Computer slows down in game

F

Frosteh

2[H]4U
Joined
Nov 30, 2004
Messages
3,664
My PC seems to slow down a bit after a few days of uptime, I noticed this specifically with BF2 and BF2SF. I first noticed this when I had trouble configuring BF2 settings to run well but look nice, it seemed inconsistent.

My Hardware
64 4000+ @ 2.7Ghz
2Gb PC3200 Crucial Memory in Dual channel (2x1gb)
Asus A8N-E motherboard
Geforce 7800 GTX (256Mb) @ 490/1350
2x 37Gb Raptors in RAID 0

My Software
Windows XP Pro SP2 - all updates installed
All non essential XP services turned off
McAfee Firewall + virus scanner (only firewall features turned on)
Razer copperhead drivers + tray icon
BF2 patch 1.2

After booting and loading up firefox and teamspeak just now I only have 36 process running (minus task manager, firefox, ts and razer tray icon) thats 32 processes for a clean boot.

I reguarly virus scan, spyware scan with spybot and Adaware, almost always totaly clean

BF2 settings
1600 1200 @ 85Hz
Max everything
4xTSAA (super sampled) 8xAF (both set in driver profile)

So it looks nice and plays nice, but after playing for a while, then just using my desktop (mIRC and Trillian more or less) after about a day of playing BF2 on and off the frame rates can drop to as low as 30-40 FPS on average, same server, same maps...

Does anyone have an explination? Maybe the latest McAfee suite has a memory leak or maybe BF2 does, the system is really in tip top shape I just cant account for this slow down :(

I was running the latest 81.98 forceware drivers the other night and Im running the new 83.90 betas now, they've improved performance in BF2 a little which is nice but im still getting slow down after a few days. I reguarly check my RAM usage with a mIRC plugin and its always below 400 once im back to desktop, with 2Gb of RAM even BF2 has enough!

Any help/advice would be apreciated.
 
The hardware you have should be more than adequate to run any current game at a very nice rate of speed. If it's slowing down after a few days of uptime, simply reboot it daily. I'd use a freeware scheduled reboot util like this to reboot the PC in the middle of the night, the middle of the day or whenever you're unlikely to be using it. You could also schedule it to run your full system spyware/virus scans or defrag after rebooting.

I shut my home PC down whenever I'm not doing anything with it, unless I have a large download or something running. My work PC stays on for days at a time and it slows down after a day or two. A reboot generally takes care of that.

I've noticed that BF2 runs smoother and has fewer connection problems (even post-1.2 patch) if you shut down your software firewall and virus/spyware scanners while playing. As long as you have a properly configured hardware firewall in your router, you should be safe.
 
Yes I have a firewall built into my linksys router I dont strictly need the software one, also don't need the anti virus to be perfectly honest, i've not had a virus for about 5 years now.

I'm tempted to remove the McAfee suite of applications, they do install a lot of processes, but I dont think it cases a lot of slow down, im happy with my FPS and quality settings, I just don't like this additional slow down after a few days.

If i had to guess I'd say its BF2, soemthing in the code isn't working correctly.
 
Maybe try turning AA and AF off.

On my 7800GT's in SLi I cant run 4x AA with out it being a lil choppy @ times.

I have no AF on and 2xAA in game @ 1600x1200.
 
I think if it was a hardware issue it would be that slow all the time, Im fairly sure its not AA or AF because it runs well after a restart. I'll give it a go though.
 
Might be your RAM just filling up, my freind's computer runs slower after being on for more than a few days. Mine goes off every night so I don't have a problem with it.
 
I believe that restarting does help. I have also heard that cell phones crash if left on all the time, and that might be related.
 
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