Framerate problem

[Dreamer128]

My computer seems to be suffering from a rather strange problem lately. I can play games for a certain amount of time, normally 30-120 minutes. Then suddenly the framerate takes a huge dive and the game becomes so slugish its not playable anymore.
I am running from a PentiumIII 800, 128mb RAM, GeForce2 GTS with WindowsME. Any thoughts on what could be wrong?

[johnny]

don't exactly know, did you run a virus check ?

[andrewas]

This sounds like a memory leak. If it affects all games its either in a graphics or sound driver (other driver tend to be more stable) and then its only probable with beta drivers. If youve updated recently then you may want to try downgrading your drivers. Or it could be in winME itself, in which case go bug m$ about it or upgrade to XP. (Or downgrade to win98 which your more likley to have)

Its more probable that its a virus. Or it could be some background process that isnt written very well. Run a scan and check software you installed recently.

[Sir Kenyth]

Originally posted by andrewas: This sounds like a memory leak. If it affects all games its either in a graphics or sound driver (other driver tend to be more stable) and then its only probable with beta drivers. If youve updated recently then you may want to try downgrading your drivers. Or it could be in winME itself, in which case go bug m$ about it or upgrade to XP. (Or downgrade to win98 which your more likley to have) Its more probable that its a virus. Or it could be some background process that isnt written very well. Run a scan and check software you installed recently.

Good call! This may work also. Kill all unnecessary background processes before starting the game. Usually, explorer is the only one you really need.

[Earthdog]

Yessireebob. Control Alt Delete everything but Explorer and Sytray. If the problem persists see if a friend has a video card you can borrow for a few hours to find out if the hardware is the problem.

Your card could simply be overheating and it may not be a driver problem at all. Check to see if you have any cards in the slot next to the video card. Often times the side of the video card that has the heatsink is on the side that faces a PCI card. If you do have a PCI card there see if you can relocate it to a vacant slot. The video card needs to breathe. Adding a fan to the heatsink might also fix it. Then again you might already have one. Im not all that familiar with the GTS but Id sure love to have one [img]smile.gif[/img]

Have you got the Detonator 2 or 3 drivers??? They are sort of aftermarket improvements from nVidia. Start by installing the Detonator 2. (after youve done all the other stuff that is) [img]smile.gif[/img] Then from there go on to the Detoantor 3 drivers.

If your original drivers fix the problem remember the old adage "If it aint broke dont fix it."

One more thing. Go into your BIOS and make sure the AGP APERTURE is set to 128. This seems to be the most stable setting.