Games run at 80-100fps, but there's still lag sometimes!

[Wolfmight]

I just recently upgraded alot of my computer's components and now I've got a brand spankin new Nvidia 7800GT 256MB 1GHz RAMDAC.

It's like a graphics CPU that keeps the FPS "real high" on max settings.

There only problem is that I have alot of "first time" lag.

For Example, when I fire a gun in FarCry, the game has a major lag for 1 second. Then after that, I can fire a gun normal and smooth for the rest of the session.

Another one is when I stab a person, the game gives me a 1 second lag. Then after that, I can stab anyone I want at 80fps+ without any lag whatsoever.

The same things happen in DOOM3 also.
I don't see this problem in Age of Empires 3, or the Sims 2.
It only seems to be major impacts that cause it.


Could this be my hardrive's speed?

I've got a 7200RPM IDE 200GB running the game.
Do I need atleast a SATA?

I've already tried defraggin and it didn't get rid of the problem.
I have a freshly installed copy of XP-SP2 intergrated installed with all the updates and everything. All the latest drivers for everything.

[Wolfmight]

Hm, I found this very effective:

I run SmartClose to close all the system tray apps.
Then I have to manually close NOD32, since SmartClose can't close it.
Now games like FarCry and Doom3 don't have "near" as much "first time" lag.
I'd say it cut it down by 75% atleast.
There's tiny lags here and there, but the overall performance is amazing on Maximum settings! heck, I'm getting 90-100 fps in FarCry right now.
If I stand in front of a wall, it jumps to 250-300! LOL!

[Shiranai_Baka]

How much RAM do you have bud?

[Wolfmight]

768mb DDR