Hello everyone - havn't posted in a while...

Anyway, just looking for some advice on testing hardware on my computer. I play mainly hl1 mods and run 125fps, lately when I jump into a room full of people it drops - severely.. 30...40fps at best. It never used to be this way so I'm thinking some of my hardware is dying.

I did a little google and found a program called "Performance Test", the funny thing is though that everything came back pretty good. The first things I thought of that could be an issue was RAM.. I have 2x 512 sticks of some generic crap, but the test said it was all fine.

CPU was good (P4 2.66ghz), and Video card wasn't bad (GF 6800GT), only thing that was sort of on the down side was my system drive, 40GB Seagate. Considering that it's only a 5200RPM drive and getting fairly old now perhaps it's dying.

The last thing I can think of is my PSU, it's a 550watt PSU that I bought only about 1 year ago, the chances that that have failed are slim but it's possible.

Can anyone else give me some advice on what they think could be the issue or any programs I can use to stress test my computer.

http://forums.overclockers.com.au/forumdisplay.php?f=8

the stickies are well worth reading

Considering that it's only a 5200RPM drive

It's not the fact that it's a 5200RPM drive that's the main slowdown but because the drive in general is slower internally (old technology) and has less cache.

1GB memory is fine if you aren't trying to run High to Very High Detail.

I know you're playing HL1 based mods, but HL2's frame-rate scales with increasing CPU speed up to a certain point (on the AMD scale: roughly a 3200+). If you can overclock, do it and run benchmarks. If not, underclock instead and see if you get a noticeable drop. If this is the case, your CPU is holding you back.

probably just some crap you have running in the background, try using task manager to see if you've got some suspicious or unwanted things running, and turn off any un-necessary windows services.

I agree with Whoop.
I'd rule out a bogged down windows etc. install first.

format.

Yer had a quick geez at task manager, but there was nothing suspicious. My day job is a network/domain sys admin so I know what I'm doing - I just don't have all that much experience when it comes to games and stuff.

What about the ratio between ram fsb and cpu fsb? My cpu fsb is only 100mhz and I'm using 2x 512 DDR400 sticks of ram. I've tried overclocking my fsb to higher, 120 maxes out I think and anything higher windows won't boot. It's been a while since I worked with fsb ratios but as far as I knew, if my ram id DDR400, and my cpu fsb is only 100mhz then wouldn't my cpu be holding back, the ram is constantly waiting for the cpu? I've forgotten how it works.

From memory, the cpu I have is a P4 2.66GHZ 533FSB, yeah I know it's a few years old but I don't see the point in spending money to upgrade as I barely get time to play games these days anyway....