Random FPS drops!

[nathanc]

Hi guys,
Recently i have been getting random drops in FPS in some of my games. Call of Duty 2 runs at 250fps but can drop to as low as 5 making the game totaly unplayable for a few seconds then it goes back to normal. Mass Effect also has this problem but only runs at 60fps. Battlefield Bad Company 2 (which i installed 3 days ago) ran fine on the first day and now cant go a few seconds without seriously dropping the frame rate.

I am currently running:
Windows Vista 32bit
Hitachi 160GB HDD
Asrock K10N78M Pro Motherboard
680w G7 Power Extreme PSU
ATI Radeon HD5770 with 1GB VRAM
AMD Phenom II x4 965 Black Edition (3.4Ghz)
3GB DDR2 400Mhz RAM

As far as i am aware this should be able to run all of the above games with ease. (especialy CoD2 which could run on highest setting on my old rig!)

I have disabled everything that could be running in the background that is not vital to the running on the game but i keep getting the same result. When the game starts to lag i minimize the game and load up Task Manager it says that my CPU is running at 100% (all 4 cores!).

I have scanned the computer many times with AVG and it has found nothing.
I have downloaded all the latest drivers for everything that would need them, no change.
I have defragmented the HDD, no change.
I have used the disk clean-up, no change.

There appears to be nothing wrong but the games still wont run properly, everything else runs fine. At first i thought it was a lack of RAM because i know Vista takes alot but CoD2 ran on my old rig where i had Vista and only 2GB RAM.
I am definately buying a new HDD in the near future and Windows 7 would that solve the problem? and if needs be i have got my eye on a new motherboard and RAM.

I really dont know what is causing this and any help would be great, cheers

 

[simon12]

Could something be overheating? Download HWMonitor and check if your not sure.

 

[nathanc]

Ive used Speccy and everythin is sitting at about 70 except HDD which is at about 30. I thought that sounds alrite?

 

[simon12]

There is your problem 62C is the maximum temp for your CPU so if its hitting 70C it will throttle causing the FPS drop. This is most likely due to poor cooler installation &/or thermal paste application also poor case airflow may also be a factor. What cooler and case do you have?

 

[nathanc]

I am using the heatsink that came with the CPU il go and put some more thermal paste on and see if that makes a difference. Ive got a 14cm fan on the front, a 12cm on the back, a 8cm fan on the side and a cooling slot above the CPU.

Cheers for the help and il let you know if it works

 

[nathanc]

I have re-applied thermal paste but it has made no difference to the problem :S

 

[Speedcash1]

I don't think it will be the heat, I've got my old computer sitten at home and I can sit on it playing cod4 in front of my heater, not to mention the only fan is like caked in dust, so I doubt it will be the heat of the hard drive or processor

 

[simon12]

If the CPU is hitting 70C then that is definitely a problem even if its not the main problem (99% it is) it will result in short processor life. Does the CPU still go to 70C? Did you clean off the old thermal paste and how did you apply the new stuff?

 

[nathanc]

It still hits high 60s when im gaming. Ye i made sure it was all off before i applied new paste and i followed the instruction on the Arctic Silver website exactly.

 

[simon12]

In that case I suggest you upgrade the cooler to a better one, also your PSU looks like a bad one and it does not come with any PCIE connectors have you connected via a molex adapter? Do you know how much power it has on the 12V rails?

 

[nathanc]

I have fixed the problem, for some reason the CPU kept jumping to 100% so i set a limit of 2.7GHz to see if that wold stop it. It looks like my CPU was tryin to run at 100% constantly and when i put a game on it overloaded. Everythin works fine now