Game lagging...

[timsloot]

I don't know if this is a Windows XP problem but it seems that on every game I play it will lag every few seconds. I have just installed a new video card and updated it. I thought that was the problem but then I also tried to end every non-critical application that was running in Windows for my user except the explorer and tskmanager one. But that didn't seem to solve the problem either.

Any comments or suggestions? Thanks.

[Force Flow]

Have you run spyware scans and virus scans?

[timsloot]

Yes i have... Could it be a bad video card? Or something still running in windows that is making this problem?

[pam123]

I doubt it's the video card, unless it immeadiately developed exactly the same problem it's predecessor had (possible but not my first choice).
Tell us about your system and the games you run (specs).
Was the old card always a problem?
Did the lag only appear in games or has the computer seemed to choke on other applications.
When you scanned your system what programs did you run?
You should know that there's malware out there that won't appear in an End Task window and that's effectively stealthed from scanners.

[timsloot]

First, there never was an old card.
Second, the lag only appeared on games. To be specific, games like: Dawn of War, Earth 2150, Prince of Persia, Final Fantasy VIII. It didn't happen on Starcraft.
Third, the type of virus protection I run is:Avast, Ewido, Microsoft Antispyware, Ad-Aware, CCleaner, Cleanup, and Spybot.

And my system specs are in the attached dxdiag document.

[pam123]

"I have just installed a new video card and updated it"

What were you using before and what drivers?
You can check out the X800 by downloading a free demo of one of the current games, like FarCry (or install one from a game magazine cd). If the demo plays well the problem isn't the card.
From here it sounds like the games are confused by the new card and the updates and are looking for something.
Also, if the card was really an abrupt jump you may want to go back and really scrub the old drivers from your system even if they were just an earlier version of the ones you've got now.
If none of that helps do a complete uninstall of the game with the worse problem and reinstall it.