Getting very low fps and 3dmark scores

Hi all,

As the title indicates I am getting really poor performance from my graphics card. I have searched all over these web and I am stumped on what to do next. Here is some background on my system and what I have tried.

--SYSTEM--
Dell xps m1530
T9300 2.5 Ghz duo
8600m gt ddr3
4 gb ram

Bios A12
Nvidia 266.58 (Tried lots of different drivers all seemed similar)
All other drivers are updated.

I have had the 1530 for 3 years now. Last summer the gpu died and Dell fixed it. Haven't done much pc gaming but I recently bought the first Witcher and thats when I noticed the problem.

I am getting really low fps regardless of settings. All settings were at lowest with 1280 by 720 resolution. This got me 5 to 20 fps. I have seen posts by others with the same laptop getting 20-40 fps with all settings on high. After seeing this I got rivatuner, c/g-pu-z, 3dmark and others.

My 3dmark06 score came out to be roughly 2600. The avg benchmark for my system is around 4500. Also my cpu was getting up to 90 C under load while my gpu was reaching 100 C. After seeing this I set about lowering my temp. I took of back panel and used compressed air to clean it. Then I undervolted my cpu which helped a lot. My temp is averaging about 10-15 degrees lower. Currently I am idling at 52 C cpu and 74 C gpu. This got my score up to 3030 which is still way to low.

So does anyone have any ideas what the problem is? The witcher is 4 years old and its almost unplayable. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Tim

 

It can be a clocks issue.
If you can monitor the temperature, use something to monitor your gpu clocks.
Install MSI Afterburner and enable OSD to show clocks while in game.
I suspect that both gpu and cpu downclocks due to excessive heat.

You can try this:

- Install latest betas verde notebook, 275.27 (only if youre on windows vista/7)
- Go into nvidia control panel.
- Go under 3d settings
- Customize these options: "Single Display Mode" instead of multi
Then search for power options and select "prefer maximum performance" instead of adaptive

266.58 are too old and they have known problems.

 

Thanks for reply. I should have mentioned I tried both the 275 beta driver and the 270 release. I didn't see much of a change but I will reinstall 275.27.

Is Rivatuner accurate enough for the gpu clock? I ran that during 3d mark and It showed the right clock speeds but the gpu still got up to 96 C.

Made the changes in nvidia user control and scored around 3400 which is a nice improvement.

Any other suggestions?

 

Well its an heat issue afaik. 96c is too far much for any mobile gpu card, as the tjunction is 100°.

Prolly your system is throttling.
The only thing left to do is to reapply the thermal paste on both gpu and cpu. Now i dont have quite in mind the 1530 layout, but you should look for a disassembly guide.
If the gpu is easily accessible from the bottom, you need a good thermal paste like Arctic Cooling mx-4 or IC Diamond 7.
If you dont sort your temperature problem you mostly have this problem till it dies completely.

As for Rivatuner is fine, but its outdated and uses old processing hooks, better you unistall it and switch to MSI afterburner. Also dont forget to download gamebooster and keep it running in gaming mode, that should help increasing your score.

 

I ordered some thermal paste so I will apply that soon. Also I downloaded MSI and ran the kombuster test. The monitor showed my clock speeds were stable.

The GPU usage percentage though began at 99% then quickly dropped to like 49% for the rest of test. Is this normal or is it the source of my problem?

 

Try running ThrottleStop in monitoring mode. Check the Log File option and have a look at your log file when you are finished testing. There are two columns called CKMOD and CHIPM. These should both show 100.0 all of the time. If they are dropping down below that, you have a throttling problem. High GPU temperatures usually trigger this kind of CPU throttling. Fix your cooling and it might fix this problem. Post or send me a log file if you'd like me to have a look at it.

 

I downloaded ThrottleStop and ran a log file while playing witcher with all settings on high. I didn't play that long as my temp reached 101 on the gpu.

Both CKMOD and CHIPM remained at 100.0 the whole time. CO% was at 100 early on while playing then it dropped down to anywhere from 25 to 80 for the rest of the time. Whats your take on this?

Also my gpu was at 99% usage for the first half of gaming and around 50% for the second half.

 

Thats obvious isnt it. To make things easy, neither the cpu or gpu should drop. They should stay at 100% all the time.
When that happens thats throttling, thus performance degrade.
Also 101c is absurd, dont use your laptop for gaming if thats the temp youre reaching otherwise it will die in a matter of days.
Wait to repaste it, listen to me mate. Even because 8600m gt arent known for their long life, quite the opposite.

 

Your GPU is probably throttling. A GPU is not going to run properly when you are letting the GPU core temperature get up over 100C. Pull your laptop apart and clean out the GPU cooler and redo the thermal paste.

 

I applied NT-H1 thermal paste to both the cpu and gpu. Max temp while playing the witcher was 96 C which is a 5 degree drop in temp. Unfortunately the gpu down clocks at exactly 96 C.

So should I try and reapply the thermal paste? It was my first time and I don't know if I did it perfectly. Is a 5 C drop about what I should expect?

Any other ways to lower the temp? I was thinking about undervolting the gpu. Anyone have experience with this? Also what is the gpu cooler?