m17x r2 when playing games fps drops then picks up continually

Hi all, i have had an m17x r2 since august 2010. over the last week i upgraded my cpu from i7 720qm to i7 940xm. i never had an issue like this before but a day or two after i installed the new cpu i began to notice framerate performance issue. i tried crysis 2 and crysis also mass effect 2 and the same result for all. game starts well then just slows down then runs smooth continually. this all starts within minutes of just starting to play. thing is all my games including these ran amazing on max settings before the cpu upgrade. i never had any performance like this before. crossfirex cable connected properly graphics cards not overheating checked with dell. all other internal cables i can think of are connected properly. any ideas?

i have dual Graphics Chipset ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5870.

windows 7 x64 based
bios version alienware A10
smbios version 2.6
physical memory (ram) 8.00 GB

 

Sounds like your CPU is throttling did you check your CPU temps. Realtemp works great for this

 

I had some of these issues recently, repasted CPU, & GPU's and all heatsinks and fans cleaned out. Also I now prop the back of my R2 up on 2 "rubber feet" to aid air flows

All seems good now

 

will try repasting the cpu again today. any special method to make sure you get good results? cause i swore i applied the thermal paste correctly when i installed the new cpu. the thermal paste i used for this is Antec formula 6 nano diamond thermal compound.

 

No special instructions, nice even thin layer across the CPU, I found warming the paste up makes it easier to spread. I did the cpu and the heatsinks cleaning first - for a slight improvement, then repasted the 2 GPU's - that seemed to sort the problem out for me. Now getting a stable 75+ fps in BFBC2 with good temps

Not sure what paste I used, will check and post when I get home

 

Repaste the cpu should solve this problem. 100% throttling for sure.

BTW justin, i am on my way to repaste my 5870 becouse of the noise my fan is genarating is just ridiciolous, even my noise canceling headphones are useless
Temps of my single 5870 are below 90, but this fan....LOL...it is like my girlfriends hairdryer ...Could you tell me if you know please wich thermal pads (for memory) should i buy ? 1mm ones or 0.5mm ones ?

CHeers

 

okay so i repasted the cpu using arctic silver 5.
computer turned on just fine everything normal that i can see.
i started running crysis 2 on extreme settings highest resolution. there is definitely an improvement over the framerates i was getting before. however, i did still notice the framerate lowering just not as often.
my old processor was the i7 720qm does that processor generate much less heat than the i7 940xm. i think it is safe to say though that i at least know for sure what is causing the framerate issue. but overall there is an improvement to gameplay. i will still be testing for the next day. if not happy with the results then i am going to go back to the 720qm to see if i notice a difference.

also what are the odds that the cpu could be faulty?

 

Tried using the "book" method on my R2 tonite during Cysis 2 campaign. It wasn't 80fps or anything but it was QUITE playable. Last night it was struggling with all of the settings, but tonite it just pulled right through.

1920x1200
DX11
Everything Ultra
VSync (actually slows the game down for me if I leave it on, but I left it on anyways)

So very proud my R2 pulled through with those settings!!

I was about to start getting depressed because I was worried my R2 might choke at DX11 and Tessellation, shadows, realtime reflections etc.

Just wanted to post on here that the book trick worked. Later!

 

framerate lowering could just be because of the map you are on or you are in a deadzone on the game.

What i would look at is did your framerates lower at the exact same spot in the game with the i7 720? IF it didn't, then there may be somemore tweaking left to do.

Throttling could be due to heat, but it can also be due to your system demanding more power, but your powersupply can't supply enough

 

So then the i7 940xm does demand more power than the i7 720qm?

any recommendations to check throttling in the cpu?

guess i will see how it is running a couple more times today with different games as well if still the same then going to install the i7 720qm again, and see if there is a difference.

 

I can't remember the exact spec, but ya the 940xm can use alot more power than the 720qm. I say can, because it depends on what you are doing.

The big difference is in the speeds while under turbo between the 720 and 940...

"...Turbo Mode, the CPU is clocked with up to 3.3 GHz in single threaded applications. Using two cores, the CPU can clock up to 3.2 GHz and using all 4 cores, 2.4 GHz is the maximum clock rate"

 

i really dont understand this as r2's cooling is just superb and to screw up repaste you must be a big noob, really big. with fid 24 i get 70'c max. somethings wrong my friend....post your temps please

 

Hi guys,

Pretty sure I have the same problem like jmyroman. Just upgraded my processor from 740qm to the 920xm yesterday.

Worked really good the day of the upgrade but now i also experience fps drop in games randomly. First minut in BBC2 i get solid 60 fps with vsync, but just few seconds after i get like 15 fps.

I have also noticed that the computer stop charging, and the blue light on the AC Adapter turns off in connection with this.

Should i use ThrottleStop, repaste the cpu or how do i fix this?

i got 5870m crossfire.

Please help.

 

seems like power issue or AC adapter low power. When AC adapter is overloaded (overheat/burn out protection), it SW-off itself for a period of time i think , that would explain both, low fps and not charging issue (becouse your laptop is kind of "only on battery mode" ).

I dont know if you have 240W adapter or 180w one, but 180 is not enough for 2x5870 and 920xm...or 'on the edge' 2x50 + 45 = 145...add LCD...add hdd's,mobo,ram,bla bla bla = almost 180w

Yes...that would be the case IF your temps are fine

 

flingin you are the man. I was thinking it could probably be a not enough power issue as well. when i get home i am going to look at the AC adapter.

i am completely sure i repasted correctly though.

 

also meant to ask what you guys think is the best way to check your cpu temps?

 

i do wish though that they would have made it alot easier to access the cpu instead of having to practically take the whole thing apart.

man i hope it is just a power issue.

 

here is core temp.
Core Temp

ThrottleStop
Downloads | Tech|Inferno

and hw info
HWiNFO64 Download

you can use all 3

 

Yes the 940xm uses more power then the 720qm but I dont think your system is struggling from lack of power, make sure you have high power mode turned on and not balanced or power-saver

Also what kind of fps drop are you talking about are you down to 10fps?

To check cpu throttling download hwinfo that will give you cpu load and temps also check to see your 5870s are not down clocking to 2d or idle clocks
At the bottom of the sensors window there is a button called logging start, click on it play which ever game then open the logged file then you can see what is happening when you get the fps drop

 

screenshot of temps 1st one is of temp before starting crysis 2.
screenshot 2 and 3 are temps during gameplay.

this help?

 

my ac adapter is 240 watts.

 

yes this helps, your cpu is reaching almost 100"c and starts to throttle down to prevent any damage. you screwd up repaste job.

Buy IC diamond and do a repaste, otherwise you may damage your cpu !

red line on picture below shows how much of thermal paste you should use (2-3mm wide stripe across whole cpu DIE)
Then you should take CLEANED with rubbing alcohol heatsink and place it EXACTLY on the cpu and press it down, make sure that when you press it -dont move it anymore, just take the screws and GG

if you dont know how to do it i can call you,or you can call me on my mobile (yes for free)

 

thank you so much flingin. will order ic diamond tonight since i dont know of any stores that sell it. i do have arctic silver 5 thermal paste. but you recommend ic diamond so that is what i will go with. okay so clean the heat sink with rubbing alcohol and then just place and press down on cpu, then put screws back in.

oh wait when you say clean heat sink with rubbing alcohol do you mean like regular alcohol for a cut? and i can use a regular piece of soft tissue for that right?

 

Also have a few goes at it before you reassemble the laptop, experiment and see how much paste you need to get full coverage on the cpu die

 

IC Diamond is not required for good temps it is good stuff, AS5 will do the job fine, getting a good spread is definatly required though

 

okay so i have two thermal paste. one is arctic silver 5 and the other is Antec formual 6 nano diamond. now from what i have been reading diamond compounds are the way to go. i feel confident that the nano diamond compound will do the job so i will use that when i repaste tonight.

or anyone recommend waiting for the ic diamond compound. i was doing some research comparing nano diamond vs ic diamond and some say nano diamond is better.

anyone agree?

also, i will try to post picture of how i applied the paste.

 

oh yeah and what is this curing time i read about when applying thermal paste or letting it sit for like ten minutes before you apply the heat sink?

 

okay so repasted with the antec formula 6 nano diamond using flingin method and the results were great. thank you to everyone for your help.

am still wondering which is better ic diamond or the antec formula 6 nano diamond?

 

i have never heard of this thermal paste before. post your temps again please.
BTW before you apply IC diamond 7 (if you buy it) you should boil some water, pure water into the cup and put closed syringe in it (for 5 mins), this will make it sooo easy to apply.

But if your temps are fine now you can skip it..if they are

NO. Curing time is the time needed for thermal paste to reach its maximum performance

 

will definitely post temps again later tonight.

 

so is there such an instance where too much thermal paste has a negative impact on your performance?

 

so generally when gaming you guys recommend an average room temperature of 67 to 70 degrees?

 

i read more often that the m17x r2's are better or preferred by most people than the m17x r3's. can anyone explain?

 

R2's got enough horsepower to play modern games and has much better screen (RGB LED) than R3's.

 

so how come they dont make the r3's with the rgb led?