Performance Issues.

When I play games on my M15x (Ati 5870, Intel i5 540m, 4 gigs RAM), 1900x1100, on games such as Dead space I can get a constant 100+ fps, even during fights but when fire is involved the frames will quickly drop to the 20s or 30s. Does that sound right? Its the sames with large amounts of water in Bioshock 1 and 2.
Is this due to processor or memory or is that just what happens? It doesn't seem right to me.
Also sometimes while playing a game it will freeze for a split second and the fps drops very low, 20s or so, but then it goes right back up to the norm. Is that due to hardware as well or something else.

 

first check that it isn't stealth mode

check this thread and read the first post by joker.

download the app called throttlestop and make sure to "checkmark both the chipset and clock modulation boxes and set them to 100%" then enable throttlestop and see if it helps.

it might just be you're stressing the system, however i would try this just in case.

about gpu throttling, i don't think ati suffers from this so much, only 1 case so far i think. Also the instructions in that post are for the 260gtx video card so don't try that bit

gl, let me know if you see any improvement. it also might be a good idea to try another video card driver.

 

I tried that and it improved everything but the flamethrower effects. While using the flamethrower my fps plummets from 90ish all the way to 13, if I stand still and continuously burn a body. Is the 5870 really that weak? could The drop in fps be on purpose from the developers?

 

now that you know the cpu isn't throttling you can check the gpu with gpu-z.

just go to the sensors tab, tick the bottom checkbox (continue refreshing this screen while gpu-z in the background) and load up the game

get it to stutter, and monitor your clocks for dips kind of like this...


image taken from joker and original thread here

if you don't have dips like the screenshot (during 3d mode of course) then i guess it's just poor optimization of the game (or gpu driver)

i think however that the ati doesn't usually throttle, and the above screenshot was from the nvidia 260 (which throttles like crazy all the time)

 

I tried that and my GPU load is maxed out at 100% alot if that means anything.
Would the processor make a difference? I only have a i5, If I had a mid-high end i7 would it possibly perform better during games?

 

update gfx driver. Make sure its at 10.7. Some particle effects can kill your framerate.

 

not sure if this still applies but there was issues with dead space using multiple cores or something, been a while since i played it.

search under set affiniti.


short version load dead space.
alt tab
task manager
look for dead space process
right click
set affiniti and untick all but 1 processor.
then back to game.

hope that helps.

 

well it means your gpu is working really hard. but if your system isn't throttling back and forth in the clock speeds then its just your system working as hard as it can.

newer drivers can normally help.

with regards to the cpu, it depends. with intels naming convention it can get quite confusing. while they're in order of performance for synthetic benchmarks (which usually make the most of parallel computing) games usually do not use more than 1 or 2 cores.

for an example the 620m outperforms the 720 and 820 in games due to its higher clockspeed. in fact i've seen results a while back showing how in a single threaded app it came close to the 920xm. the best thing to do is to look at reviews of each cpu and look at real life benchmarks. not 3dmark or sisoft sandra or those types. look for crysis, cod, re5... etc.

*edit* i should add that when it's particle effects concerned, 9/10 times you are gpu limited unfortunately.

 

Im just going to come to the conclusion that the 5870 isnt good with particle effects, no matter how little sense it makes.

 

Edit. Didnt work.