MBP 15" constant graphic stuttering while gaming

[zerixar]

i'm about to give up

i'm having the same exact problem, completely different hardware, clean legit copy of windows, i don't know what to do at this point. installed bootcamp update, did the nvidea driver update.

cod 4 runs poorly at best, counterstrike glitches along painfully. it's worthless.

apple wont support it, haven't called microsoft, that's about the only thing i haven't done. diagnostic software wouldn't work on the machine, standard hardware check shows no problems. don't know what to do here.

could it be that older games have issues on intel chips or some such thing? could it be the two 2gig ram chips in my machine aren't fully compatable with windows? could i have a bottleneck issue? i'm out of ideas and seriously pissed off. help.

again, spec of machine is: 2.6ghz intel core duo processor, 4 gigs of ram (two 2gig chips), 200gb HD 7200 (instead of the standard 250gb HD 5400), and the piece of **** nvidea geforce 8600M GT (512mb) graphic card

 

[t19880821]

I'm at a loss as well. There are a lot of people with the same specs as you, and none of them have problems. for COD4, that's really an understandable issue because it's a much newer game.

You said that for CS:S, your framerates are fine, right? With v-sync off, it should be running at 60+ fps. Are you sure it's not lag? I have experienced other players stuttering around when they're moving, due to lag.. whether it's on my side or their side. Have you tried any other games? Download a demo of another game, like the FEAR singleplayer demo. Do one more test before making any drastic decisions.

If you wanted to go for a pc, I couldn't blame ya. As much as I love apple and the quality of the hardware they put in their machines, they manage to disappoint with their video cards.

 

[The Flashing Fi]

What Nvidia drivers are you using?

Do you think it could be a network problem on your end? A low ping doesn't necessarily mean that the connection is fine.

 

[hashilli]

What Nvidia drivers are you using?

Do you think it could be a network problem on your end? A low ping doesn't necessarily mean that the connection is fine.

I swear I think you are not reading half of each post. This makes your comments completely useless.

 

[zerixar]

once again THIS IS NOT A PING OR INTERNET LAG ISSUE.

ok here is exactly what i'm doing

i start counterstrike, i go to create a server, i put some bots in, and i play against the computer. BOTS, not players, not over the internet. like i've said, it looks like lag but it isn't lag.

i did the framerate test and my game runs at over 100 fps, framerate is not an issue.

all environments are smooth, and my controlled movement is smooth. anything else moving in the environment stutters every second or so, and it stutters at the same time. i.e. a round starts and the bots are all there, you can see visually that they all stutter at the same time about every other second. a thrown grenade stutters through the air at the same rate.

plz stop with the posts of "maybe it's lag from other players or on the server you're playing on". it's not. i appreciate the attempted help, but plz learn to read.

 

[t19880821]

once again THIS IS NOT A PING OR INTERNET LAG ISSUE.

ok here is exactly what i'm doing

i start counterstrike, i go to create a server, i put some bots in, and i play against the computer. BOTS, not players, not over the internet. like i've said, it looks like lag but it isn't lag.

i did the framerate test and my game runs at over 100 fps, framerate is not an issue.

all environments are smooth, and my controlled movement is smooth. anything else moving in the environment stutters every second or so, and it stutters at the same time. i.e. a round starts and the bots are all there, you can see visually that they all stutter at the same time about every other second. a thrown grenade stutters through the air at the same rate.

plz stop with the posts of "maybe it's lag from other players or on the server you're playing on". it's not. i appreciate the attempted help, but plz learn to read.

how about against other players?

and have you tried turning vsync on? i found vsync smoothens the gameplay.

 

[The Flashing Fi]

I swear I think you are not reading half of each post. This makes your comments completely useless.

If you're not going to even try and help, don't post, jackass.

My entire point of asking was that even though you might have a low ping, you can still have packet loss. Most people assume that because they have a low ping, everything should be peachy. I don't know if you've ever played CSS, but it's an online game. Yes, you can play with bots, but most people don't, and it's not until AFTER your post, does he mention that he plays with bots.

Even though you might feel that my questions are completely useless, it did get him to post what he's exactly doing, and unless I missed it, yielded some new information. Thus, making YOUR post "completely useless." Remove your head from your butt the next time you post.

Also, if you think I'm going to go back and re-read every single post each time I post, then you're crazy. Since this thread has been going on for a few days, I do have the tendency to forget a few details. Unlike you, I do have other things to do but troll a forum.

Alright zerixar.

You're playing against bots. How many? They can be quite CPU intensive.

On my gaming PC, I did a quick match with 20 bots, and noticed my FPS are dipping into around 30 FPS at Dust 2. With 20 people online, this does not usually happen to me with this many people on the map. The bots can cause problems.

Also, what is your benchmark score. I know you said over 100 FPS, but that doesn't tell me much.

To give you some idea, in Windows XP and Vista 32-bit, I get 160 FPS in the benchmark (everything on high with trilinear filtering, no AA) and at 1440x900. In Windows Server 2008 64-bit, I get 175 FPS with the same settings.

These stutters can be explained by how CPU intensive they are. If anything, you need to try playing online.

If this is happening online, you can try the following command in console:

cl_smooth 0

You can also try:

cl_interp 0
cl_interpolation 1

Are you running a software firewall, like ZoneAlarm?

I asked you this before, and I don't recall getting any response from you. Have you checked your energy settings? This time I want a response.

First of all, make sure it's on high performance. Then go into advanced power settings and make sure of the following:

UNDER:
PCI Express: Link State Power Management should be on OFF

There should be a CPU/Processor setting. Make sure its min and max settings are at 100%.

 

[t19880821]

i asked him that too if he has the laptop plugged in or running on battery.

 

[silentsage]

I had a similar problem. I use Microsoft Flight Simulator X, which really stresses the CPU and video card. It ran fine for a long time, then suddenly one day it developed a severe stuttering problem. I tried many suggested fixes (defragging the disk, cleaning the registry, turning off background programs, etc.) and nothing worked.

I saw some posts on fligtsim.com that suggested that nVidia drivers have variable quality, and that some folks use quite old versions of the drivers because they give better performance. So I tried a few old versions of the drivers and discovered that was the cause of the problem.

In my system, the 167.59 drivers (the ones I first used to run FSX earlier this year) gave me 5 FPS more than the latest 179.xx drivers, they eliminated the stuttering entirely, and game play is much smoother. Moreover, visual quality is better. In FSX, the game starts reducing the number of objects in the scene when the system starts to slow. With the 167.59 drivers, cloud quality is much better, and the number of objects on the ground is larger.

I was really surprised by this. Experienced gamers kept saying to try different drivers, and they were right.

By the way, www.laptopvideo2go.com has a great archive of nVidia drivers.

 

[zerixar]

You're playing against bots. How many? They can be quite CPU intensive.

On my gaming PC, I did a quick match with 20 bots, and noticed my FPS are dipping into around 30 FPS at Dust 2. With 20 people online, this does not usually happen to me with this many people on the map. The bots can cause problems.

Also, what is your benchmark score. I know you said over 100 FPS, but that doesn't tell me much.

To give you some idea, in Windows XP and Vista 32-bit, I get 160 FPS in the benchmark (everything on high with trilinear filtering, no AA) and at 1440x900. In Windows Server 2008 64-bit, I get 175 FPS with the same settings.

These stutters can be explained by how CPU intensive they are. If anything, you need to try playing online.

If this is happening online, you can try the following command in console:

cl_smooth 0

You can also try:

cl_interp 0
cl_interpolation 1

Are you running a software firewall, like ZoneAlarm?

I asked you this before, and I don't recall getting any response from you. Have you checked your energy settings? This time I want a response.

First of all, make sure it's on high performance. Then go into advanced power settings and make sure of the following:

UNDER:
PCI Express: Link State Power Management should be on OFF

There should be a CPU/Processor setting. Make sure its min and max settings are at 100%.

i've tested it playing against everything from 1 to 20 bots, don't think it's anything being strained. i did the test framerate test and got 170fps.

i don't really know how to stress the point that this is not framerate issues, environmentally framerate is clean and smooth, no problems, this is only things moving through the environment, and it isn't like you see one frame of everything moving around, for instance a bot will run smoothly for about a second, then get a little glitch almost like a frame out of place where it shows where he just was, so it shows him glitching backwards a little, but it's only the bot, no environment glitch, nothing but the moving object.

as for internet play, i can't test that here, i live in bumf*ck nowhere alaska and my latency is too high to connect to anything (average of 600 ping when looking at servers to join). i am going to try to test it though a different way. my roommate has a pc and i'm gonna try to put CS on his machine and then just do a lan game. if his character doesn't glitch around then that'll point to it being just some sort of problem with the bot programming. will let you know how this goes.

btw, i played all the way through cod 4 last night on my comp and it actually ran pretty ok, no manifestation of the stutter experienced in CS:S and the sims, just a little bit of framerate chugging from the quality of the game. i wonder if this is a problem with old games running on my mac, like the combination of the hardware just isn't all the way compatable with old games.

anyway back to your questions Fi, no i'm not running a software firewall, i have checked my energy settings and they are on high performance. isn't what you're saying to do potentially bad for my computer? for my processor to always be on 100%? and for my computer to conserver no power? what exactly does what you said do?

 

[The Flashing Fi]

i've tested it playing against everything from 1 to 20 bots, don't think it's anything being strained. i did the test framerate test and got 170fps.

i don't really know how to stress the point that this is not framerate issues, environmentally framerate is clean and smooth, no problems, this is only things moving through the environment, and it isn't like you see one frame of everything moving around, for instance a bot will run smoothly for about a second, then get a little glitch almost like a frame out of place where it shows where he just was, so it shows him glitching backwards a little, but it's only the bot, no environment glitch, nothing but the moving object.

as for internet play, i can't test that here, i live in bumf*ck nowhere alaska and my latency is too high to connect to anything (average of 600 ping when looking at servers to join). i am going to try to test it though a different way. my roommate has a pc and i'm gonna try to put CS on his machine and then just do a lan game. if his character doesn't glitch around then that'll point to it being just some sort of problem with the bot programming. will let you know how this goes.

btw, i played all the way through cod 4 last night on my comp and it actually ran pretty ok, no manifestation of the stutter experienced in CS:S and the sims, just a little bit of framerate chugging from the quality of the game. i wonder if this is a problem with old games running on my mac, like the combination of the hardware just isn't all the way compatable with old games.

anyway back to your questions Fi, no i'm not running a software firewall, i have checked my energy settings and they are on high performance. isn't what you're saying to do potentially bad for my computer? for my processor to always be on 100%? and for my computer to conserver no power? what exactly does what you said do?

No, it's not bad for the computer. the CPU settings will keep it at 2.6 Ghz. The fans might turn up a bit, but it shouldn't cause any problems.

If you're playing hooked up, you don't need to conserve power. The link state power management basically allows it to control the speed of the PCI-Express bus based on usage. When you're plugged in, you don't need it to control the speed, and it will run at the max speed.

None of what I'm telling you is detrimental for your computer.

As for CSS specifically, I don't think there's much to do asides from messing with the power settings. Even though you're not playing online, you are setting up a server and then connecting to that through the internet.

I made a server of bots only, and I noticed, using net_graph 1, that my ping wasn't zero, but rather between 10-25. I'm on my school's very fast network, and a lot of servers I've gotten 40-70 ms as a ping.

So even though you don't think it's your network, I'm still curious to see what your ping and net_graph 1 is (just type net_graph 1 in the console). Also, if you have a high choke, that's from packets being loss and causes the lag that you're seeing.

This idea is based on what I've read on playing with bots in CSS. You create a server that you connect to. I think it's kind of like calling your friend on your cell phone. Your call goes all the way out to a cell tower, then back to your friend. And even though you're next to each other, there's still a little delay between the two cell phones, and it is noticeable. Make sense? A similar thing is going on with playing with bots in CSS, except you have a bad connection, which causes problems.

 

[t19880821]

i've tested it playing against everything from 1 to 20 bots, don't think it's anything being strained. i did the test framerate test and got 170fps.

i don't really know how to stress the point that this is not framerate issues, environmentally framerate is clean and smooth, no problems, this is only things moving through the environment, and it isn't like you see one frame of everything moving around, for instance a bot will run smoothly for about a second, then get a little glitch almost like a frame out of place where it shows where he just was, so it shows him glitching backwards a little, but it's only the bot, no environment glitch, nothing but the moving object.

as for internet play, i can't test that here, i live in bumf*ck nowhere alaska and my latency is too high to connect to anything (average of 600 ping when looking at servers to join). i am going to try to test it though a different way. my roommate has a pc and i'm gonna try to put CS on his machine and then just do a lan game. if his character doesn't glitch around then that'll point to it being just some sort of problem with the bot programming. will let you know how this goes.

btw, i played all the way through cod 4 last night on my comp and it actually ran pretty ok, no manifestation of the stutter experienced in CS:S and the sims, just a little bit of framerate chugging from the quality of the game. i wonder if this is a problem with old games running on my mac, like the combination of the hardware just isn't all the way compatable with old games.

anyway back to your questions Fi, no i'm not running a software firewall, i have checked my energy settings and they are on high performance. isn't what you're saying to do potentially bad for my computer? for my processor to always be on 100%? and for my computer to conserver no power? what exactly does what you said do?

As I have mentioned, turn on vsync for CS:S.

 

[zerixar]

As I have mentioned, turn on vsync for CS:S.

As I have mentioned, this does nothing. kthxbai

Fi i'll try what you said when i get home later (am at work now). um... yesterday i put CS:S on my roommate's computer last night (he has a vaio pc running vista 32) and he was able to create a game with bots and they ran smooth (on a very inferior computer hardware-wise). dunno if this illustrates anything or not.

 

[t19880821]

As I have mentioned, this does nothing. kthxbai

Fi i'll try what you said when i get home later (am at work now). um... yesterday i put CS:S on my roommate's computer last night (he has a vaio pc running vista 32) and he was able to create a game with bots and they ran smooth (on a very inferior computer hardware-wise). dunno if this illustrates anything or not.

People are trying to help you out, don't reject it. I'm sorry I don't remember reading that you've tried it.

But anyway it doesn't matter. I can't think of anything to help you out. So good luck with your problem. Hope you don't get it fixed.

 

[zerixar]

People are trying to help you out, don't reject it. I'm sorry I don't remember reading that you've tried it.

But anyway it doesn't matter. I can't think of anything to help you out. So good luck with your problem. Hope you don't get it fixed.

it's in the very first post i made. i appreciate people trying to help, but in your posts you consistantly suggest things i've said i already tried. perhaps if you tried reading.... you know.... that skill you learn somewhere around 1st or second grade? yea that one.

 

[The Flashing Fi]

it's in the very first post i made. i appreciate people trying to help, but in your posts you consistantly suggest things i've said i already tried. perhaps if you tried reading.... you know.... that skill you learn somewhere around 1st or second grade? yea that one.

Being condescending gets you no where.

 

[t19880821]

Being condescending gets you no where.

I already deemed this problem unsolvable. I don't think it's a hardware problem either. It's probably driver-related or configuration is wrong... but it's not a hardware problem. I'm sure it can be fixed if we were there to take a look at it, but there's so many unknowns right now that I don't even want to bother asking if he's just going to lash out at everyone.

 

[RobLS]

I am pretty sure its a graphics card prob. and or drivers problem. Awhile back when the Aluminum iMacs came out I had gotten one and it ran flawlessly through my games. Then one day things would slow down tremendously and then speed back up. Then by the end of the week it would get random crashes. By the end of the week after it would crash at least once a day. And a couple days later it would crash before the OS could fully load. I was offered a replacement because it was identified as the video card. Even though I was out of warranty he still gave me all my money back though. And by the way, the issue was that the software on the card made it trip out because it did not utilize its memory properly. Caused it to think it was being overloaded and it would crash itself. As far as your card, I've heard nvidia has been having issues with their cards and microsoft, concerning quality and/or drivers depending on which cards.

You may get something that specs out amazing, but if one of those parts is the handicap of the group, the rest will go at its pace.

 

[t19880821]

I am pretty sure its a graphics card prob. and or drivers problem. Awhile back when the Aluminum iMacs came out I had gotten one and it ran flawlessly through my games. Then one day things would slow down tremendously and then speed back up. Then by the end of the week it would get random crashes. By the end of the week after it would crash at least once a day. And a couple days later it would crash before the OS could fully load. I was offered a replacement because it was identified as the video card. Even though I was out of warranty he still gave me all my money back though. And by the way, the issue was that the software on the card made it trip out because it did not utilize its memory properly. Caused it to think it was being overloaded and it would crash itself. As far as your card, I've heard nvidia has been having issues with their cards and microsoft, concerning quality and/or drivers depending on which cards.

You may get something that specs out amazing, but if one of those parts is the handicap of the group, the rest will go at its pace.

Then it would have to be a unique problem in his particular case, meaning the card in HIS machine is causing the problem. A lot of people have the same exact specs as him and don't have problems. My specs are almost identical and I have no problems with CS:S at all. So if it's almost a sure thing that it's a hardware problem, then he should have it replaced with another one. nvidia is having problems with their cards and such, but nothing like this for a game like CS:S.

 

[RobLS]

Then it would have to be a unique problem in his particular case, meaning the card in HIS machine is causing the problem. A lot of people have the same exact specs as him and don't have problems. My specs are almost identical and I have no problems with CS:S at all. So if it's almost a sure thing that it's a hardware problem, then he should have it replaced with another one. nvidia is having problems with their cards and such, but nothing like this for a game like CS:S.

You do realize I also at the time had the same specs as others that were running fine and were amazed at its performance? There are batch issues for some reason and there are other possibilities. From what I gathered at the time of my experience many people loved the new iMacs, but there were a handfull of us that got the effed up ones. Even a couple people got the effed up ones over and over for several replacements.

 

[zerixar]

sorry for any condescension in my last couple posts. aaanyway

My specs are almost identical and I have no problems with CS:S at all

my processor is different than yours as well as my graphics card and ram amount. i have the 2.6 ghz processor, 512 graphics card, and 4 gigs of ram. i'm starting to wonder if this is a problem with the early 2008 macbook pro's. 2.4 ghz processors aren't offered in the macbook pros on apple right now, so i believe you have a generation behind mine. unfortunately my search to find other people with early 2008 mbp's to see if they have any problems has turned up no results.

i got warhammer online in the mail yesterday, put it on my machine, and am going to be trying it out today. we'll see how it runs. i'm torn because i really don't want to go through sending yet another computer back for a replacement hoping to get one that's not screwed up and having to wait 2 weeks for the new one just to have the same problem. i dunno. on the other hand i would kind of like a computer that runs flawlessly and for the 3000 dollar price tag that's kind of what i expect. i dunno.

 

[Brandon Heat]

i know exactly what you're talking about..

I have a white iMac g5... 2.0/2gb ram...

I also installed counterstrike via bootcamp and xp... And it ran exactly how you described.. I did this back when bootcamp was in beta.. I thought this problem was just because of the fact it was beta and dismissed it... Uninstalled xp and forgot about it... I'm now in the process of trying to get keyboard and mouse to work on my xbox via xfps/xim1 and came to these parts of the forum to brush up on any boot camp info... Sad to hear that this issue isn't fixed yet... Definitely keep us updated!

My personal opinion? I don't think it's hardware related, so sending it back and forth isn't worth it... I'm gonna get leopard this weekend and hopefully xp and I'm gonna install cs again and I'll post what happens...

 

[RobLS]

Well I hope you find a sound solution soon. It would suck if you had to go to a windows box. The funny thing about my situation, after I gave it back for my money, two weeks later the problem was addressed and everything was all gravy. I didn't mind though because I just upgraded to a Mac Pro. There is rumored to be an update soon anyways, so maybe your money shall wait til then. Last year I met this guy who was having probs with his mbp, so he went to take it in and it was an issue unrelated to the user, so instead of finding him a previous model, they just gave him the 'then' updated mbp.
It also doesn't help that you live in the middle of nowhere. It would be nice just blaming it on the sheer cold of the trip damaging a part inside. (they are sensitive you know ).

Anyways, I know what you're going through. I hope things get better and that you are able to still side with the big


*edit* just to add one more thing, it seems theres a lengthy thread of people that had issues with that card. Although the number has seemed to gone down over the months, but still its out there.

 

[zerixar]

think it's worth sending it in one more time and demanding one from a different batch?

 

[RobLS]

think it's worth sending it in one more time and demanding one from a different batch?

Well first I would call them and speak to someone other than a simple customer service person. I would really explain your problem in detail, and what exactly is your mbp config. and what you do to show this problem. Then go on to saying you've had this shipped back and replaced once already but still having the same problem. I've heard theres been problems with this card before and also the aluminum iMac problem with the similar situation. It came down to Apple having to eventually fix the graphics card company's mistake. You want to make sure you aren't getting another misfire and if you don't think they can follow through on that, just get your money back. I think you're definately in good hands if they can acknowledge the problem and put some insight on it.

Best of luck.