Erratic performance issues.

Hey guys,

Bit of a noob when it comes to this stuff, but I've noticed that my Alienware M17x R4 varies wildly on it's performance in games. I have no idea why this might be. I've made sure it's plugged in, running of high performance with updated drivers e.t.c. But some games it can run excellently, e.g. Skyrim. However, on some games it just offers sub par performance. For example, on the new Neverwinter game it is struggling to run it on even low-medium settings smoothly. This is very odd since my old PC rig can run it better. Since i'm such a novice I was hoping someone could shed some light on why my performance values are lower on some games than others, or perhaps there's some settings somewhere i've overlooked or the laptop isn't dedicating enough power to the game. Very confusing!

Specs:
Windows 7
Intel core i7
8gb ram
Nvidia GTX660m.

 

Hi there,

First thing I'd look at is the GPU clocks. It might be throttling down in some games and will show up badly. Load up msiafterburner; set the temp, GPU clock and FPS in the on-screen display and then you can see what is going on while you play

It could be that some games are using the intel GPU not the NV but start with the monitoring.

 

First thing I would try is disabling integrated graphics, run off the 660m only, if the issue is still persisting, report back.

 

Here is some info about Optimus (so that it doesn't work on the Intel while gaming)