Consistent lag spikes, one about Every 5 minutes.

[G'ville]

<p>I just reformated my comp, and had a replacement 9500GT from EVGA because the first one died.</p><p>While playing I get a severe lag spike that last about 20-30 seconds where the screen will freeze or close to it.  These spides occur about every five minutes.</p><p>Zone occumpency, graphic performance, or amount of action on the screen do not seem to affect how or when the lag spikes occur. </p><p>Is there a way to fix this or limit to is it my video card or possibly background programs?</p>

[Trellium]

<p>As a rather wild guess, I would say to check the heat being generated. Maybe your card is producing more than the previous one. Once it cools down a bit it goes on, so it sounds like your issue.</p><p>You could try taking off the case cover to see if the problem changes. There are also tools to monitor the temperature in the case, assuming your electronics support that.</p>

[G'ville]

<p>Thank you very much for your help.  Did a benchmark test on my wife's and my computer. some of the numbers were the same but my wife's comp scored over 2200 on the CPU while mine hit 1600, would this also indicate a possible heating problem?</p>

[Wullail]

<p>Yes , if it's an intel chip they will automatically ramp down if they overheat to try and avoid frying..</p>