[pzkpfwv69]

Hey, so after poking around here for a while I found that the folks here are helpful and friendly, so I'm sharing my little stupid problem;

Ok, so I feel sofa king we todd ed.

I got an HP Slimline s3300f 11 months ago, and pimped it out with 4GB Kingston PC2-5300, a SB Audigy, and a Chaintech GeForce 8600GT. The full specs are below. I thought this would somehow improve my gaming experience.

It did not.

When playing Crysis, it does maybe 20-30 fps in all LOW settings at 800x600 res, and then every 2.5 minutes, slows to about 3 FPS. Then it sort of kicks back to normal after another 2 minutes of this, and repeats itself. Now, I would expect this from a goliath like Crysis, but, here's the thing-- my machine does this with EVERY shooter I've got. Medal of Honor: Airborne, Half Life 2, Halo, even Return to Castle Wolfenstein, for pete's sake.

Now before you waste your time, yes, the motherboard, sound card and video card all have up-to-date drivers, and I'm downloading Crysis 1.2 patch right now, although I don't think it will really make a difference.

I tried pimping out this little HP tower, but was I just an idiot for hoping it would work? Or else I REALLY hope it's just a software problem, like maybe my norton internet 360 is going out of control and I need to turn it off. (I don't now how.)



Athlon 64 X2 5000+
Asus M2N61-AR
4 GB Kingston PC2-5300 non-ECC 667mhz
Chaintech 8600GT
running DirectX10

[Patricki7]

Sounds like your hard drive is either slow, or being stressed.

[pzkpfwv69]

Patricki7, on Jan 14 2009, 11:39 PM, said:

Sounds like your hard drive is either slow, or being stressed.

I guess that's pretty much the only other thing that might be a factor! Thanks, I will try to maintenance to my hdd. Or even install another one, why not??

[Person8880]

pzkpfwv69, on Jan 15 2009, 03:40 AM, said:

I tried pimping out this little HP tower, but was I just an idiot for hoping it would work? Or else I REALLY hope it's just a software problem, like maybe my norton internet 360 is going out of control and I need to turn it off. (I don't now how.)

There's your problem. Norton 360 kills PCs. Get rid of it using the uninstaller in Add/Remove programs or this Norton Removal Tool (from the same people who make it) and install something like Avast, AVG or Comodo Internet Security, which are all free.

[bkjohnson6306]

when you upgraded your system with the video card etc. did you also put in a bigger power supply? I had a similar issue a few years back when I upgraded my video card and memory. ended up having to get a 500 watt PSU (antec earthwatts). Havnt had a problem since.

[pzkpfwv69]

bkjohnson6306, on Jan 15 2009, 03:29 PM, said:

when you upgraded your system with the video card etc. did you also put in a bigger power supply? I had a similar issue a few years back when I upgraded my video card and memory. ended up having to get a 500 watt PSU (antec earthwatts). Havnt had a problem since.

I will look into how much power there really should be for it, and also give AVG a try. Thanks for the advice!

[bkjohnson6306]

i havnt seen an 8600 video card that didnt require at lest 350W PSU. if its stock, its probably 300W or less. go for at least 500W just to cover everything, plus future add ons. good luck