Jolt of Lag

[wh1te]

Over the past couple of months, I've encountered an issue which I think is hardware related. At random times while playing CS:S I get a really fast spike of lag, there is no FPS or latency change prior or after to the freeze ups. I've noticed it happens when one of the following happens:
-someone else sprays their logo
-a flash goes off
-a smoke goes off
-someone flickers their flashlight
-the bomb goes off
-someone appears quickly in front of me (around the corner, or drops down)

This is really annoying and a nuisance, especially in the past tournament and while pubbing. I get a constant 80-200 FPS while playing, even smoke, heavy gunfire, and full servers. My ping fluctuates from 5-25 like normal, and I rarely d/c.

The half second-1 second spikes are random, not all the above mentioned causes make me get the lag or I might 2 in a row, it's weird.

The same effect happens when someone people hit F5 for screenshots or Print Screen, you get that little delay to capture the screen... almost the exact same.

I run an ATI Radeon 5850 graphics card with up to date drivers and direct X, 4 GB of dual ram, Intel core2 Duo 8500, and have a WD 7200 rpm HDD (separate harddrive as windows)

I run CS:S at 1920x1080, medium/high graphics and full screen mode on a widescreen monitor.

Another thing I noticed when the spike happens, it's like my game alt-tabs, I see my mouse cursor for the half second, then game returns to normal. Like another program loaded or an action was done off game.

I never had this issue previously with an Nvidia card and old build. I plan on formatting soon anyways, but any tips or suggestions are appreciated :) Thanks

 

[DrUgZ]

I find it helps to lay down in the fetal position with the lights off, and bite your pillow while you cry yourself to sleep at night.
Other than that, it sounds like it could be ISP related. if so, you're fucked.
Also you can try turning Vsync on if you are getting any sort of stuttering or tearing. running at 200FPS really doesn't gain you any advantage, your screen is only showing your eyes 60 fps anyways.

 

[auron]

"Another thing I noticed when the spike happens, it's like my game alt-tabs, I see my mouse cursor for the half second, then game returns to normal. Like another program loaded or an action was done off game."

Based on this, another application seems to be running and coming to the forefront for a split second. Either that or your directx or something is crashing and reloading quickly. Have you tried to force a different version of directx in the launch parameters for CS? Maybe it would help.

 

[Brades]

This happened to me after I installed windows 7 ;/ Still happens but I don't see a mouse cursor. I am running an nvidia card with amd cpu.

 

[47]

ive had that problem with my old computer. running somewhat smooth when camping long A, enemy pops out, lag spike

new pc or gtfo. u game every day, i say u ball out on a sick pc. using a pos is like cock and ball torture.

 

[Brades]

new pc or gtfo. u game every day, i say u ball out on a sick pc. using a pos is like cock and ball torture.

My old PC ran CS:S better than my new one. ;/

 

[DrUgZ]

It has to be a "blades" related server issue. He was probably re-encrypting his child porn stash he keeps on our servers again.

 

[excalibur]

try what auron said.

Put -dxlevel 80 or 90 in your launch properties and see if that helps

 

[Cock]

Do both of these see if it helps.

http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1043281

http://www.thebits.info/windows/vista-mcs-56.htm

 

[B.From.Acc]

"Another thing I noticed when the spike happens, it's like my game alt-tabs, I see my mouse cursor for the half second, then game returns to normal. Like another program loaded or an action was done off game."

Based on this, another application seems to be running and coming to the forefront for a split second. Either that or your directx or something is crashing and reloading quickly. Have you tried to force a different version of directx in the launch parameters for CS? Maybe it would help.

another possible reason is that HL2/CStrike.exe has temporarily "stopped responding", that gay windows frosty look that windows gives you when its been upset. then the engine overcomes the hiccup and continues... maybe.

i would guess hardware/software communication somewhere. either DirectX like someone suggested, or a piece of hardware somewhere.

 

[$alvador]

there's no need to change dxlevel, 100% of the time I find reinstalling DX fixes the issue when it's DX related. Personally, I'd try downgrading gfx drivers first. If you go through the release notes you'll probably find that nothing new has been added to drivers that affects CS:S in a hell of a long time so you can roll it back to whichever version. Either way, if it's something that happened over the last couple of months it's either going to be due to something new that you installed or something that was updated recently.

running at 200FPS really doesn't gain you any advantage, your screen is only showing your eyes 60 fps anyways.

You are confusing FPS with the screen refresh rate which is typically 60Hz. Games have no real FPS because instead of physical frames there's only data that needs to be processed by the CPU and GPU. Because all modern screens are more than good enough to keep up with current games, FPS is really a measure of how quickly information is processed in your computer and being sent to the screen. At that point, the screen's refresh rate takes over to determine how many times the same image is repeated on screen. The faster the FPS, the less information gets repeated on screen.

 

[DrUgZ]

then why have Vsync?

 

[$alvador]

so that people with really shit monitors don't get tearing. i know i haven't used vsync in at least a decade, there's no need for it

 

[Cock]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUjugzbY1II

 

[wh1te]

Do both of these see if it helps.

http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1043281

http://www.thebits.info/windows/vista-mcs-56.htm

Nope, and nope. But it does feel as if it may be a sound issue regardless.

Also you can try turning Vsync on if you are getting any sort of stuttering or tearing. running at 200FPS really doesn't gain you any advantage, your screen is only showing your eyes 60 fps anyways.

I don't get tear lol

Only thing left to try is a dx level downgrade

 

[$alvador]

turning dxlevel down is going to make everything look like total ass. i'm not kidding, you will not even want to play the game anymore. again, it's doubtful dx is the problem but if it is a simple reinstall should fix it

 

[excalibur]

turning dxlevel down is going to make everything look like total ass. i'm not kidding, you will not even want to play the game anymore. again, it's doubtful dx is the problem but if it is a simple reinstall should fix it

turning down the dx does nothing to the looks of the game. try it yourself

 

[Cock]

Yea, Wh1te We have the same issue. It's also odd we have the same Gen mobo (P5Q?)

Hate to say this but I gave the fuck up. I still have an XP HD I can boot from when it rages me.

 

[Cock]

turning down the dx does nothing to the looks of the game. try it yourself

But it fucks up flashbangs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6N28PjVlplo

 

[excalibur]

if u go all the way down to 8 yes but from 11 to 9 or 10 to 9 i dont notice much of a difference.