M17xR2 Diminishing Performance

If I play a game for a while, (2+ hours) everything starts to get choppy. When I reset it, problem solved. Any ideas?

 

How are your temperatures doing while it gets 'choppy'?
Run a monitoring application while gaming and make it create a log.
I would start with that.

Also what video drivers are you using?

 

Should I just keep the log going during a normal play session? or start when it gets choppy? Hwinfo32 good for that?

 

Make it run before you start playing till you reproduce the issue so you can see the thermal evolution.

 

It doesn't seem like HWinfo32 is best for logging so I can post results. What would work well?

Also, maybe this will help: Mass effect 1 plays sort of choppy @ times with everything to the max. SC2 plays sort of choppy on Ultra so I put it down to High. I have to use Vsync in both games otherwise I get tearing.

I really need to get a tech to repaste my machine and maybe do one of the cooling mods. I have a problem with my right hand so there's no way I can do it. I had an area 51 m15x that was having serious issues, then was repasted and worked much better. Maybe that's the plan. I live in Metairie ( a suburb just a few minutes from new orleans) so if anyone knows a technician that'd be great! I honestly have no clue how to find a good one. I can google it, but that won't tell me if they're competent. If I'm going to be voiding my warranty, I'm going to want to make damn sure they do it right.

 

I downloaded rivatuner. How the heck do I use it to monitor temps?

 

use gpu-z and throttlestop to make logs.

 

How do I do it in throttlestop? Also, I'm calling around to get my machine repasted. Should I do the cooling mods as well?

 

You mentioned earlier that you had a problem with your hand that made it so you could not repaste. The cooling mods are somewhat difficult, especially getting the c-clips off of the heatsinks.

 

I'm going to find and pay a tech to do it. Called a few to assess competence. Waiting for them to return my calls.

 

Yeah, just make sure you've got the retention mod thread pulled up so the guy knows what he's doing. Are you going to have him replace the memory thermal pads with thermal paste too?

 

I know that Alienware does a terrible job with the pasting. I was originally just going to have him repaste / repad it. Which cooling mods should I do that will be easy with the smallest possibility of screwing things up, while also providing the best returns? I don't want to do a complex mod that will only give just a little bit extra cooling. I'm calling around to find someone competent and I'll give him the instructions. Should I get some specific paste / pads to give him? What tools will he need for the retention clip mod? Will the clip mod mess anything up if done correctly? Will it fall out of place from normal laptop transportation? Any vital info I should know?

Thanks

Edit: http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...ll-internal-cooling-mod-huge-improvement.html should I just do the clip mod or the thermal pad mod as well? I still haven't been able to figure out how to get a log of my temps to see if that's even the problem, but I can assume, regardless, that doing these mods will drastically improve my performance.

 

A simple and proper repaste job and dust cleaning off heatsinks and grills should be enough.
As for the cooling mod Dell won't do it!!
You might want to think again before letting somebody else do it (the retention clip mod) as if something goes wrong you'll have only yourself to blame.

 

I would just have him re-paste the core and call it good. The retention mod makes the heat sink press down much harder on the core, to the point where the whole graphics card actually bends a bit. This will probably have some effect on longevity of the hardware over the course of many heat-up and cool-down cycles that a gaming laptop goes through. I just decided that I didn't care about this.

Unless you plan on doing some very hard-core benchmarking, don't worry about any modifications man.

 

Thanks a bunch for the input. I'll have him do a repaste job then. What kind of paste / pads should he use? Does he need to replace pads for pads? or can he use paste for everything?

I have occasional stuttering in Mass Effect 1. My machine should have no problem playing ME1 on full high settings fluidly shouldn't it? I feel that with a repaste job, maybe it'll be better. I really feel that I should also be able to play SC2 on Ultra with 60FPS with Vsync on (i don't understand why i get tearing in all of my games and require Vsync. Everything performs much better without it).

 

I've been thinking about this, and before I had a technician come out and mess with my laptop, I would first check to see if temperatures are actually the problem. Every Dell tech that has come to my home said they had never taken apart an R2. I did it while they watched. Run HWInfo32 sensor window. It will record your high/low/current temperatures. Once your game starts to stutter, exit out and see what your highest temperature was. Unless you were hitting 90°+C, I wouldn't open it up to be honest with you.

Now, should you decide to proceed on with it, I would recommend plain old AS5 (Arctic Silver 5). You're going to have to order new thermal pads for the memory, or just have the tech reuse them. The thermal paste on the core is what's important.

 

Your machine is almost the same as mine performance wise. Do you ever have an issue like mine? Do you play SC2? ME? I think I'll download 3dmark 11 and see what I get. Also, I was going to pay an independent tech that knows what he's doing. Dell techs are incompetent from my experience. I had an old m9750 and they ed it up so many times its stupid. Even when I sent it to them they couldn't fix it. I sent it in 4 times before they replaced it with an Area-51 M15x, which worked really well for 3 or so years before it needed to be repasted.

 

I did play SC2 and ME2 a lot actually. I dialed down whatever settings I needed to so I could get 60fps, and really never had an issue with them after that.

You don't need to run a benchmark unless you really want to. You should just see what HWInfo says your max temperatures are while you're gaming. If you can eliminate temperature problems, you can then start troubleshooting to see what might be causing the issue.

 

I've been logging my temps for a while with GPU-Z. I haven't gotten the slow down yet, but I will say that my GPU #2 is always about 10 degrees C above GPU#1. Is that normal?

 

Yes. They have never been the same for me on any of my dual GPU laptops.

 

I found someone competent to repaste it. I need to get the materials. What paste is best? Where do I get the pads? How many do I need? From what I remember a ton of people saying, Alienware does a crappy paste job. Redoing it with high quality stuff will only improve performance. I definitely want to do that. Any info can help. Thanks.

 

is your problem solved? cause i have the same issues

 

I need to order the material for him to use to repaste / pad my machine. He'll do it next week when I get everything in.

I'm going to try and log my temps to make sure THATS whats causing the stuttering.

 

here you go, this is what i'm using now. i recommend getting .5mm and 1.0mm, normally .5mm works but 1mm is nice to have if you have a bigger gap then normal. paste is also avaible on that website, mx-4, ocz freeze and shin-etsu are a few popular brand that i recommend for ease of use.

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/1...ermal_Conductivity_60_WmK.html?tl=g8c487s1292

 

If I get one mat of .5 and 1mm each (2 mats total) will that be sufficient to replace the pads?

Also, how many grams of paste will I need to repaste everything?

Assume money isn't an issue. Which thermal paste would be the absolute best for this? Some of them say "non-conductive" is that what I want? How many grams? Can you provide a link on frozencpu?

 

Arctic Cooling MX-4 Super High Performance Non-Conductive Thermal Compound (4g) - FrozenCPU.com. One package (4 grams) is plenty.

Fujipoly Premium System Builder Thermal Pad - 1/4 Sheet - 150 x 100 x 0.5 - Thermal Conductivity 6.0 W/mK - FrozenCPU.com

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/1..._-_Thermal_Conductivity_60_WmK.html?tl=g8c487

 

Kk, thanks. I'll order it all now. I didn't realize it needed to be non-conductive.

Is there anything else that could cause the issue I'm having? If the machine is on for a while, gaming performance suffers drastically until I reboot. I'm still trying to recreate the issue with a gpu temp logger and see what it says. I'm going to download 3dmark 11 and see what my score is, as well. I know when I got it, my 3dmark 06 score was pretty good.

 

Also, because when the A08 BIOS came out it caused performance drops, I kept A07. Should I get the new bios?

Running 3dMark 11 after the computer had been on for a while gave me lower FPS during the tests but I wasn't able to get a final score because the program kept crashing @ the physics test. I rebooted and am having better frame rate than before the reboot and my temperatures are comparable. For whatever reason, I can't get a final score because the program crashes @ the physics test. The highest my temps ever got were 81 C on the second card while the first one capped out around 70 C. I still would like to go ahead with the repaste, but I'm curious if that will even fix the issue. I don't doubt it will decrease my temps, but the issue of the machine performing worse after being used for a while doesn't seem to be temperature related. Should I update the BIOS? Should I try and update to the ATI drivers? I'm using the dell gpu drivers. A month or so ago I switched to the ATI ones and I had a dramatic performance decrease so I switched back. Also, can someone please tell me if having to enable vsync in most games to prevent the screen tearing is normal? I have to do it in SC2 and Mass Effect, as well as Batman Arkham Asylum. Those are the only PC games I'm playing at the moment. Anyway, thanks!

 

Crashing in the Physics test of 3dMark11 suggests a CPU issue, most often an overly aggressive o/c or high CPU temps. Excessive heat can also cause the CPU to throttle resulting in the kind of performance slowdown you describe. The CPU will typically throttle around 85C. ThrottleStop will prevent throttling, but the better course is to clean and re-paste the CPU. Start by checking your CPU temps. Use Throttlestop (in Monitoring Only mode) and enable logging during 3dMark11 or game play to get a full report on the CPU temps and any associated throttling.

 

That would make a ton of sense considering the GPU temps seem to be fine. I'm ordering all of the material to repaste / pad the entire machine so I'm sure that'll do the CPU wonders.

 

Also, how do I use throttlestop to log? If I just turn it on without checking any boxes it'll prevent throttling? Doesn't the machine throttle for a reason? Will preventing it damage the machine?

 

So I used the throttlestop log and while playing Mass Effect 1 my CPU was generally between 85-95 C. It wasn't throttling, though. I didn't turn throttle stop on, unless just having it open prevents it. I honestly have no clue how to use the program other than logging. At what point should my machine throttle? I have an appointment to repaste it on Saturday so that should be fine. Hopefully, as long as the tech is competent and watches the tare down video, nothing should go wrong with a repaste.

 

Just open ThrottleStop in Monitoring Mode, i.e., turned off. It will say "Monitoring Only" in the TS Title Bar. If it doesn't, click on Turn Off in the lower right corner. Then check "Log File" in the lower left corner. That will start the CPU logging process. Because you will be in Monitoring Mode, it will not prevent throttling or otherwise affect operations.

Edit: If CPU temps are 85C-95C, you would expect CPU throttling unless Throttlestop was on and actively preventing it. Post the log if available.

 

Is there a way to link the file? Or should I just copy paste? Also, when I turn throttlestop on it jumps the temps up. Is that normal? Should I do anything with clock modulation and multipliers? Or should I wait until I get a repaste?

 

Options regarding clock and chipset modulation and multipliers have no relevance when TS is turned off (monitoring only). CPU temps jump up when you open any program; with TS, they will quickly revert to previous levels.

Just attach the logging file as a txt file to a post. Click on Go Advanced. You will see a box entitled Attachments at the top, from which you will select the desired attachment(s). To add a file as an attachment, scroll down the page to Additional Options, one of which is Attach Files. Click on Manage Attachments and proceed to upload the file, after which it will appear as a choice in the Attachments box/menu. Select the log file and it will show as an attachment in the body of the message and can be downloaded for viewing.

Resist the urge to complicate everything.

 

I've attached 2 different logs. Should I turn ThrottleStop on to prevent throttling? People complain all the time about throttling. I can't imagine just clicking "on" will simply fix the issue with no detriment.

 

Your CPU is running very hot and is throttling, but not near as much as one might expect given the temps. Throttling is starting when temps exceed 95C which causes chipset clocks to drop to 25%, after which the CPU recovers quickly, but then begins to yo-yo. The scheduled pasting should help enormously to control temps and improve performance.

 

I hope to god he doesn't mess the paste job up. As long as he has the tear down video, he should be fine right? I read something somewhere about making sure that the Xfire cord is in a certain place so it doesn't melt? I'm not sure. As long as he puts it back where it goes, it should be fine ey?

I genuinely feel that it should be easy enough to repaste and the repaste will drastically improve performance.

The questions about throttlestop were never answered. If I turn it on, will it fully stop the throttling? If it can do that, why do people complain about throttling? Why not use that?

 

Got it repasted! The guy said that the .5 mm pads were just way too small and the pads on there were all much closer to the 1mm. He did a fantastic job. My new logs indicate a near 25 C drop on the CPU and about 10 - 15 on the GPU. The GPU was alright before because it had the heatsinks with the thermal pads, which weren't terrible. The greese on the CPU, however, was dried and crusted. The highest I've seen my CPU get in a gaming session (played a game of SC2) was 78. Before, it was getting over 100 C. Normally, it stays between 62-73 give or take. Its running much better now and I'm really excited. The fans aren't running nearly as frequently either now that the machine is properly pasted. Thanks for all of the support / help folks. I showed him the mods that you guys use but he really thought (and was right) that the thermal repaste would be pleanty. Again, I'm not a heavy benchmarker, so there's no need for the super duper risky mods. Thanks!

 

Congratulations, IntenseIGFX. Glad to hear the paste cured the problems. Enjoy.