Why do games lag when on very high settings?

J

johnnq

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Dec 31, 2005
Messages
1,049
sometimes (depending on the game or situation) i set the visuals on highest or throw in some msaa with my 7800gt. lets say the frame rate drops to 20. fine...but then i get LAG. like i move the mouse and it doesn't show up on the screen for a solid second. i shoot, and i don't hear the bullet untill a second later. is my cpu too slow? athlon 64 3200.

it's really dissapointing to know that i will rarely ever use msaa because of this...i'm using 84.xx something.
 
because the video card is too slow for the settings you are throwing at it in that particular game, back off settings for better performance
 
actually, it sounds like you need more RAM.

If it is holding a nice framerate and then dipping down to 0 and then coming back up again, which is what it sounds like its doing, you just need more RAM. Had this happen to me in FEAR when I only had 1Gb, upping it to 2 fixed it.
 
no the frame rates are consistent. i have 2gb of ram. it's just lag...like input lag.
 
no the frame rates are consistent. i have 2gb of ram. it's just lag...like input lag on monitors
 
I'm pretty sure Brent is mostly right, although I had an occasion where I set my mouse sensitivity low in game, but high in windows, that caused the same lag. A firmware update for my mouse fixed that (that was with my copperhead mouse).
 
We need full system specifications, OS, installed programs, and a screenshot of running processes while playing the game and encrountering issues.
It sounds like you have a very rambunxious anti-virus program running in the background.
 
3200
evga 7800gt
asus a8n-sli
mushkin 2gb cheapie stuff

windows xp 32, norton
i'll try and get a screenshot
 
you're positive that's the cause? When I increase dram voltage to high i get sounds a second late too.
 
yea link doesn't work..whatever. it's just like playing with internet lag :(. i've never messed with voltages on this computer, yet.
 
Do you have Logitech drivers installed? There are a few driver modules that cause lag, when I ran a logitech mouse, I used the logitech gaming fixes and I set mouse accelleration to 0 manually.

Other than that, it's video lag, you should set the pre-draw to 1 frame ahead maximum. (It's an option for nvidia drivers)
 
Have you set your "Frames to render ahead" to zero in your Nvidia control panel? I had similar problems. Also, I sometimes have mouselag with Vsync enabled.
 
johnnq said:
no unusual processes going on...

here's a picture of the game running with a slight .2 (estimated ;) ) seconds of lag...but with 8xssaa

http://www.uploadfile.info/uploads/095865982b.bmp
Click to expand...
Links arent working but 8*ssaa is a bit tough for a 7800GT in modern games.
It would be good to know which game and wha settings exactly youre using.
I have a similar setup (see sig), and at 1280*1024 with 4*MSAA and 8AF I'm good in most games (apart from oblivion).
Be specific, it'll help in helping you solve the problem. Also, are there any other problems with the system in othe situations?
 
Which driver exactly? Try rolling back to .21

Also, you said you have cheap ram. You are not OCing are you?
 
Sounds more like hard drive lag. it looking for a sound file for the bullet and it's probably loading a texture for the lag mouse movement. So how old is your hard drive, Who made it, and when was the last time you formated/defragged the thing.

I had the same problem trying to play FEAR. The screen would freeze for a second here or there sound would be delayed. I then listened to my computer and the time these things were happening my hard drive was making noise. So I threw FEAR on another hard drive and it ran perfect. I have since never used my IDE drive for games.
 
Doesn't seem like a hard drive issue. If it were, he would have specified that it happens once or twice (as audio needing to be cached may be scattered all over the platter). It sounds as if this issue happens every time his framerates tank. I don't think it's a clear-cut case of "video lag" either. It seems like whatever game is drawing ~20FPS, but the rest of the system is severely held back.

Strange, but likely driver/software related.

I think he was using 8XSAA to try and demonstrate the issue.
 
it's only happening (or noticeable) when settings are on really high. 8xssaa in unreal tournament or 1600x1200 everything on high 4xfsaa in fear. same "lag". it doesn't stutter and it has nothing to do with fps (though they obviously drop from the high settings). everything is just behind. if i look to the right and fire, it'll be a slight moment between the mouse movement and the sound of the bullet.

not overclocking
seagate 250gb 7200.8 although i doubt that's the cluprit
 
i took a 30 sec fraps video of me trying to hit this guy playing unreal tournament. 75mb...how do i upload it?
 
durr...ok uploading now. the game is choppy because recording games brings me to 9fps :(
 
Have you tried disabling norton when you play? It could be performing some sort of active scan.
 
no...when the scan happens ANY game just gets too choppy to play for 30 secs. this "lag" is always there when settings are too high. i'm beginnign to think my cpu may be too slow? it's still at 2.0.
 
BBA said:
Do you have Logitech drivers installed? There are a few driver modules that cause lag, when I ran a logitech mouse, I used the logitech gaming fixes and I set mouse accelleration to 0 manually.

Other than that, it's video lag, you should set the pre-draw to 1 frame ahead maximum. (It's an option for nvidia drivers)
Click to expand...

where are these logitech gaming fixes?
 
What kind of soundcard do you have? Although the other suggestions do make sense (vsync and lack of ram) but don't really apply.
 
kleox64 said:
where are these logitech gaming fixes?
Click to expand...


I can no longer find the Logitech mousefix.reg file anywhere, used to be on Logitech's support site. I think they added the functionality into the advanced gaming configuration utility:

(Don't worry about the model, it shows the MX700 page because thats where I was, but the utility only depends on the mouseware version, not the mouse itself.)

http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/d...034,OSID=1,softwareid=6819,showinstructions=1
 
i got athlon64 +3200 also!! what game was it? when i play unreal tournament 2004 with my x700pro pci-e when i sho0t... sumtimes the sound of the gun cums out slow also!
 
I have a 3200+ and a 7800GT as well. I'd recommend turning the AA down to about 6 or 4 AA. 4 AA isn't bad looking, atleast in my opinion.
 
this wouldn't have anything to do with sound would it?
I've noticed that on my X1900XTX in BF2 that the game stutters sometimes until i realised i forgot to set the sound settings to use hardware and not software rendering.
after that, no bothers.

otherwise just drop AA to 6x
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top