PC Gone from Smoothe to Boggy

[V0ssler]

Ok so baically my systems gotten pretty Bogged Down. I thought I'd revisit BF2142 just for kicks, and wtf I'm lagging on settings I use to play through smoothly. I could play on HIGH settings without lag. But this time I lagged for even low settings.

Argh I'm thinking of just reformatting making it so much easier, but I've got a tonne of crap I really don't feel like backing up haha. I've got vital information for accounts and my ISP in text docs littered around the PC, not too mention music/movies.

Anyway my specs are:

P4 3.00Ghz

2 Gig Ram

x1950pro 512mb

Anyway I use to run games really fine with this, just after a while as I've accumulated more apps and files I've started to lag in game I guess. I don't really lag when I browse in my computer mind you, just lag in a game I use to run on High smoothly? Bah.


Got any suggestions to make it better? Just installed new drivers and restarting now, tell you how it goes. Probably not much difference as I update semi-regularly.

P.S. I realise my card is somewhat bottlenecked by the CPU, my pc's getting dated and the card was an upgrade I made last year.. or 2 years ago I forget haha.

[bassman]

Hello VOssler and welcome to http://www.pcguide.com/ubb/pcgubb.gif
I guess I would have to say stay away from a reformat. You may want to do some house cleaning. How much is running in background? How much free space on C:? How long since a good defrag? How many unnecessary progs installed on this machine?
We could use a full set of system specs to be more helpful. Be sure to include OS, partition configuration and usage. Also, when was the last time this machine went outside for some fresh air (as in compressed air to clean out the dust bunnies and cob webs)?

[saphalline]

When it comes to gaming, I'm a full supporter of reinstalling Windows! Even without gaming, a Windows installation in my hands never even lasts 2 years. The mere act of using Windows breaks it! Get used to it! No amount of maintenance or cleaning short of the drastic multi-boot BiNG-enhanced methods used by some of the forums members will ever keep Windows running well.

And to all the nay-sayers, I ask you how long does it really take to reinstall Windows and get back up and running? I paid a lot of cash to get the powerhouse that I have! 5 hours from zero to gaming on my system! Hardly worth the effort for me to mess around with BiNG on an OS that should only be used for gaming! But I've ranted on this before...

V0ssler - I suggest you buy yourself a 500 GB hard drive (now selling for less than $100 shipped straight to your door!) and start doing the backup thing. You'll have to do it eventually either way - might as well get it over with before you lose everything! What you do after that is your decision. But from my 10+ years of experience as a Windows-based PC gamer, I can guarantee you that a fresh reinstall will bring back your games! Plus, by going with a reinstall, you have the option of easily setting up a dual-boot system with Windows and Linux. Think about that.

In the end, time and effort need to be weighed in this situation... I wish you luck.

P.S. I realise my card is somewhat bottlenecked by the CPUQuite the contrary! The vid card is always the bottleneck! Games released in the last 3-4 years lean far more heavily on the vid card. A HyperThreaded P4 at 3 GHz is not outmatched by any vid card to date! So if anyone asks you this same question, you know the answer: it's your vid card! :D

[Ajmukon]

Quite the contrary! The vid card is always the bottleneck! Games released in the last 3-4 years lean far more heavily on the vid card. A HyperThreaded P4 at 3 GHz is not outmatched by any vid card to date! So if anyone asks you this same question, you know the answer: it's your vid card! :D

Oh.. yeah.

even the modern 9800 GX2 is dwarfed by the Quad-Core CPU. (possibly not a PI or II, but a match for a PIII)

[FTT]

When it comes to gaming, I'm a full supporter of reinstalling Windows! Even without gaming... The mere act of using Windows breaks it! Get used to it! No amount of maintenance or cleaning short of the drastic multi-boot BiNG-enhanced methods used by some of the forums members will ever keep Windows running well.

:D :D :D

I t-o-t-a-l-l-y agree! But this is just 'our' opinions.

Outside of a proper backup partition with 'Ghost' like programs which 99.9% people do NOT do, a System Restore is better but BY FAR the best thing is to bite the bullet and reinstall e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g. It takes time, can be a royal PIA, bit it is the most effective with performance AND malware riddance.

Every time I see a thread in our Security forums go from 2 or 3,, to 4 or 5, even more pages, just dealing with cleaning up a PC's problems with malware, I just want to scream! By then it could have been entirely purged, reloaded, customized and safeguarded, and also personalized to the users likings whether it be gaming or other interests such as photography or music.

Granted, many don't know how to do such a thing. Also many have 'conveniently' or inconveniently lost their restoration CD's. They may not be able to pass WGA. This in itself is a risk to the online community because even after fixing it, it will would still be at risk without the ability to get the latest vulnerability fixes that you can only receive after passing WGA.

Anyway, I'm ranting where I shouldn't be.

Remember, only a total wipe and reinstall removes ALL of the .dat files which MS keeps tabs on a user unless a 3rd party app is used.

V0ssler
When you reload your system, consider partitioning so you don't have to back up as much when you inevitably reload again... ;)

[classicsoftware]

Of course this could be spyware and the system may be infected. You should post a Hijackthis log (http://www.pcguide.com/vb/showthread.php?t=60009) in the Applications and Security forums just to be sure.

[V0ssler]

Wow thanks for the feedback guys!!

Yeah I've reformated twice in the past and in the end I always found it was the best solution. Nothing like a fresh new pc to boot!

However, I did do some tweaks, defragging, deleted alot of uncessary gigs etc. it drastically improved from what I was experiencing before, but still not to my satisfaction, I may just go and reformat after all once I back up my files. I still haven't dusted out my computer, and I wouldn't mind doing it just to see my sexy X1950pro again, god I love the Ice3 :P.

But I have some questions anyway just curious -

1. Why is it after a long period of time after installing apps/games/files etc. on a HDD, you don't regain all of it back? Like for example, I was down from 93.9 gigs on one of my HDD's to 2.7 gigs. ^.^ I uninstalled quite a few games that I don't play that belonged to that hard drive, actually all of them, because I have my newer games on my other one. I deleted alot of files yet it only got back to 16.7 gigs or so. Why is this? I also noticed this along time ago (about 5-6 years :P) on my other PC the same thing was going on, I just never got back all the gigs... .

P.S - I think my Hard drive already is partitioned, 180 gig divided by 2. D: drive has Windows, C: has ... er random stuff , games I think and files. How do I do it so only one is formatted?

2. Going back to my Gfx card - so wait, my Card is not bottlenecked at all my CPU? Its just a fairly old P4 3ghz cpu. Am I using the right terms here? There is no reduction in terms of performance?

3. saphalline - When you suggested to buy a 500GB hard drive, is this external? Or one to install, put files in and take out again?

Thanks guys.

EDIT: Oh PS - whenever my PC gets to this stage (reason why I've formatted twice on this PC) , sometimes my computer still start to get really boggy (whether ti be too much going on with Firefox windows open or w/e or low fps in game) my computer will just switch off without warning. I thought it was a PSU issue, so bought another one at the time. It was a temporary fix but as I piled more and more stuff on it started happening again. So I reformatted. While later I get the X1950Pro, and needed a 450W Quality PSU to go with it just to be safe(had a 300W at the time). And judging by that its happeneing again, I'm guessing its not the PSU, any suggestions to what this may be when my PC gets to this stage of having too much crap? Just randomly turning off.

[Sylvander]

I have never yet been forced to reinstall afresh.

What I do is....

1. Move all data files of C: and make the partition as small as possible.

2. Make image backups of C: at regular intervals, and if I so much as suspect that all is not well/perfect, restore my latest good image.
I save backups to an external USB HDD.

3. Use SyncBack to make 2nd copies of the contents of all my data partitions.

4. Use [B]Ashampoo Magical Defrag [running constantly in the background] to keep all accessible storage areas constantly free of fragmentation.

5. I see no deterioration in performance over time.
But then perhaps my needs are simple. :)

[bassman]

WOW! I'm a little shocked at the light speed jump to suggestions of reformat. I had thought over the years we tried to steer folks away from that kind of "Run&Gun" repair. Although I completely agree with the attitude of "days upon days of chasing tailless cats produces little in desired results, therefore a reformat is in order", I see nothing to indicate that drastic a move yet. I still have not even seen what OS we are working with yet.
VOssler, in answer to some of your questions:
Loss of space on your HDDs is due to not deleting everything that gathers there. If all you are doing is deleting a few programs or files, there is other info still there. Depending on the OS, your fragmentation may or may not be well managed. This can be critical to your reporting of available space.

With 180 Gigs, a reasonable partition setup would be
C: OS and primary programs
D: Games and auxiliary programs
E: Personal items (pics, saves, music,...)
This is just a suggestion and sizes would need to be set according to your needs.

Vid card and bottlenecks- I am not a hardware specialist but Saph is our gaming guru. If Saph says it's not a problem, it's not a problem ;)

If you do not have the space inside (connection wise) to install another HDD, you can run an external and there is no need to "put files in and then take out again". You would just use it as if it were an internal.

The shut down issue is of concern. My first thoughts are, since you have already replaced the PSU and this is not solving it, you have some sort of heat issue. Could it be the dust bunnies??? Heat is one of the main causes of shut downs. Take a good look at your heat sink and fan on your CPU. THIS could also be a cause of the bogging down (the reason I mentioned it in my first post).

[V0ssler]

Yeah in accordance to shutdown, I've cleaned out a **** load of dust with an Air Compressor (P.S. Is using an Air Compressor Pump bad due to moisture being retained? Cos I know Compressed air cans are moisture free, just making sure once again because I used a Vacuum the very first time i had cleaned dust out of a computer, boy was I lucky not to get anything damaged)

Played a game of BF2142 with no lag at all on High and no shutdowns. Everything seems better now.

[Heartborne]

I'm not clear on what the actual issue is here. Lag occurs due to a weak internet connection causing high latency which results in inability to communicate with the server.
Is the original poster talking about a framerate drop here? That's an entirely different issue. Of course, hard drive fragmentation, low disk space, too many processes or applications running in the background and spyware can all be factors, the fact that he was running limewire while playing most likely has a poignant effect on both pc performance and connection strength.

Limewire runs a fileserver on your pc so other clients can download off you which both gobbles up your pc's resources and uses a good deal of internet bandwidth. Some ISPs will throttle your bandwidth, making your number of concurrent connections lower than they would have been otherwise.