Games stuttering on HDX computer

[jerzymichal]

Hi,

I am experiencing performance problems when playing games on my HP HDX 1180EW computer (product number FU782EA#AKD). Most of the time the gameplay is smooth, even at highest resolution & detail settings, but at some moments the game freezes for half a second (both graphics and sound "stutter"). It is quite frustrating because I expected the laptop to be quite powerful and able to run games smoothly (it has an Intel Q9000 processor, 4GB RAM and GeForce 9600M graphics).
I did not have the possibility to test the performance on newest games, but the problem occurs for example on "Half Life 2 - The Lost Coast" (which contains some advanced visual effects and was released more than a year ago). Anyway, the in-game benchmark says that average FPS rate is above 60 at 1920x1080, nevertheless the stuttering still occurs.

I've done some research on this matter, and found hints that the problem could be connected with:
- the game buffering from a hard drive --> which is strange, as 4GB memory should be enough
- the game not working well with quad-core processor
- hard drive configuration problems (making HDD reading speed too slow?)
- some compatibility problems between Vista and quad-core processors
- maybe some general visual/performance settings of Vista?

Anyway, these are only hints and I was unable to find precise information or support. I suppose the described case could be somehow connected to similar
problems I notice while playing online HD videos (discussed in a separate forum topic). I have installed all new drivers and updates, so far except fresh Nvidia
drivers (I decided to stay with HP OEM driver). I am out of ideas for now, that's why I decided to ask for help here.

I would be grateful for any more suggestions on solving this problem.

-- 

Jerzy

[melanchete]

Depending what all you have running on the machine would make the machine acting like it was stuck in mud.

Defrag the drive, max the memory, shut down anything that you don't need to game.  If you are running "Symantec" anything you are done.

Take a look at BitDefender GameSafe: http://www.bitdefender.com/PRODUCT-2213-en--BitDefender-GameSafe.html

or you could go with a standard AV package and use a gaming firewall router.

Use future mark to baseline your system.

[jerzymichal]

You could be right about "Symantec" as I am using the pre-installed version of Norton Internet Security. I could try and disable or even uninstall it, but first I must get something else (BitDefender looks nice) as it could be dangerous to get online without any antivirus protection.

I will try FuturMark as well and see what results I can get.

-- 

Jerzy

[remy199]

Hi, I have this exact same problem and I was wondering if you had fixed it becasue i'm really stuck.

Thanks.

[jerzymichal]

Well, unfortunately I haven't - it still occurs in some games, as well as during playback of online videos (Youtube HD for example). I have switched off unnecessary programs (besides Norton Internet Security, I still haven't decided what to use instead).

One of the things I suspect is that we have to wait for updated graphics drivers which should at some point solve this problem. As I said before, there have also been suggestions that some older programs don't work well with quad-core processors.

Whatever it is, I still hope it can be solved soon

-- 

jerzy