Weird FPS drop problem

Weird FPS drop problem

I've been having this weird FPS drop ever since I started playing again this year - I'll be trotting along quite happily around 40-50fps, then suddenly for no apparent reason my FPS will drop to about 9-11 (though mostly locked on 9) and stay there for a few minutes, then suddenly ramp back up to where it used to be. It'll repeat this behaviour a couple of times an hour at seemingly random times. It makes no difference whether or not I try to play on or leave it completely unattended, the pattern is exactly the same.

I've not managed to replicate this on any other server but GM's, and it's just confusing the heck out of me. I disabled my antivirus (Avast!) and firewall (only windows firewall as I use my router one for gaming) and ensured I've got up-to-date gfx drivers but it still happens. Now I've not really played much since October so this could have happened in one of the previous updates, but it's still odd. Has anyone else experienced this?

 

Also check your gfx card temp. I had this issue with my laptop a while back and found the following (which contributed to the issue):
Avast - need to alter the settings so it doesn't scan on pretty much every single action you make
GFX Card - Mine was faulty, causing it to overheat and give me very random fps drops
Vista - I moved to Windows 7 and found all my games run a lot smoother for obvious reasons
GFX Card Drivers - Some have bugs blah blah, I found reverting to an older Nvidia driver at one point solved a lot of wierd issues i've been having within games
Wireless / Wired Gaming - I sometimes get spikes on wireless o.O

Tis a bit odd that you are only finding the issue on the GM Servers, but have a look at the possible causes above and see if any of it makes a difference to you..

 

2nd report of FPS drops on GM servers, I'm starting to doubt it's client side. :s

 

Which (nvidia) driver are you using?
PSU still 100% okay?

 

I'm wirelessly gaming, yes but nothing's changed in the setup, it's running exactly the same way as it has for months. I've got no reason to suspect temperatures, the whole card's dust-free and there have been no glitches anywhere else. And I can be sitting in the spawn staring at a wall and the fps will drop and then (after a time) increase again. I'd already added the necessary files to Avast's exclude list, so I know that's not a factor.

PSU's rock-solid, double-checked it and the wiring to check for loose connections/damage and it's still pristine.
Using the latest Nvidia drivers (196.21).
Installation of XP literally only runs Steam and Dreamweaver, don't use it for anything other than those two.

@Geit: Is there any data I can collect that'd help you narrow down the problem? It's pretty much a clean system, fully patched so there shouldn't be anything else interfering with it. I've been meaning to time the duration of the drops but don't have a stopwatch handy right now.

 

http://www.ghacks.net/2009/05/17/fix-wireless-lags-in-vista-and-xp/

 

Just discovered Nvidia sneaked a newer driver package out yesterday when I wasn't looking, installing it now to see if that fixes things

Cheers Geit, I didn't know about the WZC service causing lag, I'll give that link a go.

 

That 196.21 is the latest one I believe and seems to be pretty solid.. (but the 191.xx sucks big time..)