Random Stuttering

Hello there!

Just got my Alienware M17x r3, and after reformatting the main drive, opening it up, putting my SDD, then doing a clean install of Windows 7 (the disk which came with the machine), installing drivers, etc. I began to notice a problem. It may also be helpful to note that I have the 120HZ display.

In WoW, it will appear to run fine, however after some gameplay for a bit (nothing heavy, just running around), for what appears to be one frame there will be some black bars then the game will lag up really bad (1-4 FPS). It remains super laggy anywhere from 1 second to several minutes before returning to the normal, awesome-super-smooth gameplay. Seems to happen randomly. I also noticed the amount the fans kick up seems to relate to when the stuttering happens.

After some research, I thought that it may be the GPU being throttled, so I tried using the method to remove the throttling via flashing the modified BIOS. No dice, still happens.


Does anyone have any ideas on what I should try to do next? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Here are the rest of my specs just in-case it helps at all:

16GB RAM
i7 2820QM (Not overclocked!)
Nvidia 580M (Not OC'd)
750GB Seagate HDD (in slot 0 on the motherboard)
128GB ForceGT Corsair SSD (in slot 1 for sata III)

Thanks.

 

Could be the SSD causing freezes. Are you on the latest firmware? Is it only when playing WOW?

 

The copy of WoW isn't on the SSD. Would that effect it?

And are you speaking of the firmware for the SSD?


Thanks again!

 

I'm not sure if it will be affected. Yes latest firmware for the SSD.

 

Just checked, it appears to come updated. Is there anything else you think I should try?

 

Could you monitor the temps. when playing. Could be getting to hot.

If its SSD related you could try the LPM fix, but I dont know if this SSD has freeze problems.

Everything else is up to date?

 

It did get quite hot when playing. Although I thought that was normal for this machine. I didn't play for more than 10 - 15 minutes though.

Do the NVidia drivers come with temp monitoring software or do I have to find some?

 

Does it happen while doing anything else like surfing the web?

CPUID - System & hardware benchmark, monitoring, reporting

Download HWmonitor.

 

I've only had this problem when playing WoW, nothing else on the machine.

EDIT:

Downloading that software and going to play WoW for 10 min or so.

 

Playing other games?

If it only happens playing WOW then I have no idea.

 

I've only got WoW on it at the moment unfortunately...


I got it to start lagging again at 152 Fahrenheit.

EDIT:

I got it to freeze again at the same temp.


EDIT2:

Oh yeah, and those were temperature of the CPU.

EDIT3:

I downloaded the latest drivers from NVidia for the 580M, they will not install because it does not recognize the hardware. :/

 

Could you monitor CPU ussage. Does it drop down when its hits the throtteling temp.?

 

I just uncovered something new...


The exact same effect (blacking out of a single frame, choppy framerate, etc) is caused by unplugging the machine in the middle of playing WoW... do you think this has anything to do with it? Isn't there that NVidia powermizer thing?

EDIT:

I also noticed that gameplay is horrid on battery power... 10-15 FPS.

EDIT2:

I also noticed the problem seems to occur when the GPU gets put under a heavy load. And the CPU usage appears to be low when it stutters.

 

You cant game on battery.

Check the powersettings in Command Center, make sure they are all on max/100%.

 

No dice.

I tried setting the GPU to prefer maximum performance on battery power just in case that was the problem.

I still get the stuttering when plugged in.

 

Then I dont know.

 

Well, thank you anyway. I just tried updating the graphics card drives with ones modified to work on the M17x r3. Going to try those out and post an update as an edit.

EDIT:

Well, crap. Didn't fix it.


Does anyone have any idea for things I can try?



Any help is much appreciated!