Strange Behavior

[Raddy]

I've recently installed Call of Duty 4 and Crysis on my computer. When I start playing, I will get smooth frames for 5-10 seconds or so, followed by a brief freeze for a second or two, and then the cycle repeats. I'm running 3GB of RAM, a BFG 7800GTX, and a 3.4GHz Pentium 4. I understand that the my video card isn't powerful enough to run these games on full detail, but I've turned down the graphics to the "Optimal" and even minimum settings and it still happens. This doesn't act like frame lag due to video card because I get smooth framerates in between the freezes. I've got 3GB of memory with only 300-400 MB being used constantly, leaving over 2.5GB for the game. The only thing I could come up with is processor lag, but I don't really know if that's it. I've also defragged my hard drive to make it easier to load things, but it still happens. Would disabling hypterthreading on the CPU increase single thread performance? Or do I need a faster CPU?

My System:

3.4 GHz Pentium 4HT (enabled)

3GB DDR2 RAM

BFG 7800GTX

Windows XP Pro 32-Bit

CoD 4 Minimum Requirements:

2.4GHz Pentium 4 or better

512MB RAM or better

nVidia GeForce 6600 or better

Crysis Minimum Requirements

2.8GHz Pentium 4 or better

1GB RAM or better

nVidia GeForce 6800 or better

Thanks for any suggestions you guys have.

[walkitinkid]

try to restart you're computer without anything else running

Start>Run>type "msconfig"

choose "selective startup" and uncheck "load startup items"

RESTART THE COMPUTER

launch call of duty and lemme know how it plays