It was fine at some point in the past, I _think_ on this comp. And some other games work fine (WoW for example). I'll look up the full spec this evening when I get back late.
Looks like an I/O problem. Is this still the dual-processor system with the 24-bit Soundblaster?
This is usually a sign of a process hogging all CPU quantums and/or disk I/O. But it could also be broken PCI timing (PCI Creative cards love to hog the bus all to themselves; also, on an SMP box the affinity/IRQ will have to be set manually to ensure the Creative card is being driven by only one CPU). A "legacy" driver in slow timing mode (virtual ISA or non-busmastering PCI), such as an unidentified PCI busmastering device, might also be causing this. The general description of the problem is - a background process interfering with PCI and/or filesystem I/O or CPU scheduling (usually all at once).
- the PCI SB Live 24-bit was particularly picky and could even lock/BSOD an SMP system.
Other bits... An antivirus or file indexer (Windows' own indexing service or something like Google Desktop) could be hogging the I/O system while polling the filesystem. An antivirus intercepts filesystem calls, so if its driver/service is poorly implemented, it can cause choppiness (though less severe than what you've got).
A faulty hard drive with lots of bad blocks will also cause crawling and stutter when the damaged area is read. Game files are large, so they have more chances of falling into a damaged area. But, there would also be weird effects inside a game booted from a damaged HD area - colour noise, missing or damaged sounds, missing textures, etc.
SMP systems can be tricky, as software usually isn't written with SMP in mind. Running a game on a single CPU (with an affinity tool or affinity assigned by the task manager) might help
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What time are we meeting again? Was it 6? Sorry, my brain is a bit frazzled this morn.
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And to answer your email, still no idea- unless you have some decent anime I haven't seen?
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Were these games previously playable and this has since changed? If so, did you load any software in the mean time?
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The alternative is an issue with the video card such as the VRAM overheating
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This is usually a sign of a process hogging all CPU quantums and/or disk I/O. But it could also be broken PCI timing (PCI Creative cards love to hog the bus all to themselves; also, on an SMP box the affinity/IRQ will have to be set manually to ensure the Creative card is being driven by only one CPU). A "legacy" driver in slow timing mode (virtual ISA or non-busmastering PCI), such as an unidentified PCI busmastering device, might also be causing this. The general description of the problem is - a background process interfering with PCI and/or filesystem I/O or CPU scheduling (usually all at once).
Reply
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- the PCI SB Live 24-bit was particularly picky and could even lock/BSOD an SMP system.
Other bits... An antivirus or file indexer (Windows' own indexing service or something like Google Desktop) could be hogging the I/O system while polling the filesystem. An antivirus intercepts filesystem calls, so if its driver/service is poorly implemented, it can cause choppiness (though less severe than what you've got).
A faulty hard drive with lots of bad blocks will also cause crawling and stutter when the damaged area is read. Game files are large, so they have more chances of falling into a damaged area. But, there would also be weird effects inside a game booted from a damaged HD area - colour noise, missing or damaged sounds, missing textures, etc.
SMP systems can be tricky, as software usually isn't written with SMP in mind. Running a game on a single CPU (with an affinity tool or affinity assigned by the task manager) might help
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