Computer Gaming Lag, Help!!!

[Rhyom Guther]

Righto, well anyways. I got a new Toshiba Laptop, Satellite version, installed with Vista. It has over 2GB RAM so its not the RAM. When ever I start up a game and start playing, Killing Floor/Fallout 3/Garry's Mod/Battlefield 2, sooner or later I start getting these massive lag spikes where I can barely move or anything. I checked up on Garry's Mod con command of cl_showfps 1 and it showed 0 fps. Halp Halp Halp, give Troubleshooting tips and if you really know then give me full instruction on what to do.

[Afromana]

Righto, well anyways. I got a new Toshiba Laptop,

I use laptops only if my main computer is not available, I recommend getting a PC, instead of a laptop.
Much more customizeable, easier to fit to your needs and doesnt need to cost alot

[Steel]

Okay, i use a laptop, simply because of the room available for me in my bedroom, a bit hard when you have a 37 inch HD tv in there aswell to fit a desktop.
I use a Dell XPS, i have 4gb ram, and ATI 3670HD Graphics (I think its that)
But anyway, my laptop runs games like crysis fine.
BUT, if im playing crysis, my laptop gets EXTREMELY hot and can burn me, but when it gets hot... it gets slower, put it on a surface like a table and it should help, your lap or your bed is a big NONO.

[KillSlim]

Rhyom, give us the system specs of the Laptop. 2GB of RAM is okay, but it depends on the speed of the ram.
I'm not going to make any assumptions until I see full system specs.
And I agree with Afro, Desktops are much better when it comes to playing games.

[Rhyom Guther]

Alright, I went into Device Manager, here are the Specs..

Operating System
-Vista Home Premium (Service Pack 2 Ultimate)
Display Adapters
-ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3470 Series
-ATI Radeon HD 3200 Graphics
Computer
-ACPI x64-based PC
Processors
-AMD Turion(tm) X2 Ultra Dual-Core Mobile ZM-80
-AMD Turion(tm) X2 Ultra Dual-Core Mobile ZM-80
-Speed of: 2.10 GHz
Disk Drives
-FUJITSU MHZ2320BH G1 ATA Device
Memory (RAM): 4.00 GB ((Yeah, Sorry))


I CANT FIND THE SPEED FOR THE RAM!! ONLY THE PROCESSOR!

[KillSlim]

It could be something really basic that is causing the problem. The specs are decent,  are the Drivers up to date? Check them, don't automatically assume anything.

[Verian]

Getting the drivers up to date with an ATi Mobility will be a pain. In fact, i can't even find them on ATi's website, nothing shows up in their driver search for that model on vista 32 bit AND 64bit.. It could very well be the problem though, the drivers like KillSlim said. There once was an alternative, which was Omega Drivers, but the work on them is at a halt right now on Vista versions. Another problem could be your sound card, actually. If your drivers for your sound card are not up to date either, it can lag the game pretty bad.

That's all I can really think of, your specs are pretty much on par for those games. You may want to try Game Booster or something, too. You can find it here: http://www.iobit.com/gamebooster.html It's free.

[Lucidius]

CTRL + DEL + Delete, end all your excess processes.

Even ending explorer.exe can help.

My friends notebook could barely run NWN2, and when we ended most un-necessary processes, he could run it at about 35FPS, from about 5.

Also, wit the heating issue, if it becomes that hot i'de get a cooling pad. It connects to the base of your latop and is just a super giant fan that plugs into the wall.