lag spikes in GL games

[crazyowl]

ok im not sure if this is an nvidia problem but any suggestion/ help would be appreciated ... When i am playing q3 or UT etc linux versions ... whether online or single player or on my home lan .. I get lag spikes every20 - 30 (others on the lan get it too)seconds or so ...these spikes only last half a second or so but can drammatically influence my gaming .... I am wondering if this could be a problem of another program in the background
or a network (sendmail)?? or something related.. i have no idea where to start .... Also incidently if i run a dedicated counterstrike server then clients on the lan dont get any lag ...

[crazyowl]

well i think i have this one sorted out ... i had kde set to change my
desktop background on one of my desktops every 30 seconds .. this accessing of the picture files was causing the lag i think as it seems alot better now .. tho still a few spikes here and there..