Hello

According to "Can you run this" my computer surpasses the recommended requirements for GTAIV. GTAIV runs very nicely on my computer however it has always plauged me with bouts of lag and my FPS will drop to 10 or below for a short period of time. There was never any explanation for this and I have tried every possible remedy I could find, from playing with the graphics settings (low, medium, high) to no modifications, to no background processes, to fresh install, to overclocking my CPU and GPU to even re-installing windows 7 and finally to upgrading from 4GB RAM to 8GB.

And GTAIV still suffers from these - seemingly - inexplicable bouts of lag.

Finally, through perseverance, I found the cause of this lag. It appears my CPU "frequency" drops from 3200mhz to around 800mhz which is not enough to run GTAIV and thus GTAIV lags beyond belief. Now this is nothing to do with the settings in GTAIV because it runs flawlessly at all low, all medium and even all high with ENB and car modifications installed!

So this is obviously an issue with my CPU. So my question is, why is my CPU dropping its speed and how do I rectify this?

I've look around and I've changed my power setting for my computer to high performance, it still feels the need to dip every now and again.

My computer was brand new and custom built in January 2011, from the first moment I played GTAIV, I've experienced the aforementioned problem.

I hope someone here with more knowledge than I can assist me because this is beyond me.

Cheers

Most importantly, what model is your CPU?

Ah yes of course, it is an "AMD Phenom II 4x 955 Processor 3.21 GHz".

Did you try without all the mods and ENB? The only thing I know, is that CPUs often drop down to 800MHz when they idle, I have an AMD Phenom II X4 945 and it's idle clockspeed is 800MHz.

Could you verify it runs at 800MHz while the game is running and that it still lags even without ENB and the mods installed?

Did you try without all the mods and ENB? The only thing I know, is that CPUs often drop down to 800MHz when they idle, I have an AMD Phenom II X4 945 and it's idle clockspeed is 800MHz.

Could you verify it runs at 800MHz while the game is running and that it still lags even without ENB and the mods installed?

I have indeed. I've tried removing all modifications, I've tried fresh install with nothing else installed. I then had windows re-installed and my RAM ungraded and the first thing I installed was vanilla GTAIV:EFLC, still it dipped in speed. I used a tool which monitored the CPU speed, I ran GTAIV:EFLC and alt-tabbed when the lag began and my CPU was down at 800 or so. I've checked every time there has been lag and every time the CPU speed is down at 800 odd.

I've also ran GTAIV in windowed mode in which I sat and watched the CPU speed dip, lo and behold, the framerate in GTA plummeted as a result.

How long do those FPS drops last? if they last for like 30 seconds or around that time, there are times called memory leaks, in which GTA IV runs out of memory to and dies in terms of FPS.

Anywhere from 10-30 seconds. They always correspond exactly with the CPU speed drops.

Have you tried a stress test alongside a temperature monitoring piece of software. It could be your CPU overheating. My brother had this problem once.

Have you tried a stress test alongside a temperature monitoring piece of software. It could be your CPU overheating. My brother had this problem once.

It does seem like it. What kind of fan do you have?

Have you tried a stress test alongside a temperature monitoring piece of software. It could be your CPU overheating. My brother had this problem once.

put back to 0 how many people need to abuse the rep system today jeez

Why was my last given -1?

Anyway... I haven't tried a stress test as that's something I don't know what or how to do. Any links I could have a look at?

I don't know what the fan is, how can I find this out?

Edited February 1, 201214 yr by Braveheart

1. First download speedfan (http://www.almico.com/sfdownload.php). Use this to measure your temperatures when IDLE, i.e with nothing running.
   
2. Now download Prime95 (http://www.mersenne.org/freesoft/). Use this to stress your CPU which will make it hot.
   
3. After a few minutes of this running, take the temperatures again.
   

Post both the IDLE and MAX temperatures.