So this problem is unlike any I've dealt with before, given what I've tried doing to fix it. Basically in a nutshell, I'm playing my game and all of the sudden it goes from 60+ FPS down to no more than 10 and it stays like that for a while then it goes back to normal 60 FPS. This is happening in every game all the way back to Warcraft 3 and affecting everything up to and including Dead Space. The most interesting part is that when it happens and I'm playing a windowed game it is usually accompanied by a flash on my screen, either right after or right before the slow down. Then sometimes it flashes a few more times or not at all before it gets back to normal. I've never had a video card hardware problem so far and I'm wondering if that's a possibility at all.

I also reformatted my computer a month ago and everythign is up to date and the only things I have gotten off the internet are Stea, EADM, and the games I got from there. Anyone have an idea on what's screw this up?

Maybe your videocard is overheating

That's what I thought too, but I would see the screen flash and the slow down while watching an online clip. My fans are also usually idle.

Just to elaborate on the flash, when I say flash I mean that whatever is on the window under the one I am currently using very quickly appears and disappears and it is off-center, the top left corner of the maximized winndow behind me appears at the center of the screeen.

As far as I can see it's definiatly a videocard issue, but I never heard about something this drastic.

I was thinking it could be a CPU problem since when that starts up even my loading of the game or loading up firefox slows down. It's really weird.

Does it only happen in games? try to do some video editing or maybe pack something big in a rar or zip file, see if it slows down.

From what I've noticed yes, and I work a good amount on the laptop as well. The games can even be minimized and it will happen though.