Upgraded to 7970m in M15x, Source games run at low FPS

Hey all,

I recently got a (finally working) 7970m from ebay and slapped it in my laptop. I have been/am able to run "demanding games" at 60+ FPS at high or ultra settings at 1600x900. This includes Skyrim, Fallout 3/New Vegas, Battlefield 3, Borderlands 2 and more.

What's really weird however, is that TF2 and Vindictus (both Source engine games) are running way under what they should be running at, which actually seems to be a semi-common occurrence for AMD card users.

Here are my specs:
i7 Q740 @ 1.73 GHz
AMD 7970m @ 850/1200 MHZ - 14.4 Catalyst Mobility Drivers
8GB RAM
Windows 7 64-bit

In a full game with 16/16 people in TF2, I'll only get around 60 fps when there's say, 5 or so people on screen. It'll dip below to 40ish if there's more people/terrain being rendered, which is odd for such an old game, and my super old 5730M ran the game about equivalent to how it's running now. Also, this issue is completely independent of the graphics settings I'm in. I can be playing with everything cranked up, or I can be using a special config to set the graphics below low, and the frame rate is essentially equal in both cases.

In Vindictus, the problem is the same, but on a larger scale. Even on the absolute lowest settings, if there's more than 4 people on screen, or a few pots breaking, I get around 20 FPS. However, I can crank everything up to max and with 4 people on screen, I get 20 FPS still.

For some reason, my GPU %usage is only around 20%, and my CPU is around 70% for both games, while in "demanding" games, the GPU and CPU %usage is much higher. I have no idea what's causing this. I've scoured many different forums and tried many different things, so here's to hoping someone has fixed this issue before.

So far, I've:
- Restarted
- Monitored temps (CPU and GPU never go above 65 C)
- Re-installed 14.4 mobility drivers
- Changed AMD CCC settings, made profiles for each game (followed some suggestions in a steam post)
- Disabled AMD CCC
- Re-installed (Only Vindictus)
- UCing, OCing, and undervolting GPU using Afterburner
- Set launch options in steam (-threads 4 for my i7, I originally thought it was a CPU issue)
- Double checked power settings (everything is on max performance)

I haven't uninstalled CCC yet, but I'm wondering if that will fix anything.

Let me know if you have any suggestions, or have experienced anything like this before.

Thanks in advance!

 

Get MSI afterburner and monitor in on screen display the gpu usage, and cpu usage(max usage on a single core and ma usage across all cores). The game may stress a single core of the cpu too much and it causes stuttering, at least this happened to me in a few games. You would see from the 'on screen display' that the gpu usage will drop at the exact time that the max cpu usage of a single core goes to 90,100. Hope you figure it out.

 

This looks like standard CPU bottlenecking. The old first gen QM's are clocked super low. By today's standards their low clock speeds do NOT scale well at all when paired with a powerful GPU. If you CPU is reaching sustained usage of 70% in 2 game and even higher in other games it is time you upgrade to an XM.

The 920XM is capable of achieving with minimal effort about twice the performance of your 740QM(3.2-3.3ghz across all cores vs 1.86ghz). I have managed to push it to even greater levels (3.76ghz across all cores) with a voltmod but that isn't for faint of heart. My advice get rid of the QM it is holding you back big time! Even my chip at 3.73-3.86ghz across all cores is pushed fairly hard at times in wolfenstein new order a new game!

 

I knew it had to do with the CPU. Money's a tad on the tight side right now (thanks, college), but at some point I'll definitely go for a 920XM and let you all know if my problems are fixed.

Would a 920XM at stock speeds fix the problem? Or would it require a tid bit of overvolting/overclocking to get it working right?

I'm at work right now, but I'll check my CPU usage more exactly when I get back home to see if they hit in the upper echelon of >70%.

Also, would it make sense for this problem to occur only in less demanding games? And not like Skyrim or anything? It still confuses me that the only games I'm seeing this in are relatively old Source games.

 

anything over 60% constant cpu usage is time to think about upgrading cpu if possible.
as I had the 720QM in this system till I upgraded to 920xm, believe me it makes a very big difference !

 

I don't think it will fix the problem at stock, but it overclocks really easy with throttlestop(at the push of a button).
I think those "less demanding" games are actually more demanding on a single core, that could be the problem.

 

Alright, good to know. I would imagine at least most of the problem would be solved even at stock clocks, since this CPU is pretty slow.

I'm also going to try some OCing on my current CPU to see what sort of clock speeds I can get, and see if that will help the problem a little. I just don't want to hit the M15x's power limit and run into voltage problems.

I do have a 240W adapter hooked up to my laptop though, so maybe if I take the battery out I wouldn't run into voltage problems.

I'll update this later.

 

You can't use throttlestop to oc your current cpu though. I think the only way would be with setFsb or something similar, but personally I don't like, I fried the motherboard of my girlfriends hp laptop with it .
You can leave the battery plugged in, it doesn't matter. The only voltage problems you may ever see is some cpu throttling, but that won't happen on your current cpu,

 

Yep, I tried to OC it the other day and realized it wouldn't work. Oh well.

Also I did check out my CPU usage on both Vindictus and TF2, it seems that it's highest when objects are loading in, and hits 80-90% on all cores when loading a lot of info, so it sounds like that's my issue.

Thanks all for your help! Now just to save up and get a 920XM

 

That should do the trick.

 

The longevity of the m15x just simply amazes me. I want one just to play with it. :thumbsup:

 

Alrighty, so I figured I should give an update on the current situation.

I've gotten my hands on a 920xm and installed it, and the problem seems to mostly be gone. It isn't completely gone, but it still occurs slightly.

I'm dabbling in some cautious OCing, and I was wondering what some of you with 7970m/920xm setups are using for your throttlestop/MSI afterburner settings. Currently I've got throttlestop forcing turbomode for my 920xm, and the ratio limits up to 25/24/23/23, but I'm really not seeing that much of a difference. The built-in benchmarking is hovering around 17.5 seconds, with or without OCing.

I have basically no experience OCing, so I wouldn't doubt it if my settings make no sense.

Also my 7970m is running at stock clocks and voltage.

Thoughts?

 

Have you adjusted the tdp settings? You have to increase it when you up the multi. If your cooling is clean you should be able to manage 27/26/24/24. However even your oc makes a BIG difference vs stock clocks. Clearly your chip is throttling.

Check out the throttlestop guide then you will get the most out of your CPU.

Personally I run 29/29/28/28 but I have the chip over volted and have modified the cooling substantially the thing flies

 

Temperature so far has been a complete non-issue. The highest I've seen was during a TS benchmark and was 72

Default TDP seems to be 62 W. I don't want to fry my brand new CPU so I'm pretty hesitant about changing things

Anyone have some recommendations for TDP if I were to run at 27/26/24/24?

 

You won't fry anything. I have the 920xm overvolted and it doesn't skip a beat.

Increase the tdp to 95 (tdc changes don't affect anything so you can leave that) and your performance will be up. At 62 tdp the 920xm will throttle down to max 19-20x multi across all cores. Expect temps to reach 80-85C on stock cooling but performance gets a very nice boost.

Again these temps won't damage anything. I have done video encoding at 25x 100% load for 12 hours at a time with temps at 95C on stock cooling. That was 2 years ago. Now I have overvolted it and it is still alive.
If you hit 100C though the chip will auto throttle down on whichever core reaches that temp meaning performance will drop. Keep temps under 100C.

 

I was being throttled when I set the O.C. to 3.2Ghz. It was fluctuating from 2.7-3.1Ghz and I didn't know why. I tried reading the TS guide, but it confused me lol. So I read this thread and decided to increase the TDP settings from the default 62W to 67W and now it does not throttle anymore! I don't think I need more power than that because temps are around 74-76C @ 3.2Ghz on all cores. If I use any lower TDP than 67W, I noticed it was being throttled.

 

Awesome, I'll give it a go. Thanks for all your help! It's awesome to finally be playing games as they're meant to be played

 

Don't worry too much about TDP. I wanted to run a benchmark at x27 across all cores and just went for 200 TDP 200 TDC. Only way to ensure no throttling at those high multipliers.
You may think that 67W isn't throttling but try running prime95 for more than 5 minutes and I bet FID dips occasionally. Not overly worrying as games will never tax threads like prime95 but still, might affect benchmark results.

 

I got what you are saying. Thanks for the info. I wanted to try seeing if my system was stable under 27x on 4 cores. So I set the TDP to 75W and noticed it dipped once in a while. I bumped it up to 80W and didn't notice any dips as of yet. Temps are staying under 80C and in using OCCT for 45 mins so far...no errors. I think I may keep it at 27/27/28/28.

 

Wow! Are you able to run prime95 or any kind of benchmark with x28 on one or two cores? That is impressive. x28 is a no go for me, just blue screens. x27 has been achievable on all four cores but not totally stable and not always achievable.
Try setting 200/200 to ensure you aren't throttling.

 

I actually tested 27x on all 4 cores on OCCT and fell asleep for 4 hours. It has not given me an error or stopped. As far as 28x on 2 cores, It throttles down even with 200W TDP. I had to adjust it to 29x for it to reach 28x. I am testing it now and so far no errors yet. I am using a 210W PSU with the L-shaped adapter, so it SHOULD have enough power.

 

I want your cpu! 1x multi lower than me and getting only 80C in a stress test

You must have some crazy well binned chip! If it is stable at 27/28 please try 28/29x I really want to see what your chip can do! My chip basically sucks in comparison.

In games alone I can see in the 90sC during this summer at 28/29x

 

Okay, I am testing Prime95 now on 27x 4 cores. it seems to be a little hotter in the house today than yesterday. I am seeing temps around 82C. I have fans blowing on the cpu area, If i turn them lower it can hit 84-86C It has been 10+ minutes so far and no errors. I will let it rip for an hour or so to see if it's stable.

 

Okay ambient temps dropped during the day so after an hr and a half, temps dropped to 79C on Prime95. This is at 27x on 4 cores. No error yet. I tried to increase to 28x and it BSOD's in less than a minute. I'm thinking it needs a volt mod to push it further than 27x. I will let it run at 27x for a few hours just to be sure it is stable.

This is with fans blowing high speed on the bottom and sides of the laptop. I will now test with the fans set to low. Let's see the result.

 

Wow that is incredible! Without voltmod in Prime 95 the max I could do was 24x! At 25x it was nearly stable but core 2 would always throw up an error after a few minutes and halt with the other cores continuing. 26x would usually result in immediate errors or even BSOD.

Now 28x is fully stable and I could push it to 29x with a better PSU I believe. Considering this I believe your chip with a simililar mod could probably reach 30x and remain fairly stable!

 

I let it rip for over 2 hours after it BSOD from setting it to 28x and this is the result. The ambient temps dropped a bit more because it's later in the evening. Take a look at the temps!

What would be required to do the volt mod? Would I be able to reverse the changes? If it is irreversible, then I won't want to do it. I'm so happy that this chip can take 27x on all cores. I will test 28x on 1-2 cores tomorrow with Prime95 and see where it goes.

 

Not irreversible at all. Type into google. 920xm voltmod. The first link should be this one
Pushing an i7 920xm to new levels by increasing the CPU core voltage

You will need a voltmeter and some steady hands. A magnifying glass also helps. The good thing is you only ground one pin to another with a thin metal wire. The wire can be removed easily.

 

Other than lower temps, that's similar to my experiences. Like I said, x28 causes BSOD even if I set it for one core. x27 on four cores has been stable in the past but its far too hot here in Spain to attempt to run anymore benchmarks (ambient 30 degrees). Like I said earlier prime95 is an unrealistic load so gaming is much lighter, hopefully meaning those high overclocks will be stable for long gaming sessions.

What's your ambient temp milk?

Sent from my One S using Tapatalk

 

It must be pretty low!

 

8 degrees?

Sent from my One S using Tapatalk

 

I can't set my multi for 1-2 cores to 28x. It gets throttled. I have to set it to 29x for it to hit 28x. And on 1-2 cores it actually does not crash or blue screen on OCCT. I do realize that usage won't be the same in gaming so I just want to make sure max temps won't go very high. Ambient temps can range depending on the day. I see it vary from 21C-29C. It looks like it is a lot of work for the volt mod with a lot of risk, I will decide on maybe doing it later on.

 

Do you have any 3DMark11 or 3DMark 2013 or Passmark - CPU Mark benchmark scores when you run these high multipliers?

 

I can run it tomorrow. I just came off a 10 hr work shift. :/ I will load the latest version of passmark To test. I will keep you guys updated.

 

Passmark 8.0 CPU all tests hit 6382. My chip beats an Intel Core i7-920 desktop chip. comes semi close to the 3720QM.

 

And what core multiplier and TDP/TDC settings was this score achieved at?

 

It was at 27/27/29/29 and 200/200W. Keep in mind that the CPU doesn't hit 29x on 1-2 cores. It hits a little over 28x. If I set the mp to 28x, it throttles to a little more than 27x but not quite at 28x.

 

Something must be wrong, no 920xm on Earth is able to reach that multiplier without an overvolt.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Yeh something is wrong. You should easily hit over 4k in passmark at x27. I've hit 6420 CPUmark at x27 on all cores on my 940xm at 200/200. But it won't always run the full benchmark before blue-screening.

Try running cpumark a few times and make a throttle stop log to see what the CPU is doing.

Sent from my One S using Tapatalk

 

Okay I ran another passmark today and it got these results:

6475
6497
6450
5825
5843

I waited a little bit and reran the test and got 6493.

This is with the multi's set to 27x on 3-4 cores and ~28x on 1-2 cores. I had to set the multi on 1-2 cores to 29x for it to reach ~28x. If I set the multi to 28x, it will throttle at a little above 27x. I have TDP set at 200/200. What could be wrong?

 

I think you're the only person in the whole history of the 920xm to be able to run x27 on four cores without an overvolt, that's all. Consider yourself lucky I guess

 

Yeah thanks! I guess this makes up for the batch of AMD CPU's I got over the years. I was only able to get a 200Mhz OC...even with an unlocked multi lmao. Honestly, my laptop is getting more use than my desktop. Need for speed wooo hahaha. I'm curious to see how far my cpu would go, but I'm afraid to overvolt it. It does look like it's easy to do, I just don't want to mess anything up.

 

Im about to buy a 7970m for my m15x, what im getting from this thread as I browsed over it was that to run the 7970m you NEED a 920XM or 940XM. If you do not, the CPU will throttle and the performance will be worst than before.

Sound about right?

 

No. FPS will go up, but the bottleneck will not be the video card, it will be the cpu.
I had for a while gtx 780M with i7 740QM and had good fps, even if the cpu was an obvious bottleneck.