Registered: Nov 2000
Location: Grand Rapids, Michigan
Posts: 133

A couple months ago you assisted me with my decision in purchasing a new PC. We decided to get the Dell system and we have been really happy with it. We have been having a problem with running games on it, however, and I was hoping that someone here could help.

When running CD-ROM games, we have noticed some "stuttering" of the video graphics (and audio). My husband really likes one game in particular, which he will play continuously for hours. When he first starts playing everything runs pretty smoothly, but after about an hour, things start happening. When I say "stuttering," I mean that movements will get very choppy, or sometimes the graphics seem to get stuck. We also usually get some faint white lines that seem to come and go on the screen (which usually correspond to mouse movement). Usually when this happens, the audio starts sounding like a poor attempt at rap music . If the computer doesn't freeze up, he has to restart. Usually when he restarts it, things are fine for a bit and then it starts up again.

Here's what I have done so far:

1. Defrag;
2. ScanDisk;
3. Dell Diagnostic Tool on CD-ROM drives, CPU and audio/video cards (all systems passed);
4. Update/install new video/audio drivers;
5. Adjust refresh rates, etc.

Also, we have (of course) tried adjusting the game settings, but that does nothing. So far, nothing has corrected the problem. If this matters, we have 128mg of RAM, 933mhz Pentium III, 20 gig hard drive. We have more than enough resources to run the games, so I just can't figure it out. We aren't running anything else while the games are running, either.

Anybody have any suggestions? Thanks.

Registered: Jan 2001
Location: Seattle, Washington
Posts: 293

What game is this? and have you installed the newest patch for that game?
maybe it's a bug from the game?
Good luck

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Registered: Feb 2001
Location: mass
Posts: 56

Make sure to shut down all other programs, especially all of that nonsense living in the tooltray (near the clock).

It sounds like you might have a heat-related problem. Does the PC have good airflow? Make sure that nothing is covering the front or back of the box. You can check for this problem by taking the side panel off the box and aiming a big table-top fan straight into your PC. If that helps, then there is probably something wrong with the internal fans, heatsinks, etc.

It could also just be a memory leak (buggy software). Those things can manifest themselves over time too, just like you describe.

Registered: Mar 2001
Location: Champaign, IL
Posts: 200

I'd agree that it's overheating, since you said the problems don't occur until later on and the system may even freeze up. Try the suggestion of putting the big fan in front of your open computer case and see if that helps.

If you're comfortable opening up the computer, make sure that any fans inside it are working properly. There should be at least one smaller fan on top of the Pentium CPU itself. If you have a newer fancy graphics card, that may benefit from a fan as well.

Have you ever heard your husband muttering anything about "overclocking" the Pentium or the graphics card? If so, then you definitely need to check the heat.

Registered: Jun 2000
Location: Pembroke,MA
Posts: 307

Same thing happens here with my 933Mhz/256mb Dell running Quake III in extremely high res mode. I'll be fragging (actually more like getting fragged ), and it will start being jerky. Make sure he is not overtaxing the video card, which most likely has no on-board cooling. I know that is what problem is.

Most games play very similarly at different resolutions, and look very similar. Try turning the resolution down from within the games option menu. There's a very good chance that this will take care of the frame hang states.

Of course you could always add a cooling fan to the vid-card if you want, and let him have his games at high-res...