Gaming framedrops

[nico445]

soo i have a new pc been using it for like a week

specs :
MSI 770-C45
Asus ATI EAH5770
1TB HD Western Digital.
CPU AMD Athlon2 X4 645 (3,10 GHZ)
4 GB Kingston DDR3 Ram

Now when starting a game like gta iv it loads. and after it's done loading i get massive framedrops
it's like 5 fps i guess. then after a minute or two it runs smooth.. setting things on low graphics etc doesn't help
is there another way to fix it?

 

[Deleted User]

I doubt it, it's probably just your processor adjusting to the workload placed upon it by GTA IV. Look in the bios and see if there are any power saving options enabled, though.

 

[Rydian]

What sort of AV program do you have? If it's doing an intensive scan when you launch the program (if it's being all overprotective) then that could be a serious resource drain (if it's got an advanced RAM scan) until it's done. For lesser programs like notepad you wouldn't notice it, but for a CPU hog like GTAIV it's likely to be killer.

 

[nico445]

Nod32, I always disable it before I start games. weird thing a friend of mine
has a computer that has lower spec's but he doesn't have the problems with
the exact same gta installation..

 

[Originality]

Just going from gut instinct, it sounds like it's most likely the HDD causing the lag spike as it tries to build up the cache for the game resources. It could also be the CPU trying to catch up on the handles the game demands or the RAM being slower than it should be, but most likely the HDD.

My last computer did the same when playing Phantasy Star Universe, although that computer was using a SeaGate HDD that died a week after I built my new computer.

 

[nico445]

Just going from gut instinct, it sounds like it's most likely the HDD causing the lag spike as it tries to build up the cache for the game resources. It could also be the CPU trying to catch up on the handles the game demands or the RAM being slower than it should be, but most likely the HDD.

My last computer did the same when playing Phantasy Star Universe, although that computer was using a SeaGate HDD that died a week after I built my new computer.

HDD could be it i just chose the one with the biggest cache, http://www.yourpcstore.nl/shop2/39-1000gb-...0ears-64-s.html
is that a bad one , or okay?

 

[OmegaVesko]

Try disabling background processes one by one, see if that helps. Also keep an eye on the CPU and RAM usage.

 

[nico445]

Try disabling background processes one by one, see if that helps. Also keep an eye on the CPU and RAM usage.

my pc is still pretty clean so it doesn't have much on the background to disable

 

[Originality]

Hmm... That HDD isn't bad, although they don't mention whether it's caviar black or blue. I'm too lazy to check the model number against the WD catalogue.

Anyway, the HDD cache is not the same as a game cache. I wont bother going into the details, but suffice to say that the game cache stores all the active data being used by the level (character models, cars, locations of all the NPCs, randomly generated traffic, etc). Normally the cache is built whilst the level is loading, however when there's extra data randomly generated (like the exact location of all the traffic and NPCs), that has to be loaded to the cache after the loading screen. Most of this is stored in the RAM and the less time dependant data stored on the page file (iirc).

Then again, if your friend has no such problems then it's not likely to be this.

 

[nico445]

Hmm... That HDD isn't bad, although they don't mention whether it's caviar black or blue. I'm too lazy to check the model number against the WD catalogue.

Anyway, the HDD cache is not the same as a game cache. I wont bother going into the details, but suffice to say that the game cache stores all the active data being used by the level (character models, cars, locations of all the NPCs, randomly generated traffic, etc). Normally the cache is built whilst the level is loading, however when there's extra data randomly generated (like the exact location of all the traffic and NPCs), that has to be loaded to the cache after the loading screen. Most of this is stored in the RAM and the less time dependant data stored on the page file (iirc).

Then again, if your friend has no such problems then it's not likely to be this.

it's one of the caviar green serie's . i'll check my bios in the next reboot and see if i can fix anything there

 

[moose3]

If I remember, the green has a variable disk speed 'feature' to save power, so I'm guessing it's the HD trying to decide on how fast it needs to spin initially. So If you have another HD (7200 rpm+, or a SSD), I'd suggest using that for your OS/current games and save that 1TB drive for data/storage (move game install folders over to it when you need to free up space but don't want to completely uninstall them, and move back when you want to play the game).

 

[Originality]

I missed the update. Caviar green is their low power series. The variable disk speed feature doesn't save much power, but it does reduce heat. This does cause a drop in performance, but it's not enough to explain such a long frame drop. Caviar green is better suited for long running/low power applications such as external drives, NAS boxes, hot swappable drive bays, etc... The black or blue series are better suited for high performance application like storing games and the OS.