Curse

Lortext · Oct 29, 2005, 11:10 PM // 23:10

Could you help me troubleshoot this issue? I appear to be having video lag in the form of Guild Wars getting into a fit of freezing up for several seconds, catching up to the game, and then freezing again at primarily when I am outside town. I'm going to cover the issue in two parts 1) system specifications and 2) what I've done to troubleshoot my problem.

1)
Mainboard: MS-7030 - Phoenix Technologies, LTD 6.00 PG 08/26/2004
CPU: AMD Athlon64 3000+
Video: nVidia GeForce 6800 GT, 255mb video RAM
Memory: 2x512mb = 1024mb RAM, Kingston
Audio: On-board Realtek AC'97 Audio

2)

a) I've adjusted the video settings in game from lowest to highest and at the lowest setting I've modified one setting at a time. The problem seems to occur independent of what video settings I'm using. I've run Everquest 2 in the past on the same hardware and I currently play Battlefield 2 and Quake 4 with no noticeable video or connection lag.

b) The problem occurs on ForceWare drivers 78.01, 81.85, and I've rolled back to 71.89. The problem persists in all three drivers. One noticeable change is that in 71.89 and 78.01 the lag causes the mouse to freeze and my sound starts looping (even sound from teamspeak loops). On 81.85 the mouse is free and the sound does not loop but the lag still occurs.

c) When I alt-tab out the game seems to continue without a problem (i.e. I'll sit there with no lag and if a monster comes and attacks me I can hear it happening).

d) I've run the game with a paging file off of my C: drive. I defragmented my nearly empty D: partition and moved virtual memory there and the problem persists.

e) I've done a spyware and virus scans on my computer.

Right now I am defragmenting the drive Guild Wars is on (E) and short of contacting my ISP (Comcast Cable) I have no idea why I'd have this kind of performance issue.

MCS · Oct 30, 2005, 12:22 AM // 00:22

(Comcast Cable)

Here is your problem. Comcast sucks. They're like the AOL of Cable.

Wow I hate comcast.... Sorry I can't offer any real help.

Lortext · Oct 30, 2005, 01:19 AM // 01:19

Yeah I'm not a big fan of Comcast either but for where I live it's that or dial-up.

MCS · Oct 30, 2005, 02:23 AM // 02:23

Same I'm on dialup.

Comcast is like evil.

FCtSteveO · Oct 30, 2005, 05:59 AM // 05:59

I use comcast, they are not bad except for they are down but I find my ways to get around that.

Pharoke · Oct 30, 2005, 08:37 AM // 08:37

To be honest, Comcast isn't all that bad. I have been using comcast since it was available in my area (back in the @HOME days) and I have to say that it has gotten nothing but better. I rarely suffer outages and if I do, I send them an email and they credit me for the outages. Comcast is not the issue. I would suggest updating all system drivers and even possiby getting a dedicated sound card (as with the onboard soundcards are using CPU cycles). Other than that you should be having no problems as I am running a similar setup except I have a 6600GT and run everything at max 4XAA and 1280x1024 resolution. Oh and just for you all here is a recent speed test I did using my Comcast (evilcast).

And these are the speeds I get all the time.

MCS · Oct 30, 2005, 08:53 AM // 08:53

I was kidding about comcast being the problem, I simply hate comcast.

Old Dood · Oct 30, 2005, 12:31 PM // 12:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pharoke

And these are the speeds I get all the time.

Same here...Comcast is not that bad for a Conglomerate. (Oxymoron I know)

Nothing like SBC. Now there is EEEEVIL! hehe

In the Last few months with Comcast I have had speeds like Pharoke here.
I seriously do not think it is Comcast on the lag. I am convinced it is the server(s) for Arena-Net that causes the lag. Too many users on one server(s) couls be doing it. This is my guess.

Lortext · Oct 30, 2005, 11:54 PM // 23:54

Ingame my nVidia card hits the CPU slowdown threshold of 120 C degrees and runs idle at about 73 C.

Any suggestions for cooling of my card short of getting more fans, getting the dust off, or actually taking the heatsink off and fixing the compound?

Old Dood · Oct 31, 2005, 12:56 AM // 00:56

You could buy one of those little Dorm room size refridgerators...mod out the door and place it inside!

Sorry...I got nothin'

Pharoke · Oct 31, 2005, 03:23 AM // 03:23

Damn that is really high for a GFX core to hit. you might want to look at the Artic cooler solution for nVidia cards. I hear they help a lot. That could also be the problem. Try taking the side off the case and have one of those huge floor fans blow on it during gameplay. If your core stays down and the lag goes away you have kinda fixed your problem.