# High FPS but choppy gameplay??



## dan_plus_o

Hey guys I am experiencing a weird problem is some games.

For example: On Battlefield Bad Company 2 the FPS shows an average of 40-50 on high but the gameplay feels so lagging and choppy. I turn the settings down to LOW and I get 60-70 FPS but it still feels laggy and even occasionally freezes for like 1-2 seconds. When the game starts to feel really laggy I look up at the FPS and it still shows 40-50 but it feels like its at 10-20. This really only happens when I am moving around. If I stay in one spot I can spin my character around and around and it runs perfectly smooth. The first single player mission where you ride around in the jeep was absolutely horrible and had a bunch of 1-2 second pauses even on low settings and with an average FPS of 60.

On Counter Strike Source I get tons of FPS (100+) but at certain times it stutters and occasionally even freezes for 1-2 seconds. For example, when the terrorist bomb goes off it will occasionally freeze for 1-2 seconds. When I turn on my flashlight it will have a slight stutter but after the first time I turn the flashlight on it will not stutter from turning it on again. If I wait a really long time without turning it on and then turn it on again it will stutter again.

So, to me this definitely seems like a loading issue. Possibly my system memory, video card memory, or HDD?? What do you guys think?

I have Windows XP on a single 750GB Seagate and it runs much better. With my Windows 7 install on two 1TB WD Caviar Blacks in RAID0 (short stroked to like 300GB) it runs like crap. I even forced Bad company 2 to run in DX9 to make sure it wasn't DX11 that was the problem.

One thing I noticed with my RAID0 setup is, with HD Tune it shows an access time of 15.0 ms. I found a HD tune benchmark for a single Caviar Black and it showed access time of 12.0 ms. I assume when in game you would want the fastest access time over high speed transfer rate. Could it be my RAID0 setup that is the problem since that is the main difference between my W7 install and XP install.


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## iurytx

in bc2 do you have aa on or off? if i put it at 4x it shows the same fps as 1x but it feels slower


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## dan_plus_o

Hey, I have AA at 1x, Vsync off, and Anisotropic Filter at 4x.

I just tried overclocking my 5770 with MSI afterburner to see if that would help and it doesn't seem to make any difference. A little better FPS but it still has that choppy laggy feel to it. I set core clock from 850 to 960 and memory clock from 1200 to 1400. Again when I am sitting it one spot and everything has loaded, it runs really smooth. It is only a problem when I am moving around and new things are being loaded.


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## bigl2007

dan_plus_o said:


> Hey, I have AA at 1x, Vsync off, and Anisotropic Filter at 4x.
> 
> I just tried overclocking my 5770 with MSI afterburner to see if that would help and it doesn't seem to make any difference. A little better FPS but it still has that choppy laggy feel to it. I set core clock from 850 to 960 and memory clock from 1200 to 1400. Again when I am sitting it one spot and everything has loaded, it runs really smooth. It is only a problem when I am moving around and new things are being loaded.



well i would have to say  did you overclock yoru card b4 you played the game i think thats a pretty high overclock not sure how safe that one is i know i prettymuch burned out my 260 GTX overclocking high like that id say be careful on the overclock but if you know what your doing thats good other then that are you sure your not lagging cuz if its multiplayer it could be your connection but if its single player and choppy might just be something bottlenecking like power supply cpu or something not getting either enough juice or something else im really not sure what it could be yet


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## dan_plus_o

It was at the stock clock when I noticed the bad performance. I haven't played the game much so not sure when it started being weird but I do know Counter Strike started being weird as soon as I upgraded to Windows 7 and my RAID0 setup. So that's why I have been suspecting the RAID0 setup and its higher access time. I have a spare 500GB HDD so I am thinking about installing Windows 7 on that and seeing how my system runs without the RAID0. I used to play Bad Company 2 all the time with no problems on my XP install so I don't think it would be the GPU, PSU or CPU. Either Windows 7 just really sucks or my motherboard isn't good at handling RAID.. That's what I'm thinking.

I have been testing it with single player so it is definitely not online lag. I'm pretty sure the 5770 can handle 960 core clock without any problems. And if it doesn't and it craps out on me, it just gives me a good reason to upgrade to a 5870 or something. I don't plan on leaving it at 960 I just wanted to see if it would help in Bad Company at all.

EDIT: I just finished playing a bunch of Bad Company 2 on my old HDD with XP installed and it was like night and day. A Huge difference! It was actually playable and I had fun where as on my windows 7 it is so bad I don't even want to play it. So I think its safe to rule out my CPU, GPU and PSU. Both my XP install and W7 install have the same up to date ATI drivers and creative sound drivers.

I can't see it being Windows 7's fault as there would be a lot more people with the same problem as me. My RAID0 is setup with my onboard EVGA 680i sata controller so maybe that is the problem? Maybe the 680i isn't the best for doing RAID0? Will hook up my spare 500G HDD soon and install W7 on that to see if BC2 does the same thing on a single 500GB HDD.


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## iurytx

do you have it set to dx11 in bc2? if so try dx10 or 9.


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## dan_plus_o

Hey thanks for the tip but I have already set BC2 to run in DX9. It was the first thing I tried and it did not help. After playing it on XP I went back to try it on W7 and it was horrible. It would sometimes just freeze for like 3-4 seconds.


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## iurytx

well did you mess with your render ahead limit thingy? i set mine to 0 and it felt A LOT smoother


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## dan_plus_o

I'm not too sure what that is but I assume it is something for Bad Company 2??
I am also having problems in Counter Strike Source.... Yeah CS:S, one of the easiest games to run. And it does the exact same 3-4 second freeze every now and then. I also had trouble with Star Craft 2 when ever it would have to load something new.


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## ScottALot

Do you F@H? I had similar problems because my GPU was busy folding, so it'd cause sound and frame bugs...


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## dan_plus_o

ScottALot said:


> Do you F@H? I had similar problems because my GPU was busy folding, so it'd cause sound and frame bugs...



Since I have no idea what that is, is it safe to say that I don't F@H??
Could you provide a link about F@H? I tried google but got a lot of results about folding@home which seems to be something health related??

I got around to installing Windows7 on my spare 500GB seagate and so far it seems to be running great. Runs smoother then on my older XP install.

So I guess the problem could be:
-Bad Windows 7 install
-Crappy RAID0 controller

I doubt the chances of getting a bad W7 install are that high so I think its safe to blame it on the RAID setup I have. Maybe the stripe size (I picked default) isn't that great or maybe the 680i sata controller just sucks at RAID. Either way, I don't think I will be running RADI0 anymore.


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## Aastii

dan_plus_o said:


> Hey guys I am experiencing a weird problem is some games.
> 
> For example: On Battlefield Bad Company 2 the FPS shows an average of 40-50 on high but the gameplay feels so lagging and choppy. I turn the settings down to LOW and I get 60-70 FPS but it still feels laggy and even occasionally freezes for like 1-2 seconds. When the game starts to feel really laggy I look up at the FPS and it still shows 40-50 but it feels like its at 10-20. This really only happens when I am moving around. If I stay in one spot I can spin my character around and around and it runs perfectly smooth. The first single player mission where you ride around in the jeep was absolutely horrible and had a bunch of 1-2 second pauses even on low settings and with an average FPS of 60.
> 
> On Counter Strike Source I get tons of FPS (100+) but at certain times it stutters and occasionally even freezes for 1-2 seconds. For example, when the terrorist bomb goes off it will occasionally freeze for 1-2 seconds. When I turn on my flashlight it will have a slight stutter but after the first time I turn the flashlight on it will not stutter from turning it on again. If I wait a really long time without turning it on and then turn it on again it will stutter again.
> 
> So, to me this definitely seems like a loading issue. Possibly my system memory, video card memory, or HDD?? What do you guys think?
> 
> I have Windows XP on a single 750GB Seagate and it runs much better. With my Windows 7 install on two 1TB WD Caviar Blacks in RAID0 (short stroked to like 300GB) it runs like crap. I even forced Bad company 2 to run in DX9 to make sure it wasn't DX11 that was the problem.
> 
> One thing I noticed with my RAID0 setup is, with HD Tune it shows an access time of 15.0 ms. I found a HD tune benchmark for a single Caviar Black and it showed access time of 12.0 ms. I assume when in game you would want the fastest access time over high speed transfer rate. Could it be my RAID0 setup that is the problem since that is the main difference between my W7 install and XP install.



It could definitely be a possibility that your hard drives, or, more likely, the RAID controller, is causing your problem. I agree it seems like lag when loading rather than system lag, because your FPS are pretty good.

Try formatting before saying it is certainly a hardware fault though. Use defraggler rather than the windows one, it is much better. You can download it from here:

http://download.piriform.com/dfsetup121.exe

run it 3 times in a row, then see if it has made any difference


=EDIT=

chrome was being an arse and only showing the first page.

Reading your last reply, F@H = folding @ home. You use your computing power to simulate protein folding, which is linked to many different diseases. The results are uploaded to the same location, and used for research into protein folding. All of the computers together around the world, although individually, in the big scheme of things not that powerful, together are an extremely powerful supercomputer.

Your windows installation is fine, otherwise you would be throwing up errors, not just bad performance. If you want to try out RAID0 again, get a PCI RAID controller, so you know it works, and so you know it will handle the speeds. But of course, that is more money to spend


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## dan_plus_o

Aastii said:


> It could definitely be a possibility that your hard drives, or, more likely, the RAID controller, is causing your problem. I agree it seems like lag when loading rather than system lag, because your FPS are pretty good.
> 
> Try formatting before saying it is certainly a hardware fault though. Use defraggler rather than the windows one, it is much better. You can download it from here:
> 
> http://download.piriform.com/dfsetup121.exe
> 
> run it 3 times in a row, then see if it has made any difference
> 
> 
> =EDIT=
> 
> chrome was being an arse and only showing the first page.
> 
> Reading your last reply, F@H = folding @ home. You use your computing power to simulate protein folding, which is linked to many different diseases. The results are uploaded to the same location, and used for research into protein folding. All of the computers together around the world, although individually, in the big scheme of things not that powerful, together are an extremely powerful supercomputer.
> 
> Your windows installation is fine, otherwise you would be throwing up errors, not just bad performance. If you want to try out RAID0 again, get a PCI RAID controller, so you know it works, and so you know it will handle the speeds. But of course, that is more money to spend



Hey thanks! I do use Perfect Disk and made sure to run that before doing anything else. I have definitely had bad performance in a game before and a simple defrag fixed it right up.

I'm not sure if I will ever try RAID again since the cost of a decent RAID controller is quite expensive and I might as well put the money into SSDs.

F@H sounds very interesting... When I started reading about Protein folding and diseases I thought for sure this was something else rather then what Scoot was talking about.


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