M17x Graphic Problem

Hi all. I have spent the last few hours going through threads looking for solutions and trying them all out with no results.

Whenever I play a game, whether it be Heroes of Newerth, Empire Total War, or Aion, I will get great frame rates (120+) and then it will drop down to 5 or less randomly for about 5 seconds, then speed back up again. It continues on this pattern for the entire term of the game.

I have changed drivers to every version I can find. I ran tests on the temps of my processors (all max out at 60 c). I can't figure out what is wrong with this computer.

I bought the m17x for its graphical power and its letting me down with this sub par performance.

My specs:
Intel Quad Q9100 @ 2.26
6 GB RAM
Windows Vista Ultimate 64
Geforce GTX 260M SLI

Let me know if you need any further specs. I am desperate for some help. I already called dell and they told me to hit Function F7. That wasn't the problem either.

Thanks in advance,

Dax

 

I have no idea what causes this, but i get it too on my system. I just got my new copy of Windows 7 and i just finished a fresh install, installed up all my drivers then stuck Crysis in and was having the FPS dropout issue.

 

Check that Stealth mode is not enable, it's the far right button on the touch panel. I always check that when I get fps rate drops.

 

I checked stealth mode already. It's not on. I just played a few games of HoN and every 25-30 seconds the frames will drop to 1~5.

Could there be some kind of windows processing going on in the background that I can get rid of?

 

It's Vista. I get this constantly when playing games, and I have yet to narrow down the windows process, but I think it is has to do with how often windows checks to see if something has been plugged in to the USB ports. I have read articles over the past six months that say Vista checks USB ports at an alarming rate to make sure nothing has been plugged in, and that it uses an obscene amount of system resources to do so. Once upon a time I ran across a Windows tweak program on Cnet that disabled this feature--I have not looked hard for it again, but I am betting that disabling the USB port scan feature will get rid of the interruptions.

If you do happen to isolate the problem, please let me know. I really don't think it is your video card drivers. I was using a Nvidia nvs 160m (a card) whose performance increased almost twofold after the lastest driver update a few weeks ago, and the hiccups still remain. I am convinced it is Microsoft and not Nvidia.

I have an M15x coming in a couple of weeks with Windows 7, and I am curious to see if the problem remains in that OS. My bet? It doesn't.

 

Im running Windows 7 and i get the FPS dropouts so it hasent been fixed, if windows is the culprit.

 

I downloaded Vista Manager from CNET.com.

I ran and optimized vista per the instructions and all my FPS problems have gone away!

Here is a link to the program:

http://download.cnet.com/Vista-Manager/3000-18512_4-10607653.html?tag=mncol

Thanks to everyone for the responses. Hopefully this is a permanent solution.

-Dax

 

Take a look here, you're not alone:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=410440

 

Ok the stuttering is back.

Anymore ideas?

I have read through those posts already and tried those solutions.

 

I just installed Win 7 64-bit and noticed after playing WoW for about 15 minutes, my fps drop down to 6fps instead of the 100+ I was getting with just regular Vista 64-bit. So now I am in the same boat as you Daxtastic.

 

I just got my windows 7 64-bit upgrade from Dell. I installed it, got the 186.12 drivers for it as well.

The stutter still remains.

 

Damn! So why everybody got the same problem? Can anyone tell exactly what's happening? Because of Windows? Drivers? Bad M17x design (this theory scares me)?

 

I think it's a software problem. I am going to look at it when I get home from work tonight.

 

I have read M17x Stutter thread. Now I am totally scare. It's hardware problem

 

I have never gotten this problem, until I installed win 7

 

Has anybody checked their temps?

 

Ran some temp tests. Neither card gets above 60 C.

Just played some Empire Total War. Stuttering has gotten unbearable.

 

It looks like you guys may be overclocking your processors?

Does the problem still occur when the processors are running at standard clocks?

I noticed my M17x was a bit more unstable when overclocking

 

hey guys i have had same deal and this is what i did to fix it for me. first off the game i played was call of duty 4, 5. if you have SLi, its a SLi problem know as the micro stutter. the way i fixed it was i turned off the anti aliasing IN GAME and it went away for the most part. if you do not use anti aliasing at all there shouldn't be anymore stuttering. the reason behind it is, some say that it is the SLi on the cards and the way the frames are processed. there is a thread on here that explains it. other reason is that the graphic memory is being filled up too. that will cause a slow down in frame rates as well. remember when you are playing a game you are ONLY USING a TOTAL of 1GB of VIDEO RAM from BOTH Cards

 

^^ I thought SLI means each card handle a half of every frame which means a, let say, GTX 260M 1GB in SLI does half the task a GTX 260 has to do in single mode. Is it correct?
I know the game will THINK that your system has only 1GB VRAM instead of 2GB but does it really mean it will USE only 1GB of VRAM? If you are correct then what is the point of SLI?

 

your right it splits it but you only really have a 1gb of video ram that is shared between the two cards

edit- the point of sli is to instead of one card doing all the work, it will share the work with the other card to take off the stress of the 1st card

 

^^ So its something like first we have a car that can carry maxmum 4 ppl but then we realize that using 2 cars so each car has to carry only 2 ppl will help alot more What about the other 512 FREE memory left?
Sorry I dont doubt you. I just dont understand and am confused about it.

 

basically 1Gb of memory is shared between two cards, while there is another 1Gb not being used.

 

the exact same data is loaded into both sets of memory, so effectively only 1gb being used, since there is only 1gb of data being stored

The frames are either split in two, each card taking one half (SFR) , or the cards render alternating complete frames (AFR)

SLI however is not the cause of the stuttering...use a desktop with SLI, no such problem exists

 

Are you guys with the stuttering issues all using quad cores? I have a dual core and SLI'd 280's and I have never had a stuttering issue.

Also have you tried disabling the integrated and hybrid features completely in the bios and running regular 'always on' SLI? This is how I have mine configured, so it may be worth a shot, I found my machine ran smoother and better without the hybrid and integrated running. It is easy enough to turn back on if it is not the culprit.

 

Well, not exactly. One card holds the data for the frame(s) it renders in it's 1GB, the other holds the data it renders in their own 1GB. Of course, most of the data is identical, as both cards need to load up the same textures and so on.

 

I have a quad core and a single 260M. When I was running Vista 64, I never had a problem, then I upgraded to Win 7 64 and started to get frame rate drops. I installed the 186.82 drivers last night, but didn't have it long enough to see if it still had the issue.

 

I had stutter problems too with Alienware Vista, I got rid of mine by buying an OEM Vista Ultimate 64bit and only installing the drivers, mine was defo down to the Aleinware Respawn 2.0 install, as for Windows 7 my son had this problem and turned off the event log service and no more slow downs....worth a try

 

i believe its something with the quad cores too. i will have it every once in a while. but in world in conflict dose not stutter at all. it might have to do with games that can only use two cores.

 

This is torture. Been lurking for sometime and I really, really want a M17x but these stutter issues has me very concerned that I'll just be wasting money.

Leaning towards M15x because of this.

 

Given that the M17/whitebook had the same problem (but exclusively with quad cores there) I am pretty sure it has to do with the quad cores, and probably some power saving feature is my guess, since the identical architecture in desktops does not suffer from these problems

 

So if it the quad cores are to blame, what is a viable solution to this problem?

I tried disabling the integrated and hybrid graphics in BIOS, but that somehow disables my WLAN card as well.

This computer is quickly becoming a problem for me.

 

I have just received my M17x today. First I experimented the stuttering problem in mp3 playback. I then followed BatBoy instruction (in first page and last page of M17x stutters thread) and I don't see stutter anymore in mp3 playback. I then tried COD4 and Crysis demo. So far no stuttering. I got SLI and Quad which are supposed to be the reason for stuttering. But not for me, anymore, so far.
Im still in Vista Home 64 and latest driver from nVidia website.

 

Come to think of it, I did start experiencing these stutters once I overclocked my Q9000. I'll try going back to factory settings.

 

Ok, I just ran 3dmark and scored 7735. I even noticed the "stuttering" during the 3dmark tests. The FPS would be at a steady 70 and then drop to 1 or 2 for about 10 secs before recovering.

Something just doesn't seem right. Looking through the forums I see people with the same system as myself scoring 13-17k. Something is obviously wrong.

System specs again:

Intel Core2 Quad CPU Q9100 @ 2.26GHz
6GB RAM
Nvidia Geforce GTX 260M X2
186.12 Graphic Drivers
Windows 7 64bit

Help!

 

that stuttering that you described is the same as I experienced. That low score is a result of the stuttering

 

Hey all,

I disabled integrated and hybrid graphics again. I then reran 3dmark and scored 11253. That's about a 4000 point improvement. During the test I only saw the graphics "stutter" once and that was during the dragon test.

I then loaded up Empire: Total War and got some stuttering and audio cracking during the intro movie.

What else can I do to eliminate this problem?

I already have command center, alienfx, aliensense, windows indexing, superfetch all disabled.

 

I would leave superfetch enabled. I did not disable that service. Its actually your friend. The slight stutter during the dragon sequence is normal (where the dragon is arcing over the top of the boat). I had it with my other system as well - XPS M1730.

 

When the dragon arches over and goes back into the water is always an fps drop. Same as in vantage where the crate with Jane nash on it falls in the water

 

Anyone tried the new graphics drivers from dell?

Are they any better?

 

It's not microstuttering. Microstuttering is where framerates are constantly changing, at a rate of a lot of times a second. This is a dramatic framerate drop for 5 seconds or so.

 

thank you for the correction

 

Well, I went back to stock settings, and everything is completely fine again when gaming.

 

This is getting depressing. I ran 3DMARK a few more times and my average score seems to be around 9.4k.

When I read through the 3DMARK site and look at all my scores it is telling me that my computer is just barely above the line they call "old out of date computers". High end computers (what I thought I was buying with this m17x) are scoring 13k or higher.

Do I have a hardware issue and do I need to spend 5+ hours on the phone with dell to get a new computer?

I feel like I wasted $3000 bucks.

-Dax

 

Don't get hung up on benchmarks. If it can play your games enjoy it.

 

What OS, graphics drivers are you using?

I recommend using dell's latest graphics drivers, and disable all the services Batboy have mentioned.

Dont bother with Win7 if you are using it now. You should score above 11k with Vista easily with the right drivers.

 

That's just it. It can't play my games well at all. Empire Total War has an almost constant stutter. Games like Heroes of Newerth or Aion run fine for 30 secs at 100+ FPS then drop to 1~5 for 10 secs and then repeat the cycle. It runs the game exactly like my old alienware laptop from 3 years ago.

I have tried every fix on these forums with no real lasting results.

OS: Windows 7 64-bit
Drivers: 186.82

 

Dax - I had the exact same problem bud. I was so frustrated. Do yourself a favor. Get rid of Win7, Put in Vista 64bit and point the drivers to the driver folder rather then run the installs except for the wireless, I had to run the install. I did that and my laptop is running 1000% times better. Don't run the Alienware Respawn. Wipe the drive and load it off of the disk. I also didn't install the OSD, Bluetooth or the Command Center. I don't know if any of them was the problem, but I don't care to have them. I also used all the current drivers off of the Dell site including the Display ones.

 

Or you could just assume something hardware related is not working properly and get your system replaced