Random frame drops in games, is it hardware?

So in all of my games I would get random frame drops. The frame drop lasts 1/4 of a second and the game simply Freezes for 1/4 of a second, so you could say there are no frames in my games for 1/4 of a second every 5 seconds or so. This is incredibly irritating and I would like to know if someone else has this problem and a solution to it. I have a 500 watt psu which should be enough for a Core two duo at 2.8 (7400) and a 5750 1 gig. The problem DOES stop after restart and will play fine until I put my computer into anything like hibernation or "sleep" mode. And when it starts back up this problem with games continues until i restart, is there a way to fix this without restarting every time?

So in all of my games I would get random frame drops. The frame drop lasts 1/4 of a second and the game simply Freezes for 1/4 of a second, so you could say there are no frames in my games for 1/4 of a second every 5 seconds or so. This is incredibly irritating and I would like to know if someone else has this problem and a solution to it. I have a 500 watt psu which should be enough for a Core two duo at 2.8 (7400) and a 5750 1 gig. The problem DOES stop after restart and will play fine until I put my computer into anything like hibernation or "sleep" mode. And when it starts back up this problem with games continues until i restart, is there a way to fix this without restarting every time?

okifoxjl

umm 2 things.. 1 how much ram do you have?

if its under 3gb increase your swap file and grab another stock of ram

i have three gigs, vista 64 bit

how do you increase your swap file on vista?

*Sometimes* defragging your hard drive can help with this... That's my only suggestion, I guess.

That isn't hardware failure, though it could be heat. How many fans do you have? What's the temp. like in there? Is it dusty? Now, of course, this could be a glitchy vista anomaly. Have you considered throwing XP on there, or maybe Windows 7? Adam_the_Nerd

i defragged just a week ago. My temps idle is about 37-43 C and under load its usually in the 70's. While running furmark its at 90-100C, and it doesnt have the lag problem doing furmark...I havent undusted my computer yet, ill try that out

XP would just be a test to see how the game performs, because many games running in DX9 are very stable on there. If you're getting to past 70*C, that's probably not a good thing. Slapping another fan on there.

This guide to cleaning your PC is extensive, and great. That's how I've been cleaning my computer for years, but lo-and-behold, someone as anal retentive as me has made a guide to cleaning your PC like me.

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/tutorial118.html#dust

XP would just be a test to see how the game performs, because many games running in DX9 are very stable on there. If you're getting to past 70*C, that's probably not a good thing. Slapping another fan on there.

This guide to cleaning your PC is extensive, and great. That's how I've been cleaning my computer for years, but lo-and-behold, someone as anal retentive as me has made a guide to cleaning your PC like me.

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/tutorial118.html#dust

Adam_the_Nerd