# Solved: "jumpy" graphics ,advice please.



## Darkst4r (Oct 20, 2007)

Hi , ive recently started noticing performance issues with my PC and would like some help pin pointing what it could be so I can make the necessary upgrades.

My problem is on certain games i.e Moto Gp 07 and mass effect ive noticed the graphics seem jumpy especially on pan shots.

On Moto GP its mainly the title screens before the actual races and the view of the paddock etc.Once the race starts its jumpy for a few seconds and then plays fine.

On mass effect ill be running but the animation isnt smooth , it gets quite jumpy at times.

Here is my current spec:

Pentium 4 , 3.06ghz
1.5gb Ram
Nvidia Geforce 7600gt DDR3 PCI-E 256MB

All my drivers are up to date etc.

I recently updated my graphics card from a crappy onboard ATI card to the Geforce 7600gt about 6 months ago , the cost the best part of 100 quid and already seems dated !

Any advice on what to upgrade and recommended products , as well as an approximate cost for a processor upgrade which will probably involve a new motherboard (maybe new Ram ? ) would be great.

I can upgrade most things myself but I think ill leave the processor to a professional unless its really easy and hassle free.

Id like to achieve really smooth frame rates , good performance and 360/ps3 graphics or better if thats possible ?

Ive got around £900 to spend but obviously the more dosh left over the better !

Cheers.


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## MysticEyes (Mar 30, 2002)

Try lowering your screen resolution.


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## Darkst4r (Oct 20, 2007)

Tried going from the system default settings of 1280x1024 to 1024x768 on MotoGp , with most settings set to medium and the problem is still the same , if not VERY marginally better.

You dont think its my system thats the problem ?


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## Mrcrowley1967 (Jul 31, 2007)

Ok what do you have for a hard drive and do you do maintainence on it?
What kind of OS do you have? (Windows xp,,windows vista) 
Give us your system specs (video,motherboard,ram,hard drive,monitor) so-on.

You sound like your system should run it ok. The hard drive can do the jitters if it is fragmented, Also when was the last time you did a fresh OS install? if it has been a few years it would be a good idea to reinstall your OS it can get so cloged with old program DLL files and other left behind files it will slow your system and give it performence issues.


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## Darkst4r (Oct 20, 2007)

Hi thanks for the reply. 

I have a 150 gig hard drive which I defrag every month or so , or whenever windows recommends it.I also use Ccleaner regularly , check for viruses and adware using Avast and Spybot s&d and generally keep it free of crap I dont use or need.
I have around 50 gigs free.

I am operating windows Xp home edition Sp3

I have a 19" tft monitor with max resolution of 1600,1200

Nvidia Geforce 7600gt 256mb

1.50 gb Ram

I have never performed a fresh install of my operating system as my pc came with a hard drive partition for recovery and not an actual windows disk , but I have recently performed a full system recovery which set my PC back to factory settings.

I generally keep my system bare bones , removing any programs I dont use or need , and disabling any services which I dont use.


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## Mrcrowley1967 (Jul 31, 2007)

what about game patchs are they all done?
Do you get same thing at lower resolution?


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## Darkst4r (Oct 20, 2007)

What do you mean by game patches ? Latest updates ? If so then yes and the problem happens on low resolutions too.


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## Mrcrowley1967 (Jul 31, 2007)

make sure the game is up to date


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## Darkst4r (Oct 20, 2007)

Yep , all the latest updates but still the same


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## nerfherder23 (Oct 12, 2008)

My advice might be useless, but it's advice nonetheless.

Try taking the graphics card out, and getting any dust off. Make sure the fan is working, as well.
I have an nVidia GeForce 7900 GT, and the fan actually stopped working on it. My dad helped me order a larger Zalman fan, which works wonderfully. Anyway, my card also collects a lot of dust, and it causes heat to build up. This in turn causes graphics issues.
Sorry that was so long, but again: clean any dust off, then try again.

This may be necessary at least once per week or every two weeks.

My next best idea would be to upgrade to a better graphics card, because as far as I can tell you've got a good enough motherboard and RAM set.


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## Darkst4r (Oct 20, 2007)

Ok ive tried everything. Updating the drivers , putting game settings on minimum , updating the games , cleaning the ram and pci-e sockets and the components but it solves nothing.
At random points the graphics go jumpy and freeze , especially on pan shots.
Ive cleaned the fans , the provessor heatsink , everything , but no joy.
I even thought it could be mis-matched ram but i took the 512 stick out and ran with just one gig and it didnt solve anything.
Maybe my processors on its way out ?


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## fenderjaguar (Jun 10, 2004)

Try pressing control + alt + delete, to bring the task manager up. Click on performance and you will see the cpu usage . 

Then run the game for a few minutes and play as normal. Close the game and look back at the task manager. Are there any points at which the cpu is maxed out (ie, running at 100%?


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## Darkst4r (Oct 20, 2007)

Hi , I tried that but cant really tell what the percentages are from the graph diagram.
The first box was pretty close to the top but the second was about half way if that makes any sense ?


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## fenderjaguar (Jun 10, 2004)

You can see from this snap when it is running flat out:

http://fenderjaguar.net/images/pdmaxed.jpg

If yours hits 100% at any point along the timeline, I would expect that to have been the time that you experienced the lag.

Not that I'm saying this is the cause of the problem. Just faultfinding really...

In any case, if these games ran perfectly at some point in the past, but have recently started acting up, then I would agree with one of the previous posters up there and do a clean install of the operating system.


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## MysticEyes (Mar 30, 2002)

fenderjaguar said:


> You can see from this snap when it is running flat out:
> 
> http://fenderjaguar.net/images/pdmaxed.jpg
> 
> ...


Your snap doesn't look right, it says *0% cpu usage.*


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## fenderjaguar (Jun 10, 2004)

That's because, by that time, I had stopped running the particular application that was using all of the CPU


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## Darkst4r (Oct 20, 2007)

Ok , so today I took my system pretty much apart. I cleaned out the processor fan , the heatsink , hoovered the entire case , took out the ram , hoovered the slots cleaned the ram pins with a tiny bit of white spirit , took out the graphics card , cleaned the fan and the contacts.Re assembled booted up and loaded up dead space and it worked flawlessly.
I have my old computer back !
Happy days , cheers everyone for your advice. I guess I underestimated the importance of keeping everything as clean as possible.


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