This is what i'm running it on:
Athlon 64 3700+
Evga 133-K8-NF41 NF4 SLI 939
Evga geForce 7800 GT 256MB
2GB OCZ DDR400 PC3200
7200rpm HDD

Stock timings, updated drivers and BIOS

When i'm playing the framerates are great, no problems there. The only issue is that the graphics will sometimes chop, not slow down, just chop up. Its actually not very noticable but I play alot of FPS so I do notice it and it shouldn't be there. Any thoughts as to why this is happening?

[Edited on February 10, 2006 at 8:17 AM. Reason : and how to fix it?]

2/10/2006 8:13:34 AM

could be temperature issues. how hot is the card getting and how hot is the whole system in general getting? could be power issues, although i doubt it if ur able to actually run the games and play them already. what kinda PSU r u runnin?

2/10/2006 8:22:12 AM

LCD monitor

2/10/2006 10:23:42 AM

^^ It's an alienware 420W psu. I'm not sure about the temps, I'll have to check them in BIOS after playing.

^ I've got a Sony 19" LCD w/ 25ms (Analog) response time. And its not that the whole screen is chopping, just a small part sometimes. Don't see how this could be the problem.

This problem only occurs with these ID Software games. Please keep any ideas you guys have coming, I appreciate it.

2/10/2006 10:53:16 AM

http://www.nvidia.com/object/sysutility.html

Try something like that, that can log temperatures.

2/10/2006 10:58:47 AM

this may be a dumb observation.... but you didnt mention whether or not you were experiencing these things during online play or in single player

2/10/2006 11:04:06 AM

^ Single Player, these games don't have any multiplayer value as far as I can tell.

[Edited on February 10, 2006 at 11:55 AM. Reason : .]

2/10/2006 11:54:46 AM

yeah i have the same type of Quake4 problems too (havent played doomIII). i have a 2.8Ghz proc, 2gb DDR2 667 memory, and a X800GTO so i don't really understand the problems since i don't even have the graphics turned up that high

2/10/2006 12:30:01 PM

well the 25ms response time is really low for FPS gaming, but if it's just parts of the screen it might be another issue. The card may be defective or the monitor may be. Also, update your drivers if there are any newer ones, but the card's so new it's drivers are most likely up to date. If you want to rule out the monitor, borrow someone else's and see if it does it on there's. If you want to rule out the card, try someone else's card and see if it does it with their card. It's probably one or the other or the drivers/mobo conflict of some sort.

But since you say it's just ID software games, I'd say it's just a graphics engine/driver issue with your particular card. If they release new drivers, it may be fixed. More likely it would need a patch from id to fix the glitches/compatability problems if there are any. Check out id message boards for those particular games and see if there seems to be alot of people with that card having the same problems. Then again, it may never be fixed for those games if it's a small enough number of people having the problem.



[Edited on February 10, 2006 at 12:42 PM. Reason : ]

2/10/2006 12:34:48 PM

Since its just with ID games I have thought about the engine/driver issue as the most probable cause and have been trying to look into it. I do have the latest nvidia drivers and patches for d3 and q4 installed. I'll keep looking into some of these suggestions. Switching out the monitor is something easy i can do so i'll check that out tonight for sure. I'll have to see about the vid card switch.

2/10/2006 1:10:46 PM

sometimes even just uninstalling your video drivers completely, then rebooting and then installing the newest drivers is a good way to fix problems. but for me, when in doubt, quickformat windows

[Edited on February 11, 2006 at 2:54 AM. Reason : .]

2/11/2006 2:52:01 AM

Quote :

"^^ It's an alienware 420W psu. I'm not sure about the temps, I'll have to check them in BIOS after playing."

thats a pretty low psu wattage for your setup. however if it was power you would most likely be seeing problems elsewhere.

2/11/2006 5:44:27 AM

^ I do have a 500W psu i could throw in there, man that would be a pain. But as you said, I probably would be seeing problems else were if it was that.

2/11/2006 12:15:35 PM