Why does this games run slow on my top of the line gaming rig?

[nx02nx02]

I am playing Silent Hunter 4 1.4 on my computer and it seems like when the game has to load an animation it slows down for a second. Like when I torpedo a big ship, a heavy cruiser or battleship and maybe other ships it kind of feels like the game pauses for a second while it is loading the explosion animation. Is this the games fault or my computers fault? I get over 100FPS ingame max settings with this computer.

The explosion animations aren't perfectly smooth. The whole game pauses for a second and stutters while they are being loaded.

Computer:

Asus P5B Deluxe
Intel E6850
2 Gig Crucial Ballistix
Windows XP SP2
Seasonic M12 700 Watt
EVGA 8800 GTX 169.21
WD 500GB SATA
max game settings
1024x768 res

[AVGWarhawk]

Mine does the same but I have nowhere close to the juice you have to play the game. Reduce the damage effects and see if that helps. Personally it does not bother me this happens.

[SteamWake]

Theres something in the water :smug:

[nx02nx02]

I have a feeling that my hard drive is at fault. It just isn't fast enough to smoothly load the animations when the game calls for them.


Do you think it's the hard drive or is this just a normal thing for Silent Hunter 4?

The computer and game seems to work ok other then this.

[McBeck]

Yeah...I have basicly the same setup on do not get that kind of slowdown.
I used to on my old PC, so its quite possible that something on your does not perform like it should.

Have you defragmented?

[DavyJonesFootlocker]

I have a good system and no such problems. Maybe you should defrag your hard drive.

[Rockin Robbins]

Well, not very often anyway. I agree with you that it's a hard drive caching effect. I also agree that it doesn't ruin the game. But your hard drive looks fine there. Have you looked into other processes? Sometimes an antivirus program will insist on scanning that explosion before you get to see it.

We're living in a world where security is king. In an ideal world nothing at all would work but it would be very, very secure.;)

[nx02nx02]

Actually the WD500GB SATA is my new hard drive and that is with a fresh format and install of windows. I also tried it on my older WD 80GIG PATA100 hard drive and it does do it there too but that is a slower, older hard drive.

The best way that I could explain it is kind of like the whole game stops, pauses while it is waiting for the hard drive to catch up. The game plays super fast, smooth until the game asks for the explosion animation from the hard drive, the whole game stops what its doing (kind of feels like the game locked up) for about 1 or 2 seconds then it resumes and continues to show the explosion animation.

[TDK1044]

I believe that the game uses 1.3 Gigs of RAM during career mode, so even with a 2 Gig system, you need to shut down unnecessary background programs and defrag often.

I have a mid range rig and the game runs like a dream...I do my housekeeping to keep it that way though. :D

[nx02nx02]

This happens with a fresh install of Windows XP SP2 with all available tasks that can be shut down, so when I run the game there is 18 tasks running, (just all the essential windows tasks) and no antivirus or anything like that running.

[AVGWarhawk]

This is strange. When an explosion happens on my computer it is a split second if that it will stop. Sometimes not at all. My rig is a 3200+, 2 gig ram and GF 7800 OC card. I run this through a 200 Mhz FSB motherboard:roll: .

[capthelm]

i am on a high end machine as well, the sim is demanding ,

try lastest drivers imo dont use beta drivers..

[capt_frank]

Check out the Nvidia tweak sticky thread in this forum. There's slots of good stuff in there regarding video setup, etc.

[walrusbomb]

It could be your audio! The explosions can wreck a cheap audio-chip. Are you using your motherboard's onboard audio? Serious gamers should always disable their onboard audio in their BIOS and buy a quality soundcard.

18 processes is good.

How tidy is your registry?
Did you recently replace older video drivers (corrupt registry)?
Have you run 3DMark06 and compared your scores online to similar rigs?
Get any heat warnings? Automatic shut-downs?
Have you run any 72-hour torture tests to expose chinks in your armor?
Stock RAM timings? Perhaps the RAM is overheating?

p.s. I won't play any game until my rig passes several 72-hour torture tests.

p.p.s. Capthelm, stop saying it's demanding when 99% of the time it's PEBKAC.

[nx02nx02]

I too have thought it might be the audio. I am using the onboard audio on the P5B Deluxe.

I will test that out and post back with the results.

Registry is clean and this is the first drivers for the card that was installed.

3DMark 06 score is 11,700 which is right about where it should be compared to other systems like this one.

No overheating or blue screens or shut downs.

I haven't actually done any stress tests yet.

Stock Ram Timings.

Thanks for all the help. I will go test the audio and post back.

[Subject]

I too have thought it might be the audio. I am using the onboard audio on the P5B Deluxe.
I will test that out and post back with the results.Eagerly looking forward to the result! Next month's upgrade is planned to be the P5B and E6850, so... http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z15/subject_rod/smilies/Kick_Can.gif

[walrusbomb]

while slight, onboard audio is notorious for exaggerating its needs to the ICH.

to make matters worse, your SATA drive might suffer during intense AUDIO moments as it has to go through this same ICH.

when you disable the onboard audio and install a soundcard the ICH isn't taxed as much (PCI bandwidth is regulated nicely) and your SATA drive will most likely have full-time priority over the soundcard (which is doing more heavy lifting than the onboard audio did).

Be sure to disable the Onboard Audio in the bios, as opposed to simply turning the audio off in-game. There is a big difference.

---

It's a new rig? you built it yourself? stock CPU heatsink? Too much paste, not enough paste? didn't burn the paste in (200 hours, then power off for 24 hours)? These are the chinks STRESS testing will help you find. Good luck.

[kiwi_2005]

I am playing Silent Hunter 4 1.4 on my computer and it seems like when the game has to load an animation it slows down for a second. Like when I torpedo a big ship, a heavy cruiser or battleship and maybe other ships it kind of feels like the game pauses for a second while it is loading the explosion animation. Is this the games fault or my computers fault? I get over 100FPS ingame max settings with this computer.

The explosion animations aren't perfectly smooth. The whole game pauses for a second and stutters while they are being loaded.

Computer:

Asus P5B Deluxe
Intel E6850
2 Gig Crucial Ballistix
Windows XP SP2
Seasonic M12 700 Watt
EVGA 8800 GTX 169.21
WD 500GB SATA
max game settings
1024x768 res

Its the computers fault cause my PC is crap compared to your PC specs yet i dont get that problem when playing the game. Maybe try different GFX drivers for your card.

[walrusbomb]

more insight:

now that we know your process count is low. hit CTRL-SHIFT-ESC and sort [processes] by MEM_USAGE.

Are there any running above ~80MB?

You could run as low as 15 processes to play modern games -- I run 17. So you have 1 more than I do, and if it's a hog (80+MB), that could be the culprit.

[lv426]

Game runs fine on my comp (I use the external cam most of the time), the only stuttering I get is when on map screen when using TC above 5000

E6750
2gb ram
Win xp
8800gts 640mb 169.21
onboard sound
80gb IDE samsung hd
1024x768
processes = 25

3d mark 06 = 9058

[Kapitan_Phillips]

Man, the only graphics setting I have off is Volumetric Fog, and it runs great on this:

Processor: 2.9 GHz Intel Celeron
RAM: 1024 MB
GPU: 256MB nVidi GeForce


Check your sound settings. I found disabling "Realistic Sound Travel Time" can sometimes stop this pause.

[Torps]

I would recommend

1. Clean your Registry
2. Cleanup temp internet files
3. Defrag

for starters.

[nx02nx02]

I am still trying to diagnose and figure out exactly what's causing it.

I really could use a bit of help from a couple people if possible.

Go to Submarine School then the Torpedo Attack and on max video settings or close to max torpedo the cruiser and watch the explosion close up. Was it smooth or jerky and laggy and stuttering and pausing a bit?

This is the test I have been doing to try to diagnose the problem and I haven't had any luck so far.

[nx02nx02]

The highest task is using about 15 megs. Defrag and reg clean shouldn't be needed I dont think as the fresh format and windows install is less than a week old and silent hunter 4 is the second game to be installed on that new drive.

I also disabled the sound in the BIOS (using onboard sound) and it didn't help.

I am really interested if anyone here could possibly go to submarine school, torpedo attack and torpedo the cruiser the watch the explosion up close in external view, was it smooth and consistent or laggy and stuttering and pausing a bit?


On my computer it lags, stutters, pauses and is just not smooth at all. It's not my framerate either cause it doesn't dip below 50 FPS. I dont think it's the Frame Rate it's something else.

[capthelm]

I am playing Silent Hunter 4 1.4 on my computer and it seems like when the game has to load an animation it slows down for a second. Like when I torpedo a big ship, a heavy cruiser or battleship and maybe other ships it kind of feels like the game pauses for a second while it is loading the explosion animation. Is this the games fault or my computers fault? I get over 100FPS ingame max settings with this computer.

The explosion animations aren't perfectly smooth. The whole game pauses for a second and stutters while they are being loaded.

Computer:

Asus P5B Deluxe
Intel E6850
2 Gig Crucial Ballistix
Windows XP SP2
Seasonic M12 700 Watt
EVGA 8800 GTX 169.21
WD 500GB SATA
max game settings
1024x768 res


looking at the motherboard spec ..

this cpu runs at 1333fsb this board goes to 1066fsb

is this the motherboard you have ?
http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Hardware/Reviews/asus_p5b/

[Redwine]

I am playing Silent Hunter 4 1.4 on my computer and it seems like when the game has to load an animation it slows down for a second. Like when I torpedo a big ship, a heavy cruiser or battleship and maybe other ships it kind of feels like the game pauses for a second while it is loading the explosion animation. Is this the games fault or my computers fault? I get over 100FPS ingame max settings with this computer.

The explosion animations aren't perfectly smooth. The whole game pauses for a second and stutters while they are being loaded.

Computer:

Asus P5B Deluxe
Intel E6850
2 Gig Crucial Ballistix
Windows XP SP2
Seasonic M12 700 Watt
EVGA 8800 GTX 169.21
WD 500GB SATA
max game settings
1024x768 res
You have a simila symtem as i have, (Q6600 here), your proccessor is 1333mhz bus, and mine is 1066 mhz, but your motherboard do not support 1333mhz, any way, you must to run the game so good with that system.

If you have a fresh install on a well defraged disk, try using better drivers.

You dont talk about your sound card... if you are using the onboard one, note the onboard sound cars are "FPS Eaters"... i had that experience, i my previous computer, i was using the onboard one, and in the most compex moments FPS droops down 3 FPS, but after replace the onboard sound card by a X-Fi... i never had under 35 FPS, even in the most complex graphic situations (explosions particles)

It is 10 times more in the bottle necks !

With my actual system, P5K-C, Q6600, NX8800 GT OC 512, 2Gb G-Skill 4-4-4-12, X-Fi... i can have :

SH3 > Control Room > 200/ 230 FPS
Graphics : into drivers control panel > Quality, into the game, all options at full.
If not remember bad, 1024x768.

SH4 > Control Room > 190 FPS
Graphics : into drivers control panel > Quality, into the game, all sliders at full, only volumetric fog enabled.
If not remember bad, 1280x1024.

Both without closing any background programs as antivirus, antihackers, firewalls etc....

If you are using the onboard sound card, attempt to install a X-Fi... there is a gamer model with its own sound RAM memory on board, 64mb.... i am using the standar one, with no onboard RAM.

PD :
Verify you are running on two cores, and try to adjust better lattencies on your RAM memories, some times latencies makes a significant diference. Check your bios settings, try changing bios for another version, disble onboard sound card, and all not used ports as 1394, parallel ports etc....

Any way, 100FPS are so good, all above 25 FPS you eyes make non sense of it... but i think so 100FPS is a signal of your system are not running at its better point, if you are using an onboard sound card, i am near to sure, it is the main problem.

[Kapitan_Phillips]

The highest task is using about 15 megs. Defrag and reg clean shouldn't be needed I dont think as the fresh format and windows install is less than a week old and silent hunter 4 is the second game to be installed on that new drive.

It's always a good idea to clean the registry and defrag when you re-install windows. Sometimes unneeded installation files are stored in the bowels of the system and are never used, so getting rid of them would in most cases aid the system in faster file recovery.

Also, a hard drive should always be defragmented when Windows is re-installed, as files are commonly all over the place as the PC configures itself. It could be that a few files important to the explosion animation (sound files, pyro files etc.) could be in a place they shouldnt be, so a defrag might be a good idea, just incase.

My 2p :D

[walrusbomb]

It's also a good idea to simply defrag regardless of what the eval tells you.

The Built-in Windows Defrag app is probably THE worst defrag software on the planet. Don't trust what it's telling you and defrag.

After Installing SH4, my aftermarket defrag app tells me to defrag when the Windows Defrag says I'm fine. How big is your _pagingfile? you might wanna defrag that too.

http://www.majorgeeks.com/O&O_Defrag_2000_Freeware_Edition_d4545.html

[nx02nx02]

Wait I was told I could use the E6850 1333 with the P5B Deluxe if I did a BIOS update?

I did the BIOS update and installed the E6850 1333.

So are you guys telling me the E6850 1333 isn't supported by the Asus P5B Deluxe?

[Snuffy]

I would highly recommend a spyware search and removal as well. Nothing bogs a machine more than when spyware is actively sending info.

Test for spyware by taking your computer offline and playing the sim. If it seems to improve then you need to get some spyware removal software.

I use both Spybot & Spyhunter.

[Torps]

Wait I was told I could use the E6850 1333 with the P5B Deluxe if I did a BIOS update?

I did the BIOS update and installed the E6850 1333.

So are you guys telling me the E6850 1333 isn't supported by the Asus P5B Deluxe?

Your mobo does support 1333mhz, I looked on ASUS's website.

When you just do a fresh install and install your programs, updates etc believe it or not you have terrible amounts of fragmentation. I have 60 program folders under my start menu for various programs; photoshop, 4 or so games, Nero8, ms office pro, creative , registry cure, diskeeper 2008 pro premier, etc etc etc etc etc; and I have my settings at 1680x1050 with everything maxed out and I never get below 55fps in SH4 with all settings maxed. What you might want to try is put all your music, pics, word docs and none program related files on a seperate drive. All that stuff really slows down your system and boot time aswell.

Below are the programs I use to keep it running fast and secure.

Diskeeper 2008 pro premier
RegCure
Registry Mechanic
Spyware Doctor
Spybot 1.5.2
NOD32 AntiVirus

What will help you alot is a soundcard, like a creative X-FI, it processes sound for you instead of your mobo and cpu doing it, I think that should help you aroun 10-15% per website reviews. Honestly you should not be having these problems.

[capthelm]

well if its this board he has not getting the full front side bus speeds of what the cpu can do

http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Hardware/Reviews/asus_p5b/

hes still not answered if this indeed is the board..oh well..
good luck...lmao

[Torps]

well if its this board he has not getting the full front side bus speeds of what the cpu can do

http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Hardware/Reviews/asus_p5b/

hes still not answered if this indeed is the board..oh well..
good luck...lmao

Sorry mate Neoseeker is wrong. Enter his E6850 on the site and every P5B pops up as supporting 1333.

http://support.asus.com/cpusupport/cpusupport.aspx?SLanguage=en-us

[nx02nx02]

well if its this board he has not getting the full front side bus speeds of what the cpu can do

http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Hardware/Reviews/asus_p5b/

hes still not answered if this indeed is the board..oh well..
good luck...lmao
The answer to which motherboard I have is I have the Asus P5B Deluxe. There is only 1 motherboard which carries that exact name.
The link you gave is for the Asus P5B Deluxe/WiFi-AP which is a little different than my motherboard. The P5B Deluxe and the P5B Deluxe/WiFi-AP are 2 seperate motherboards.

I had to do a bit of research to see if this P5B Deluxe would indeed support the E6850 1333. A couple people on other forums told me it did and Asus website is listed as supporting the E6850 (As long as you do a BIOS update) at least I hope?

Maybe someone here can confirm? It does say on Asus website though that it is supported with new BIOS.

[Torps]

well if its this board he has not getting the full front side bus speeds of what the cpu can do

http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Hardware/Reviews/asus_p5b/

hes still not answered if this indeed is the board..oh well..
good luck...lmao
The answer to which motherboard I have is I have the Asus P5B Deluxe. There is only 1 motherboard which carries that exact name.
The link you gave is for the Asus P5B Deluxe/WiFi-AP which is a little different than my motherboard. The P5B Deluxe and the P5B Deluxe/WiFi-AP are 2 seperate motherboards.

I had to do a bit of research to see if this P5B Deluxe would indeed support the E6850 1333. A couple people on other forums told me it did and Asus website is listed as supporting the E6850 (As long as you do a BIOS update) at least I hope?

Maybe someone here can confirm? It does say on Asus website though that it is supported with new BIOS.

Yes thats correct

[bunkerratt]

i belive you need to update the bios to 2602 to get the 1333 fsb i just flashed my p5wdh deluxe for a e6750 2.66ghz

[nx02nx02]

Well after hours of testing I have figured out the sound is causing most of the problem. If I disable my onboard sound in the BIOS and turn off all the sound in the game 90% of the problem goes away, however there is still a slight pause, stutter in the game right as the big ships are exploding even without sound.


2 Different problems contributing to the stuttering?


If disabling the sound fixed most of the stuttering what is causing the rest?
There has to be a connection?

[-Pv-]

My machine has lower specs than yours and I have never had a studder when torps hit. You speculated at some point you thought it was disk access. Easy way to tell is if at the moment you expect the torp to hit see if your (up to then) HD light flickers for a moment.

Many here harp on defragging, but on your practically new HD, I doubt it's so severe it's cauing this particular problem. It would have to be so bad it would show up in many other ways. Defragging is over-rated on new drives. Doing it too often wears out your drive pre-maturely. As a comparison, I do mine about 4 times a year and I have no graphical studders of any consequence in any game. Once a file has been defragged, it stays defragged until the file gets over-written. The vast majority of our game files are static.

It does appear you might have a minor performance issue somewhere not yet identified. I've not seen any indication what resolution you play at. Have you tried to reduce it a step or two and see what happens? Use the torpedo training scenarios to set yourself up quick shot tests in which most of the variables will be reproduced nearly the same every time. Disabling the sound is interesting. What happens when you reduce the sound acceleration?
-Pv-

[nx02nx02]

My machine has lower specs than yours and I have never had a studder when torps hit. You speculated at some point you thought it was disk access. Easy way to tell is if at the moment you expect the torp to hit see if your (up to then) HD light flickers for a moment.

Many here harp on defragging, but on your practically new HD, I doubt it's so severe it's cauing this particular problem. It would have to be so bad it would show up in many other ways. Defragging is over-rated on new drives. Doing it too often wears out your drive pre-maturely. As a comparison, I do mine about 4 times a year and I have no graphical studders of any consequence in any game. Once a file has been defragged, it stays defragged until the file gets over-written. The vast majority of our game files are static.

It does appear you might have a minor performance issue somewhere not yet identified. I've not seen any indication what resolution you play at. Have you tried to reduce it a step or two and see what happens? Use the torpedo training scenarios to set yourself up quick shot tests in which most of the variables will be reproduced nearly the same every time. Disabling the sound is interesting. What happens when you reduce the sound acceleration?
-Pv-
Ok I just tested to see if the hard drive light flickers before a torpedo hits and the explosion happens. My hard drive activity light constantly flickers while ingame probably every 5 or 10 seconds. Even while just in the control room. The flickering didn't seem to change before and during the torpedo's traveling and ship exploding.

Also I tried at 1024X768 and it sill does it.


One thing I was wondering, Is it possible to view the explosion animations outside of the game? That way I could tell what they are supposed to look like and have something to compare.

[Redwine]

Well after hours of testing I have figured out the sound is causing most of the problem. If I disable my onboard sound in the BIOS and turn off all the sound in the game 90% of the problem goes away, however there is still a slight pause, stutter in the game right as the big ships are exploding even without sound.


2 Different problems contributing to the stuttering?


If disabling the sound fixed most of the stuttering what is causing the rest?
There has to be a connection?
Good !

I was sure that was the main problem, because i was having the same problem.

Try changing your onboard sound card by a X-Fi.... i am using a standard one and works fine, but there is another model, more expensive, X-Fi Gamer or Fatality...., with its own onboard sound RAM (64mb) incorporated...

:up:

About your motherboard, almost in the Asus web site specifphications, it do not support 1333fsb, but may be it is old info, may be with a bios upgrade it can do it... not sure. :hmm:

http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=3&l2=11&l3=307&l4=0&model=1295&modelmenu=2

Any way you can check if it is running at 1066 or 1333 using CPU-Z program.... or even the Asus Utilities into the motherboard installation CD.... :up:

[bunkerratt]

correction looks like bios v1221 should bring the board up to 1333fsb for the p5b deluxe


P5B Deluxe BIOS version 1221
1. Support new CPUs. Please refer to our website at: http://support.asus.com.tw/cpusupport/cpusupport.aspx

[gimpy117]

yeah i get 49-50 in the open sea but put me in the dawn or near pearl or midway...25-29 fps!

[walrusbomb]

I tried to "force" a sutter when torpedo's hit. And it was easy to do.

---
1. TC set to [ 2 ] in External Camera as the torpedo impacts = Stutter.

2. 360 Camera panning (circle-strafing target) in TC [ 1 ] during impact = Stutter.

3. Normal External Camera viewing (numerous ranges) = No Stutter.

OK fun stuff:

4. Ran several hogs while playing: Photoshop (mem usage 109MB); Illustrator (95MB); MidiPro (110MB); Remote Desktop (50MB); and Firefox for good measure w/ this site open (30MB) = Low FPS, unplayable.

5. Reduce the hogs until playable w/ a hog: MidiPro only (110MB) = playable, but low FPS, definitely stutters on torpedo impact.

6. Reboot, no hogs = No Stutter
---

The value of this data is questionable. It's specific only to my system. But it does shed some light on the stutter, and how it *is* possible to recreate and fix. It's also good to know that camera movement and TC both contribute to this "stutter," at least in my tests. So keep at it, you'll fix it. :D

my budget gaming system specs:
A64 3500+
1GB cheap ram
GeForce 7950GT 512MB
Soundblaster Audigy 2Z Gamer
500GB SATA (7k RPM)

[Redwine]

correction looks like bios v1221 should bring the board up to 1333fsb for the p5b deluxe


P5B Deluxe BIOS version 1221
1. Support new CPUs. Please refer to our website at: http://support.asus.com.tw/cpusupport/cpusupport.aspx

Good new for Nx02... he can profit his E6850 bus... :up:

[Subject]

My hard drive activity light constantly flickers while ingame probably every 5 or 10 seconds.To me it sounds like you could use some more RAM. Are you sure both GB are registered? Is it possible for you to try and add a third GB?

:hmm: assuming you're using Intel's latest P965 driver?


/edit: installed codec-packs? Remembered some had issues... :hmm:

[Torps]

My hard drive activity light constantly flickers while ingame probably every 5 or 10 seconds.To me it sounds like you could use some more RAM. Are you sure both GB are registered? Is it possible for you to try and add a third GB?

:hmm: assuming you're using Intel's latest P965 driver?


/edit: installed codec-packs? Remembered some had issues... :hmm:

Also I am assuming your running DDR2 or 3 and if thats the case make sure you have the memory in slots 1 and 3. Otherwise your not running dual channel mode.

[nx02nx02]

Thanks for the replies everyone. And help everyone. :)
The computer is indeed running at 1333 I did a BIOS update to 1226
The memory is in slot 1 and 3 for dual channel. The computer is registering having 2048 MB memory. I do have another 512 MB stick here. I could put that in and see if it helps but I have been watching task manager and I haven't seen the mem usage go past 1200 MB yet.

Walrusbomb, you noticed that your stuttering was camera related, I think what's left of my stuttering is camera related too. Panning or moving the camera while the big explosions are happening = pausing, stuttering camera. It's almost like the camera and the explosions cant work at the exact same time.

[nx02nx02]

My hard drive activity light constantly flickers while ingame probably every 5 or 10 seconds.To me it sounds like you could use some more RAM. Are you sure both GB are registered? Is it possible for you to try and add a third GB?

:hmm: assuming you're using Intel's latest P965 driver?


/edit: installed codec-packs? Remembered some had issues... :hmm:

I did install the latest motherboard drivers from Asus. Does that intel driver need to be installed seperate or is it part of the Asus motherboard drivers package?

Also the codec-packs that you referred too. Are you talking about the ones that the games installation asks you to install? I did install those ones from the games installation but is there something else I should be installing?

[-Pv-]

ASUS MBs are often a little different from Intel MBs as far as dual channel RAM config. Check your MB manual. All the Asus boards I've put together have the dual channel slots next to each other not every other slot. Typically, you install into slots with the same color.

XP doesn't effectively use RAM beyond 2G so it's a waste of money to buy a third gig. 2Gig RAM is not your stutter problem.

You should consider setting a fixed disk cache of 2500 MB. Although the system managed cache is not your problem, you can slow down the fragmentation of your swap file by forcing Windows to create a continuous page file 1.5 times your installed system RAM.

If you are over-clocking, try resetting back to factory and see what happens. If you have tweaked your bios, try resetting it back to factory defaults. Other than that, try different video drivers and last, but not least, turn down graphics settings in the game until you get the performance you expect. If you are getting the torpedo stutter because your system is being pushed too hard, this will be a good test.

Another thing to consider is defective hardware. If so, it should show up in other games as well and would be easy to reproduce. I have had three defective vid cards in a row and had to get three RMAs before the problem went away.

I skipped the codecs when I installed the game because I have had DirectX installed and up to the latest version for years working flawlessly. It IS possible to have a corrupted DX install. Run the Direct X Diagnostic. You'll find it in Windows\System32. Even if it checks out, some people have been able to "fix" their system by re-installing it anyway. It can't hurt.
-Pv-

[bunkerratt]

right take the oddball stick out ..it's going to slow down the other 2

[Lightning61]

set a static swap file. (2048MB should be enough)
remove the side cover from your case and blow air in to it from a small fan.
that drive is too large to be formatted in one partition.
try 5 100GB partitions.
do the bios upgrade.
get ATT and set frames rendered ahead to 0
turn v-sync ON, the fps loss is nothing in comparison the having a fully respnsive mouse.