Frame Rate goes from 35-40 to 7 and back again minutes later...

[screenid]

<p>I am not sure what is going on.... for about a month been having frame rate DROPS (happening more since Expansion Release)  ...   Is it  the Game or my Video card...??</p><p>My normal frame rate (on Balanced)  goes from 25 to 60 ... mostly hovers around 35 -40 range</p><p>Lately (without reason)  my frame rate will drop to 7 and stay that way for several minutes before going back to the 35-40 range.     This happens (no matter what zone I am in ...including an empty house)</p><p>Does not matter if I am on Balanced or High performance...</p><p>I thought it was due to wireless, but I am getting the same issue when connected directly to the router...</p><p>PC Specs</p><p><strong>Operating System</strong>: - Windows 7 Home Premium (64 bit)</p><li><strong>CPU</strong>: - Intel Core 2 Quad Q9000 - 2.0 GHz - 1066MHz FSB - 6MB L2 Cache </li><li><strong>Memory</strong>: - 6GB DDR3 SDRAM </li><li><strong>Chipset</strong>: -Mobile Intel P43 Express Chipset +ICH10 </li><li><strong>Graphics</strong>: - NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260M   --Driver version 8.15.11.8631 </li><li><strong>Hard Drive</strong>: - 2 x 500GB 7200RPM </li>

[TSR-JoshuaM]

<p>Can you PM me the contents of your eq2_recent.ini?  I'll go over your settings here.</p>

[screenid]

<p>Sent</p>

[Mysstie]

If it's happening at regular intervals, it could be some background task that's running and taking the processor away from the game. Just a thought.

[TSR-JoshuaM]

<p>Any antivirus programs on the PC?  They at times to run scans on newly downloaded files (depending on product) so make sure you doublecheck that.  </p>

[Therendil]

<p>I don't have any metrics, but I do notice variable frame rate on both my systems. Sometimes things seem to flow smoothly, and then for no obvious reason I am dealing with fair amounts of chop in the graphics. I haven't /bug'd this or posted about it because I can't see any obvious pattern to it. I find <em>that </em>perplexing because I am trained to notice patterns in system behavior.</p>

[Alex66]

<p>SoE stopped working with nVidia on optimizing game performance.  TSR went as much as recommending rolling drivers back to pre-october release (here on forums). I had 40-50fps in May 2011 now I have 12 FPS.  Same system, newer drivers.</p>

[screenid]

<p>Well it turns out<em> mine</em> was all due to DUST... (causing my GPU to get way to hot) </p><p>I removed the bottom cover of my Laptop and blew out all the DUST that has collected around the fan and processor.   WOW things are back to normal. </p><p>Thanks for the trouble shooting ideas.   Just had to narrow it down  <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/e8a506dc4ad763aca51bec4ca7dc8560.gif" border="0" /> </p>