Newb: FPS Problems

[strifek]

Heylo everyone. I'm a newb here who's having problems with the FPS on my games!! Now, i did some researching and tried a few things already but i am at a loss. Here's the situation.

I recently built a new computer (with help from my brother in law). My system specs are:

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz - Processor
EVGA 512-P2-N773-AR GeForce 8600GTS 512MB - Video Card
MSI NVIDIA nForce 650i SLI ATX Intel - Motherboard
2x 1gb G-Skill - Ram Dual Channel
2x 320gb WD Hard Drives
2x 19' Hanns-G LCD screens

Now this new computer was supposed to be leaps and bounds over my old 7 year computer and I couldn't wait to pop in half-life 2 and start gaming! But... as soon as i finally got everything loaded and working... popped in HL2... I noticed that my game was very choppy. Every 2-3 seconds or so you would noticee a VERY big drop in FPS. I had netgraph open so i would see my FPS go from 100... down to about 10. This usually happened when i moved or were near cluttered environments. Yeah, i experienced the sound stutter as well.

I was a little disapponited to be honest, but oh well.
"Okay... Maybe i'll just lower the settings, anti-aliasing, HDR, resolution... etc... Maybe that will help." So i did that... No improvement.

I searched around on the internet and tried a bunch of things "Half-life 2 tweaking, console commands, 3dAnalyze". AND yes, i did download all the new drivers for the motherboard, video card, sound card etc... Tried it again... Same problem. I read somewhere about how nvidia card had problems running half-life 2... so i was like "meh" let me try some other games.

COUNTER-STRIKE (Regular non-source version). FOR SURE this game would work. It worked on my old geforce mx4000, 1.6ghz, pentium 4 processor, 512mb ram computer, why not this one? Loaded up counter-strike... joined a server... SAME PROBLEM!! On REGULAR counter-strike?? WTH?! I was quite angry tbh ;(

THINGS I'VE TRIED THAT HAVEN'T WORKED:
-Lowering Resolution, Turning off AA, HDR, Lowering Effects etc...
-Updating to the NEWEST drivers (Mobo, Video, Sound, and DirectX)
-Using 3DAnalyze to run it
-Fiddling with the console
-Setting the launch options to run older DX, -dxlevel 70 etc...

I read around the steam forums, and overheard something about maybe my CPU having a bottleneck or something... not sure. I'm really at a loss on what to do. So! I come here! Maybe you guys can be my savior and help a newb with his problem

Thanks in advance, and really appreciate you guys reading my essay-length "HELP ME" thread.


**EDIT**
Okay I just tried Roller Coaster Tycoon 3, and it has the SAME problem. So now i know it's a problem stemming from my computer now. Every 2-3 seconds my FPS dips. Hmm interesting interesting. Runs really fine and high FPS for like 2-3 seconds then chops up. Weird thing is, whenever i watch videos or browse the net it works fine....

**DOUBLE EDIT**
Okay, so i had the task manager running while testing my games, and i can CONFIRM, that the spikes happen when the "System" starts eating up the CPU usage. Not System Idle, just "System". My game will be eating around 80-90 CPU then the spikes happen, it drops to around 40ish, and the "System" consumes the other 60%. I'm not really sure what that means or what it's doing but i'll look into it...

 

[giant384]

try changing video drivers either updating to the latest or testing with older ones.

 

[strifek]

Hmm well i've tried updating to the newest drivers... Haven't tried using the "old" drivers yet. I did try the -dxlevel 70, -dx level 80 etc... in the start-up launch for steam. Didn't work.

 

[Ravioli]

you might have the famous stutter bug, but idk if it still exists because its very old.

Try playing a non-source game and see how it runs, so we know if its the hard drive or the source engine.

 

[strifek]

Yeah i don't think it's the source engine. I tried playing regular counter-strike, same problem.

 

[Asus]

Do you have SATA hard drives? With the PC off try unplugging the SATA cord from the motherboard and plug it into a different SATA port. When you boot it will install the drivers it has for the other ports for the new ones. Maybe reset some settings or IRQ issues too. Not very specific I know but that has fixed issues for me in the past with stuttering performance in general.

Have you tried NON-steam games?

 

[strifek]

Yeah, i have SATA hard drives. I have yet to install NON-steam games... I was actually about to install WoW or SC. So let me try those! Thanks for the input.

 

[TCfromBN]

Yeah, if SC doesn't run well, there's no hope.

 

[Unfocused]

Sounds software related. If you have a spare drive, try plugging it in as the master drive and install a new system on it to see if performance will still drop.

 

[strifek]

Sounds software related. If you have a spare drive, try plugging it in as the master drive and install a new system on it to see if performance will still drop.

Sounds like a good idea, worth a shot! :sniper:

 

[hool10]

I'm eager to find the solution for this one. Idk what is wrong but did you do the settings correctly in the bios? Did you install the latest chipset drivers?