[Resolved]Runs smooth 125 FPS for 1 minute, then drops to 30 and stays there.

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9. December 2010 - 23:02

#11

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Re: Runs smooth 125 FPS for 1 minute, then drops to 30 and ...

Ok, so I tried disabeling Avast and uninstalled my gfx-drivers, rebooted, installed "10-11_vista32_win7_32_dd_ccc_enu.exe", rebooted.All with Avast disabled.

Now it started capping around 30 FPS in Quake again, but somehow it felt more like a config-problem this time. It went back up to 125 sometimes when I moved around.So I tried figeting with com_maxhunks and com_zonehunks.Set zonehunks to 80 and maxhunks to 256. I got more than enough RAM. Seemed to work fine now, weird.
Probably screwed up again tomorrow. But working for now, just some slight drops now and then, nothing a few changes in the config can't fix. Plus I tested with my old Quake3 install. So my fresh install should probably work smoother.
Thanks for all the help, really nice
I'll bump this thread again if it stops working when I resume Avast or if it just stops working for whatever reason.

9. December 2010 - 23:03

#12

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Re: Runs smooth 125 FPS for 1 minute, then drops to 30 and ...

maybe overheat after 1min and throttle?

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9. December 2010 - 23:11

#13

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Re: Runs smooth 125 FPS for 1 minute, then drops to 30 and ...

Gah, it's back.Might be hardwareproblem, although I highly doubt it. I've been nice with my computer and everything else runs just fine Like Action Quake 2 or CoD: MW2. But now it doesn't seem to be time-sensitive to 1 minute, it just kicks in whenever it feels like it.

Screw it, I'll just format and install a 64bit Windows 7 instead. If that doesn't work I'm buying a Nvidia GeForce gfxcard. They just push games through no matter if they want to or not, right?

9. December 2010 - 23:37

#14

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Re: Runs smooth 125 FPS for 1 minute, then drops to 30 and ...

You mentioned slow map load times, is it only during a vid restart, or during first load as well?

10. December 2010 - 0:07

#15

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Re: Runs smooth 125 FPS for 1 minute, then drops to 30 and ...

I had such problems with fps drops 5 times till now and all 5 times it was caused either by cpu overheating or hardware about to fail.

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Okay guys, next time I wanna waste time on a useless topic I'll call you.

10. December 2010 - 12:51

#16

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Re: Runs smooth 125 FPS for 1 minute, then drops to 30 and ...

the problem is probably based on something being in power save modus because quake3 doesnt take enough power from it.

i would say its the cpu or the gfx, one of both is not running in gaming mode, you might deinstall all cool & quite stuff.

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10. December 2010 - 18:18

#17

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Re: Runs smooth 125 FPS for 1 minute, then drops to 30 and ...

I had similar problems 2 times. 1st one was problem with wireless network (if your connection is wired skip this point) >> zero wireless network configuration - each 1 minute lag for about 5 secs. But as i know its XP problem, I dont know if the same problem can be with W7. And ofcours sympthoms are not the same.. 2nd one was some firefox bug >> when I closed firefox - it was still runing in background and bringing fps lag in q3. But it was from the begining, not after 1 minute. Solution is simple >> jutst go to taskbar and close firefox proces. If its not one of those my advice is newest drivers (they could fuckedup after some system update - I had it once with Vista) and ofcours check for other proceses in taskbar.

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11. December 2010 - 7:04

#18

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Re: Runs smooth 125 FPS for 1 minute, then drops to 30 and ...

wrote:

You mentioned slow map load times, is it only during a vid restart, or during first load as well?

Works just as usual on the first load, then after it starts capping itself on 30 FPS everything goes slow..
Like if I hurry and write vid_restart before it goes laggy it loads fine. It's only after everything starts going slow, that EVERYTHING goes slow. Every menu, the console, loading and everything.

wrote:

the problem is probably based on something being in power save modus because quake3 doesnt take enough power from it.
i would say its the cpu or the gfx, one of both is not running in gaming mode, you might deinstall all cool & quite stuff.

Is there any way to force my CPU or GFX to keep working at their full potential even though they think they don't need to? Like disable sleep-modus or set the limit for enabeling sleepmodus higher?

wrote:

I had similar problems 2 times. 1st one was problem with wireless network (if your connection is wired skip this point) >> zero wireless network configuration - each 1 minute lag for about 5 secs. But as i know its XP problem, I dont know if the same problem can be with W7. And ofcours sympthoms are not the same.. 2nd one was some firefox bug >> when I closed firefox - it was still runing in background and bringing fps lag in q3. But it was from the begining, not after 1 minute. Solution is simple >> jutst go to taskbar and close firefox proces. If its not one of those my advice is newest drivers (they could fuckedup after some system update - I had it once with Vista) and ofcours check for other proceses in taskbar.

This isn't due to a slow connection or computer, it's a bug.I have a fast and wired connection, it's not a matter of lag or high ping, it's the FPS. And it's the same thing even if I play offline.I don't even have Firefox, and even if I did, I doubt it would give me the exact same error with a cap on 30 FPS in Quake 3 but no other game. Thanks for your contribution though
edit: Oh, and I have the newest drivers, as I mentioned earlier. I've tried different drivers but always get the same result. I'm going crazy not being able to play Quake3, I mean it's frickin' awsome!

edit2:
When going through the problems occured and potential culprits I think Skullheadq3's idea's most likely to be right. It sounds most likely that the GFX-card or/and the CPU somehow thinks it's not in use and shuts off. Does anyone know any way to provent this? A way to force them to keep working? Maybe I should start two Quake3 clients at once, maybe that'll wake them up

11. December 2010 - 7:32

#19

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Re: Runs smooth 125 FPS for 1 minute, then drops to 30 and ...

I read this: http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1213110

Some guys having somewhat similar problems with ATI Radeon GFX-cards.One guy reported playing just fine, using the old 10.3b drivers. So I'm gonna give them a shot.I'll report back when I've finished testing it. Might take a while as I have to go out to do some irl stuff before.

11. December 2010 - 8:36

#20

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Re: Runs smooth 125 FPS for 1 minute, then drops to 30 and ...

Provided the temperatures are relatively normal, I would have to go with Skull on this one. Considering it is capable of hitting a steady 125 frames for an amount of time, then drops to a constant 30 consistantly, as well as load times decreasing as the FPS decrease I would assume something is underclocking the graphics and processor capability, or at least the processor. My suggestion is go into quake, generate the problem, check the hardware temps as well as the the processor and GPU clock. You have have Everest or Aida64 check it out. If not, you can get Speccy from Piriform. http://www.piriform.com/speccy It will only give you the CPU clock, which will let you know if it's capping the whole system, or if it's just possibly the graphic card (which you should be able to set through the ATI catalyst, if not, window's power management)