6920G performance halving randomly

Hi there, this is my first post here!

let me start by saying that im not at all educated about computers and optimizing performance and comfort, besides switching off some startup programs in msconfig.exe , so bear with me!

anyway, my several-month old 6920G (running on vista 32bit, no hardware upgrades) has had a problem for the entire time i've owned it. Its performance seems to halve temporarily whenever i run a demanding program on it(Battlefield 2 at medium-high video settings), and it switches back and forth between normal and half its performance, staying at half for ~10-20minutes and full for 5-10, on average.

The laptop already has most of the annoying acer programs disabled as well as DWM, anything usually safe to remove.

Is this problem caused by stressing the laptop out too much? I played the same game with slightly lower settings, on my (equally computer-inexperienced) friend's sony vaio laptop(cant remember the model) with the same amount of RAM and 1.8GHz processor, and the performance was constant! (and at times better 3: )

Also, ive noticed that my advanced power settings on High Performance Plan changed on their own to default the 2nd time, and the lowest setting of the processor power management the first time.. although it hasnt happened since the first month, and the performance issue is still biting me in the behind..

if theres anything else you need to know about the laptop's specs, feel free to ask!

thanks for your time =)

 

Welcome to the forums, Duckydoug!

Sounds like your Aspire 6920G has an overheating issue, kinda like mine did.
Use HWMonitor to keep an eye on your system internals' temperatures; the CPU reading tends to be off by 15 degrees Celsius, however.

If the CPU is getting too hot, it downclocks itself to prevent damage. You can help that by undervolting the CPU so that it runs cooler. Look for the Undervolting Guide here on NBR for help.
If it's the GPU that's being cooked, try using less demanding settings in your game.
And if you are savvy with a screwdriver, you can unscrew the bottom of the case and blow out some of the schmutz with a can of air.

It was the CPU overheating in my case, and it's running fine now that it's undervolted.

 

its either that or u can check if your GPU is downclocking itself (common problem with 9500m too) or check if audiodg.exe is hoging most of your ram. ways to fix this is all over the forum so have a look around i had this problem with my 8920G too but now at least its not as annoying anymore. hand down for nvidia causing a lot of ppl this problems

 

thanks for the quick replies Suigi and jcwk!

i'll check out that undervolting guide but ive never really noticed a serious temperature problem, in fact it seems miles better than my girlfriend's 5920 that bakes my left hand heh

also how can i check if my GPU is downclocking on its own?

audiodg.exe is taking up around 7000k, reading off task manager.

thanks again you guys

edit: initial temp testing with CPUID+ORTHOS shows 55*C max on both cores, and im testing a lower voltage atm. is 55 too high? you mentioned an inaccuracy as well, what would you put the actual temp at?

 

Well, it's supposed to downclock when it's not being used or when you're on battery power. Try GPU-Z and keep an eye on it during the game.
Ditto for CPU monitoring - use RMClock, and see if your performance decrease occurs due to a thermal throttling.

 

alright thank you! i'll try playing the game now, been testing using orthos thus far.

will i have to keep my eye on the numbers constantly to see a change due to temp or is there an easy way to see this. the readings are starting to confuse already!

 

everything seems to be fixed!

i didn't do much except select the performance on demand profile on RMClock and lower the VID on the 11x multiplier by 0.0125v. was it that that did the job? should i keep going lower?

the readings were:

RMClock (CPU core clock/throttle - 2194 for both cores)

core temperatures were 6*C below the max read in the ORTHOS test

GPU-Z (gpu core clock - 475MHz, Memory clock - 400MHz)

one more question though, the max GPU Core temp according to HWMonitor shows 66*C after running the game under a lot of stress, 5*C higher than what was recorded during the very first ORTHOS test. Is this cause for concern?

performance stayed at the best possible level throughout the last forty minutes it was pretty shocking, just nitpicking

hope this keeps working out. it's bedtime for me however, i'll give more updates on the performance tomorrow.

thanks so much for the advice!

 

Ducky, glad to hear we were of help!
It might have done the job, but if you feel like it, keep going. I only stopped at 0.2V done b/c if I went any lower, I'd lose my cushion of stability.
The GPU isn't stressed during ORTHOS, so no worries there.
My GPU hasn't gone above 70 though.

 

I also have a acer 6920g also, i'm currently getting slow performance after a few mins of running world of warcraft. I would be getting 50fps and a sudden drop to 10-20fps. Would undervolting fix this problem? When i take a look at my cpu usage under taskmanager it shows audiodg.exe sucking up all my cpu power.

My specs are...
Intel T5750
GEFORCE 9500M GS TURBOCACHE
4GB DDR2
320GB HDD
Vista 64 Home Premium

 

i'll be sure to do that over the weekend Suigi! thank you and jcwk for your advice. everything seems to be working brilliantly now. I'll be sure to come back if there's any problems.

danny, the small changes i've made seem to be keeping everything constant! I tried running 3 WoW windows at once, in Shattrath city, and there was no freezing up or screen tearing like 2 windows usually gave me. But i also made a compromise on video settings yesterday, sliding view distance down to 1/2 from full. Hope it works out for you as well!

 

It's an honest shame that such an otherwise great laptop has the propensity to overheat its CPU so often.

 

If it do not work, try the driver 169.04

 

thnx for the help, it seems to be working fine now after undervolting

 

Hmmm...ever get the feeling that Acer's setting this thing up to use too much voltage in the first place?
Or that there isn't enough thermal compound?

 

Not enough/Low quality thermal compound - very possible. High voltages on the CPU - don't think so, Intel sets the voltages too high

 

Well, whenever I get the scratch to up mine to a T8/T9 series, I'll be sure to slop on the AS5.

 

Yeah you do that. While upgrading my CPU when I pulled out the old processor and cleaned it up, guess what there was a some kind of a ad(Intel) sticker on it(covered with thermal compound) which, I guess, had some negative effect on the transfer of heat from the CPU..Just an example.

 

is it possible to overclock my 9500m gs? if so could someone please provide a link to it? i tried searching the forums and couldn't find it

 

I guess it is. Check the links below.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=279934
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=252788
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=253877 (scroll down a little bit to find the GPU overclocking info)

 

Hey guys
i really regged here only for the purpose to thank you.

Im owning an aspire 8920g myself and ive been searching for an solution for that problem for ages! Now i got it solved and everything runs just fine and smooth.

Keep going like that big thanks from germany.

 

Only had this problem on GTA 4 and havent been able to fix it.. my cpu throttle to half of its speed and my CPU aint even hot!

I mean, when I'm running ORTHOS, my cpu never throttles and it's way hotter.. so it seems more like the GPU is throttling the CPU, but it seems so weird.

Anyway, i've tried undervolting by quite a bit and still get the problem

 

Welcome to the forums jasegee, but please refrain from bumping old topics in the future. This topic hasn't been touched in eight months. If you need to, start a new topic.
And as well, please refrain from cross-posting. If you've got a point to make, one post is enough.