A53SV-NH51 performance issues, heating up

I've only had this one for less than 2 months, but it's always had issues. For a while, certain games (Assassin's Creed II, Saints Row The Third, sometimes Mass Effect 2) had huge framerate drops (from around 60 fps to 10). And it came with a really unhealthy static sound. I unplugged the cooling fan underneath and plugged it into a wall socket instead. No more problems. But then, a week ago, the framerate drops (but not the static noise) came back, and became progressively worse until they lasted up to 7 seconds, as often as every 10 seconds for Saints Row specifically. Worse, the laptop now becomes noticeably hot after about 10 minutes. The GPU only says 70 degrees C under load and it's not shutting down, but that shouldn't be happening. It was incredibly sudden and was having framerate issues before the heat issues, so I don't even know what to do. I could send it back, but support hasn't been helpful this weekend.

 

It could be the nVidia Optimus driver switching between Intel HD Graphics and nVidia GPU.

You can check with nVidia 3D settings by going to nVidia Control panel > Manage 3D Settings > Program settings for force the game to use nVidia card.

If that doesn't solve the problem you can try update nVidia drivers.

 

I updated it. I have global setting set as Nvidia and specific games to use Nvidia. Still has issues.

Doesn't explain the heating up either.

I can't open it myself because that would probably void the warranty, but Asus has been completely useless. I don't want to be without a laptop for 3 weeks and them not to fix the problem or something.

Checked everything I could. Started Assassin's Creed II, went about 5 minutes just fine, as soon as I got the first framerate drop, I windowed it. GPU 60 degrees C, CPU 50-60 degrees C.

 

you can open it without voiding the warranty. it probably doesn't have any warranty tamper stickers in it.

I know you only had this for 2 months, but is your heatsink free of dust?

is your fan blowing full speed during games, as it should?

 

I don't think it's the temperature issue because I've seen higher temperatures.

It could be CPU throttling issue that when it's getting hot it down clocks.

Download CPU-Z and check to see if CPU down clocks to 1.2GHz:

CPUID - System & hardware benchmark, monitoring, reporting

 

i notice this issue as well with my k53sv-xp1. the framerates just drop at certain points,which dont seem to be at any specific points. i suspect throttling, but i am using throttlestop for my i5 at 2.0ghz and my tempts arent even going over 80c on the cpu...gpu is around 70-75c. gpu is overclocked and sandy bridges run hot, but these temps should not be throttling either gpu or cpu. really annoying, but it only happens maybe once or twice on my 3-4 hour gaming sprees. ive witnessed this issue with skyrim and bf3.

also on a side note, my laptop is heavily customized with cooling mods. the mods give me about 10-15c in temp drop...so id hate to see these running overclocked and gaming in mid summer with ambient temps in 30C's and humidity near 100%.

 

i highly doubt it since i set my gt 540 as dedicated when i game, both with setting the 540 to start on the program and with msi afterburner overclocking. also, it doesnt happen at the start, it happens at random times during gameplay.