6920g gaming settings/issues

Hey everyone,

I was just wondering if i could have some advice on the settings I should be using for gaming. Currently i'm using the default settings. It seems to run spore perfectly fine no lag/choppy game play (offline) a little online though and the graphics are smooth and sharp. When I play nhl 09 the gameplay is very erratic and choppy and the graphics are terrible, they start off decent and then just digress completely to box like looking players as if it were played on something a bit better then the n64. I checked the system requirements for nhl 09 the 6920g meets the requirements I even have 4gig ram not 3. Is it something to do with my settings or is the 6920g just not good enough to play it? Would I be better off returning it and try to exchange it for 08 see if that runs better, although ultimately i'd like to keep 09 if possible.

Some notes about my computer:
Not much is installed on it games/ software wise, I only have spore, nhl 09 and nba 2k9 installed, office ultimate 07, and then antivirus software and what ever came with the computer, plus the usual media players, IM, etc. I have 92 gigs free on my first partition, where it is installed. on the other partition is where i keep all my media.

Hopefully, someone can give me an idea as to why it is so choppy and poor graphics. last thing I would like to mention is that the system requirements for spore are higher then that of nhl 09. Thanking people in advance for their advice.

 

Can anyone help me optimize my gaming experience. I would like to add that when i game I turn off my wireless, to help speed up the system.

 

Well, since it's a 6920G, you may have a similar issue to a few of us here on the boards regarding your performance.
We discovered that the 1.06 BIOS for the system reads the CPU temperature wrong, and thus will cause a thermal alert early and downclock the CPU. If the CPU can't send frames to the GPU fast enough (like when it's frequency is essentially halved), then performance sags.

Here's what you can do to test - download RMClock, and keep it running while playing your game. When the performance drop occurs, quickly exit out to RMClock and check the Monitoring tab. If the Core (red line) and Throttle (magenta line) are not at the same level when you check the tab, you've got yourself a thermal downclock.

Thus, the solution would be to undervolt your CPU (there's a great guide here on NBR), or to download and apply the latest BIOS for the 6920G, 1.10. But I must stress that BIOS updates are inherently tricky - doing it wrong or having something go awry WILL brick your system.

 

Thanks for the advice I d/l RMClock but I can't seem to run it an error message appears saying it could not load or install the RTcore64 driver, how do I get around that? Additionally what is undervolting is it explained in the guide? what are the pros and cons to it, can it damage my system. I believe i will stay away from updating the bios as I am not that skilled with computers. If I were to go ahead with the BIOS update (doubt I will) in the event of a brick is that covered under the extended acer warranty?

 

The reason you're getting the message is b/c the version of RMClock on the website doesn't have a WHQL-signed 64-bit driver. Look around the web, and you'll find the signed version (I did!).
Undervolting means running your laptop's CPU at a lower voltage than default.
Pros include longer battery life and a cooler running system. The only con is that undervolting too much will result in an unstable system. Thus, stability testing using a program like ORTHOS to stress the CPU is best.
It cannot permanently damage your system - the worst it can do is a BSOD.

And I'm not sure if a bricked system will be covered under Acer's warranty - technically, you're not supposed to unless advised by an Acer technician.

 

Got the RMclock to work and played the game and you were correct. The red was 1995 and the magenta was 899 when it started to lag, the core temp was 45 degrees, not sure if that is high or low for the core. I'm assuming from this though I should go ahead with the undervolt process?

 

RMClock does read the core temperature about 15 degrees Celsius lower than actual, and the old BIOS does have the thermal trip at around the 60-65 degree mark. Sounds like you have the usual thermal downclocking issue.
Undervolting will help - go ahead with it.

 

thanks i'm just undervolting now turns out my max temp was 70 degrees. I was just wondering has anyone come up with basic guidelines for undervolting levels for the 6920g and then I can tweak them from there? or is it really that specific for each chip?

 

It's specific for every CPU although chips with the same speed and identical revision number work with very similar voltages.

 

Not quite sure what you mean by that, but according to RMclock my revision is M0. RMclock also says CPU core: Merom-2m, signature: 6FD. Not sure if that info is helpful. I know I have a T5750 2.0GHz chip. How would I go about finding the voltage levels now that I know my revision number?

 

What I mean is the following:

Hypothetically, you check The Undervolting Guide thread and see a guy that has posted a screenshot of his voltages. He has T5750 and revision number F0 and so do you which means there is a very good chance that his voltages will work for you. If he had T5750 and a revision number like E1(different than yours) then the chance that the voltages will work for you will be less than in the first case when with identical revision.

 

I get it now thanks i'll do some searching and start tryin out my voltages.