Performance has been horrid for last month or so.

[Vagrant0]

Taking a shot in the dark here with trying to resolve some perfomance issues I've been having. Started noticing a loss of performance about a month ago, things would take longer to load, fps would drop significantly, and all around sucking. I did a reformat about a week ago, hoping that a fresh registry would solve the problem, with no improvement. Although still technically playable, the AI in oblivion lags something horrible, causing long pauses between AI reactions and dialogues (Martan's speech lasted a good 10 minutes). I wasn't using any mods which use scripting at the time, so it's not a mod issue.

 

The only change I can think of between now and before is that I installed newer drivers for my videocard. But that should have improved things, not made them worse. While it is possible that I could have simply not noticed these issues, I doubt it since these issues have been preventing me from focusing on modding. Unfortunately, even a $20 upgrade of hardware is beyond my current budget.

 

OS Name	Microsoft Windows XP Professional	
Version	5.1.2600 Service Pack 3 Build 2600	
OS Manufacturer	Microsoft Corporation	
System Manufacturer	INTEL_	
System Model	D865GLC_	
System Type	X86-based PC	
Processor	x86 Family 15 Model 4 Stepping 7 GenuineIntel ~2659 Mhz	
BIOS Version/Date	Intel Corp. SA86510A.86A.1024.2006.0504.1017, 5/4/2006	
SMBIOS Version	2.3	
Hardware Abstraction Layer	Version = "5.1.2600.5512 (xpsp.080413-2111)"	
Total Physical Memory	1,024.00 MB	
Available Physical Memory	1.38 GB	
Total Virtual Memory	2.00 GB	
Available Virtual Memory	1.96 GB	
Page File Space	6.73 GB	

Name	Radeon X1600/X1650 Series	
PNP Device ID	PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_71C2&SUBSYS_0850174B&REV_00\4&38B71F77&0&0008	
Adapter Type	ATI Radeon Graphics Processor AGP (0x71C2), ATI Technologies Inc. compatible	
Adapter Description	Radeon X1600/X1650 Series	
Adapter RAM	512.00 MB (536,870,912 bytes)	
Installed Drivers	ati2dvag.dll	
Driver Version	6.14.10.6925	
INF File	oem1.inf (ati2mtag_RV530 section)	
Color Planes	1	
Color Table Entries	65536	
Resolution	1280 x 1024 x 60 hertz	
Bits/Pixel	16	
Memory Address	0xE0000000-0xEFFFFFFF	
Memory Address	0xFF8F0000-0xFF8FFFFF	
I/O Port	0x0000A800-0x0000A8FF	
IRQ Channel	IRQ 16	
I/O Port	0x000003B0-0x000003BB	
I/O Port	0x000003C0-0x000003DF	
Memory Address	0xA0000-0xBFFFF	
Driver	c:\windows\system32\drivers\ati2mtag.sys (6.14.10.6925, 3.40 MB (3,565,568 bytes), 8/5/2009 12:14 AM)	
	
Name	Radeon X1600/1650 Series Secondary	
PNP Device ID	PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_71E2&SUBSYS_0851174B&REV_00\4&38B71F77&0&0108	
Adapter Type	ATI Radeon Graphics Processor AGP (0x71E2), ATI Technologies Inc. compatible	
Adapter Description	Radeon X1600/1650 Series Secondary	
Adapter RAM	512.00 MB (536,870,912 bytes)	
Installed Drivers	ati2dvag.dll	
Driver Version	6.14.10.6925	
INF File	oem1.inf (ati2mtag_RV530 section)	
Color Planes	Not Available	
Color Table Entries	Not Available	
Resolution	Not Available	
Bits/Pixel	Not Available	
Driver	\drivers\ati2mtag.sys (6.14.10.6925, 3.40 MB (3,565,568 bytes), 8/5/2009 12:14 AM)	

 

Any ideas as to what might be wrong, or what I can do to solve the problem? I know it isn't anything like a virus or more obvious issue since that would have been taken care of between Kaspersky and reformatting.

[Dark0ne]

Have you looked at the possibility of overheating? Checked for the usual fluff and what not in heat-sinks and fans? Have you monitored the temps in your graphics card and processor and gauged them against the averages found on the web?

 

Just a shot in the dark, as you say!

[Vagrant0]

Have you looked at the possibility of overheating? Checked for the usual fluff and what not in heat-sinks and fans? Have you monitored the temps in your graphics card and processor and gauged them against the averages found on the web?

 

Just a shot in the dark, as you say!

Don't think it's a heat issue, when I put together my system I made sure that I had a fair amount of leeway heatwise in case I ever felt daring enough to try overclocking. The summer hasn't even been particularly warm here, so environmental factors couldn't contribute that much. If the processor or videocard were overheating, I would be noticing more severe evidence anyway, such as graphical glitches. Not noticing any sort of glitches, just things being a bit slower than they should be. If it was a heat issue, things would get progressively worse, not remain constant. Things are just as slow if I try doing them from a cold boot, a cool idle, or immediately following other high stress activities.