What Actually Causes Stuttering in Games?

[Chacranajxy]

My current computer (which I'm about to replace in a month) has trouble with absolutely any game I throw at it -- even stuff running off of the quake III engine. The major problem that I encounter is stuttering. The game will continually have a brief pause where it just stops (lasts about 1/2 a second) and then it'll go back to normal again. So what is it that actually causes the stuttering in games? My guess is that it's the ghetto RAM I have or the budget 9800XT card.

 

[shortylickens]

I've seen that before. It has little to with hardware. Cheap or slow hardware will cause low framrates, not stuttering.

Its usually a driver issue. Try using the driver cleaner from ATI's website and then installing the latest Catalyst.
Same with your sound card, whatever it is. Clean out the drivers (dont let Windows auto install them on reboot) and install the newest drivers from the website.

 

[Hough NutZ]

How much RAM do you have?

 

[Reapsy00]

a 9800Xt is actually not a bad card.

 

[Chacranajxy]

Originally posted by: Hough NutZ
How much RAM do you have?

1 GB, but it's not even value ram... it's like "Comp USA Black Friday Bargain: $2.99" RAM. It's 2 X 512MB.

 

[suicidalpigeon]

3 bucks for 1 gig of ram?

 

[mect]

Originally posted by: Chacranajxy
My current computer (which I'm about to replace in a month) has trouble with absolutely any game I throw at it -- even stuff running off of the quake III engine. The major problem that I encounter is stuttering. The game will continually have a brief pause where it just stops (lasts about 1/2 a second) and then it'll go back to normal again. So what is it that actually causes the stuttering in games? My guess is that it's the ghetto RAM I have or the budget 9800XT card.

If you're done with your "budget 9800XT" when you get your new system, can I have it?

 

[Hough NutZ]

If your cheap RAM was the problem, your computer would probably completely crash....not stutter.

I'd try first uninstall your video card drivers and installing new ones.


To uninstall:

Control Panel--->Add/Remove Programs
Uninstall the drivers by removing ATI-Software Uninstall Utility

Restart your computer

Download and install new ATI drivers from ATI's site