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General => Open Discussion => Topic started by: N-drju on March 13, 2018, 03:12:54 AM

Title: Any idea what's wrong?
Post by: N-drju on March 13, 2018, 03:12:54 AM
So, two years ago I bought myself a copy of GTA V and were successfully running it on my 8GB RAM, i7 double quad core MSI computer with a GTX 960 graphics card. The game was doing A+ on my system and I enjoyed it without crashes or any problems like that.

Until about September last year when it started to lag terribly. Currently I am able to run the game normally for five minutes and then it slows down and stutters like crazy. :-[ Then, the process repeats itself. I really have no idea why, especially that all drivers are up-to-date, I am virus-clean and there were no changes made to the hardware of my system.

Do you, any of the computer geeks out there, have any idea what causes problems like this to appear, apparently, out of nowhere? It is weird when you consider that I can still run Terragen and DAZ Studio perfectly well! ??? While (as you no doubt know) these programs are just as heavy on the system.

Maybe I am getting paranoid, but is it possible that my graphic card has been jacked for the purpose of crypto mining? Still, I find it hard to believe my graphic card could be of any use when offline... Anyway, if you have any thoughts or suggestions on this, let me know. ;)
Title: Re: Any idea what's wrong?
Post by: Dune on March 13, 2018, 05:31:57 AM
My online machine is also quite slow sometimes, Firefox taking minutes to load for the first time, for instance. It may have to do with the fix that addresses the hardware bug in Intel processors.
Title: Re: Any idea what's wrong?
Post by: ajcgi on March 13, 2018, 06:07:01 AM
I remember reading somewhere recently that other GTA5 players such as yourself were experiencing slowdowns with latest updates. It can unfortunately happen as things get patched on patches on patches.
Title: Re: Any idea what's wrong?
Post by: archonforest on March 13, 2018, 06:22:59 AM
A new patch can be the culprit for sure.

Actually I noticed something similar recently while playing Withcher 3. The game started to lag suddenly and I was puzzled since I changed nothing...
Then I figured what happened and since then all okay again. So when I installed the game the Intel hyperthreading function was OFF. Then I turned it on for rendering and in the same time the game started to lag. When I turned it off all went back normal. Game runs smooth.
Title: Re: Any idea what's wrong?
Post by: N-drju on March 13, 2018, 07:47:07 AM
Well, I don't even touch any settings like you said, so I really don't know what is it that suddenly went wrong. :-[ You might say I'm running a default Windows version on default CPU settings. :( I'm never going to buy from Rockstar again. Ever.

@ ajcgi - Exactly. Many players experience the same type of severe lags but Rockstar does not know how to help. They create tons of new content but then point their finger at players' systems instead of taking a look at how their updates affect performance.
Title: Re: Any idea what's wrong?
Post by: Upon Infinity on March 14, 2018, 03:02:28 AM
Quote from: N-drju on March 13, 2018, 07:47:07 AM
Well, I don't even touch any settings like you said, so I really don't know what is it that suddenly went wrong. :-[ You might say I'm running a default Windows version on default CPU settings. :( I'm never going to buy from Rockstar again. Ever.

@ ajcgi - Exactly. Many players experience the same type of severe lags but Rockstar does not know how to help. They create tons of new content but then point their finger at players' systems instead of taking a look at how their updates affect performance.


It could be very well that the game has updated beyond your computer's ability to run the game effectively.  I know that the reason they no longer update GTAV for last gen (PS3) was a memory issue (RAM).  I had something very similar to me when I tried to play Minecraft with imported shaders and textures.  Problem was only solved by reducing the render quality.
Title: Re: Any idea what's wrong?
Post by: N-drju on March 14, 2018, 04:11:36 AM
You may be right. But then, I think, it is unfair that the producer does not announce in any way that minimum requirements have gone up. ::)

Actually, I am taking my computer to the maintenance team today so they can run a thorough check-up of the whole system, hardware including, and perhaps even reinstall it. It's been something I intended to do some time ago, plus adding a few blocks of RAM. Specifically for TG and DS purposes. I'm not sure if it will help though.
Title: Re: Any idea what's wrong?
Post by: N-drju on March 20, 2018, 06:56:34 AM
Just a small update - the root of the problem has been, as it turns out, a worn-out cooling system. So the issue was entirely mechanical in nature. Though I think the OS reinstallation was helpful too.

Off the record, I can tell you that when I shared tips concerning proper machine maintenance and renewing of thermal grease layers, some stupid gamers poked fun at me and disliked my post. Way to go to criticize someone without actually bothering to try out the solution. People are scum. Those who spent their entire life playing gangster games I mean... ::)
Title: Re: Any idea what's wrong?
Post by: Upon Infinity on March 20, 2018, 07:51:51 PM
I don't know about thermal grease layers, but I know when I clean the dust out of my pc (fans/cooling system), it certainly seems to function better, as though the motherboard/cpu is throttling itself to avoid overheating.  It's certainly quieter.
Title: Re: Any idea what's wrong?
Post by: archonforest on March 21, 2018, 11:26:57 AM
Quote from: N-drju on March 20, 2018, 06:56:34 AM
Just a small update - the root of the problem has been, as it turns out, a worn-out cooling system. So the issue was entirely mechanical in nature. Though I think the OS reinstallation was helpful too.

Off the record, I can tell you that when I shared tips concerning proper machine maintenance and renewing of thermal grease layers, some stupid gamers poked fun at me and disliked my post. Way to go to criticize someone without actually bothering to try out the solution. People are scum. Those who spent their entire life playing gangster games I mean... ::)


Interesting...
Some CPU's will slow down in the case of high temperatures for sure. Perhaps some gpus doing the same.
Title: Re: Any idea what's wrong?
Post by: N-drju on March 22, 2018, 03:16:22 AM
You are both right. I can see the difference between before and after. It does not only "seem" to work better. It actually does! ;)

Before I did maintenance to my machine, whenever I launched GTA or Terragen, the fans were running at top speed not stopping for a second. Regardless of that, the computer would still get hot to the touch after some time and I would need to press the supercooling button.

Now, after a 45 minute GTA session, computer's surface is barely warm. :) Even more so, the fans work slower than before and I don't have to use supercooling, unless for fun. Sometimes the fans even stop entirely while still on the game. Apparently, the system does the same job with half the effort which is great for efficiency and energy consumption. I am very satisfied with the work the maintenance team did.

Before that I had no idea that there is such magic as "thermal grease". Looks like a sturdy ally for a heavy-duty workstation (and gamestation as a matter of fact).
Title: Re: Any idea what's wrong?
Post by: jaf on March 22, 2018, 07:07:23 AM
Yes, thermal paste is very important and it's not as simple as smearing it on the cpu pad.  Here's an example of how it is supposed to be done (the instructions are for a specific thermal paste and CPU).  http://www.arcticsilver.com/PDF/appmeth/amd/vl/amd_app_method_vl_1.3.pdf
Title: Re: Any idea what's wrong?
Post by: N-drju on March 26, 2018, 02:28:40 AM
That's a good point jaf. :) Yes, it requires knowledge and a "sure hand". It's waaay more than just soaking all the fixtures in the paste/grease!
Title: Re: Any idea what's wrong?
Post by: Dune on March 26, 2018, 02:32:45 AM
Thanks for that pdf. Good to have at hand. I once had to reapply silver paste and it was a nerve wrecking job (for me).
Title: Re: Any idea what's wrong?
Post by: archonforest on March 26, 2018, 03:11:13 AM
Applying thermal paste is super easy but some folks made it complicated. Saw a test recently where the paste were applied in different ways like: put an X-shape, put a pea size blob, put a straight line, put a rice size blob and even draw a smiley face. Actually all worked! At the end they measured the temperatures and the difference was only 0.5 to 1.4 Celsius.

Nevertheless one can find many many pages on the net about how one should use only the x-shape or use a card to even out the paste and how a card should not be used...etc.