Hi!
I just built a Windows XP PC for early 2000s gaming, and have run into a weird issue that I can't seem to pin down or get rid off. The easiest way to show it is through the videos I've added below. As you can see, the rendering of pretty much anything is not smooth, but instead there is a tiny consistent pause every second or so, which is consistent regardless of the workload. In games, apart from a choppy frame rate, it also affects the sound (and the DirectMusic test, which is also somewhat choppy), though .mp3s and the like play fine in Windows Media Player. Having tried to narrow down the issue, I've done the following:
- Switched out the CPU
- Switched out the graphics card (ran a Raden 9600XT at first, switched to a Geforce 7600GT)
- Removed the sound card
- Increased the RAM (from 2Gb to 3Gb)
- Switched out the harddrive
- Reinstalled Windows XP (also tried Win2000 and had the same issue)
When reinstalling the OS, I've run the DirectDraw test first thing after installation (i.e. no driver installs), and the problem persists. At this point, I have no idea what else to do, and so any help troubleshooting this would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
Chris
Specs (current):
- Shuttle AN35N Ultra (nForce2 Ultra 400)
- AMD Athlon XP 2600+
- 3Gb of DDR RAM
- 40Gb IBM Deskstar 7200 prm
- Gainward 7600GT
- Soundblaster Audigy 2
- Chieftec 340w PSU
- Iomega ZIp Drive Parallel
- Phillips CDRW5200 Optical Drive
- 3.5" Floppy Drive
- Fujitsu-Siemens Scenicview B19-5
- Microsoft Intellimouse Optical
- Microsft Internet Keyboard
- Xbox 360 USB Controller
- Windows XP SP3
Here's the issue in the DirectDraw test (no drivers, fresh install)
DirectDraw.mp4
