G1S-A1 Graphics issue

Hi all, this is my first post here, although I am not entirely new to these forums. I have 'lurked' for a few months now, and it was after reading numerous threads here that I decided to buy a G1S (was going to go for an Inspiron 1520 before hand) At any rate, I got the notebook and I love it.

A bit of background on the notebook:

Asus G1S-A1 (purchased from excaliberpc)
T7500/8600M GT w/ laptopvideo2go.com 169.01 drivers/3GB ram/160GB5400
sitting on a Tt iXoft cooling pad

-Running vista, tweaked according to this guide
-All bloatware has been removed, and only minimal programs are running at startup
-'Fixed' the CPU clocking issue with RMClock according to adolfotregosa's method.
-Modestly undervolted in RMClock 2.30.1 (6x@ 1.100V 11x@ 1.125v - stress tested for 40+ minutes and ran stable)
-Video card is OCed by RivaTuner to 490 Core 735 Memory (there is an issue here)

Known issues:
Video card clocking and temperatures:
In Rivatuner, I can set my core and memory clocks. And they do change. However, when I change the core clock, and then use the monitoring tool, I am getting ~35MHz more than what I set the clock to. (ie right now I have the core set to 490MHz, when I monitor it it is actually at 526 MHz, at stock clock of 475MHz, I am actually getting 512MHz in the monitor) The other issue is that if I leave the monitor going and check it after playing a game, I am getting temps of around 95 degrees, then as soon as I jump out or minimize, it drops to 86 or so within a second. As far as I am aware, most people are running far higher clocks at around 80-85 degrees.


Now that thats out of the way, the actual problem is this: Most all my games run very well at decent settings, giving consistantly high framerates. However, I have begun to notice that in certain situations in a couple of my games (namely BF2142 and Guild Wars), I will get some sort of lurching or stuttering action happening. Im pretty sure it is not the stuttering that people are experiencing due to sound drivers. I had already updated to the latest sound drivers on the Asus site, also the sound in game is not stuttering, just the visuals. The best way I can describe it is if I am walking in a straight line, it is almost as though the character pauses then quickly speeds up for a split second every second or so.

This does not happen all the time and I almost think I have it down to particle effects, but am not entirely certain. When I deliberately get as many particle effects to go off at once, I can almost immediately get the computer to do this, whereas it takes a while for it to happen otherwise. I can play some other games like TF2, BF2 and CS:S with no noticable problems so far, while they are also producing the same temperatures on the GPU. Another thing to note is that I am not getting any artifacts, and that if I look at my frame rate, it stays constant even through these 'lurching' moments.. or as far as I can asertain.


Has anyone else experienced this before, or have any clue on how to fix it?
Thanks for reading, and any help is much appreciated!

 

Took this from my post in another thread...

Hey hey,

I've had similar problems and have tried some things which have either solved the problem or made it less apparent.

First of all disable powermizer in the nvidia control panel. With the 169.x drivers powermizer has been known to cause problems.

Second, try and keep tripple buffering on in all of your games. This has made a huge difference in framerate. You can do this through d3doverrider which comes with rivatuner.

Also, refer to this thread and try some of the solutions.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=172717

Specifically I used the Negative LOD fix and Vsync Prerender Limit fixes.

Also make sure you don't have any of the infamous asus bloatware running cause that has been known to cause lots of skipping due to unnecessary hdd access. Defrag too.

Hope some of this helps.
Good luck.

 

If the above doesn't work, I would suggest reverting to stock drivers and clocks and verifying if the issues go away. If they do, then it's clearly software problems. Either way, this provides a useful baseline performance (also in framerates etc.)

On another note, you might want to check my ASUS+Vista optimization guide (See signature). For instance, ASUS Data Security Manager has stuttering issues on some notebooks -- although your issue seems to be GPU-related. Also there are some things in TopVistaTweaks that I do not advise.

 

Thanks for the suggestions. I did test everything out and it seemed to curtail the effect, but it will still happen under similar circumstances. No matter if the clocks are stock, higher or lower either.

 

That's a tad high. To be honest, I've used the Thermaltake iXSoft too, and to be honest, once it melts the crystals inside it the pad becomes soft, and blocks every last one of the air intakes on the bottom. I think a fan-based cooler would suit the G1S better. I returned my iXSoft pad.

 

I am experiencing exactly the same problems as your are! I couldn't have written the post better myself, really. Sad thing is, I don't know how to fix any of those issues. Would you mind updating the thread if you can sort out any of the above glitches? I'll do my best to find out something about that elsewhere and post it here if I can.

 

same thing over here . still got any suggestions?

 

I got rid of the iXoft pad and got a zalman cooler.. works alot better. It will keep the notebook cool for alot longer than the iXoft for sure. Sure is a hit to mobility though. At any rate, it seems to have curtailed the stuttering issue for the most part. But for extended gaming sessions, the core temperature will still eventually reach 96-97 for games like guild wars, and then the stuttering starts happening. (Albeit alot less of it than without the cooler) Im not sure that theres anything else to be done.

Im still clinging on to the hope that this is a software/driver issue and not a hardware one. Especially considering that it seems to be so common.

 

I'm having the exact same problem as you with my G1S. I'm still trying to figure out what's happening with mine, but I have a feeling it is software related, well at least I hope it is.

All I can tell you is, the problem does not seem to affect all drivers, and unfortunately the 169.xx drivers as great as they are (they finally fix a lot of bugs they had with the 8600M GT) they stutter. I've also had this happen with other drivers, but I can't give you the specific driver numbers (I forget lol).

I'm still unsure what causes it.. I've managed (but have no idea how) to get rid of it at least for one Vista session (until shutting down or restarting), but instead of it skipping when I overclock, it will actually crash the video drivers.. So either this is a issue with software, or something on a hardware level is harming it.. I think it might be a power issue, not temperature.

I'm getting a month off school soon, and I'm hoping to investigate this issue more, even if it means sending it off for repair.. This is obviously not supposed to happen. Whether it's common or not. It happens even if you don't overclock at all, it just takes longer to kick in.

 

Sometimes I see these problems. However, with a simple restart of the machine or the program itself typically fixes it for me...

 

im not too sure but how long have you used windows vista for? Theres a feature with vista that optimises your system depending on how you use it so maybe that could be the reason its slowing down sometimes? Ive noticed this too before with Counter Strike Source being the benchmark. First time i start it it'd give me 150 fps then running it again gives me 123ish fps on 1680x1050. Also does anyone know where the powermiser settings are in vista? I can't seem to find it on the nvidia control panel -.-;

 

I can't really confirm that it's got something to do with heat since my chip is around the 90s under load every time and I don't get that stuttering in CS-Source or UT when I'm playing on low details.

That stuttering is really a pest, especially since the new drivers seem to bring a lot of magic to the rather not-so-magic 8600M... I can run UT3 in mid to high detail on 1280x1024 at around 30-40FPS but thanks to that stuttering it's unplayable...

Edit: Dang yes, still looking for that powermiser thing. Unfortunately my windows is not in English so I couldn't find it so far...

Edit2:
Not sure about that but nVidia Powermizer is a technology that's intended for laptop GFX-cards only, hence I assume that you won't find it in the control panel of standard Forceware drivers but only in those specially made for laptops.

 

Heres a suggestion to you guys for temporary relief. I took the tape off the vents covering the CPU/GPU compartment, and am now running a strong notebook cooler that has fans, it curtails the effect for the most part.

 

That's good to hear, thanks for sharing. I noticed that the effect was gone in UT3 most of the time today and I don't have the slightes clue why. Doesn't seem to be temperature-related here though, since my GPU reached a peak of 106°C today.

What temperatures do you get that way?
Also (excuse the question), which one of the three panels covers the GPU-compartment?

 

The discussion on pulling the tape off of the CPU/GPU cover is here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=187525

The cover you want to pull off is the irregularly shaped one on the top right of the notebook if you flip it over and have the screen latch facing yourself.

Just a reminder that nobody is really sure if this would some how void your warranty. There is no stickers on the tape itself, so personally I dont see how it could. Still, perform the modification only at your own risk.

As for my temps specifically, w/o the cooler im looking at a constant 96 degrees under full load with occasional spikes to 97 degrees. This only happens in games like GW, BF2142 and CoD4 for me, most of my other games will only get the GPU to ~91 degrees and never actually stutter. With the cooling pad on, I see a more stable low 90s core temp, however it has still climbed to 96/97 given me very minor stuttering. Im going to perform a few more tests on it and see if I can get some more concrete results though.

 

Thanks for the input!
I just realised that I installed the new Realtek HD Audiodriver from the Asus homepage the day before yesterday. That might be the reason why there was no stuttering in UT yesterday. I'll make further observations but you might want to try disabling the sound chip or updating your drivers if nothing helped so far.

Edit:
Crap, the problem is back in all it's glory. Would have been to cool...

On a sidenote: removing the tapes got me a decrease of 10°C on GPU core temperature during gaming.