17xR1 Low FPS Mafia II / Alienware UK technical support guy?

Hi guys,

I'm having some issues with my m17x since I bought it (about one year ago), half the year was spent dealing with the latency issue and now that it's gone there seems to be a problem with my graphics performance overall.

I spent some time with my 280s turned off since I have been very busy with programming stuff, but now I'm back to graphical applications and I also have some spare time for gaming.

So for instance I just installed Mafia II yesterday and I just can't play it properly. I start the game, play it for a minute and FPS are like 40 on average and then suddenly it drops to between 4-10 and after say 10 secs it goes back to normal. This loops goes on and on...

It annoys me a lot because I know these cards are supposed to be good and if they render 40 fps then they should keep that way (except if its loading new things or if there's something running in the background) am I right?

I tried several things like installing different drivers or disabling CPU overclock but the problem still persists.

So my questions are:

Do you get stable fps with your m17x or do you also get frequent drop-outs?

Is there anything I can try that you guys can think of or is better to call Alienware to try to get some parts replaced?
In which case would you guys know any good technical person in Alienware UK? Last time I called the people I spoke to didn't even know about the latency issue, I had to show the forum and John's page . And even then the only thing they told me was to format the laptop and install the drivers properly...


Thanks in advance!

 

Just noticed that I should have posted on the m17x sub-forum. Can you please move it? Thanks and sorry about that!

 

There's a program called throttlestop(Thanks UncleWebb) it works like a dream on R1s you should start there . I had the exact same problem as you thought it was the video cards but it's actually the CPU throttling down Good luck. BTW my R1 had the exact same specs

 

Two completely different systems. Keep in mind he is on an R1 system. Performance is going to be dumbed down from the R2.

In-game settings as well as NV driver should be looked at. Mafia II is intense and settings will definitely impact performance. Try disabling PhysX if its enabled and turn off Occlusions.

The drop in FPS is probably the CPU throttling, not going to rule that one out since it seems very close to what we see in other CPU intensive titles when the FPS suddenly bottoms out and then returns to normal. Adjusting in-game settings may help to make it more playable - suggest you start there.

 

Ummm I was referring to the R1

 

lol sorry - i misread your post

 

Hey BatBoy thanks for passing by, I've actually tried all the basic debugging steps including changing drivers, disabling CPU overclock, disabling PhysX and I even tested switching each game feature at a time to see if any in particular was causing the problem... but it seems to be 'time' related as opposed to feature related.

I have a feeling that it might be something to do with temperatures or voltages but I'm not sure how to test... also I just want to point out that this has always been a problem in multiple GPU intensive applications, I just thought everything was related to the old latency issue which is now gone.

EtownsFinest, thanks for the hint! Let me try that when I get home and see how it goes

 

Is it always the same? Meaning, a sudden fall off in FPS and then after a short period, FPS returns to norm levels? Same in all titles?

If so, then yes, you are most likely seeing CPU throttling as Etown mentioned. That is the exact symptom. If you could list the titles you see issues with other than Mafia II, we could go down the list.

Also, list back current system BIOS, current display driver ver, etc. Basically, specs where you are at. OC, etc?

 

@ Bats - it was exactly my issue , random and immediate loss of power (FPS) down to 1 digit in about 80% gaming apps I was running.

(ATIs 4870 CF with QX9300, A05 Bios)

GPUs exchange , MoBo exchange ... did nothing.
Approved for R2 exchange - specs are below

Seems to me as a major design flaw by AW, as mendioned by Scook9 before - clock modulation / power consumption limitation.


There is no way to fix this.

 

Hey guys, situation update... This throttlestop app is awesome, it makes the laptop perform as I never experienced before.

Mafia II now runs with everything maxxed out @ about 30 fps and if I turn PhysX off it runs @ almost 60 fps.

Metro 2033 is the other game I usually test with as it is quite intensive as well. Without this app FPS are locked @ 15 and lower, with this ON I can easily double that.

But it seems the issue persists as sometimes FPS still drop like crazy and then come back to normal, maybe slightly less now than before but still...

Btw! Here are some details about my config: BIOS A05 (updated 2 days ago), Drivers 260.63 (some other drivers that I tested let the cards heat up to 100C), CPU is running stock now since that OC would consume more power and probably increase the problem, but otherwise I usually run it @ 2.30 and I've never done GPU overclock on this system.


Are there any tests that I can run or anything else I can do?

Digital1337, I'm very happy for you. I'm very scared of going down this route myself though... it's going to be soooo difficult to get Alienware tech support to believe / understand a word I say.

Can you believe that last time I called regarding the DPC latency issue they told me they had about 10 m17xs down there and that they 'never managed to replicate the problem' ??

 

Try the Dell drivers(257.38) in combination with throttlestop see if that helps

 

I can try it, only problem I had with those was GPUs around 100C, but let me try again and lets see what happens.

 

100C wow that's high when's the last time you cleaned you vents for dust

 

I never opened it up but I clean the outside regularly so I never let dust build up on the vent areas.

Don't know if it is coincidence but if I recall correctly temperatures got higher since the DPC latency fixes, A03 with Dell's 197.84 beta was fine but every Nvidia driver after that used to cause high temps so I would revert back. Dell's 257.38 is the first Dell's driver that causes these temps.

But again, it can be dust...

1) They don't seem dirty from the outside though should I just open it up and check?

2) The other feeling that I got from reading the forum is that the stock thermal solutions are not appropriate and most people replace them with good thermal paste, can that be the cause of high temps?

3) DIY vs claiming warranty: this is a question that I've always had since I bought this laptop. Should I be trying to fix this issues myself or just try to claim warranty and let them fix it or replace whatever needs to?

 

Update!

Yesterday I opened my m17x up for the first time. That media bar is tricky to get out! Anyway... although the fans where relatively clean there was a layer of dust on each copper grill which was blocking the air flow. --" So that explains the high temps, I am now having max of 70C and stable @ around 60s. With relation to the FPS drops I gave throttlestop another go and I manage to get rid of them, so I decided to go a step further and enable CPU OC to see if I had any power related issues.

But guess what? No problems whatsoever. (Thanks EtownsFinest! and UncleWebb!)

One thing to be aware though with regards to Mafia in specific is that it uses this APEX PhysX framework which doesn't seem to run on GPUs and therefore runs really slow. As BatBoy was saying it's better to disable it or try to tweak it (search on google).

I am now finding it weird though. I really believed these laptops had this design power problem. Why is my laptop working so well now? I'm willing to go the extra step and put it to the test. Probably try to get in touch with UncleWebb on the M17x Stutter thread to find out which tests to run...

In other thoughts I can still blame Dell for having to use this throttlestop app and try to get the R2. Should I consider doing that?

Thanks guys.

 

Hi I'm glad to see you got it figured out now go enjoy you machine for the first time