Major Source Game Lag

[Officer-Pie]

Hey guys. I started getting around Christmas. I didn't bother, and it went away with a little rate tweaking.

Now, it is back, my machine is a year old, and it is lagging like hell came to Earth. Can anyone help? Here is what basically happens:

I am playing, and I get a lag spike. 10-15 seconds later, I get another lag spike, and this repeats and repeats and repeats. I searched this on Google, and I found a thread on The Overclock forums, to turn off your Wireless Zero Configuration. This only helps for a little. To add to that, my connection is wired, so again, it only helps in the way that I turned a service off.

If you get this problem and you have Wireless:

1) Go to run.
2) Type "services.msc"
3) Scroll down to the bottom.
4) Find "Wireless Zero Configuration", Right Click, and hit "Stop"

But this is not where I am at. I have a wired network. I turn off some services, fiddle with my rates, clean my computer, helps for the first 5 minutes of the game. Then the epic lag.

Anyone else have this problem before, and solve it? Post how to fix! This lag is making me withdraw from gaming D:

Edit:

Okay, so my Tech Dad said to boot on Windows 7. Double the lag. He told me to do the certifying process. He failed

 

[Deimos]

CPU/GPU? Bottlenecking? What drivers do you have? Is you GPU underclocked somehow?

 

[Die Geheimwaffe]

CPU/GPU? Bottlenecking? What drivers do you have? Is you GPU underclocked somehow?

A GPU isn't like a CPU it doesn't have throttling capabilities, therefore it won't underclock unless you tell it to. Even if it did somehow manage to get underclocked it would cause low FPS not lag spikes (they're altogether different symptoms that point to different problems).


Let me try and get some additional information here.

So you have two operating systems Windows 7 and an operating system you didn't tell us about? The problem is occurring in both? Am I correct so far and if so can you tell me what the second operating system is besides Windows 7?

Is this problem in only in source games or have you noticed it in other programs as well? Do have any other computers on your network that play source games too? If so are they experiencing problems as well?

Do you remember uninstalling/installing a program/driver or otherwise tweaking any settings before you started experiencing problem? You said you "tweaked some settings" do you remember what you tweaked? Also did you understand what you were tweaking or were you just following a guide on the internet? Sometimes "tweaks" aren't always good and can introduce problems of their own on certain systems. You might try reversing those processes, change whatever rate you altered.

 

[Existence.]

A GPU isn't like a CPU it doesn't have throttling capabilities, therefore it won't underclock unless you tell it to. Even if it did somehow manage to get underclocked it would cause low FPS not lag spikes (they're altogether different symptoms that point to different problems).

That's incorrect:All modern ATI cards severely automatically underclock to save power when the card is not in use. I'm not sure about nVidia cards, though.

 

[yellowbadger52]

Yea im seconding existence on that one. My 4850 downclocks when its not in use.
Is it just ego servers or is it any server you join?

 

[Officer-Pie]

So you have two operating systems Windows 7 and an operating system you didn't tell us about? The problem is occurring in both? Am I correct so far and if so can you tell me what the second operating system is besides Windows 7?

Yes, I run XP Pro. On Windows 7 it lags like crazy. XP, it is less lag, but still very annoying.

Is this problem in only in source games or have you noticed it in other programs as well? Do have any other computers on your network that play source games too? If so are they experiencing problems as well?

Extreme lag in source engine games, other games and programs, very little to none.

Do you remember uninstalling/installing a program/driver or otherwise tweaking any settings before you started experiencing problem?

No, I don't believe so.

You said you "tweaked some settings" do you remember what you tweaked?

I cleaned my computer\registry via McAfee Computer Cleaner, and turned off some useless services, but that was after I was getting lag.

Also did you understand what you were tweaking or were you just following a guide on the internet?

A little of column A, a little of column B

I am gonna try finding more people with the same problem on the internet, if that fails, have any suggestions on what to upgrade?

Edit:

Should I try underclocking\overclocking? I am not currently over or under clocking.


Edit #2: I tried running on just 1 affinity (Core) and it helped. For 3 minutes.

 

[Die Geheimwaffe]

That's incorrect:All modern ATI cards severely automatically underclock to save power when the card is not in use. I'm not sure about nVidia cards, though.

Durp you're right. I had forgotten about 2D and 3D profiles. Slower clockspeeds when rendering 2D graphics and full speed when rendering 3D graphics. It still wouldn't underclock when gaming though and even if it did that would cause low FPS not lag so it's highly unlikely it's the GPU unless there is some type of resource conflict (does that even happen anymore?).

Overclocking and upgrading isn't going to fix your problem if it's only source games that are experiencing lag unless those are the most demanding of the games you own. Even then they worked fine before. What other games did you try? Were they older or newer than a source game?

Update the drivers for your network adapter if you have not. Even vista will install ancient drivers for mine and I have to manually update them. It caused all sorts of grief on my computer for a day or two.

You never "optimized" anything for steam or your source based games?

 

[Officer-Pie]

Overclocking and upgrading isn't going to fix your problem if it's only source games that are experiencing lag unless those are the most demanding of the games you own. Even then they worked fine before. What other games did you try? Were they older or newer than a source game?

Update the drivers for your network adapter if you have not. Even vista will install ancient drivers for mine and I have to manually update them. It caused all sorts of grief on my computer for a day or two.

You never "optimized" anything for steam or your source based games?

Okay, I didn't say source games only.

I just tried Rigs of Rods, a driving\flying\boating simulator game, and it lags like Source Games do as well.


I do not belive it would be my network either, because my brother's computer is fine. It is only my computer.

 

[Die Geheimwaffe]

Okay I think I may have been confused and going at this from the wrong direction. When you say lag do you mean high ping/high latency/bad online gaming where you skip and jump around a lot or do you mean some type of lag where you are getting low FPS or hangs in single player games?

 

[Officer-Pie]

Okay here is an example.


Playing a game: I am doing whatever, fps at 150, and it randomly drops to 1-5 fps.

When I Do something: Doing whatever, fps at 150, stays for about 5 minutes, then lag creeps back in.