Slowdowns on every game, cant manage to fix it.

Hello there,

I have a 3 years old M17XR3. Here are the specs:

System Manufacturer: Alienware
System Model: M17xR3
BIOS: InsydeH2O Version 1.0 A12
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2720QM CPU @ 2.20GHz (8 CPUs), ~2.2GHz
Memory: 8192MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 8140MB RAM
Page File: 2546MB used, 13731MB available
Windows Dir: C:\Windows
DirectX Version: DirectX 11
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
User DPI Setting: Using System DPI
System DPI Setting: 120 DPI (125 percent)
DWM DPI Scaling: UnKnown
DxDiag Version: 6.01.7601.17514 32bit Unicode

Card name: AMD Radeon HD 6900M Series
Manufacturer: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
Chip type: AMD Radeon Graphics Processor (0x6720)
DAC type: Internal DAC(400MHz)
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_6720&SUBSYS_04BA1028&REV_00
Display Memory: 4095 MB
Dedicated Memory: 2035 MB
Shared Memory: 2060 MB
Current Mode: 1920 x 1080 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor Name: Moniteur Plug-and-Play générique
Monitor Model: unknown
Monitor Id: LGD02DA
Native Mode: 1920 x 1080(p) (60.012Hz)
Output Type: Internal
Driver Name: aticfx64.dll,aticfx64.dll,aticfx64.dll,aticfx32,aticfx32,aticfx32,atiumd64.dll,atidxx64.dll,atidxx64.dll,atiumdag,atidxx32,atidxx32,atiumdva,atiumd6a.cap,atitmm64.dll
Driver File Version: 8.17.0010.1247 (English)
Driver Version: 13.251.0.0

And i cant play any game now, the fps are just extremely low. Just tried Loadout and Dota 2, and i drop to like 5/10 fps really fast. I just repasted my GPU and cleared the fans. I have no idea about what may cause this issue.

Any suggestion? Thanks

 

If you want me to run tests or w/e that can help to figure out, just let me know.

 

Maybe GPUs are not switching between each other ?
Run HW info and post us a screen shot of summary and temps table please.

If you are starting at OK fps and then drop it means that you have done the repasting wrong and GPU or CPU is throttling

 

Well i have anything set on max performance in energy settings and in CCC, so i dont think it's about that. And the heat of the 6970M gpu is increasing when i run a game, so it looks like it's not about commutable graphics.

 

Here they are. Pls tell me something like "omg so obvious just do [Insert Here]"

 

temps tab please

Try to opern temps tab, then run a game for 1 minute, then close the game and take a screenshot of the temps tab that program logged

Run HW Info in Sensor only mode

Also good option would be to run GPU-Z and as well enter sensor tab, keep it open and run a game, the graphs will show us suspicious activity with clocks and temps

 

Forgot the GPU temp (iddle):



Herm ok just saw ur post

Going to do this.

 

Attachment is wrong

 

Here it is.

 

GPU Temps seem to be just about ok, but on the edge anyways, intel PCH (chipset) is at 84'C and should be at around 60'C in my opinion, what about CPU temps ?

EDIT
Also i just noticed, if your GPU utilization is at 64% max and its temp reaches almost 80'C it is BAD repaste job, like Very Bad

What paste/apply method did you used ? Not the tooth paste right ?

 

Here are the CPU's temp. Looks like it's quite high. I didnt repaste it though, since i was really focused on GPU's.

 

On the top you have a tab, Thermal throttling ( it says NO ), was your FPS low during your testing now ?

And yes, temps should be lower, 85+ max

What thermal paste did you use on GPU ?

 

I used Zalman thermal paste, but i didnt change the thermal pads (i didnt manage to find some last time i was looking for it), so it may be related.

My fps was around 40 but it goes down to 15/20 sometimes for no reason.

should i repaste my CPU as well?

 

Yes please, it is very likely it is CPU related, leave the GPU for now, just repaste CPU.

 

Gonna try this, but i ran out of thermal paste i'll get some this week. Thanks for ur help and ur time sir I'll let u know if it helps.

 

If you are getting more thermal paste then get IC diamond 7 carat.

Repaste both CPU and GPU, to my eyes your temps are much too high taking the utilization barely reaching 90% on CPU and 64% on GPU.

When you hit 100% GPU/CPU utilization then you will most likely see throttling...

 

Paste:

Any of these

80-way Thermal Interface Material Performance Test | Thermal Interface Material,Thermal Paste,Heatsink Compound,80-Way Thermal Interface Material Best Thermal Paste Heatsink Compound Cooling Performance Comparison Benchmark Tests

I use Gelid GC-Extreme.
A thin paste suited for very clean and shiny surfaces.

suggest reading a bit about paste in rest of this document too.

 

Hi there,

I still didnt repaste my CPU but i noticed the Intel PCH going extremely hot (around 90°C) while the rest of the system was really cool at the same time.

I never heard about this CPH before seing these status on HWinfo. Could this bottleneck my laptop? That would explain a lot.

 

My PCH runs rather high as well however I have a haswell CPU.