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Hello! I'm having some really frustrating performance issues that I hope you guys can help me out with.
Symptoms
I recently upgraded my PC, and since then I've been getting visual lag spikes in SC2. I run on all low settings, with textures on high. I am sure it is not network lag, since I also have a laptop (specs) and this never happens. Basically, the screen freezes for a couple seconds, then all the action "catches up" really fast all at once. It almost always happens when a match first starts, but then it also happens randomly throughout the match. It is extremely annoying.
This happens much more when I am also running Pandora in Chrome in the background (again, this is not a network issue, since it runs smooth as silk on my laptop, also with Pandora in the background).
System
CPU: i5-2500K
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws - Memory - 8 GB : 2 x 4 GB - DDR3 - 1600 MHz
HD: Crucial C300 RealSSD 128 GB
OS: Windows 7 Professional, 64 bit
Mobo: GIGABYTE GA-P67A-UD4-B3
Graphics: Sapphire Radeon HD 6870 x 2 (Crossfire)
Peripherals: Razer Death Adder mouse. Steel Series 7H USB headset. Steel Series 6G V/2 keyboard
Things I've Tried
(1) Disabled Cross-Fire
(2) Physically removed 2nd graphics card
(3) Replaced graphics card with my old GeForce 9800 GTX+ (used to run SC2 just fine)
(4) Formatted my SSD and reinstalled Windows 7
(5) Updated to latest chipset and other drivers
(6) Enabled AHCI and reformatted/reinstalled Windows 7 again.
(7) Uninstalled Razr Deathadder drivers and tried using old MS Intellimouse
(8) Uninstalled Steel Series 7H drivers and tried running without using the USB sound card.
(9) Tried running Pandora in Firefox instead of Chrome.
*Edit (done after original post):
(10) Did a clean re-install of SC2, instead of just the copy/paste
(11) Turned the sound option to low instead of high.
(12) Checked Windows Event Viewer and there are no errors/warnings during the time the lag spikes happen.
Conclusion
The only thing that seemed to have some effect is (9). It does seem to get a few less lag spikes if I run Pandora in Firefox instead of Chrome. But the lag still exists, while it does not on my laptop. This system should definitely be better than my laptop (for example, my laptop is not using an SSD).
+ Show Spoiler +
The only thing I haven't tried is reinstalling SC2. For each re-format, I've just copy/pasted the SC2 directory to another harddrive then copied back to my SSD after reformat/reinstall, since re-installing and re-patching takes forever. I've read that it is OK to do this. Other than these lags spikes, I see no problems. Is it worth trying to re-download/re-install? (Edit: I ended up trying a reinstall since writing the OP, with no effect.)
Also, I have run memtest86+ and prime95. Everything checks out OK.
Here are my pingtest.com results while running Pandora and SC2:
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/6R0pG.png)
I also turned on the test manager and alt-tabbed to it right when I got a lag spike. This is what I saw:
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/i7nHk.png)
Other games like Skyrim and BF3 run ok.
What else can I do? I'm so frustrated that I've dumped all this money in my PC and it can't even keep up with SC2 on low graphics setting! 
Any ideas are welcome!
Thanks!
Edit/Update:
I think I figured it out. I'm almost 100% sure it is a Pandora specific Flash player bug.
I tried running CatZ' stream at 720p+, Hulu at 480p, and torrented at 300 DL/400 UL, all at the same time. And guess what? No lag spikes.
The second I turn on Pandora, I get those CPU ramps and the 2 to 3 second lag spikes.
I blame Adobe and their crap code. :/ I'm just surprised no one else has had this problem.....
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Might be some kind of bug in sc2's sound engine, try turning that to low.
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Hmmm...the way you describe the freezing I'd think it is a network connection problem. As you said it doesn't lag on your laptop, so it might be a problem in the network card on the PC or something?
But, there is one easy way to check if it's a connection issue. You can just load a replay (faster speed) and see if the lag still occurs. If the replay doesn't lag then most probably it's a connection issue.
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On January 06 2012 17:36 EnSky wrote:
But, there is one easy way to check if it's a connection issue. You can just load a replay (faster speed) and see if the lag still occurs. If the replay doesn't lag then most probably it's a connection issue.
I didn't try that yet, but I did log in as guest and play single player vs. AI (not a custom game). It still lagged the way I described. In my TL searches, others have said that if the lag spike is visual (entire screen freezes), then it is probably not a network issue. What was it that made you think it might be?
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Check on Windows event viewer for any WLAN errors
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United Kingdom20285 Posts
www.pingtest.net check packet loss and jitter. If you have a connection problem, the entire screen will freeze, but you should still be able to select new units, etc.
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Thanks for all the input. I've tried turning the SC2 sound setting to low, and I also tried a clean reinstall of SC2 instead of copy/paste. No luck.
On January 07 2012 03:27 Cyro wrote:www.pingtest.net check packet loss and jitter. If you have a connection problem, the entire screen will freeze, but you should still be able to select new units, etc.
Yeah, I think I was still able to select the frozen units. If what you say is valid, maybe it is a connection issue. If so, it must be something with the onboard LAN and/or driver, since I know the same connection is good for the laptop. Maybe I will try installing a PCI LAN card and disable the mobo's on-board adapter.
I'll try the Windows Event Viewer and pingtest (have done it in the past with good results) when I get home from work tonight. Thanks again.
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United Kingdom20285 Posts
On January 07 2012 04:29 GWBuffalo wrote:Thanks for all the input. I've tried turning the SC2 sound setting to low, and I also tried a clean reinstall of SC2 instead of copy/paste. No luck. Show nested quote +On January 07 2012 03:27 Cyro wrote:www.pingtest.net check packet loss and jitter. If you have a connection problem, the entire screen will freeze, but you should still be able to select new units, etc. Yeah, I think I was still able to select the frozen units. If what you say is valid, maybe it is a connection issue. If so, it must be something with the onboard LAN and/or driver, since I know the same connection is good for the laptop. Maybe I will try installing a PCI LAN card and disable the mobo's on-board adapter. I'll try the Windows Event Viewer and pingtest (have done it in the past with good results) when I get home from work tonight. Thanks again.
You normally wouldnt notice packet drops here and there, but the way sc2/battlenet is coded, the entire game and everybody in it will come to a halt for a fraction of a second if it happens to anybody.
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On January 07 2012 06:40 Cyro wrote:
You normally wouldnt notice packet drops here and there, but the way sc2/battlenet is coded, the entire game and everybody in it will come to a halt for a fraction of a second if it happens to anybody.
Ok, I tried the ping test while running pandora and SC2:
Looks good. I tried it many times, and this is more or less what I saw every time. Also, during this same time, I got the huge lag spikes in SC2.
I opened up task manager while running SC2 and then alt-tabbed out right after a lag spike. This is what I saw:
I also looked at Windows Event Viewer, and there are no error or warning events while I was running SC2.
So, at this point, it's pretty much certain that it's not the connection, right?
What could it be? Is my CPU/Mobo actually bad?
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This sounds like the overheating issue that was introduced for Mac's with patch 1.4. I get a similar effect, everything freezes, then speeds up and catches up. (Macbook Pro 2009) What I think is going on is that sc2 runs on very high CPU/graphic card calculations (Even if I gap my fps at 30 in variables.txt) and the calculations heat it up. My cores blast at 100 degrees C while i'm playing sc2 (and stay around 50-80 other times) which leads to CPU throttling. You can measure this using real temp or some other program, or a program that checks your CPU Hz.
I hope you can find a solution, this might help me and the hundreds of other Mac users that have been crying about this on bnet forums for the last couple of months...
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I think I figured it out. I'm almost 100% sure it is a Pandora specific Flash player bug.
I tried running CatZ' stream at 720p+, Hulu at 480p, and torrented at 300 DL/400 UL, all at the same time. And guess what? No lag spikes.
The second I turn on Pandora, I get those CPU ramps and the 2 to 3 second lag spikes.
I blame Adobe and their crap code. :/ I'm just surprised no one else has had this problem.....
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Did you get the latest drivers for your mobo?
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I have this problem as well. Here are my main components :
GTX 570
i7-2600
8 gb of ram
I used to have no lag what so ever for like 2-3 months when i bought my computer but now its lagging like the op is saying, mostly at the starts but it randomly lags sometime during the game. My CPU and GPU are mostly running at 60-65 degrees and no matter which graphics settings i put i still have the same amount of lag spikes, not fps drops which obviously im not getting the same amount of fps with different graphics settings. I've tried reformating my HD with windows, i tried to play SC on 2 different HD and reinstalling the game but I'm still getting the same amount of lags.. On other games, just like in the OP (skyrim and BF3) I can run at max with no lag spikes.
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I also have this problem and it isnt limited to pandora. I use grooveshark while I play which I will assume at this point is the cause of the problem, but it gives me no issues while playing WoW, tribes etc.
Its also odd how it always lags at the start of the game as well - i can actually individual drone split every game almost because of these hangups.
Im running a relatively new computer on low settings (i5, 8 gig ram, gtx560ti) consistently above 100 fps aside from occasional 2 second "freezes". Im currently reinstalling sc2 out of fear that it may have been related to corrupted files from using relocalizer over the last year, and if I lose another game due to missed ffs during a lag spike I will cry :'(
just tested and still getting short random freezes after reinstall with no grooveshark on
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so is there a way to fix this? freeze screen at beggining always cost me 7+seconds, so annoying.
Im running q6600 260gtx and 4gb rams at low-medium settings. I not always had them, but then they started to apper more and more often...
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I just got a brand-spanking new laptop and I'm getting lag spikes both in SCII and when using Google Voice Chat. In ScII, it freezes the screen even though I can interact, and the "Surrender" button comes up because of a disconnection. It lasts for about 5 seconds, but it happens frequently throughout the game.
I haven't noticed anything while watching streams (the stream might restart, right?). Also worth noting is that it's hot and humid right now where I'm using the computer. Working on getting it into a space where the temp will be healthier for the laptop. Also, I'm definitely going to do all the recommended things in this thread.
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Turn off hardware acceleration in flashplayer.
This fixes a lot of problems with graphicscards while running 3d/webm/webgl applications in the front- or background (especially if you have a ATI card). I had the issue with youtube. While every flashstream was running fine in the background while playing SC2, youtube via flash caused laggs and gpu-driver-resets in windows until I turned off hardware acceleration in the flashplayer.
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EPT
