Slowmotion bug in games

I play alot of games, and stable environment to game in is very important for me. Yet lately i've encountered lots of trouble that i can't seem to solve. I've made a rather large post here about it. If you care to read on and maby give me a few hints or tips i'd be very greatfull.

I have Two problems
1 - Slowmotion bug
2 - Random Hangups

An example of how the Slowmotion problem seem to behave.
Lets say in World of Warcraft i'm on a flight from Orgrimmar to Thunderbluff. If in middle flight the problem occurs it seems like everything takes twice as long to render on screen. I still get a decent FPS of about 20 (compared to 60+ i usually have now with all the new hardware) so it's not FPS "laggy" it just takes twice the time for everything to happen. This means that i'll suddenly skip forward and land in Thunderbluff even if it appears that i'm just entering Mulgore. The slowmotion effect is totally random, it can last 5 seconds or 5 minutes and i usually persistent once it starts.

Now, to take it a step further, it happens in all games, and yes even in Windows (slow motion when Max/Minmizing windows etc.). Therefore it's something wrong in general not with any games. I've only noticed it happen once in windows and thats when i installed a program at the same time, i've never noticed it while using the web or anyting.

Hangups
Every now and then the computer freezes. It can happen while watching a movie, installing a program or running 3DMark06 as mentioned below. With all the time i spend inside WoW i've not yet registered it happening while playing which is kinda odd. This seems very random and i can't find a common denominator.

Software / Hardware
- WindowsXP Pro SP2
- Newest DirectX9.0c (10/10-06)
- Brand new 320GB Seagate SATA HDD (One partition for Windows one for WoW)
- Old 300GB Seagate SATA HDD
- Old WD 200GB SATA HDD
- 2GB Corsair RAM
- Abit AB9 Pro Motherboard
- Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 w/Heatsink+Fan
- XFX Geforce 8800GTX PCI-E
- SB Audigy SE (The soundblaster.com link didn't match my card somehow)
- Mist 600W PSU
- FDD
- DVD-Rom

What i've tried to solve it
- I've reinstalled windows and WoW on a entirely new disk, kept the same hardware but removed all the other disks
- Tried with another GX Card that i know works
- I've tried drivers from out of the box aswell as downloaded new ones for most hardware
- Installed Monitoring software for the Motherboard and GF 8800 GTX (They all report normal behaviour at all times)
- Tested the Soundblaster card in both PCI slots aswell as removed it completely
- I keep monitoring the Window Task Manager for CPU load and excessive memory usage, but can't find nothing abnormal
- Checked for Viruses
- I've run normal CHKDSK tests on all disks and nothing problematic has been found
- Memtest86 completed two Standard test runs with no errors. I've even tried both Memory slots on the motherboard.
- I've upgraded the BIOS and that seemed to help, but after some more hours of gaming the slowmotion bug was back as normal.
- Prime95 crashed Windows after 3 hours running, no errors reported though, i'll continue to try more of this in the days ahead

None of the above mentioned sollutions made any changes to the problem
I've even tried out Futuremarks 3DMark06 to get some benchmark readings. The first two GXCard tests work out very well (after i flashed the Motherboard BIOS) and when it is about to start the CPU tests it crashed the computer before i see any graphics.

What i've not yet tried
- Tried new RAM
- A new Windows Installation CD
- Tried a UPS
- With the Mist PSU i got a special PCI-E cable specificly for use with card like the GF 8800 GTX. It has two 6-Pin connecters at the end and only one connector for the PSU. I hope and think that is sufficient even though the documentation on the GTX makes a point to be carefull on that issue.

Yet i think the above mentioned points won't make me any happier.

One more thing, it seems like this Slowmotion bug isn't present in all games.
Games i've encountered it with is: UT2k4, Warhammer DOW, World of Warcraft.
Games that run ok: F.E.A.R., Warhammer Mark of Chaos, Oblivion
I'm not entirely sure about this, so I'll look more into it and see if i can find out why some work and some don't.

Conclusion
FPS and all other activity when the Slowmotion bug isn't present is superb !
But now I'm at the point or going mad, having spent so much time and money on this thing and never getting to use the PC for what i want.

If anyone has any comments or tips for me i'd be very happy.

- Tom

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I play alot of games, and stable environment to game in is very important for me. Yet lately i've encountered lots of trouble that i can't seem to solve. I've made a rather large post here about it. If you care to read on and maby give me a few hints or tips i'd be very greatfull.

I have Two problems
1 - Slowmotion bug
2 - Random Hangups

An example of how the Slowmotion problem seem to behave.
Lets say in World of Warcraft i'm on a flight from Orgrimmar to Thunderbluff. If in middle flight the problem occurs it seems like everything takes twice as long to render on screen. I still get a decent FPS of about 20 (compared to 60+ i usually have now with all the new hardware) so it's not FPS "laggy" it just takes twice the time for everything to happen. This means that i'll suddenly skip forward and land in Thunderbluff even if it appears that i'm just entering Mulgore. The slowmotion effect is totally random, it can last 5 seconds or 5 minutes and i usually persistent once it starts.

Now, to take it a step further, it happens in all games, and yes even in Windows (slow motion when Max/Minmizing windows etc.). Therefore it's something wrong in general not with any games. I've only noticed it happen once in windows and thats when i installed a program at the same time, i've never noticed it while using the web or anyting.

Hangups
Every now and then the computer freezes. It can happen while watching a movie, installing a program or running 3DMark06 as mentioned below. With all the time i spend inside WoW i've not yet registered it happening while playing which is kinda odd. This seems very random and i can't find a common denominator.

Software / Hardware
- WindowsXP Pro SP2
- Newest DirectX9.0c (10/10-06)
- Brand new 320GB Seagate SATA HDD (One partition for Windows one for WoW)
- Old 300GB Seagate SATA HDD
- Old WD 200GB SATA HDD
- 2GB Corsair RAM
- Abit AB9 Pro Motherboard
- Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 w/Heatsink+Fan
- XFX Geforce 8800GTX PCI-E
- SB Audigy SE (The soundblaster.com link didn't match my card somehow)
- Mist 600W PSU
- FDD
- DVD-Rom

What i've tried to solve it
- I've reinstalled windows and WoW on a entirely new disk, kept the same hardware but removed all the other disks
- Tried with another GX Card that i know works
- I've tried drivers from out of the box aswell as downloaded new ones for most hardware
- Installed Monitoring software for the Motherboard and GF 8800 GTX (They all report normal behaviour at all times)
- Tested the Soundblaster card in both PCI slots aswell as removed it completely
- I keep monitoring the Window Task Manager for CPU load and excessive memory usage, but can't find nothing abnormal
- Checked for Viruses
- I've run normal CHKDSK tests on all disks and nothing problematic has been found
- Memtest86 completed two Standard test runs with no errors. I've even tried both Memory slots on the motherboard.
- I've upgraded the BIOS and that seemed to help, but after some more hours of gaming the slowmotion bug was back as normal.
- Prime95 crashed Windows after 3 hours running, no errors reported though, i'll continue to try more of this in the days ahead

None of the above mentioned sollutions made any changes to the problem
I've even tried out Futuremarks 3DMark06 to get some benchmark readings. The first two GXCard tests work out very well (after i flashed the Motherboard BIOS) and when it is about to start the CPU tests it crashed the computer before i see any graphics.

What i've not yet tried
- Tried new RAM
- A new Windows Installation CD
- Tried a UPS
- With the Mist PSU i got a special PCI-E cable specificly for use with card like the GF 8800 GTX. It has two 6-Pin connecters at the end and only one connector for the PSU. I hope and think that is sufficient even though the documentation on the GTX makes a point to be carefull on that issue.

Yet i think the above mentioned points won't make me any happier.

One more thing, it seems like this Slowmotion bug isn't present in all games.
Games i've encountered it with is: UT2k4, Warhammer DOW, World of Warcraft.
Games that run ok: F.E.A.R., Warhammer Mark of Chaos, Oblivion
I'm not entirely sure about this, so I'll look more into it and see if i can find out why some work and some don't.

Conclusion
FPS and all other activity when the Slowmotion bug isn't present is superb !
But now I'm at the point or going mad, having spent so much time and money on this thing and never getting to use the PC for what i want.

If anyone has any comments or tips for me i'd be very happy.

- Tom

first of all, kudos for the well-written, thorough OP. these comprehensive posts help other forumites like myself help you.

second of all, i know how much this sucks. believe you me, i've been suffering through a VERY similar problem, only less slowdowns and more total freezes. when i first read the thread name, i was thinking i'd pop in and say, "doesn't it help you get better headshots" jokingly, but now i see whats going on.

when i posted about my similar problem, ram was first fingered as the culprit. you may want to try and run memtestx86 (the one you boot from a floppy, itz bettar), and prime95. they can tell you if your computer is reasonably stable. also, you may wanna check your temps. this also sounds kinda like overheating, although with your specs, you probably didn't slouch on the cooling.

i feel for you man, i still haven't gotten my kinks worked out, but best of luck to you. maybe the solutions to your problem will help me too!

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