R2 Lags on 2010 Games

Had my R2 for over a month now and I absolutely love it. If it was lighter, had a better screen and wasn't so loud during gaming it'd be perfect!

I have noticed some games lag (e.g. Medal of Honor 2010) on high settings. Is it unreasonable for me to think that games that are 2 years old should not lag on this machine? I game on my lap but with the exhaust fan exposed to the side so it is not muffled in any way. I have used the stock drivers from Dell and today I tried the beta drivers with the same result.

I think it may be heat and would love a thermal repaste though I have seen how to disassemble the R2 to get there I'd rather not in case I break something along the way.

Can I get Dell to do a repaste?

 

I don't think it has anything to do with your Hardware, it has to be the game itself. Natively it runs on DX9 and has a recommended specification way lower than your system.
-Core 2 Duo 3.0GHz
-Nvidia GTS 240
-3GB RAM
I'll rather look in to the game compatibility first.

 

It's quite a stupid question, but was the laptop plugged in while you tried playing?

 

You may have done this as well, but try whitelisting the game under the NVidia control panel and ensuring that it's using the NVidia processor, not the Intel/integrated one. See this thread for more info too:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m14x/637111-questions-about-optimus.html

 

Thanks for the replies.

The game is whitelisted and my computer is always plugged in while game on balance mode. Turbo boost is also enabled.

I am trying to get the patch for the game now but it's proving difficult to find. If anyone else can replicate these result that would be great.

 

The only patch I have found is for multiplayer. I had similar issues with BF3 lagging randomly. For some reason I am convinced proper thermal paste will fix this issue.

 

Yea thats weird since the R2 can play BF3 on Medium/high settings which might be the most demanding game out. Somethings up...

 

I agree Oblast, it would be great if others could post their results. With BF3 I was playing on ultra and it lagged randomly too but I attributed that to me pushing the 650M too hard. With MOH 2010 I am certain I am not pushing it too hard.

 

Some games are oddly coded and don't work well on every system; I played an OLD need for speed game on my desktop and it lagged far more than Skyrim which doesn't make sense. It could be a driver error? the 650M has some buggy drivers with certain games if I recall.

I have the R2 and it's performed like a champ so far.

 

Crysis kept crashing on me last night (Steam version) so I installed the 64-bit fix the various users suggested on Steam's forums. Seems to have solved the problem. I should try it with Crysis: Warhead next. Using beta NVidia drivers from last week.

 

Unfortunately new tech tends to sometimes have complication with older games.

C&C Generals/ZH for example is unplayable in 4vs4 games due to the lag (some 3v3 games don't work well either). I've tried everything, too. The game is about 10 years old.

 

Darn, I thought of installing that the other day. Thanks for the info on that one, Voodooi! I guess Generals is going back on my XP desktop. Shame I can't tote that one around with me on the m14x.

 

Yep, it truly sucks.

I tried playing it in XP mode, Vista mode - pretty much every single mode individually. I spent 2-3 hours reading, trying suggestions/user posts, various modes - I just couldn't get 4v4 to work smoothly end-game. Once everyone has 10~ buildings/10-15 units each, it will feel like you're playing at 2-3FPS.

1vs1, 2v2 and 3v3 (certain 3v3 maps work decently, others lag end-game) will work, but if you're like me and enjoy RTS games with the most players/AI possible, then it takes fun out of the game. It's a shame, considering Generals is one of the great RTS games of all time.

Alternatively, you can play C&C3/KW. I just got back into it this week and have played 4v4 games non-stop with 0 issues end-game on the most populated/biggest map (Hexagon I think it's called)

I've also tried Total Annihilation (1999 - Game of the Year: RTS Genre) on my M14X, another top/best RTS and it works lag-free end-game. If you love C&C like me and don't mind outdated graphics (13 years old), then I think you'd love this game. You get two factions and a wealth of units (lots of third party mods available, too).

 

It's not a 2010 game, but I tried both the 32 bit and 64 bit retail versions of Far Cry. The menu loads, but the in game graphics are all black and white featureless polygons. I've been meaning to install Bioshock 2, Mass Effect(s) 2&3, and Splinter Cell Conviction. I wish stupid Origin would let me install from disc easily like Steam does. *insert scowl at EA here* I don't want to download 10-20GB of data!

 

I just wanted to update this. I also had the flickering video problem others have and Dell had me run benchmarks on Unigine. Even though the NVIDIA activity monitor said it was using the 650m, unigine only got 13 fps, it turned out that my laptop was never using the dedicated GPU at all. After a motherboard replacement unigine still have 13 fps. Fresh install of Windows and following the recommended driver order did fix unigine's fps and now I'm finally using the dedicated GPU. All of my games were whitelisted etc so it was very strange.

Basically if anyone is having performance issues make sure using unigine that you get 30fps or so cause then you can verify that the 650m kicks in.

 

which unigine preset???

 

i just ran it with the default settings
API: Directx 11
Tesselation disabled
Shaders high
Anisotropy 4x
Stereo 3d disabled
Anti-aliasing off
Full screen checked
Resolution: system
Should get around 34-35 as soon as it starts running the test, if it is choppy then it's using the HD 4000