Need Help Please

maosrdbf · #1 March 23rd, 2006, 09:35 AM

Well I guess the relevant specifications come first:

p4 1.6gigz
512 rdram
geforce 3
windows xp pro, fully updated until this date.

My problem is I lose massive FPS in a game that I should NOT be losing FPS in. I am refering to Age of Empires (1997). My computer was the best it could have been around 2001 when I built it. Obviously my hardware should be running the game fine. The FPS drops only when I am in multiplayer games with many units and lots of combat (naturally this makes sense). I have had older computers which ran the game fine.

In addition to this, my windows media player seems to lag when playing videos. I would normally assume the video quality is relavant but through various testing of my own, I can conclude that it is not. Whether the 2 problems are related or not, is hard to tell.

I have fully updated with the latest version, my video card. I ran tests to scan my RAM for errors. I have probably done everything I could possibly think of.

Further, I have reformatted my computer just the other day. I have no viruses or spyware, and I run no other programs while I attempt to play the game or view a video.

Are there any suggestions by any chance? This is really bugging me.

oracle128 · #2 March 23rd, 2006, 02:11 PM

Sounds like a hardware problem. Your video card could be dying. Do you have another you can try?

maosrdbf · #3 March 23rd, 2006, 08:23 PM

I don't know. I seriously think my computer may be dying like you said. It is about 5+ years running now and I hardly ever turn it off.

maosrdbf · #4 March 23rd, 2006, 08:52 PM

Actually I just realized and forgot to mention that prior to the reformat, everything was running fine. I have had problems with the game and fixed it before -- I can't figure out how. And WMP ran fine prior to the reformat.

oracle128 · #5 March 24th, 2006, 05:56 AM

Oh, so the format wasn't an attempt to fix a previous problem? Did you reinstall all the latest drivers after the format?