Sudden inexplicable drop in gaming performance

[davidstrongarm]

Hi all,

I recently installed a TP-Link TL-WN350GD 54M Wireless PCI card into my computer so that I could connect to the internet wirelessly. But immediately after installing the card and the software, some of my games are no longer running as fast as they used to, with significant drops in the frame rate. Other games are working fine.

Turning the computer off and on again seemed to fix the problem, but now it is back again. Futhermore I have tried removing the TP-Link card altogether but the graphics problem remains. I am 100% convinced that it was installing either the hardware or software for the TP-Link card that has set off this problem.

My graphics card is a new nVidia 9800 GT Green Edition, just 1 month old. Now, this 'Green Edition' card doesn't plug into the PSU, it draws power through the motherboard. I am suspicious that the TP-Link card and the graphics card are somehow interfering with each other, but to be honest I know next to nothing about motherboards.

Interestingly, the drop in game performance has affected some top end games (e.g. Modern Warfare 2) but also some low end programs like my commodore 64 emulator!?! While other games like Half-Life are running perfectly.

My Specs:
Intel Core 2 Quad Processor (2.4GHz)
2GB RAM
Motherboard came with the computer
Windows XP SP3
PSU Zalmann 600W (New)
nVidia 9800 GT Green Edition (New)
TP-Link TL-WN350GD 54M Wireless PCI (New)
The computer is about 2 and half years old.

I have installed the latest drivers for both my graphics card and my TP-Link card. My wireless connection to the internet is working perfectly with a strong signal. The inside of my computer is very clean, and I have ensured that all of my cards are firmly plugged into the motherboard. Heat doesn't seem to be an issue, my GFX card never gets higher than 60 celsius even when running high end games for extended periods.

Any help or suggestions on what to do would be very much appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
Dave.

 

[davidstrongarm]

The device manager won't let me uninstall the drivers (gives me a message saying the driver is required for start up), so I put the TP-Link card back into the computer and re-installed the drivers with the installation disc and everything seems to be working again.....but I'm skeptical that it will remain that way.

COD mw2 was running at 1920x1200 +60fps everything on full, it dropped to roughly 25/30fps, I didn't bother trying to turn down any settings.

 

[davidstrongarm]

Everything appears to be OK now. Perhaps the drivers just didn't install properly the first time for some reason?
I don't know, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the computer keeps working properly.

Thanks dipankar