New system stutters in a weird way

[Dores]

Here is my specs:

Asus M3A78-EH
AMD X2 4200+
XFX Geforce 8800GT
2GB Ram
320GB SATA
650W Corsair PSU

My problem is quite weird, I did not have it before my recent upgrade (upgraded mb, gpu and psu). Whenever I try to play a game like CoD4, Medieval 2 or Pacific Assault, I get this stutter, like if there was a scratch in a CD plate. It's quite hard for me to explain, and I've never seen it before. The games run fine, but about every 10-20 seconds, the game stops for 0,5-1 seconds and loops the ongoing sounds. This seems to happen more and more as I play. It also happens just as much on low graphics settings as on high settings.

I suspect that there could be a temperature problem here? But I downloaded speedfan, and it tells me that core1 is stable at around 30c and core2 is stable around 50. Core2 goes up to 58 on a very heavy load. I've read that the maximum temperature for my CPU is 61c, so this could be the problem? I just don't know if "core1" and "core2" are both cores on my CPU, or if one of them are my GPU or what? Speedfan tells me nothing about a GPU temperature anywhere...

Also, I have noticed that when my computer has been turned on for about 20 hours or so, when I play any sounds, it starts making scratching sounds, like white noise. That also lasts for 05-1 seconds.

I have checked all drivers for my MB, GPU and sound card, so I don't think they are the problem here. Could it really just be the CPU temperature? I have tried formatting and re-installing windows, but all the same problems occurred again.

Help is greatly appreciated!

 

[ilovebarny]

google GPU-Z. its speed fan for your gpu. it sounds like it could be your temps do you have a stock cooler on your cpu? what case do you have. sounds like you might not have enough air flow through your case.

 

[Dores]

Well, I got another program to monitor my temperatures, and found out that both my CPU cores are stable at around 36c. It is my GPU core that is at 50c, which is an okey temperature I guess. Right now I'm running my case completely open, so I guess air flow is not a problem.

 

[roadrunner197069]

Did you reinstall windows, or did you just drop your HDD in and try to update the drivers. If you didnt do a fresh instal, thats probaby your problem.

 

[ilovebarny]

mmm well i doubt that this is the problem but maybe your processor is under powered for the games you play. i play cod4 with a intel e6750 2gb of ram and an xfx 8600gtxxx and i get 30-40 frames every thing maxed on a 22in monitor. oh you should see how hot your northbridge is getting. i dont know much about NB's but if its overheating (which it shouldint) that will cause a problem. let me look up your mobo on the internet.

 

[ilovebarny]

did you uninstall the drivers for your onboard video?? that would cause problems.

 

[ilovebarny]

mm here take a look at this if you havint already.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16813131273&SortField=0&SummaryType=0&Pagesize=100&SelectedRating=-1&PurchaseMark=&VideoOnlyMark=False&Page=

 

[Dores]

Well, how can I know if my northbridge is overheating, and how do I stop it from overheating?

 

[ilovebarny]

new thermal paste helps and a fan on it. mm yes i just looked at some pics of your mobo and i would put a little fan on it. i cant take the one off of my mobo or it will overheat.(bfg 680i). but what it really look's like is you didnt uninstall the onboard graphics card. you didnt happen to have added a sound card did you??

 

[ilovebarny]

speedfan is the only program i know of that can show you your mobo temps. it should be like under system. that is what it is on my mobo. but then again some mobos dont have the capabilaty to show the nb temp.

say did you install the latest drivers for your mobo??

 

[Dores]

As far as I can see there is no onboard graphics card on this one. Why would they make a card which overheats no matter what? It makes no sense to me. How do I locate my northbridge?

And yes, I have added a sound card. Tried disabling it and just using the onboard one, and it made no difference.

Thanks for helping me by the way!

 

[ilovebarny]

is this your mobo?

http://c1.neweggimages.com/NeweggImage/productimage/13-131-273-03.jpg

 

[roadrunner197069]

You dont ever need to uninstall onboard grafix. You choose onboard or PCI-e in the bios. What about the fresh install? Did you or didn't you?

 

[Dores]

I have done a fresh install with a freshly formatted drive.

Barny: this is my MB
http://www.komplett.no/img/p/400/347281.jpg

I'm gonna go try and put a fan on what I think is my northbridge now.

 

[ilovebarny]

roadrunner197069 You dont ever need to uninstall onboard grafix. You choose onboard or PCI-e in the bios. What about the fresh install? Did you or didn't you?

aaa hm i thought i had heard that you needed to uninstall it. cool makes it easer for the person with onboard graphics.

 

[ilovebarny]

ok ya i had the right one. the northbridge is the biggest hunk of copper right in the middle of the board just below the processor.

 

[geofelt]

Run the performance monitor to see if anything shows up when you get the stutters. I suspect that some other task in your system is interfering with your game. 2gb is not much these days, and perhaps the new vga card is reserving enough more ram to cause you a problem. Adding 2gb can't hurt.

 

[ilovebarny]

are you running xp or vista?

 

[Dores]

I'm running XP professional.

 

[ilovebarny]

mmm im ussuming 32bit os. is it possable that there is a conflict with your settings? dx10 games on xp? i dont know but maybe.

 

[Dores]

32 bit, yes. I'm not running DX10.

 

[ilovebarny]

what brand of ram do you have???

 

[Dores]

I have two sticks of Corsair PC4200 1024MB ram.

Putting a fan on my northbridge seemed to have very little effect. Did not solve the problem at least...

 

[ilovebarny]

mmmm two things do you know if maybe your ram is defective. and do you know if your mobo supports that brand. the ram is the only thing you did not buy a new pair of( according to what you said in your origanal post) and i have heard that asus boards can be vary picky about there memory.

 

[Dores]

Well the ram worked perfectly on my last mb, and I didn't screw up anything when putting them in my new mb, so I don't see why they should be defective. The computer tells me I have 2GB ram, so they are probably fine, right?

And also, I'f I'm going to throw in 2GB more, I would need to install XP64bit, right?