Stutters during game play... :(

[5PointOh]

Just recently I went from having a smooth stutter free AHII to one thats horrible.  I was typically getting a solid 60 frames no matter what.  Now all of the sudden, I am getting 60,58,40,50,45...kind of in that order.  Heres all the info I can think to give...

I have done a deep virus scan...all checked out.
Registry Defrag-Done
Defrag of C and D (recovery) Drives-Done
Uninstalled AHII and Beta, then reinstalled AHII-Done
Gone through Skuzzys Vista List...done that twice just to be sure.
Checked Processes(See Screen Shot)
Checked all cable connections
Checked Cable Speed (See Screen Shot)

I'm at a loss on what to do next...




DXDiag:
------------------
System Information
------------------
Time of this report: 7/5/2009, 16:50:33
       Machine name: NATHAN-PC
   Operating System: Windows Vista™ Home Premium (6.0, Build 6001) Service Pack 1 (6001.vistasp1_gdr.090302-1506)
           Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: Dell Inc.               
       System Model: Dell DXP061                 
               BIOS: Phoenix ROM BIOS PLUS Version 1.10 2.3.1
          Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU          6600  @ 2.40GHz (2 CPUs), ~2.4GHz
             Memory: 2046MB RAM
          Page File: 845MB used, 3499MB available
        Windows Dir: C:\Windows
    DirectX Version: DirectX 10
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
     DxDiag Version: 6.00.6001.18000 32bit Unicode

------------
DxDiag Notes
------------
      Display Tab 1: No problems found.
        Sound Tab 1: No problems found.
        Sound Tab 2: No problems found.
          Input Tab: No problems found.

--------------------
DirectX Debug Levels
--------------------
Direct3D:    0/4 (retail)
DirectDraw:  0/4 (retail)
DirectInput: 0/5 (retail)
DirectMusic: 0/5 (retail)
DirectPlay:  0/9 (retail)
DirectSound: 0/5 (retail)
DirectShow:  0/6 (retail)

---------------
Display Devices
---------------
        Card name: NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GS
     Manufacturer: NVIDIA
        Chip type: GeForce 7900 GS
         DAC type: Integrated RAMDAC
       Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0292&SUBSYS_037010DE&REV_A1
   Display Memory: 1015 MB
 Dedicated Memory: 248 MB
    Shared Memory: 766 MB
     Current Mode: 1680 x 1050 (32 bit) (60Hz)
          Monitor: Dell E207WFP
      Driver Name: nvd3dum.dll
   Driver Version: 8.15.0011.8618 (English)
      DDI Version: 9Ex
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
 Driver Date/Size: 6/10/2009 06:03:00, 7611904 bytes
      WHQL Logo'd: Yes
  WHQL Date Stamp:
Device Identifier: {D7B71E3E-41D2-11CF-C452-7B2301C2C535}
        Vendor ID: 0x10DE
        Device ID: 0x0292
        SubSys ID: 0x037010DE
      Revision ID: 0x00A1
      Revision ID: 0x00A1
      Video Accel: ModeMPEG2_A ModeMPEG2_C ModeVC1_B ModeWMV9_B ModeVC1_A ModeWMV9_A
 Deinterlace Caps: {6CB69578-7617-4637-91E5-1C02DB810285}: Format(In/Out)=(YUY2,YUY2) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,0) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_PixelAdaptive
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                   {5A54A0C9-C7EC-4BD9-8EDE-F3C75DC4393B}: Format(In/Out)=(UYVY,UYVY) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,0) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY
                   {335AA36E-7884-43A4-9C91-7F87FAF3E37E}: Format(In/Out)=(UYVY,UYVY) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,0) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_BOBVerticalSt retch
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                   {F9F19DA5-3B09-4B2F-9D89-C64753E3EAAB}: Format(In/Out)=(YV12,0x32315659) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,0) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY
                   {5A54A0C9-C7EC-4BD9-8EDE-F3C75DC4393B}: Format(In/Out)=(YV12,0x32315659) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,0) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY
                   {335AA36E-7884-43A4-9C91-7F87FAF3E37E}: Format(In/Out)=(YV12,0x32315659) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,0) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_BOBVerticalSt retch
                   {6CB69578-7617-4637-91E5-1C02DB810285}: Format(In/Out)=(NV12,0x3231564e) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,0) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_PixelAdaptive
                   {F9F19DA5-3B09-4B2F-9D89-C64753E3EAAB}: Format(In/Out)=(NV12,0x3231564e) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,0) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY
                   {5A54A0C9-C7EC-4BD9-8EDE-F3C75DC4393B}: Format(In/Out)=(NV12,0x3231564e) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,0) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY
                   {335AA36E-7884-43A4-9C91-7F87FAF3E37E}: Format(In/Out)=(NV12,0x3231564e) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,0) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_BOBVerticalSt retch
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     DDraw Status: Enabled
       D3D Status: Enabled
       AGP Status: Enabled


Thanks for anyhelp...

[Denholm]

Click the button in the task manager that reads, "Show Processes from all Users." If you're not seeing everything you can't help your situation.

[5PointOh]

http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=2b1a9b4915cf0d6b00d27174b47c6657e04e75f6e8ebb871

[Skuzzy]

Wow!  That looks painful.  You are probably losing a good 25 to 30% of your computer performance with all that is running in the background.

When nothing is running the "System Idle" process should be at a rock solid 99.

[TequilaChaser]

5PointOh

here are a couple of websites that will help you determine what you should keep and what you should disable, or set to manual etc.......

http://www.processlibrary.com/

this site will tell you what each process is and if it is important or not........


BlackViper's website is very informative as well and will help you with your processes & Services:
http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm

hope this helps......good luck........

[5PointOh]

Ok I look at the list and I read what some of them are, they seem important.  Not sure what processes to kill.  How do you distinquish which svchost is ok to kill and which one is not ok. Should I just pwn vista and upgrade to windows 7RC till the full version is out??

[5PointOh]

Ok, went through the process list yet again, same thing in AH...I forgot to mention my varience in delay is definately not stable...sometimes it looks like a big sawblade, other times it looks like a little sawblade...
heres my ping plot...

[Skuzzy]

Your connection looks ok.  If the "Variance" is bouncing around it is due to other things taking the CPU away from running the game.

Make sure you do not have any power saving things enabled.

Just in the screen shots, your CPU usage percentage is way too high.  It should mostly stay at 0.

[5PointOh]

Power setting is at high performance...I am at a loss on what to do next...

[Skuzzy]

Something is eating up the CPU time.  That is the challenge.  There is no magic for this, I am afraid.  It just takes a lot of time and patience.  Until you find whatever it is eating up your CPU time, stutters are going to happen.

One of the things bugging me about your computer configuration is it only has 2GB of RAM, and 766MB of your system RAM is used up by the video card, leaving only 1.3GB free.  That cannot be a good thing.  That is barely enough for Vista to run in. 

Check your swap space usage.  It is also in the Task Manager, just under the "Performance" tab.  Also note your free physical RAM.

Why NVidia is doing that is beyond me.

[5PointOh]

<---Pounding head on desk repeatedly.

[Getback]

<---Pounding head on desk repeatedly.

My best advice, That's not going to fix the issue..........I think.

[5PointOh]

Not really sure what I did, but Skuzzy got me thinking about the Nvidia card. So I downloaded an update...or should I say un update from 2008, which actually failed during installation. Restarted my pc. Video settings where messed up, got the video setting back to par, checked my AH video setting (went back to 1024X768) move that back to 1680 X 1050.  Everything is ok now.  I don't get it.

[Skuzzy]

Older NVidia drivers do not do that stupid system RAM sharing.

[Hamltnblue]

I had the exact same problem with my last rig, a core 2 E6700.  The problem was caused by my USB headset. The headset was killing bandwidth on the usb port and caused major stutters at times.  I switched to a standard headset and never had the problem again.
Also if you have trackir, make sure it has it's own usb port and not on a hub. I've seen problems when they are plugged into a hub
Good Luck