Odd lag problem

[explodatron]

I'm getting a strange lag problem with a couple of my games. The last time I saw a problem similar to this is when I had a failing power supply (the problem persisted out of games however.) Right now it only seems to be happening in Left 4 Dead and Mass Effect. Here are a couple short videos I took to show the lag a bit better than I can describe.

(Lags) Mass Effect
(Lags) Left 4 Dead
(No lag) Dead Space
(No lag) World of Warcaft
(No lag) Counter-Strike: Source

My rig isn't amazing, but it gets the job done.
Specs:
AMD Opteron 180 dual core 2.5Ghz
Nvidia GeForce 8800GT
3gb ram
Windows Server 2008 x64

 

[explodatron]

Anyone have any ideas?

 

[Blanket]

try turning down anti aliasing or texture quality

 

[explodatron]

Yeah that seemed to do it with Left 4 dead. I know the PSU is a bit too small and it is struggling during resource intensive games. I'm going to hook up another PSU and see if that does the trick.

 

[explodatron]

Damn.. I've got a 350 watt PSU for my video card and 1 hard drive and another 550 watt for the rest of the system and it is still doing it... Think that rules out any PSU inadequacies.

 

[explodatron]

Changed my cables around and it's working fine now Looks like it's time to buy a new big-ass PSU.

 

[pr2thej]

you use 2 seperate PSU's?
or is it one of those modular wotsits?

 

[explodatron]

I'm using 2 PSU's right now.

 

[pr2thej]

Ok well it doesnt necessarily rule out the power issue. 8800 GTs like ampage man, and the 12v rail supplies the card. your 12v needs to have 24A to be adequete, otherwise it will be jumpy under load.
Can you link some specs for the 2 PSU's ?
I can tell you with 99.9% certainty that the 350w PSU belongs in the bin

 

[explodatron]

Oh I know for sure it's a garbage PSU lol. I stuck it in to see if it stopped the lag. Just going to buy a good PSU off newegg or something now.

 

[pr2thej]

check this one out for a nice PSU...$50 after MIR.
Wouldnt SLI on it though if you are planning to...would have to look more in the PCP&C 650 Range.

 

[explodatron]

Ah good stuff, looks like it'll do for now. I plan on doing a complete rebuild in a month or so anyhow. Going to go crazy with the next computer >