Saint's Row The Third fps spikes

[paari1]

Hi guys!

I recently installed Saint's Row The Third on my PC. The problem is, whenever I start the game, it runs fine for 10 seconds, then I get a frame lag spike for 2 seconds, then it goes smooth for 10 seconds, then the frame lag spike again, and so on. I have tried most of the fixes generally applicable to such problems, running in windowed mode, running on a lower resolution with lower effects, running as administrator, reinstalling. Nothing worked.

My computer specs are :

AMD Phenom II X4 945, 3 GHz, 4 cores
4 GB DDR3 Kingston RAM
nVidia GeForce 9500 GT graphics card running at 550 MHz/400 MHz
VIA Vinyl Audio Deck with codec version VT1708S
Windows 7 32 bit
Latest DirectX and frameworks
Latest graphics card drivers
Kaspersky 2011 AV

Now while the system is in no way a graphics guzzling beast, I make do with most games running at 1600x900 with Medium to High graphics while getting a decent and playable 40-50 fps. So I'm not really sure if it's a hardware issue. I've played Skyrim and Crysis 2 at 1600x900 with Medium settings and had playable frame rates even with lots of explosions and flashes going around on the screen. After I started getting the frame lag spike, I tried playing Saint's Row The Third at 1024x768 with the lowest settings, and I still had the same issue.

When I played it in windowed mode, I noticed my graphics card usage. When I was playing windowed mode, 1024x768 with lowest settings, my graphics card usage was 12% for the 10 seconds the game ran fine, and during the 2 second frame lag spike, the usage went down to 1%-0%. I don't know if that helps.

Thanks for taking the time to read this!

 

[ulysses35]

Quite often a heavily fragmented HDD Can be the cause of lagging frame rates - worht a go as the rest of the PC specs seem fine

 

[paari1]

But it's not a constant frame rate lag. It runs okay for 10 seconds, then a 2 second lag where frame rate goes to 0, then runs okay for 10 seconds again.

I'll try defragging though. Thanks!

 

[Firelance]

This game lags for most people even with a good gaming computer. This game is just unstable. Don't go thinking that it would be your computers fault. Your specs seem fine to run this game. I guess you have to learn to deal with it. I also experience this. Even I put it on low settings and lag! The game was not made very well, as are many other games. If all fails, you can always get Saints Row 2. If you've never played it, you are missing out! I would give it a try!

 

[paari1]

I upgraded my graphics card to a gtx 560 ti, but I'm still getting the same issue. I read a lot of complaints about this game not running well on a 32 bit OS. Is that the problem?

 

[Firelance]

Like I said above, the game is just unsteady on PC. Same problem for people who have GTA IV. There is nothing you can really do about it. The developers did a horrible job at making it for PC. Hope this helped.