Is something not good enough? Tad jumpy (only sometimes) Portal 2

[MrMartyn1984]

Hi all,

Been a long time since I've ran a PC game as usually use the Xbox, however the wife watches a lot of crap on the TV so I got Portal 2 for the computer. Problem is one time it runs smooth on high quality and the next it appears a little jumpy only when walking and turning at the same time!?!?

I'm just wondering is my computer not up to it, or could something else be to blame?

Not very knowledgeable when it comes to making games work on computers anymore! LOL

system is...

AMD Phenom II 550 Black, overclocked to 3.75 (to keep active cooling working)
4GB Kingston HyperX at 800mhz
ATI Radeon HD 4600
Asus M4A78 Pro

Latest Catalyst drivers installed.

Cheers

 

[Cleeecooo]

Turn the settings down a bit and see if you get the same problem.
Not sure whether portal 2 is CPU or GPU intensive, but I think your CPU could be bottlenecking the GPU

 

[pgi947]

I had similar problem with portal 2 running 6950's in CF, it turned out to be a problem with a CCC setting I changed, I think it was something to do with surface textures? either way I set everything back to default and it was allot smoother, and allot less taxing on my cards. If that doesn't help try what Cleeecooo said, drop the video settings down a notch (kill off an AA if its set) and see if you can get some stable gameplay.

Also try play with fraps on, take note of any serious FPS drops your hitting.

 

[MrMartyn1984]

I've tried dropping the detail down to medium but still suffer the same problem? I'm very confused as thought my machine would run this smoothly, which it does here and there but then goes back to this stuttering when walking and turning?

I never built it to be a gaming machine so if something needs changing I'll look into it. Thought it would be consistently jumpy not here and there though?

Would a windows reinstall be a good idea or pointless?

 

[ExecutorKevin]

however the wife watches a lot of crap on the TV so I got Portal 2 for the computer.

Haha thats a little extreme!

 

[jak731]

Not sure if this will work for you but with my 4890 if I run videos such as youtube in a web browser it clocks the card to an intermediate frequency (240MHz idle, 900 3d, 500 with videos). It stays stuck at 500MHz while the video is open even if not in an active tab and even when games are launched and causes symptoms similar to what you describe. Closing all videos sorts the problem.

 

[jorzeh]

At first glance i would blame the 4600 video card, I don't know to much about those AMD Cpu you have but portal 2 is indeed in need of a balanced GPU/CPU to run well, Shame i can't lend you some of my frame rate,i'm bouncing into the 400s.

Jak731 i love that quote of Albert Einstein.

 

[TheRealDeal]

I dont know to much about portal 2 but i do know its a recent game and your gpu is not a very powerful one. I think your gpu may be the problem.

What resolution are you running this game at?

How much vram does your 4600 have?