Since some days ago my computer has got really slow at times, and I have no idea what's causing it. LFS's framerate has dropped around 100 FPS (used to have around 120 with all settings on maximum, now only get around 20), and everything is generally slow. Scanned for spyware/adware/viruses with AVG, Spybot and Adaware, but only found some tracking cookies. Any ideas?

It started 2 days ago, only in the evening. Yesterday evening too, and since I turned it on this morning.

Thanks,

Gil

maybe the software you have installed in the past few days is responsible for this or you accidentally messed up the graphic settings (drivers: AA and AF) ? You could also defrag the HDD where lfs is located at. Also make sure that only applications running in the background that you really need. Speaking about auto update functions and performance saving. Btw, a drop from 120 to 100 is not a problem at all. You only have to worry if its getting below 30

Thanks for the answer. I don't think it's graphic settings, as Photoshop and generally everything is slooow as well now. And my FPS is now at 20, not 100 I don't remember installing anything major these days, only updated the graphics driver, but rolling back the driver didn't help.

Could it be something running in the background?

I remember, I was racing and my FPS was reeeeeeally low. I thought my PC was getting hot, turned out my Yahoo! messenger was running at 100% CPU Normally I have it in the background and its fine. Try closing everything you dont need from your tool bar and your Task Manager screen, then fire up LFS and let us know how it went.

If it's running slow, and you've isolated it's not a background process it's worth downloading SpeedFan and watching your CPU temps and grabbing CPU-Z to see if your CPU is running as fast as it should be

Rolled back, reinstalled the Graphics card driver. It seems to be an issue with the graphics after all. With everything on minimum, I get 140 fps, with everything max 20. I guess I'll have to settle for less quality then. Still strange that before I updated the driver I could have everything on max and now I can't I'll roll back the driver again and see what happens

Edit: Still problems with the old driver.

Oh well, at least i can play now, albeit with lower quality...

What graphics card and driver are you using?

PCIe ATI Radeon X1300 with "Driver Packaging Version 8.401-070815m-052022C-ATI" "Catalyst® Version 07.8" "Provider ATI Technologies Inc."

Thanks all for the answers!

TBH instead of mucking about rolling back drivers etc i would completely uninstall the drivers, use a good driver cleaner to remove all remnants, and start again.

Did that, still no solution Have to run the lowest settings to get playable FPS on a full grid

Any more ideas?

Tried every driver from version 7.5 to 7.8, still no result.

Jack: Here's a screenshot from CPU-Z, looks all right to me. Will check the temps after playing for a while.

Edit: It's the core temperature I should be looking at?

mm thats wierd

try overclock it

ontopic: Which system do you have?, try go to their main website, and download drivers from there, make sure you have selected the right ones, go over it many times, because once i installed a driver for xp, when i have vista, and fps was from 90 to about...40

so, just try that,

by the way, NICE ATHLON!

Quote from harjun :

mm thats wierd

try overclock it

ontopic: Which system do you have?, try go to their main website, and download drivers from there, make sure you have selected the right ones, go over it many times, because once i installed a driver for xp, when i have vista, and fps was from 90 to about...40

so, just try that,

by the way, NICE ATHLON!

Yes, Iv'e got the right drivers

And the Athlon was nice in it's time, it's a getting a bit old now

Jakg - Temperatures are around 55-60 for core, 50-55 for the rest while playing, too hot according to SpeedFan. Could that be the cause?

Quote from Gil07 :

Jakg - Temperatures are around 55-60 for core, 50-55 for the rest while playing, too hot according to SpeedFan. Could that be the cause?

that is VERY hot...even my laptop overclocked at 2Ghz only reaches about 50 with load...

I think you might wanna buy some, well, more adequate cooling?

but i still doubt that is the problem, it will just mean your processer will last less longer?...how long have you had it?

Try cleaning it out aswell, could be a build up of dust

It could be that its dying, if its been reaching temps. of 60! with load on....it depends really how long you've had it, i reckon your CPU is DYING....R.I.P Athlon

Please don't listen to harjun.

Those temperatures are not the issue at all*, assuming Speedfan is reading correctly.

*I'm sick of people saying a CPU will die if you run it at over 30 degrees etc. It's simply not true. Maybe they should read up about CPUs, or computer components in general.

Quote from pb32000 :

Please don't listen to harjun.

Those temperatures are not the issue at all*, assuming Speedfan is reading correctly.

*I'm sick of people saying a CPU will die if you run it at over 30 degrees etc. It's simply not true. Maybe they should read up about CPUs, or computer components in general.

i didn't say 30, i said 60, and it is true your cpu will die after a while if it is on 60 or 50 most of the time (50 isn't much of an issue though)

If he has had this computer for a few years, it could be that his cpu has died, bloody idling at 50 celcius...

http://www.pantherproducts.co. ... /CPU%20Temperatures.shtml

not sure if these values are correct at all but the point is that it depends on the CPU model and manufacturer. So both of you guys are wrong, in a way

yes that maximum temps. but when they are sitting there idling at temps. a little below that, it will be that same thing over the course of time...

well ignoring that table, your statement sounds more generalized which means even cpu's with a max temp of 90°C would get damaged or die after a while, while running at ~60°C?

If thats true then i was pretty lucky, had a 2800+ running with something around 55°C to 65°C for a couple of years and i bet its still working but i had to remove the dust from it first :P

I'm sorry but

Quote :

In extreme cases your CPU could burn out or melt onto the motherboard.

is simply not true. Silicon does not melt at 90 degrees, far from it. Granted I'd say 90 degrees is pushing it, but you will not find your CPU melted to your motherboard, no matter how long it runs at 90 degrees. What a stupid statement.

Fact of the matter is your CPU will not die from temperature related matters alone at 60 degrees.

Harjun I didn't say you said 30 degrees. That doesn't change the fact you don't know what you're talking about.

Sadly all of this doesn't bring us any closer to Gil's problem.

yeah yeah, silicon is the main component but do you think all the other components do have the same melting point? And just in case you have forgotten to set a proper temprature level in the bios, its most definitively going above 90°C. Also, the sockets are mostly build out of plastic and even the main components of the mainboard most probably wont last for long at 90°+.

Quote from pb32000 :

Fact of the matter is your CPU will not die from temperature related matters alone at 60 degrees

depending on the model as the tabel shows.

Quote from pb32000 :

Sadly all of this doesn't bring us any closer to Gil's problem.

maybe he should just reinstall the system

Quote from harjun :

that is VERY hot...even my laptop overclocked at 2Ghz only reaches about 50 with load...
Try cleaning it out aswell, could be a build up of dust

It could be that its dying, if its been reaching temps. of 60! with load on....it depends really how long you've had it, i reckon your CPU is DYING....R.I.P Athlon

Harjun, PLEASE don't post if you don't have a clue what your on about. I REALLY doubt you get 50° load temps when overclocked, more like a dodgy sensor. His CPU is 130 nm which were built to take (and make) a little more heat.

Quote from Gil07 :

Jakg - Temperatures are around 55-60 for core, 50-55 for the rest while playing, too hot according to SpeedFan. Could that be the cause?

SpeedFan's "hot" light comes on at 50°. Your CPU's core shouldn't get past 55° (ideally), 60 is a bit hot tbh and i'd look at your heat sink to see if it's dusty etc

Your CPU doesn't seem to be the problem - all i can suggest is playing another game to see if everything works fine, and seeing what's slowing you down - Does your CPU hit 100% (or close) load while playing LFS? Does your GPU get any warmer (nearest way i have of measuring GPU load ) while playing LFS?

EDIT - Doesn't Silicon go dodgy at over 1000°? I've had my old 3700 up to 114° (Core, CPU socket was reading 96° iirc) by accident (the plug for my water cooling pump fell out of the socket) and while it worked (suprisingly my mobo didn't complain, neither did speedfan) after about a minute of me thinking "ah, just a dodgy sensor" it turned itself off - iirc AMD's don't have some sort of thermal throttling, and as such most mobo's just kill the power if the CPU get's too hot (This does NOT mean if it turns it off it's cool by any standard!)

I'd prefer not to

So it's not the CPU temps, the CPU is still working correctly, it's not the graphics driver, and my HDDs are regularly defragmented. What could it be then?

I'll post the system specs:

Asus K8N4E-SE Mainboard
AMD Athlon 64 3200+ @ 2,21Ghz
ATI Radeon X1300 PCIe @ 594 MHz with 512MB of memory
2x512MB of RAM (Kingston)
HDDs: Seagate 120GB & Maxtor 80GB

Edit, too slow, that was in response to 510N3D

Jack, how can I see the GPU temp? I'll check the load now.