I've been plagued by this problem for a while now, probably since the third year of my computer's lifespan (which was 2010). Before then I was able to run SCII on extreme settings with no lag (unless FRAPSing, I think). Now I can't go ~30-40 minutes without being hit by a massive slowdown. 1 frame per second, motherfucker.

I'm trying to do a LP of WarHammer 40,000: Space Marine and despite it being pretty choppy at times, it's nothing compared to the random slowdowns. I thought I fixed this issue when Mesk told me about power savings and I stopped the HD from turning off 20 minutes in, but that's evidently only delayed the inevitable.

Got my stats here. From what I can tell my CPU usage also skyrockets during the slowdowns but I think when I'm FRAPSing it does that anyways. The slowdowns happen regardless of me FRAPSing or not.

Intel(R) Core(TM) Quad CPU Q6700 @ 2.66GHz 2.67 GHz
6.00 GB RAM
64-bit OS

NVIDIA GeForce 9500 GS Graphics Card
Realtek High Definition Audio

Anything else you need from me?

Show us the process list during the slowdown, sorted by CPU usage.

You could replace Space Marine with any other 3D game (SCII for example) and it would show a similar amount of usage during the slowdown.

/e actually slowdown occurs much quicker than 30-40 mins, more like 10-20.

Uhm, that's sorted by memory, but since it's the complete list it's fine.

But still it's not very useful, because as I feared, there's no CPU usage when switching back to the desktop for making the screenshot.

All I can tell is you have a ton of HP programs open, half of which are probably unnecesary junk. May be worth to clean this up. If you're lucky the culprit is among those, if you're unlucky you save a bit of RAM and start up time.

There's a few other random things you can try:
- Set power saving mode to maximum performance/always on/whatever it's called.
- Run the game windowed
- Close ALL processes that are not absolutely necessary to run the game. (Which should be about 1/2 - 2/3)
- Measure max. temperatures (e.g. with hwmonitor)

The steps above are not meant as a fix to the problem but rather to identify it.

I'll try those, thanks. Any ideas as to what HP stuff I should lose?

Also, you should click on "show all processes from all users". Maybe there is something in the system processes that does not act normal.

I assume that the slowdown is caused by throttlings of the CPU or GPU caused by cooling problems.
Check the temperatures with hwmonitor as NudeRaider suggested.

Is the computer louder than 3 years ago?
My desktop computer had huge dust layer on my gfx and on the cooling stuff between the CPU cooler fan and the CPU itself. It's usually a grid of metal bars.
I assume cleaning the inside of your computer might help a lot. For me it gave me 5°C after 2 years in my room. My computer runs more quiet again.

Try to get a can of compressed air and try to blow the dust away.
If you clean a computer, try to not use water. If you ever clean something with water, you need to let it dry really good. I've already destroyed 2 keyboards with that.

You can use Soluto to find a few things out about popular programs. I'm using it to shut down some stuff that doesn't need to start at boot and it measures your boot time.

Computer's way less efficient (and way more noisy) than it was three years ago. Cooling problems and dust are probably... present.

I'm skeptical about my skills of pulling apart my computer to get to the required hardware.

Just read in the shoutbox that you think the HDD is shutting down and you can't disable that. Did you check your BIOS? You can try disabling power management altogether.
Sorry, can't give you directions for the HP stuff. You'll have to google the processes and see what they do and then decide if you need that.

If you've never formatted your laptop (?) before you should definitely do that. It will definitely make your system faster and more responsive (desktop stuff, probably not the games) and possibly even fix the recording problem.
Keep in mind that if it's a laptop a lot of stuff won't be detected by a standard Windows installation disk, so you'll have to download the drivers first and ideally slipstream them onto your Windows disc.

Nope, it's a desktop! HP Pavilion. HPiece of crap.

Google basically told me how to disable power management altogether - and I've done it already (and went a few steps further than the tutorial does).

Usually you have to press 'Del' or 'F2' a few times right after the computer turns on to get into BIOS. It sets some basic motherboard and devices options.

Just did some research with my model number for the product and found out that it's the fan on the graphics card. One of two things is wrong.

Either the fan is grating against itself/the housing (solution: motor oil to smooth it out), or the housing has melted/doesn't leave enough space for the fan to spin (solution: remove the housing and put the card's fan back).

That explains the massive amount of noise, but not the performance issues, unless that's also causing the slowdown.

Quote from Pr0nogo

Just did some research with my model number for the product and found out that it's the fan on the graphics card. One of two things is wrong.

Either the fan is grating against itself/the housing (solution: motor oil to smooth it out), or the housing has melted/doesn't leave enough space for the fan to spin (solution: remove the housing and put the card's fan back).

That explains the massive amount of noise, but not the performance issues, unless that's also causing the slowdown.

Worse cooling -> more heat -> throttling to avoid melting -> terrible performance while throttled.

I guess I'm going to have to wait till mom leaves me alone for a few hours so I can take apart the computer (otherwise she'd be like WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING AAAAAAAAAAA). I'll post pictures of it when I pull it out of there.

Yeah if heat is the issue you will experience huge slowdown and potentially artifacts. During the Rift beta my 4870x2 was put on high load and the high room temperature gave it an average of 120C. The card has a high heat threshold, but it would soon destabilize and crash. Until it crashed, it would reduce my fps to a sloppy slideshow on what was otherwise an enormously powerful system that had no problems.

The problem with the 4870x2 (which is not likely to be an issue for you) is that the heatsink was massive and glued and/or sealed in some manner that prevented me from removing it to dust it. My disassembly attempts (which I don't recommend you do) were in vain. What I did do is acquire myself a can of compressed air, and blasted the heatsink through the exhaust and fan until I had thoroughly covered myself in dust. Compressed air is really, really great for dusting computers. I dropped the temp of the card and it stopped freaking out for a while but by then I think it was already damaged from the heat and bsod'd me regularly afterwards anyways. Ironically, my card gave me the most issues thereafter during my Space Marine LP and that's when I bought a new card.

To be sure the fan isn't deformed or melted in some way like you think, you can run the computer normally with the side off and listen very closely to the video card. If it's clearly emitting an unusual or grindy noise it may be going. If not, it's probably dust.

By the way, prebuilt computers tend to have very shoddy craftsmanship and parts. There could be other reasons why it's freaking out (like the power supply), so if the ventures with the video card end in failure then you may have a more serious issue at hand.

lol that is funny that we both are having the most severe issues with Space Marine LPs.

When I did my research about the possible causes and refined it to two of the most probably ones, it basically came down to the plastic casing being melted in some manner and causing damage or strain to the fan.

The most depressing thought I've had so far with regards to this is that after all the work that I'll be doing to clean out the card, the computer still might not be able to FRAPS the cinematics without it becoming a bit of a sloppy slideshow itself.

/e

Also this.

108 processes is like double what I have running on a massive workload with tons of apps going. I don't know how people manage that.

I only have about ten or twelve apps/processes that I use (including explorer.exe and such). I don't know what processes are and aren't necessary for the computer to work properly.

Any given windows 7 process guide is a good place to start. Of course, remove all corporate garbage like HP's stock shit. itunes, etc. is all stuff that should just be tossed into a ditch and left to die. At least a quarter of those are superficial services that do nothing but threaten security and eat resources, if they're even legit to begin with.

I'm actually running Vista, believe it or not. The guides are usually nigh-identical though.

Vista? All the more reason to format c: and reinstall Windows. Seriously, if you plan on cleaning out your processes a fresh Windows will be much faster AND give a better result.

I've learned that when a system has been improperly maintained for years it's nearly impossible to fix all the quirks that have accumulated and finding solutions will cost you immense time. You'll end up spending a day or two of research and applying fixes, with moderate results. Which could be half a day for backing up, reinstalling Windows and apps.