Very Odd FPS issue

[Killface]

Alright, heres the deal. I'll be playing Empire Earth 2: Art of Conquest, and after about 20 minutes, the FPS will be at like 38, then it'd jump down to 3 and accelerate back up to 30ish really fast. Then 2 seconds later it'll do the exact same thing.

The wierd thing is, is that this only happens in EE:AoC. Not in Halo, Not in Farcry, not in GTA3 either. I have updated ATI Graphics drivers and my system specs are:

Processor: Intel Pentium 4e, 3.0ghz, 800mhz FSB, Socket 478 (Prescott)
Motherboard: Albatron PX915P4C Pro
Ram: 768mb Samsung and Kingston PC2100/PC2700 ram (mixed)
Videocard: Sapphire Radeon X300SE w/Hypermemory (shares system ram)

Ive noticed that my processor hits around 83C while playing EE:AoC. And it Idles at about 62C. Yes, i know, its EXTREMELY hot. I've cleaned the dust from the computer.. but it seems not to help one bit.

So I was wondering, is there anything that i could do to cool down the Processor and/or atleast get a steady FPS reading? I would do watercooling, but i have ABSOLUTELY no money.

Help please, cuz im worried about the Prescott.

 

[|Overlord|]

Prescott had the nickname "Preshott" since it would get very hot. I'd look at slopping on some new artic silver or purchasing a better heatsink.

Where the armies fairly big when you were playing EE2?. Most newer RTS games begin to lag when you have massive armies from my experience. Your gfx card is low end, and possibly lowering the game settings could help your performance if you haven't already done so.

 

[Killface]

The settings are already as low as it can go. And this happens even if I have just have a Small City... When i get a massive army, the FPS doesnt fluctuate bad, it just gets extremely low.

 

[Smith]

Prescott had the nickname "Preshott" since it would get very hot. I'd look at slopping on some new artic silver or purchasing a better heatsink.

Where the armies fairly big when you were playing EE2?. Most newer RTS games begin to lag when you have massive armies from my experience. Your gfx card is low end, and possibly lowering the game settings could help your performance if you haven't already done so.

Excellent advice, Overlord. Although, I must say, that if it's only happening in one game, chances are that it's the game's fault, not his computer's. Try installing a patch for the game or finding other people who have similar problems and see how/if they could solve them.

 

[|Overlord|]

Excellent advice, Overlord. Although, I must say, that if it's only happening in one game, chances are that it's the game's fault, not his computer's. Try installing a patch for the game or finding other people who have similar problems and see how/if they could solve them.

Rather then addressing the issue with the game, I found it a bit more alarming that his temps were getting that high at idle and load. I do admit though that a game patch didn't exactly come to my mind off the bat however.

Brother is using a 2.8ghz Prescott, infact there's 3 2.8ghz prescott setups in his room, with one being a LGA 775 socket based setup. The most I've seen them reach is 61 under load. Brother's temps for when he had his chip to 3.5ghz were no more then 63 under load, also taking the weather into consideration at the time, where in cooler conditions he's temps didn't get beyond 57 degrees.

His room is directly under our roof, so he's room's ambient temps would be a bit higher, however there's aircon in there. All in all, they really aren't too hard to cool should system cooling be adequate.

 

[Smith]

Rather then addressing the issue with the game, I found it a bit more alarming that his temps were getting that high at idle and load. I do admit though that a game patch didn't exactly come to my mind off the bat however.

That's understandable. What you aren't understanding, though, is that I didn't dismiss your suggestion ("Excellent advice, Overlord."), I merely added my own.

And just for future use: his Prescott temperatures (of ~80C) aren't very unusual for full load.

 

[Killface]

Yeah... I just hit 92 C. Im starting to get a bit freaked out now. I even have the side of my case off. It'll be bad if i hit Boiling Point.

Edit: and you know whats wierd? I just read my Manual that came with my P4. It says that the Processor is supposed to shut down immediately if it goes beyond 70 C.

 

[Smith]

Yeah... I just hit 92 C. Im starting to get a bit freaked out now. I even have the side of my case off. It'll be bad if i hit Boiling Point.

Edit: and you know whats wierd? I just read my Manual that came with my P4. It says that the Processor is supposed to shut down immediately if it goes beyond 70 C.

Hah, well then I retract my previous edit. 92C is rather high/unusual.

 

[Killface]

Okay... I just hit 96 C. Im doing a Manual Shutdown now, so I wont be on til tomorrow. Thanks for the help tho. Im gonna do some major reconfiguring of air flow in my PC.

 

[Fire Phoenix]

If prescotts run that high, my best suggestion would be to get something that doesn't run that high on a normal basis. Or stop playing the game.

 

[Smith]

Sigh. Thread copied to the appropriate forum and original edited because of massive off-topicness. Keep stirring stuff up, Overlord, and see what happens.

 

[Killface]

So I took apart my computer last night, and completely re-did the airflow system in the case, and I missed some dust around the HSF, so i took care of that. Its AMAZING what that did. My Idle is at around 58 C, and under load, it is at 66 C.

Its actually running so cool, that I overclocked it from 3ghz to 3.4ghz, without a Hiccup. Im quite amazed right now by how much that little bit of dust and the poor airflow raised my temp to 96 C.

But yeah, thanx for the help.... even though most of it was arguing, lol.

 

[Smith]

So I took apart my computer last night, and completely re-did the airflow system in the case, and I missed some dust around the HSF, so i took care of that. Its AMAZING what that did. My Idle is at around 58 C, and under load, it is at 66 C.

Its actually running so cool, that I overclocked it from 3ghz to 3.4ghz, without a Hiccup. Im quite amazed right now by how much that little bit of dust and the poor airflow raised my temp to 96 C.

But yeah, thanx for the help.... even though most of it was arguing, lol.

Did that also fix your EE2 problem?

 

[Killface]

It still does it, but only after I've been playin for about 20 minutes. And it wasnt as bad as it used to be.

One other thing, I just realized that it really started to act up when i turned off HyperThreading. Could that have anything to do with it? And do you recommend turning it off for gaming? Ive heard it helps you with FPS while gaming.

 

[Smith]

It still does it, but only after I've been playin for about 20 minutes. And it wasnt as bad as it used to be.

One other thing, I just realized that it really started to act up when i turned off HyperThreading. Could that have anything to do with it? And do you recommend turning it off for gaming? Ive heard it helps you with FPS while gaming.

It shouldn't cause the problems you're mentioning by having it off, so I doubt that's the issue. But, if you want to try it out, go ahead.

And about increasing your performance while ingame, it won't really matter. For the majority of your games you'll see the exact same frame rate (HT on/off) because of your X1300SE, no matter if HT is beneficial or detrimental.

 

[Killface]

Actually, i have an X300SE... not an X1300SE. I wish i had a X1300 tho. =(

Well.. i'll try turning HT on and see if thats whats causing the sporatic changes in FPS.