Serious lag with Unreal Engine 3 games.

[GatsuFox]

Hello, I have a huge problem running Unreal Engine 3 games on my system. It's not every game, but a select few and they have the same problem (this game too).

I'll run the game and it'll run fine for about 5 minutes. I get 80+ frames (usually the 90 cap) on my system the whole time until after about 5 minutes. Then my framerate goes down to about 15 to 20 frames per second. It doesn't go up or down at all. It just sits at whatever low ass framerate it decided to stay on. I have to restart the game to get it up to the maximum frame rate again. My system is NOT overheating (CPU at 40 GPU at 65) so that is not the problem.

My specs: I have windows 7.

i5-3570k

GTX570

8gb G.skill DDR3 1866mhz ram.

Asus P8z77-LK MOBO

It runs this way if its on my HDD or my SSD.

The same issue happens when I try to play RISE OF THE TRIAD. It does not happen playing Tribes: Ascend or the batman games.

I've tried compatibility mode, forcing my CPU to run higher, running as administrator. I can't figure out the problem. I need help. I've been looking for a solution for 3 months. I've been all over the net trying to find anything useful.

[Fultre]

Hi Fox,

One capable system judging by the specs however you didn't specify one very critical conponent, your PSU. PSU is the heart of you system as it pump volts (heart = blood) through your system enabling all other conponents to function. If the PSU is under powered or inconsistant the voltage current can start to flactuate above nominal threshfold and cause system performance issues (high/low blood pressure).

Can you state your full PSU specs.

[GatsuFox]

Hi Fox,

One capable system judging by the specs however you didn't specify one very critical conponent, your PSU. PSU is the heart of you system as it pump volts (heart = blood) through your system enabling all other conponents to function. If the PSU is under powered or inconsistant the voltage current can start to flactuate above nominal threshfold and cause system performance issues (high/low blood pressure).

Can you state your full PSU specs.

It is an 850w PSU, corsair HX850 modular PSU.

It's a year old like the rest of my specs.

[GatsuFox]

I found the issue. The CPU usage goes way up, sometimes up to 100%. I have no idea why it's doing this.

EDIT: I still need help though.

EDIT 2: I have found out that my GPU usage also goes up to about 100%

Fan speed is only 50% and the temp is 83 max so it's not overheating at all.

Edited February 26, 2014 by Guest

[GatsuFox]

More information: I have the game in windowed mode right now and it is having the same problem. I have the task manager open and I'm viewing the CPU usage. When I am tabbed out of the game my CPU goes back to a more normal state (around 20% usage) and when I tab-view the game, it is running at the normal frame rate. When I switch back to the game it goes back down to 15 frames per second and the CPU usage sky rockets again.

[Fultre]

The PSU checks out based on specs, good power output and brand. That is unusual, that CPU model should not need to resort to full load to handle UE3.

You will have to rely on process of elimination to drill down to the possible cause. I would start with the software side of things, reinstall the game (clear registry files), drivers and if you have to reinstall/repair OS. If that doesn't fix the problem you will have move on to hardware (swap around any spare parts etc).

I inspect and clean (fans, air vents etc) my machine every 3 months and by doing that check that all cables sockets are firmly secure.

I try to keep things fairly clean because I have encountered dust buildup or loose components issues before.

[GatsuFox]

The PSU checks out based on specs, good power output and brand. That is unusual, that CPU model should not need to resort to full load to handle UE3.

You will have to rely on process of elimination to drill down to the possible cause. I would start with the software side of things, reinstall the game (clear registry files), drivers and if you have to reinstall/repair OS. If that doesn't fix the problem you will have move on to hardware (swap around any spare parts etc).

I inspect and clean (fans, air vents etc) my machine every 3 months and by doing that check that all cables sockets are firmly secure.

I try to keep things fairly clean because I have encountered dust buildup or loose components issues before.

Issue has been solved.

My buddies and I were joking around on what could be the cause and we laughed hard when one of us said "maybe your GPU is dusty".

But then I started to think... could that be the case? I dusted my PC less than a month ago. However, I did not take the GPU out and dust the heatsink and the fan. So I did that this morning and wow, it worked. Apparently this GTX 570 going over 85 degrees Celsius counts as overheating so the workload was being transfered to my CPU instead.

Framerates dropped considerably and I updated to my new BIOS files which for some reason gave me a 30% increased frame rate in all of my games. See you on the battlefield.