Game suddenly lags

[Leander]

The game suddenly lags. Specs: Dual Core 2 Quad, 2.66, 3 gb ram, Nvidia 9500 GS 512 MB.
The computer used to run the game well with the following settings:

1280x960, high settings except for crowd (medium), MSAA x2.
It used to work but now there is lag, not in general but when a player dribbles past the half court line and slighlty in front the 3PT line.

I installed some Vista tweaking tool but it didn´t improve much. I deactivated reflections, set the resolution to 1024x768, used medium settings...but the game was just as fast as with high settings on 1280x960.

Do I have to change the priority of the application?
Could it be due to changing the energy options of the PC to "highest performance" instead of "balanced"?
Should I reinstall the game?

[Patr1ck]

Sounds like the energy options, since that's the only thing you did to your system before it started lagging. Maybe a process in the background is stealing cpu power.

[Angelo]

Try buying a 700W PSU

[Leander]

No, my energy options are alright now. I don´t understand this game, neither the gameplay nor the settings. I even use a multiboot system and 2k9 is installed on a drive which is just used for games. I don´t surf the internet on this system, I don´t test software, I don´t install many programs.

Which settings are recommended for this system:

Intel Core 2 Quad, Q660, @ 2.4ghz, 2.4 ghz, 8MB L2 cache, 1066 mhz fsb
3 GB DDR2 SDram, 667mhz, 64 bit, dual channel memory
Windos Vista Home 32 bit SP1
Nvidia Geforce 9500 GS 512 MB
500 GB S-ATA HDD @ 7200 u/min, 16 MB cache

How can I tweak Vista? Which settings should I use in the Nvidia control panel?

The game even lags with 1024x768, high everything except for medium crowd, low shadows, no reflections, MSAA x2. There is lag some short lag when I pass the half court line and during fastbreaks. The game lags as soon as 2 or more players run fast (my players or the cpu team´s).

I lowered the quality during a game to see if I gain some speed but the lag increased...what the fu...

[Leander]

My problem is gone!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now it plays well with 1280x960, MSAA x4, quality 4, everything set to high except for medium crowds. I cannot believe it! This is just so strange.

I think I know the reason why the game is great now and plays totally different...still it is strange.

I did not want to have internet traffic in the background and wanted to block potential harm from the net because I usually deactivate my antivirus program. I blocked the whole internet traffic with my ZoneLabs firewall and started 2K in offline mode. I thought that this would actually speed up the game with no internet traffic and no steam something in the background. Maybe Steam tried to get online again and again...but it is a fact that blocking internet traffic caused my lag.

Now I do not block the internet with my firewall any more, do not start Steam in offline mode any more...and the lag is all gone. Now everything´s fine!