M17xR3 460m Abysmal performance

Games like Assasin's Creed Revelations, at the lowest settings, start at 20fps then drop to between 2-5 within a couple minutes.

-I've tried overclocking the 460m to 800/1600/1480
-I've tried using Throttlestop and the A9 Bios to slightly up the bus speed
-I've updated the 460m vbios and the latest 296.10 drivers
-NVIDIA control panel set to maximum performance power management
-Laptop of course plugged in

I called tech support and they took remove control of the computer, they ran a benchmark and it looked like the GPU was doing fine but the fps still dropped.

Could it be possible my CPU is somehow throttling due to heat?

Or could it be that I simply need the very old (almost a year) alienware drivers from the Dell website for the 460m? I hope not because then I would lose a lot of 3D Vision gaming profiles.

Any thoughts or similar experience would be helpful!

 

Looks like a classic case of GPU Throttling. The GPU throttles at 78. It shouldn't be getting that hot however. It didn't used to. I elevated the back to no avail. I also installed the hacked a08 bios that removes some of the throttling, still no luck as the GPU will throttle anyway after 78 degrees. I called dell and they are sending in new thermal pads. Hope this helps to solve my problem.

 

460's run cold. It should not be getting anywhere near throttling temps

The 460m in my Asus g73 overclocked to 800/1600/1480 was loading at 55c. You should not reach throttling temps. You shouldn't get anywhere near that.

but if you really want to know, download furmark and run a burn-in test for 5 mins. It will tell you your temps

Another thing to do is run vantage or some other established benchmark to see if your numbers are in the ballpark. It very well could be that your expectations are too high for this card.

 

I'm using the Unigine benchmark with GPU-Z to monitor the temperatures. It is definitely getting super hot. I see it start to throttle at 79.

Could be there is some gunk in my system like dust in the fans and vents.

Also maybe the paste is old and dry.

The Dell tech will be here next week so we can open it up and see then.

Also for some reason the HWINFO64 will not let me manually control the fans, it seems to change the speed for half a second and then the fans go back to some lower setting.

 

I'd buy some other thermal paste than the goop that dell puts on. Also its good everyonce in a while to take the fans and heat sinks out and blow compressed air through them to clean them. 460m shouldn't even be close to hit the throttle, so something is definatly wrong there. As to Hwinfo, Sounds like hwinfo is set for a custom profile. Hit the system auto button, then set the fan speed you want, and finally hit set manual and you should be good to go there.

 

yes, definitely try a good paste, i replaced my original paste with MX-4 and it makes a world of difference.

 

My 460m runs silky smooth and cold as ice cream... your cpu isn't in play here. Like everyone else said, a good paste, dust or gunk in your system, and/or your gpu might be dyeing? lol I dunno... leave it to dell, this is why we pay for warranties

 

Open her up and check for dust. Check the fan, it should be at full blast with those temps. If no dust and the fan is ok try a repaste.

 

Dell tech came by today.

Replaced CPU and GPU heatsink and thermal pads.

He told me there is a liquid inside of the copper that can sometimes fail.

Everything now seems very nice Unigine benchmark runs at no higher than 64c when I'm set to 800/1600/1480

Glad this happened because now I have my GPU running at these faster speeds, modified A08 Bios, and slightly faster CPU FSB that I wouldn't have if I didn't look into it.

If it messes up again I'm going to insist on a 560m upgrade

Thanks everybody!

 

This is what happened to my CPU heatsink methinks (thanks to Slickdude really), so I've ordered a new one.