Help would be much appreciated!

[SabinHD]

Hey PC users!
I'm new here but I have a serious problem with lag on my computer and came here to ask the experts for help, because quite frankly, I'm exhausted from dealing with this situation.

Here are my specs:
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
System Model: HP-Pavilion p6210y
Prosesser: AMD Athlon (tm) II X4 620 Processer (4 CPUs), ~2.6GHz
Memory: 6144MB RAM
Page file: 1783MB used, 9988MB available
DirctX Version: DirectX 11
Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce 9100

To be honest, I haven't the slighted idea what most of this stuff means. All I know is about my problem. Let me explain.

I'm a bit of a gamer, and for over 6 months I've had massive lag during random points during gameplay. MASSIVE lag. It feel like 5 FPS at times.
I've done everything. I've played less graphically ellabrate games. I've changed the game graphics to the lowest setting. I've uninstalled tons of programs off my computer. I've turned my OS graphics to the lowest settings. I've gotten rid of useless files. I've done virus scans. I've defragged.
No avail.

These random spurts of lag happen about 10-20 minutes within gameplay and last about 30 minutes unless I exit the program. Even moving my browser window around is laggy.
It's not just within big programs. It's also during my "Ribbons" screensaver.

I'm not about to take my computer into Geek Squad and let some jerk tinker with my computer. I'm sure that the problem is being overlooked by my untrained and inexperienced eye. And so that's why I'm coming to you guys.

I'm not a computer expert, but I know my way around pretty well.
Any help would be much appreciated.

PS. HP loaded a TON of pre-programs onto my computer that I've never used that just take up space. Anyone know how to decipher which programs are essential vs non-essential? I'd like more storage room.

Thanks!

Best wishes,
-SabinHD

 

[Ivan the SoSo]

What virus scanner do you use?

 

[Maguscreed]

I'll have to give some thought to the nature of your problem here. I can tell you that anything that says hp in front of it in your programs and features area is bloatware. Unless you have a hp printer as well.

Virus programs can interfere with gaming... that's noted above though.
On second thought it sounds like your graphics card may be over heating, or did overheat in the past and is now suffering from it.
Have you checked airflow in your case and have you monitored the card's tempurature during these bouts of bad performance?
Also have you noticed any artifacts on the screen?
That would be basic shapes, like squares or rectangles of solid color, or simply corrupted blocks of images.

 

[profdlp]

The things the other guys mentioned are all good suggestions.

This may be of help with the bloatware:

The PC Decrapifier

 

[jimpz]

Asides from the above, what games are you playing? You have 'integrated graphics', not a separate graphics card.
Integrated graphics is generally not good at game playing, once you have removed the bloatware from your system, if you still have problems, you may need to consider adding a discrete graphics card.

Good Luck!
Jim

 

[Maguscreed]

Nice catch jimpz, I didn't even notice that.
Yeah you can't really expect a lot out of a integrated, they don't disperse heat properly it's probably safe to assume the gpu is just being overstressed and throwing a fit once the temp starts sky rocketing.

 

[SabinHD]

Ivan the SoSo -
Microsoft Security Essentials.


Meguscreed -
Well then I sure have a lot of bloatware!
I do have an HP printer. Is it safe to say that I could delete any HP program not pertaining to my printer?

I hate to be a pest, but how might I go about checking airflow and monitoring the card's temp?
I don't have any graphic deformities. Just God-awful amounts of lag.


profdlp -
Good suggestion! I used that a while back and it worked pretty well, but I still have a ton of HP bloatware as Meguscreed put it.


jimpz -
Toontown Online
Pirates of the Caribbean Online
MapleStory
Combat Arms
Wizard 101
Vindictus
Lord of the Rings Online.
I also play Warcraft III, Rollercoaster Tycoon 3.
I hope that may answer your question.

If you don't mind me asking, what type of graphics card would you suggest?
I'm more in the $50 - $150 pricerange, but if it's worth it then I'd go a little higher.

--------------------------

Thank you all for your overwhelming response. I wasn't expecting it!
-SabinHD

 

[Ivan the SoSo]

I noticed that you were using intergrated graphics...but you also seemed to indicate that the games worked at one time....so is this a new problem? If it is, that needs to be addressed first....a video card on failing hardware or jacked up software won't solve anything....not to say that a card wouldn't be sweet otherwise....

If you get a video card first you need to make sure you have a PCI-E slot on your motherboard...then you need to find out your power supply wattage....$150+ will get you a nice card////that will also need lots of power and need six or eight pin power connectors or both.....

so find out power supply wattage and any 6/8 pin plugs....

 

[Maguscreed]

Something just occurred to me. Something happened to a friend yesterday. He ran the latest version of ccleaner and ran into a problem with graphics. Fortunately he had backed up the removed registry entries and was able to add those entries back and get his performance back. Have you been using ccleaner?

 

[SabinHD]

I noticed that you were using intergrated graphics...but you also seemed to indicate that the games worked at one time....so is this a new problem? If it is, that needs to be addressed first....a video card on failing hardware or jacked up software won't solve anything....not to say that a card wouldn't be sweet otherwise....

If you get a video card first you need to make sure you have a PCI-E slot on your motherboard...then you need to find out your power supply wattage....$150+ will get you a nice card////that will also need lots of power and need six or eight pin power connectors or both.....

so find out power supply wattage and any 6/8 pin plugs....

I hardly played any heavy-graphic games when my system was fine. On occasion I did, but most of the time no.
This lag is a problem that's been happening for months. I bought my computer brand new over a year ago.

Yikes. I may need to bring my computer to an expert. Hardware modification is not my specialty by any means.

Something just occurred to me. Something happened to a friend yesterday. He ran the latest version of ccleaner and ran into a problem with graphics. Fortunately he had backed up the removed registry entries and was able to add those entries back and get his performance back. Have you been using ccleaner?

I've used ccleaner for quite a while.
That could definitely be the problem.

 

[Maguscreed]

unfortunately we just used the undo reg file he had created when he did the clean, so I don't know specifically what was cleaned that caused the issue.
It may not hurt to just reinstall the video drivers before anything else.
If it's just a matter of a registry value missing, the driver installation should put it back.

 

[Ivan the SoSo]

Windows 7 is different from previous windows....it doesn't need the cleaning and repairs older versions did....in fact it is a good way to make bigger problems than they fix.....been there/done that/got T-shirt....and a few reinstalls

 

[Maguscreed]

Yeah, I personally have my ccleaner set to just wipe the browser cache, and empty the recycle bin. It works good for that.

 

[SabinHD]

How might I go about finding a new driver and installing it?

Sorry to be a pest!

Thanks again.
-SabinHD

 

[Maguscreed]

Well here is HP's page for your system
Software & Driver Downloads HP Pavilion p6210y Desktop PC - HP Customer Care (United States - English)
there doesn't seem to be a whole lot there though.

 

[SabinHD]

Thank you!
Do you know which one needs to be installed?

 

[Ivan the SoSo]

go to original drivers...hit the plus....bottom one.....

Also have you checked for overheating? Pop the case open...blow it out with canned air(while shutdown)..after its all clean boot up and make sure the fans are running right...