G53SW-A1 FPS drop every few seconds when gaming on battery

Hi,

Recently replaced a G73SW with a G53SW-A1. The problem I am encountering is when playing any game - for example Fallout New Vegas or Portal 2 - on battery, I will get high framerate for about 5-10 seconds, then I will see a quick flicker or "flash" of black on the bottom third of the screen, then the FPS will drop to 10-20fps for about 5 seconds, then the FPS will go up to 30fps for about 10 seconds, then the same flicker, and FPS drop to 10-20 again. This repeats forever.

I have disabled every power saving setting I know of (windows power options, nVidia control panel). I have tried Throttlestop, it did not help. I am fairly confident the GPU is the culprit, because MSI Afterburner shows the core, shader, and memory clocks all bottoming out when the FPS drops (they seem to be dropping to the values used by the GPU when it is in power saving mode). The GPU temp gets as high as 85C during gaming. I tried several nVidia drivers, none help.

I've come across other threads where users are encountering the same issue, but I have not found a solution. The issue is absent when connected to AC power, and most of the time I keep the notebook plugged in, but the odd time I like to play on battery for 30 minutes or so. I don't expect the same level of performance on battery as when plugged in, but I'm pretty sure it shouldn't be behaving like it is.

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

The drivers should be throttling the GPU when on battery. You are welcome to experiment with PowerMizer Manager, but I'd make a System Restore point first before proceeding.

PowerMizer Manager | Some More Bytes

 

Thanks for the advice. I tried it out. Unfortunately it did not fix the issue I was experiencing. Even tried disabling thermal slowdown.

Any other ideas?

 

The flash on the bottom side is a sign of driver crashing.
The fps drop you're experiencing should be the card that downclocks either to default speed or to low level 2d performance.
That's due to driver recovering itself.
Just a question,are you playing with an overclock profile or with stock clocks? G53sw doesn't let you have an oc when on battery just FYI. Just try with stock clocks.
Also are your temperatures good? What temp does the gpu gets when gaming on battery? Have you cleaned the vents from dust?

 

Thanks for the reply. I have not tried overclocking the GPU. I think tonight or tomorrow I will do a reinstall. Which GPU drivers are you using (assuming you don't have the same issue I do)?

Thanks!

 

I am very happy with 275.50 Beta

 

Just a quick followup:

Reinstalling the OS and drivers did not resolve this issue, however I have discovered that a combination of lowering the in-game visual settings and using Powermizer Manager to set the gpu to medium performance/power saving has resolved the issue to my satisfaction. It has also greatly improved the battery life when gaming. I would have thought the notebook would do all this automatically when on battery, rather than have the gpu try to run at nearly full blast, then throttle all the way down every few seconds.

Thank you to everyone who replied.

 

i seem have the same problem maybe you can help me please

 

Another follow-up. I think I have found a better solution for those experiencing this issue (and BoxKiD - I checked your Youtube video - that is the EXACT same issue I am experiencing on my system).

Anyway, my new solution (and try this AT YOUR OWN RISK) is to use MSI Afterburner when on battery. I do not use it to overclock, but rather to limit the max core/shader/memory clocks. After some trial and error, I found that setting core clock to 600, shader clock to 1200, and memory clock to 1000 seems to prevent the flicker and subsequent frame rate drop, while still providing acceptable performance (have to turn in-game detail settings down a few notches compared to when I'm on AC power, but I guess that is to be expected on battery). Setting these any higher causes the flicker/fps drop to reappear (for the memory clock, an extra 50MHz is all it takes to reintroduce the flickering).

Again, try this at your own risk. I'm not sure what effect this will have on battery longevity. When gaming with these settings my discharge rate according to Batterybar is about 60000 mW (mWH??), so battery would drain completely in just over 1 hour. I am unsure if this is a tolerable discharge rate or not.

When on AC, just turn off Afterburner, or reset to stock clocks. Of course, NEVER overclock this system when on battery. Just use Afterburner to REDUCE the max clock speeds as suggested above.

Let me know if this helps, BoxKid.

 

i too have toyed with msi after burner i had a few tiny results but still had a flicker, i will try your settings when i can , also ive been useing your power mizer manger and that had pretty good results too..

ive just noticed that in the screen resolution tab > advance button the GTX460m has 0 system video memory???

ive been reading somthing about that here (about keeping it at 1000) http://forum.notebookreview.com/asu...n-flicker-while-powerplay-changes-clocks.html

keep in touch
check page 2

 

update: msi after burner
Core Clock (MHz) = 675 "Default"
Shader Clock (MHz) = 1350 "Default"
Set: Memory Clock (MHz) to 1000 "Custom"

no screen flicker with those settings

Cons = having reset each time use decide to use ac or the fps dont go higher

so we need a prgramme where you can set the memory clock for each power mode ac/on ac/off .etc

any ideas?

(hope im helping)

 

I just created a couple profiles in MSI Afterburner. Since I rarely game on battery, that is convenient enough of a solution for me.

I am a bit concerned that you and I (and maybe 2 or 3 others I've seen on various forums) seem to be the only ones affected by this.

 

i think a RMA may solve the problem?... (i think somtimes i see a flicker when on battery im not sure tho maybe im just losing my mind)

dont think i can RMA as i tried remove the screws from my keyboard but rounded them but that shouldnt void it at all (in the end i just peels the foil back to get the crumbs out )

just a question is there meant 0 video memory

 

Just got a g53sw-a1 well its a awesome pc can max out deus ex hr. thing is this throttling issue I have tried running throttlestop and unchecking the option doesnt seem to make a difference in starcraft 2 checked unchecked if its unplugged it is stuttering.. very dissapointing

any fixes or anything yet?

 

Did you unlock BD PROCHOT in Options?

 

Yeah I went to options first unlocked it then checked unchecked and saved and closed throttlestop should I have it minimize and goto tray or close it either way it seems to do the same thing

It's not really a deal breaker this laptop is still a great machine just dissapointed that it does this