Frustrating stuttering problems in all my games

Ozymandyus

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Aug 10, 2001
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18,510
Just built myself a fine new system.

Athlon 2800+
Abit NF7-S
Antec True-430W Power supply
2x 512MB Crucial DDR 3200 RAM
MSI GeForce FX 5200-128VTDR <AGP slot>
SB Audigy 2 Platinum <PCI 2, but currently out>
WD 120GB SATA <SATA port 1, boot drive>
Maxtor 200GB ATA-133 (SATA 2 port with adapter)
Plextor PX-708A DVD R/RW
Lite-On DVD drive (generic)
Adaptec AHA-2940 AU (for a scanner) <PCI 3>
HSP56 Micromodem <PCI 4>
Windows XP Pro SP1, DirectX 9.0b, all latest patches, all latest drivers

I loaded up my two current games right after install was finished, Star Wars Galaxies and Dark Age of Camelot. In both cases, the interface now 'stutters' every two seconds or so...both movement and sound are effected. I tried everything I could think of with no success. Out of desperation I took the sound card out (the stutter in sound was noticeable, thought it might be that) and did a fresh install of everything, right down to a low-level format before getting started. BIOS settings are all at the most conservative levels this time around. The issue persists, tested it before installing anything else.

Done quite a few searches on the topic, with suggestions ranging from moving cards around to disabling shadowing in the BIOS (not an option in this BIOS btw), with no luck. Have heard rumor of specific resource configurations being required, but no hard fact. This is killing me, I'm about 18 hours into this nightmare now. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

--Oz
 

Ozymandyus

Distinguished
Aug 10, 2001
11
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18,510
One thing of note is that this is the first time I've used SATA drives. Is it possible this is some kind of read/access issue?
 

Ozymandyus

Distinguished
Aug 10, 2001
11
0
18,510
I tried the beta Detonator 45.33 drivers with no success. However, the problem is almost completely alleviated by taking out the FX-5600 and replacing it with my older Ti-4200. Seems that it is mostly an issue with the new card. I bought it on the recommendation of this site's review, hope I didn't get a stinker...