problem is.

MB ECS 755-A2
CPU AMD 3200
GeoForce 6600GT
1.5GB of RAM
XP w/SP2
DirectX 9c
LiteOn DVD Burner

Thoughts?

[Auger]

Daddog, I had a similar problem with a former motherboard.  Everything was fine until I went into GVs, then the frame rate would drop to under 10.  That lasted about a week, then it rolled over and died completely.  Turns out one of the voltage regulators gave up the ghost.  Replacing the motherboard fixed it.

Rereading your post gives the impression that the frame rate drops only last a few seconds.  That indicates that some piece of software is stealing cycles.  Did you install anything new or update any software recently?  Anyone else use the computer who might click on a link in an email?  Check Task Manager and see if any unusual processes are running.

[daddog]

Thanks for the quick reply.

No, I have not changed/added anything lately. Task Mgs has a ton of stuff, but it always has. I don't see anything that stands out of the ordinary. No one else uses my system, well my wife does, but rarely. She would not do anything to foul it up. Ran a full virus scan and turned up zip.

Do Vid cards and or motherboards die slowly? I always thought they would just stop working one day.

[Skuzzy]

Daddog, take a look closely at the task manager and note the CPU percentage used in the "Processes" tab.  Watch it for a minute or two.  Normally, it should be bouncing from 0 to 1 (maybe 2) percent like a steady, slow heartbeat.

Also, take a look at the "Variance" chart in the "Net Status" of the game when you are in the tower.  It should be flat after you have been connected for a bit.

Are you allowing skins to be downloaded in background?  Shut that off.

[BigStank]

Sounds like system resources taking a hit but just for info...

I have the same intermittent symptoms and it turned out to be the A6M2 and the Mossie. They drastically drop my framerate anytime I get within 600 of them. I can always tell when someone flies one into a furball with me and I usually have to bug out if more than one does. For sure I can't fight one. Turns into a slideshow at every pass. Weak rig yes but 40/50fps until one of these planes get close, then it's 10 or 12.

You can easily check if they are a culprit by monitoring your framerate when you bring these planes up in the hanger.
.

[NEARY]

Daddog, take a look closely at the task manager and note the CPU percentage used in the "Processes" tab.  Watch it for a minute or two.  Normally, it should be bouncing from 0 to 1 (maybe 2) percent like a steady, slow heartbeat.

Also, take a look at the "Variance" chart in the "Net Status" of the game when you are in the tower.  It should be flat after you have been connected for a bit.

Are you allowing skins to be downloaded in background?  Shut that off.

i didn't know that was a problem. but after a frame rate causes me to crash and i should be heading back to the tower,it says "lost udp connection switched to tcp", or it says "host stopped recieving udp switch to tcp" and on both quotes a aces window pops up and says host connection lost. if i press quit when it says that, i go back to the main menu and the clipboard is comepletly blank. and i have to use alt+f4 to get out

[daddog]

Thanks guys. I will give it a good look this weekend.

[daddog]

Thanks again gents.

I watched the Processes for a bit and at the bottom it lists:
System Idle Process. That fluctuates between 97 and 99. The rest are at zero under CPU. Under memory Usage it ranges from 20 to over 50,000 for Firefox and some other programs I have up and running (not during game play of course).  I did have the skins downloading in the background Skuzzy, but that has never been an issue before. Checked my net stats/variance and it is a flat line. Always has been since I was hooked up for DSL about 6 months ago. Not had a ‘host connection lost’ since I was on DSL.

Flew last night for about an hour. Not a single problem which really surprised me. Been happening every day for a week or so. If it starts up again I will reply again. Maybe it just had the flu.

[drdeathx]

how do you think you can run your 3-4 year old computer with 97-99 procresses running. thats a lot for new computers . u need to end the unnnessecary procceses get enditall2 and check this link

http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,241726.0.html

[morfiend]

  DD:

 You might want to try enditall or FSautostart,both will stop unneeded programs.FSauto will restart all those programs again on exitting AHII,not sure how enditall handles this.

 checkout blackviper's website,it will show you what programs you can safely shut down and what those programs actually do. Then you can shut them down manually if you'd like,that can be done in the task manager.

 If ya want some help with this,you know how to get in touch with me,so just ask.......

[vizwhiz]

Think you guys might have missed his comment about the processes...
He mentioned that his "System Idle" process shows 97-99...which everybody's does when nothing is running...not that he has 97 processes running.
I have this same question, and have to figure out how to shut off the extra processes too...I have 40-50 running all the time 

[SectorNine50]

Hey ddog, did this issue start happening in mid-July for you?

[Max]

Do Vid cards and or motherboards die slowly? I always thought they would just stop working one day.

You might try a system scan via www.pcpitstop.com Think they require IE browser for the tests. In any case, FSAutostart is recommended as an easy way to lighten the load on your CPU while gaming.

Other yeoman thoughts: have you been inside the computer with canned air? I found quite a build up of dust in my son's computer - especially around the cpu fan and cooling fins, power supply and case air vent openings.

[VonMessa]

I tape Pledge "grab-it" cloths over the intake vents, or a fabric softener sheet.  Something non-restrictive to the air flow.  Cuts down on how often I need to blow it out of my.............  tower 

[Max]

I tape Pledge "grab-it" cloths over the intake vents, or a fabric softener sheet.  Something non-restrictive to the air flow.  Cuts down on how often I need to blow it out of my.............  tower 

Great idea Von. Keeps the innards smellin clean n fresh, too