Frequent bouts of reduced frame rates.

[PlutonianEmpire]

Whenever I'm running a 3d program, such as Celestia or Microsoft Flight Simulator, I've recently had to start enduring frequent bouts of reduced framerates.

For example. Everything is fine for about ten seconds. Then the framerates drop for about eight seconds. Then things go back to normal for another ten seconds before the framerates drop for another 8 seconds.

It's a vicious cycle that just won't stop.

And Celestia isn't the only program this happens in. it happens in microsoft flight simulator as well, and every other 3d application. Non-3d applications, such as Civilization 2 are not affected.

Any help would be appreciated.

[selden]

It sounds to me like your computer's cooling is failing. Maybe it's plugged up with dust.

Graphics chips running in 3D mode generate a lot more heat than 2D mode. Many 3D graphics chipsets have over-temperature protection built into them. When they get too hot, they reduce the clockrate until the chips cool off.

[ajtribick]

This happened to me on my old laptop: overheating causing everything to slow down. Very annoying. If you are lucky, cleaning out the fan will help. If you aren't... well, I did say it was my old laptop...