GTA IV and R3 with i7 slowdown - anyone found a solution?

I know, I know! Its a ty port. That said, has anyone with an i7 also had the slowdown problem and found a solution? Thanks for any help you can give!

Specs:
Intel i7 2617M 2.3GHz
Nvidia 2GB GT540M
8GB DDR3-1333 PC3-10600
Windows 7 Ultimate x64
750GB 7200RPM 16MB cache

Results of benchmarks
Hardware info:

Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate
Service Pack 1
Video Adapter: Intel(R) HD Graphics 3000 (it says this, but I confirmed that the Nvidia GPU is running using the tool I found through these forums. Screenshot here)
Video Driver version: 8.17.13.142
Audio Adapter: Speakers (High Definition Audio Device)
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2617M CPU @ 1.50GHz​

Lowest settings:

Statistics
Average FPS: 63.36
Duration: 37.27 sec
CPU Usage: 70%
System memory usage: 49%
Video memory usage: 11%

Graphics Settings
Video Mode: 800 x 600 (59 Hz)
Texture Quality: Low
Shadow Quality: Off
Reflection Resolution: Off
Water Quality: Low
Texture Filter Quality: Tri-Linear
Night Shadows: Off
View Distance: 1
Detail Distance: 1​

All on medium:

Statistics
Average FPS: 35.94
Duration: 37.33 sec
CPU Usage: 87%
System memory usage: 53%
Video memory usage: 19%

Graphics Settings
Video Mode: 1366 x 768 (59 Hz)
Texture Quality: Medium
Shadow Quality: Medium
Reflection Resolution: Medium
Water Quality: Medium
Texture Filter Quality: Anisotropic x2
Night Shadows: Medium
View Distance: 25
Detail Distance: 25​

All on high:

Statistics
Average FPS: 31.68
Duration: 37.40 sec
CPU Usage: 88%
System memory usage: 54%
Video memory usage: 35%

Graphics Settings
Video Mode: 1366 x 768 (59 Hz)
Texture Quality: High
Shadow Quality: High
Reflection Resolution: High
Water Quality: High
Texture Filter Quality: Anisotropic x4
Night Shadows: High
View Distance: 50
Detail Distance: 50​

It should run a-ok, amirite? Then when the random choppiness and slowdown? It makes me weep inside.

 

The reason people complain about it being a port is because it's not properly optimized for the PC, and as such it requires ALOT of CPU power to run smoothly and the ultra-low voltage processors in the M11x simply don't cut it. GTA4 is a very CPU intensive game and you really need a solid quad-core processor to run it at 60FPS on native resolution.

 

I can get behind that. I'm not looking to run it at 60, tho. 30 is nice for me But it's the random slowdown that gets me: what can I do to stop GTA IV from slowing like that? I've seen videos of GTA IV running at 60fps on other R3s at full graphics...I can't imagine what the issue is!

 

Mainly the shadows dude, try putting that to low. Also maybe view/detail distance to 15 or 20? Other than that it should run at medium.

 

I agree that's a good suggestion. But I must not be explaining very clearly: no matter what the resolution or combination of settings, the game will do the inexplicable slowdown. I think more is going on than just ambitious settings.

 

Have you run ThrottleStop yet with the Log File option checked? You need to see if your CPU is throttling during this game. This game is very demanding on laptops so you need to make sure that your CPU is working at its rated speed. After you are finished gaming, exit the game and then exit ThrottleStop so it can write all of the data to the log file. Before starting, remember to open up the Options window and enable GPU monitoring too.

Copy and Paste the ThrottleStop log file while gaming to Pastebin.com and then post a link here. Random slow downs where the FPS drops in half or to a third of the normal frame rates is usually a good sign of intermittent throttling. ThrottleStop has helped many GTA IV gamers with this issue.

 

EDIT : Sorry I read it "Shutdown" , I think Throttlestop may help you as unclewebb stated.

 

HWMonitor and Open Hardware Monitor can not be used to fix the problem. Random slow downs in this game are usually the result of throttling.

 

Oh , sorry I read it " shutdowns ".

 

I just got the laptop in my sig a few hours ago, and the first thing I tried was GTA IV... I can run it with my specs on ultra @ a steady 50/60fps, so your lappy shouldnt have any issues on medium.

I will say this, i was having some annoying troubles, but I updated the game to 1.0.7.0 and the slow down problem went away for me, let windows live update it for you otherwise the game wont start.

 

I'm just going off what you've posted, and you said you're getting 63FPS on low settings, i wouldn't call that "slow".

63fps on low, 36fps on medium, looks like the contributing factors are the shadows and draw distance hence my comment.

I'm not sure what "the inexplicable slowdown" is you're referring to, maybe if we had more to go on... We need more info than just "its slow" and then you posting average FPS results contradicting that.

 

Thanks for the idea, unclewebb. This application seems like it'll be really helpful! Rishwin, that's the thing: the benchmark runs perfectly. No complaints at all! But when I enter into normal gameplay, the game will run smooth for a bit and then start to chug - falling to 9-14 FPS - no matter what I put in the settings (High, Medi, Low, Shadows On/Off, etc)! It's wacky! Let's see what Throttlestop has got to say...

 

Mind. Blown. This application is incredible! I've read only a little of the guide and the supercharge tutorial, but from what I can tell this app rocks.

I don't understand all the numbers in the log, but it looks like my GPU might be throttled: in the log under "GPU", the number is around 1.0808, but then dips sharply to around 0.7755. I imagine this might be a multiplier for the core. The dips looks like they likely correspond to the times when my FPS drop.

Here's the log: Throttle Stop Log jusalilpanda GTAIV 0625 - Pastebin.com.

What do you make of it, unclewebb?

Edit: Also, can ThrottleStop prevent GPU throttling or is it only CPU? Seems like the latter from the tutorial, but I'm unsure. If it cannot prevent GPU throttling (and my GPU is indeed throttled), what can I do to prevent the throttling?

Edit #2: I looked into GPU throttling. Is the NVIDIA Powermizer Manager the way to go? Link.

 

Turn shadows off and put the sliders to about 15-20. Also put reflections on low. The rest can be turned all the way up. The game HAS to have a quad core to run right.

 

Code:

    
   DATE       TIME    MULTI   C0%   CKMOD  CHIPM   BAT_mW  TEMP  GPU     VID   POWER
2012-06-25  14:55:00  22.93   36.6  100.0  100.0        0   84    83   1.0157   12.7
2012-06-25  14:55:01  23.24   39.2  100.0  100.0        0   85    83   1.0708   12.9
2012-06-25  14:55:02  23.22   36.3  100.0  100.0        0   85    83   1.0408   12.5
2012-06-25  14:55:03  23.07   36.8  100.0  100.0        0   85    83   1.0408   12.5
2012-06-25  14:55:04  22.90   52.1  100.0  100.0        0   88    83   1.0408   14.0
2012-06-25  14:55:05  23.00   93.0  100.0  100.0        0   89    83   1.0408   18.0
2012-06-25  14:55:06  22.98   79.3  100.0  100.0        0   87    83   1.0408   17.0
2012-06-25  14:55:07  22.97   82.4  100.0  100.0        0   89    83   1.0408   17.1
2012-06-25  14:55:08  23.00   90.2  100.0  100.0        0   89    83   1.0408   17.7
2012-06-25  14:55:09  22.96   83.0  100.0  100.0        0   90    83   1.0408   17.2
2012-06-25  14:55:10  22.86   71.2  100.0  100.0        0   89    83   1.0408   16.0
2012-06-25  14:55:11  22.84   72.6  100.0  100.0        0   89    84   1.0408   15.9
2012-06-25  14:55:12  22.64   54.7  100.0  100.0        0   89    84   1.0408   14.3
2012-06-25  14:55:13  23.00   93.5  100.0  100.0        0   90    84   1.0408   18.0
2012-06-25  14:55:14  17.59   90.4  100.0  100.0        0   83    82   0.7755   13.9
2012-06-25  14:55:15   8.00   86.6  100.0  100.0        0   83    82   0.7755    6.9
2012-06-25  14:55:16   8.00   91.6  100.0  100.0        0   82    82   0.7755    6.9
2012-06-25  14:55:17   8.00   88.7  100.0  100.0        0   82    82   0.7755    6.9
2012-06-25  14:55:18   8.00   89.0  100.0  100.0        0   82    82   0.7755    6.8
2012-06-25  14:55:19   8.00   89.5  100.0  100.0        0   82    82   0.7755    6.8
2012-06-25  14:55:20   8.00   88.5  100.0  100.0        0   82    81   0.7755    6.9

It's too bad more people don't realize how valuable the data in the ThrottleStop log file is when trying to uncover these throttling problems.

The Multi column shows what CPU multiplier your CPU is using. The base clock (BCLK) speed is approximately 100 MHz so a 23.0 multiplier means your CPU is running at approximately 2300 MHz (23.00 x 100.0 MHz). Look what happens between 14:55:13 and 14:55:15. The multiplier drops down to 8.00 which means your CPU has just been throttled from 2300 MHz to 800 MHz. It is now running at 35% of its rated speed. That's horrible. The sad part is that your CPU stays throttled like this for approximately 2 minutes and 45 seconds. Even a blind person is going to notice throttling like that when trying to play GTA IV.

The end POWER column shows an approximation of CPU power consumption. When the throttling starts, power consumption instantly drops. This confirms the obvious. The VID voltage also drops to its minimum. The CPU does this to try and cool itself off. After things cool down, your laptop goes back to full speed; gaming at a decent frame rate resumes until once again your laptop overheats and goes through another throttling cycle. The log file shows this over and over again.

If you are wondering why this happened, go over to the CPU and GPU temperature columns. The CPU peaks at 90C and the GPU is up to 84C. If you can find a way to improve cooling and keep your temperatures under control, you will find that your laptop is more than powerful enough to play GTA IV at decent frame rates without these throttling slow downs killing the game.

If you have not pulled your laptop apart yet and cleaned your heatsink and fan then now is the time to do that. If you don't have a cooling pad yet then put one on your things to buy list. You might also want to look into replacing the thermal paste between the CPU and the heatsink. I am not familiar with this model so you will have to check the forums to see what other users are doing to control the heat. Great laptop but Dell dropped the ball when it comes to managing the amount of heat that they can put out when gaming.

If you can't find a way to control the heat then you will have to use ThrottleStop to slow down your CPU so it puts out less heat. You will need to reduce the multiplier until your CPU or GPU stops causing these throttling episodes. Your peak FPS numbers won't be quite as good but you won't have these drastic throttling slow downs that you are having now. You might have to do some sort of combination of improve your cooling and reduce your CPU speed. Head over to the Acer 3830TG thread if you want to learn about what multipliers they are using to get around the problem of completely inadequate cooling.

 

hey mans, my game was slowing down every 2sec, i just apply the 1.0.6.0 patch (wont post here to people do not say that is virus)
now it's running all on high hahahahaha
very good !
and you can find even crack if want(wont post too, its your problem if want, i have a copy of the game)
well, do as you wish

obs: patch 1.0.6.0 need xliveless compatible w him, easy to find too
bye

 

and just to say, my processor is only 2.6 ghz and have 4gb
No need to upgrade or check noth man, the game in this earlier versions was bad programmed