Page 1 of 3 1 2 3 LastLast
Results 1 to 15 of 32

Thread: Geforce 3, but games aren't smooth!

  1. #1
    Member
    Join Date
    Oct 1999
    Location
    Norway
    Posts
    219

    Geforce 3, but games aren't smooth!

    System Info:

    OS: Win ME
    Processor : AMD 1333 T-bird
    RAM: 256 MB
    Hard disk type: IDE
    Hard disk model: 61 Gb 7200 RPM (IBM)
    Motherboard: Asus A7V-133
    Graphic card: MSI Geforce 3 Ti 200, drivers 2183
    Sound card: Soundblaster 128
    Video capture card: Pinnacle Studio PCTV Series (RAVE, PCI)
    Other cards: Firewire card, 10mbit network card

    Problem:

    I can't play games with smooth graphics. The FPS seems to be OK,
    but about once every 1-2 seconds there is some kind of delay/lag that destroys the gaming experience. It's not due to "loading in the textures", because its not only at the beginning of the gameplaying session.

    For instance, Sacrifice, which came with the Geforce. When I run forward, the movement of the ground is not smooth due to these small "jumps". I thought it could be a program running in the background but I closed all of those. I've also had similar problems with other games.

    This annoys me. What is the point of having a Geforce 3 when I can't play with smooth graphics anyway?

    Anyone know what this could be? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
    Last edited by OK; 03-27-2002 at 07:09 PM.

  2. #2
    Extreme Member! BipolarBill's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2000
    Location
    Norton Noo Joisey
    Posts
    41,528
    How is your swap file configured? It should be 512MB min and max (fixed).

    I'll bet you're memory swapping for some reason. You could try using Cacheman:

    http://www.outertech.com/downloads.p...c70012b5e0a315
    MS MCP, MCSE

  3. #3
    Member
    Join Date
    Oct 1999
    Location
    Norway
    Posts
    219
    Hey Bipolarbill, thanks for the reply. I tried the things you suggested, but there is no improvement. I also noticed that the lagging is just as bad if I run it in 640*480 or 1280*1024.

    Anyone have any more tips on what to try?

  4. #4
    Senior Member uncle_jimbo's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2002
    Location
    Salem, Oregon
    Posts
    562
    I would suggest you visit www.guru3d.com and pick up the latest set of Detonators (they have both beta and public release drivers, ten pages worth), because there have been many releases of drivers since 21.83. I could also see your RAM slowing you down (if SDRAM, I think thats all the AV7-133 supports), but not to that degree.


    -- uncle_jimbo

  5. #5
    Member Jimstep's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2001
    Location
    North America
    Posts
    2,000
    There are other components that can cause this effect.

    Is this something that has always occurred or is this a new symptom?

    Have you updated the chipset drivers on your motherboard?

    You might check to your network settings, also. If there is some type of polling going on behind the scenes, this would cause a clutching effect not only with your games but with other applications.

    I have great fps and fluid movements with the 21.83 drivers and the 4in1 4.34 VIA drivers.

  6. #6
    Member
    Join Date
    Oct 1999
    Location
    Norway
    Posts
    219
    Hey,

    I upgraded from a GF2 MX to the new card a few days ago, and that was when the game graphic lag problems became apparent.

    I've flashed the BIOS on the MB and updated to latest MB drivers, but the problems remain.

    The computer is connected to a network via a standard 10mbit PCI network card. There are no special settings activated that I know of, only client for microsoft networking, and the protocols IPX, netbeui and tcp/ip. No NT server.

    I'm downloading the 28.32 Detonator drivers now, going to try them soon.

  7. #7
    Ultimate Member tricktx's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2001
    Location
    Kelbrook,UK
    Posts
    1,075
    i know you have probably checked this but run msconfig and uncheck evrything apart from systray and then try. Because i used to have the same problem and it was a virus checked accessing my Hard disk evry 5 seconds and that was what caused the problem

  8. #8
    Member
    Join Date
    Oct 1999
    Location
    Norway
    Posts
    219
    Thanks for that one tricktx, no improvement though.

    I've also installed the latest detonator drivers, but still no improvement. What's more, after I installled those drivers I can't access my screen properties, neither by rightclicking nor from the control panel. Cheers!

  9. #9
    Ultimate Member tricktx's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2001
    Location
    Kelbrook,UK
    Posts
    1,075
    try using the original drivers that came with the card

  10. #10
    OK, scan your Computer for any types of Viruses.

    When I had an older p2 350/128 SDR/Vodooo 2, I would play UT all the time and it ran pretty smoothly.

    Later om I noticed that the frame rate and screen would constantly shudder every few seconds. Even after countless reboots, driver updates, etc. We found it to be a Virus, and unfourtunatly killed my computer soon after.

    Fourtunatly I now have a 1.33Ghz/384 DDR/GF3 Ti and everything is wicked fast now.

    But check for any viruses.

  11. #11
    Member
    Join Date
    Oct 1999
    Location
    Norway
    Posts
    219
    Hey,

    I scanned for viruses, there was one, but now that it's removed I still can't see any improvement. I've also reinstalled the original drivers for the videocard, and once again I can view the screen properties.

    The HD light does blink pretty often when I'm playing (every few seconds), I can also hear it. It does this even when I have stayed in the same game area for a long time, shouldn't everything be in memory at that point?

    Also, I wonder if WinME could be the source of the problem.Is there anyone here who uses WinME and a GF3? I was thinking of changing to Win98SE, maybe that is more stable?

    How about BIOS settings? Anything I should check there?

    Thanks for all replies so far.

  12. #12
    Gone
    Join Date
    Dec 2001
    Posts
    5,713
    I have WinME on this machine and the G3 is working great!Its possible it is the OS but I would look else where first. HDD flashing alot means it is running the hdd too often.This is from Virtual Mem being used hard i.e. out of ram available.How many progs you have running on startup.What is your sys resources down to on a fresh boot and before you enter game?

    Do you have any IRQ conflicts on that sys?Particulary the IRQ 11!

  13. #13
    Ultimate Member tricktx's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2001
    Location
    Kelbrook,UK
    Posts
    1,075
    This may be a longshot but i used to have a problem whe games required the CD in the Drive to run. Evry 30Sec or so the game used to pause for 5 Seconds while the cd drive speeded up again.

    I fixed this by going to System properties - performace - File System - CDROM

    once there put the Supplemental Cache Size to Large and the Optimise Access pattern to No read Ahead. This fixed my problem but it might not relate to you but im stumped for ideas.

    It sounds like a virus to me as your harddrive is accessing all the time even. Does it always acces in DOS. try running a DOS prompt by pressing F8 at startup and choosing command prompt, and see if the drive is being accessed there if so then you have a virus. If not the the problem will be in windows somewhere. It may be your Swap file or Virtual memory???

  14. #14
    Member
    Join Date
    Mar 2002
    Posts
    43
    What chipset your moitherboard has? Do you have the latest drivers for it? Also if possible try with different agp settings (don't play with agp latency though if your not sure what to do - it can also do more damage) different agp memory settings etc.

    And last but not least... reinstalling is never same as clean install. If virus did some damage or you have corrupted something, reinstalling might not fix it... but fresh clean windows install + new drivers would... sucks to do it I know but sometimes it is the only and - easiest way to solve problem.

    Andy

    Sorry but I have to ask one more thing - when did you last time defragged your hard drive? Not sure about ME but XP will do some rearranging on backround if you have fragment level over 10% ...
    Last edited by Andy72; 03-28-2002 at 09:48 AM.

  15. #15
    Member
    Join Date
    Dec 2001
    Posts
    169
    I had exactly the same problem when i bought my MX400 a month ago or something.

    You can try the VIA 4 in 1 drivers.

    But my graphic card was broken. The chipset could not handle the normal speed and was on the TNT level. Brought it back to the store and i got a new one that works perfect

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •