Bad Performance on Games Randomly

Ive had my M14xr2 alienware for less than a year and ive noticed some issues while playing games. The GPU is Nvidia GeForce GT 650m and while using it in most games i get a good amount of frames but randomly the frames will lower and stay low. Sometimes it they will rise again and sometimes they dont. It makes some games unplayable and it shouldnt be performing like this. I have no idea why.

 

It could be your drivers malfunctioning, do a drivers check, you can go to dell's website and they will guide you through the tests, and even direct you to which drivers you might need. If that doesn't do it run a whole system scan, and see if anything is wrong. Otherwise it's something as simple as the settings that you are running your game(s) on.

Hope this helps, and good luck!

 

Sounds like the GPU is throttling because it's too hot. Once the GPU hits 65/66C, it will slow right down and performance will plummet. As for why it only just started, I'd say the dust and crap that have accumulated over a year caused it to get just a bit too hot and caused it to hit that 65C threshold at which point the GPU slows and your fps drops. I've had mine for just under a year and have also just started having throttling problems which i think is due to it needing a clean. Some tips to prevent it from getting too hot and throttling from my experience:


1. Use a cooling mat or at least elevate the back end of the laptop somehow - Allows the heat to get out much easier. I use a Cooler Master NotePal U2 which works well (though i'm convinced the detachable fans do nothing but force more dust into it :s)

2. Set it up so the back of it is at least 10cm away from a wall or similar and remove objects from behind it (especially the left vent where the majority of heat comes out) - Allows better air flow. May sound unnecessary but i did this with mine and managed to get it 2/3 degrees cooler which kept it under that throttling threshold

3. Clean the vents regularly (every few months maybe?) with canned compressed air - Less dust and crap = better airflow/cooling. Have't tried this personally yet but hope to get round to it in the next week or so

4. Don't overclock your GPU - Makes it hotter and may push it over that threshold and cause it to slow right down. I used to use MSI Afterburner to OC it by 100MHz but now if i do that it throttles very quickly; with no OC'ing I get a bit more time before it throttles

5. Install the latest Nvidia drivers (from their website) and latest BIOS version - Might have better cooling/fan management and may one day enable us to change the temperature at which the GPU throttles (65C is quite low - the hardware should be able to handle higher temps than that). Occasionally the newest driver will make things worse but that hasn't happened to me... yet

6. Disable CPU turboboost in the BIOS - Should help keep it cooler with minimal impact on performance with most games. I did this today so will test to see if it makes any difference later in the week when i get some gaming time

7. If you're still having major problems get dell out to reapply the thermal paste to your CPU (and find/provide them with some good paste) - Should help keep the temps lower. Dell is infamous for its poor factory thermal pasting so I'm thinking I might do this before my warranty expires...

8. If all that fails then turn down the graphic settings on your game - GPU won't need to work as hard so it won't reach those temps and throttle or even if it does it wont noticeably affect your fps. Had to do this with SWTOR the other day because i couldn't deal with the low fps


That's about all i can think of. Also dell has this guide which you may find useful. Good luck!

 

Im having problem with running Sc2 after last beta patch. It's lagging like crazy now

 

I've actually tried all of these things but the thermal paste also my temps are within normal range when my fps issues occur.

 

Try this also.

 

What nvidia drivers are u running? I've found with the 314.14 ones that I get ridiculous throttling to like 135MHz even if the temps are ok and it never bounces back up to the default speed... Going to try a clean install with the dell recommended ones tonight...