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    All Points Bulletin, Battlefield 3 and ever MINECRAFT

    Discussion in 'Alienware M11x' started by Guennor, Jan 6, 2012.

  1. Guennor

    Guennor Notebook Enthusiast

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    I'm having some issues with these games.
    With All Points Bulletin, I'm getting really pissed off. I don't know if it's a game issue or a hardware issue, but after 20 minutes of playing the game gets all laggy with sound popping and flickering like CRAZY
    Battlefield 3 doesn't run smoothly.

    And Minecrraft gets framerate drops when the notebook gets hot.

    Does anyone here play all points bulletin with an M11x? Or any of these games?
    Can you guys please tell me that it's not an issue with my notebook?
     
    Guennor, Jan 6, 2012
    #1
  2. ZeroCell

    ZeroCell Notebook Consultant

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    What revision do you have? (Core2Duo, Arrandale, or Sandy Bridge processor?)

    Not sure about APB, sounds like throttling.

    For BF3, make sure you're drivers are updated, you're using Throttlestop (if you have an R2), and possible even OC the GPU.

    Minecraft definitely sounds like throttling, try downloading Throttlestop and check your GPU and CPU temps when you notice the framerate drop. I had the same issue and just used a vacuum cleaner on my fan, pulled a nice wad a cat hair out, my temps went down by 5C and BF3 stopped throttling.
     
    ZeroCell, Jan 6, 2012
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  3. darkdomino

    darkdomino Notebook Deity

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    I was not able to get APB working on my R2. All it does it crash.

    and Battlefield on my R2 resulted in sub-30 framerates consistently, especially on large multiplayer games. It was playable, but not enjoyable
     
    darkdomino, Jan 6, 2012
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  4. Guennor

    Guennor Notebook Enthusiast

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    Uh, that's awkward, I have no idea what you're talking about.
    I'm kinda dumb with this hardware things, and plus, english is not my native language so... Can you try explaining this a little better to me?
     
    Guennor, Jan 7, 2012
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  5. DivineAura

    DivineAura Notebook Evangelist

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    DivineAura, Jan 7, 2012
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  6. Guennor

    Guennor Notebook Enthusiast

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    Guennor, Jan 7, 2012
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  7. DivineAura

    DivineAura Notebook Evangelist

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    Nope it won't void your warranty :)
    I even showed throttlestop to the Dell technician and he agreed to replace my motherboard due to overheating.
    And.... M11xR2 can't live without throttlestop :x
     
    DivineAura, Jan 7, 2012
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  8. roxxor

    roxxor Notebook Evangelist

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    Because Dell gimped the R2's Arrandale CPU with throttling. That's why under heavy load (like playing games), the R2 will perform (much) worse than an R1 and other systems with "less configurations".

    The only way to fix Dell's BIOS mistake is to use throttlestop. Then your R2 will perform like it's suppose to.
     
    roxxor, Jan 7, 2012
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  9. ZeroCell

    ZeroCell Notebook Consultant

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    So sorry! It's easy to take for granted to people know what you're talking about. :p

    Throttling is when the hardware scales back performance after hitting a certain temp. Like roxxor said, the way the M11x was made causes the CPU to throttle heavily. To remedy use, you can use Throttlestop for massive performance boosts.

    For driver updates, download the driver from this thread:
    http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m11x/633659-nvidia-290-53-beta-driver-released.html

    ...and then follow these steps for an over-the-top secure installation of the new drivers.
    How to: Install new video card drivers?

    ...and then here's a thread talking about how the overclock your GPU to get some more performance out of it (very helpful for BF3).
    http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m11x/554282-overclocking-gpu.html

    Hope it helps!
     
    ZeroCell, Jan 8, 2012
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  10. Guennor

    Guennor Notebook Enthusiast

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    Ok guys, thanks...
    I'll try to do this throttle thingy... But I hope it doesn't affect my notebook negatively in any way....
    I saw that tutorial but it's a tutorial for an older version of Throttlestop, where can I find a tutorial for a more recent one?

    Do you guys thing that if I use this software, i'll be able to play those games on max config?
     
    Guennor, Jan 8, 2012
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  11. DivineAura

    DivineAura Notebook Evangelist

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    Yep! No more slow-downs, only smooth gameplay!
    You only need to press TPL button and change the TDC/ TDP values and you're set.
     
    DivineAura, Jan 8, 2012
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  12. Guennor

    Guennor Notebook Enthusiast

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    Ok, i'll try and i'll tell you guys the results after that
     
    Guennor, Jan 11, 2012
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  13. Guennor

    Guennor Notebook Enthusiast

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    So, I tried following that tutorial DivineAura posted, but the version available was different from the one used at the tutorial.

    But I tried anyway.

    [​IMG]

    Basically, I checked the "Game" option (blue), and then pressed "Turn On" (red)... Is that right?
     
    Guennor, Jan 11, 2012
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  14. ZeroCell

    ZeroCell Notebook Consultant

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    The profile setting doesn't matter as long as you have the settings you want on that profile (it's for organizing if you want different settings for different tasks).

    Click on TPL (towards the bottom middle of the box) and change TDP and TDC both to 30. Click Save/Apply/etc and you should be all good.
     
    ZeroCell, Jan 11, 2012
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