What's bottlenecking my pc?

So I've been trying to Dagon Age, because its amazing, but my computer chugs like the little engine that could. My specs are decent and this really shouldn't happen. I also recently updated the drivers, so thats not the problem.

AMD Phenom 9600 2.2 gig quad
Geforce 9800gtx+ 512mb
4 gigs of ram

Interesting enough, my framerate at 1600x1050 with all the bells and whistles is noticably better than it at at lower res with everything turned down all the way.

Also, sometimes it runs flawlessly, but for whatever reason, as I play on, it gets continually worse. Please help.

What's running in the background? Post a screenshot of your process list.

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...kingmypc-1.jpg

that's it minus iexplorer obviously.

If it always starts out performing fine, and performance then drops slowly I'm guessing it's either an overheating problem, or just a game with many memory leaks.

http://i435.photobucket.com/albums/q...untitled-1.jpg

I don't know if those have to do with running your game, but the ones marked out in red can be Ended, they're not needed for the computer to run, and ending the explorer.exe will end your desktop and all browsing so basically all you'll be doing is playing the game, that is assuming you begin running the game before you start ending these processes. If you need to use your desktop again, just bring up the task manager again and go to the Applications tab and click on the New Task button at the bottom, then click browse, then find any file and right click the folder and then click Explore... that'll bring it back.

Do not, under any circumstance, end Explorer.exe
Windows will not function properly without it.

If you're doubtful about any of the others, you can google the individual processes.

What's your ping loss? Is this an online game? What are you co-players ping losses?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Invader

Do not, under any circumstance, end Explorer.exe
Windows will not function properly without it.

If you're doubtful about any of the others, you can google the individual processes.

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I'm absolutely 500% positive it will not hurt anything, it wont crash your computer or do anything bad, all it does is shut down the viewing of everything on your computer EXCEPT what you already have open which you can bring back by going to Applications and double clicking it...... I do EVERYDAY, it grants your computer more memory to do things and makes most programs run a bit smoother.... notice it's taking 10,560K of virtual memory to run, that will be allotted to other things once it's ended. And i gave you a detailed description of how to bring it back.... IT DOESN'T HURT ANYTHING!

Edit:if the only thing you'll be doing is playing your game then these can be ended, and then brought back at your will:
deamon.exe = Background application that is used to map an image file, such as .iso and so forth, to a virtual CD or DVD drive. Not needed for the computer to continue operating.
AAWTray.exe = places a icon in the tray for quick referencing. Not needed for the computer to continue operating.
ehtray.exe = places a icon in the tray for quick referencing. Not needed for the computer to continue operating.
iexplorer.exe = is a process belonging to the AdClicker advertising program. This process monitors your browsing habits and distributes the data back to the author's servers for analysis.
This is your Internet Explorer page. It is considered Adware or Spyware. If your game is not browser based then this isn't needed. Not needed for the computer to continue operating.

I'm sorry Invader but your wrong, yes i know it recommends not ending it but thats' if YOU WANT TO DO ANYTHING ON YOUR COMPUTER OTHER THEN THE CURRENT TASK AT HAND which with a pc game you may play for hours and never use any other program at all, ie... it's usefulness in ending it. If you want to listen to music like some do while playing a game have that already up and running also....

My suggestion would be to go to the Start menu and search for Run. Then in the dialog box, type in "Msconfig". Then click continue or enter your password on the UAC prompt.

At the top, you will notice 5 tabs. Go across to Startup. From there, uncheck any applications that don't have to be run at startup. Remember, if you uncheck it here, you can still run the application, but you will have to start it manually. I find this useful because it doesn't waste precious RAM on apps that I'm not using. When you're done, hit apply and restart your machine. Depending on how many programs you de-selected, you will notice that your number of processes and memory usage have dropped significantly.

By doing it this way, you won't have the hassle of manually killing processes every time you want to play your game, and your overall system performance will be improved.

Best of luck.

EDIT: Also, I noticed in your screenshot that you seem to be using AERO. This is just a Windows feature that is purely asthetic. It consumes a fair amount of memory, so I generally don't use it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by nzguy

My suggestion would be to go to the Start menu and search for Run. Then in the dialog box, type in "Msconfig". Then click continue or enter your password on the UAC prompt.

At the top, you will notice 5 tabs. Go across to Startup. From there, uncheck any applications that don't have to be run at startup. Remember, if you uncheck it here, you can still run the application, but you will have to start it manually. I find this useful because it doesn't waste precious RAM on apps that I'm not using. When you're done, hit apply and restart your machine. Depending on how many programs you de-selected, you will notice that your number of processes and memory usage have dropped significantly.

By doing it this way, you won't have the hassle of manually killing processes every time you want to play your game, and your overall system performance will be improved.

Best of luck.

EDIT: Also, I noticed in your screenshot that you seem to be using AERO. This is just a Windows feature that is purely aesthetic. It consumes a fair amount of memory, so I generally don't use it.

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:oops: yeah i gave you the manual way of doing lol, but don't uncheck explorer.exe, just end it after you've started the game... and i already explained how to restart explorer.exe and what it's used for...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Invader

Do not, under any circumstance, end Explorer.exe
Windows will not function properly without it.

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LOL you remind me of my parents when they're like "You're gonna give it a virus!!" and i was like "Dad, i'm installing a new font in your computer for mom's cake project!"............ I would not have advised metcalfracing to do anything unless i've tried it myself and know beyond any shadow of a doubt that it wouldn't in any way harm his computer.....:D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MementoMori

I'm sorry Invader but your wrong, yes i know it recommends not ending it but thats' if YOU WANT TO DO ANYTHING ON YOUR COMPUTER OTHER THEN THE CURRENT TASK AT HAND which with a pc game you may play for hours and never use any other program at all, ie... it's usefulness in ending it. If you want to listen to music like some do while playing a game have that already up and running also....

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I was not wrong in that Windows will not function properly without it. Being that I also
continually open new folders, etc, even in the midst of a game, my advice is still
convenient if anything, at least personally.

Quote:

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LOL you remind me of my parents when they're like "You're gonna give it a virus!!"

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I'd appreciate hearing that through a PM even more.
Your first explanation was enough to clear the issue up.

my apologies good sir for the second post