Guys Pls Help Me, Dell Xpsm1530 8600 Gt Problem

when i play games like need for speed undercover, left 4 dead, and gta 4, at first it goes smooth with good framerates, then after several minutes.. it suddenly lags like hell... the framerate drops to 10 frames per min or more depending on the game.... then after several minutes again, it goes back to a decent frame rate.. then again it lags after several minutes, and again, and again, and again.. waaa, wat seems to be the problem? guys how do i fix dis? is this the drivers? help me pls! i can't have fun playing anymore , any reply would be greatly appreciated

 

Hi there!

First a couple of things, what spec is your machine? Are you overclocking your card? Which drivers are you using?

If you are not into continually updating drivers, just get the latest ones from Dell; here.

Have you tried checking the temperatures of your system whilst gaming? A good program for this is HWMonitor. Post back and let us know.

There is a possibility your system is downclocking because of a thing called Powermizer, which basically makes your graphics card work less to save power. You can turn this off if you wish, there is a program to do this called Powermizer Switch.

Also you should check your current power plan, make sure it is set to high performance!

Hope this helps you

 

My specs are Intel Core 2 Duo T7500 2.20GHz and 3.00GB of ram, GeForce 8600 GT 256mb, den a 7200rpm hard disk, I changed my vista to xp for performance, but the performance is the same.. tnx for the whole bunch of info dude

 

wah it still lags dude, the video card temp is up at 86 when i play, is that ok? i turned powermizer off and rebooted before i played but still lags after a couple of minutes

 

this is the driver i use 174.31, its from udi's xp driver pack, i also don't overclock my laptop

 

OK no problem!

Just out of interest though, do you have any other reason to use XP?

When I first received my system I was going to do the same, but Vista really is quite good for gaming, especially with new titles, I don’t think you will gain much from changing to XP. So my advice is to use Vista, as the majority of the M1530 community use this platform, so it will be easier for us to help you.

Also GTA 4 is quite an intensive game, so without overclocking I’m not sure it would be enjoyable on our systems. So it may be that there is nothing wrong with your setup, just the game is too demanding...

I’ve not tried it yet though so I cant really comment.

If you need anymore help just ask!

 

OK, just noticed your new posts.

What resolution etc. are you running the games at? It may be an idea to use lower settings...

Also, 86C is quite hot, have you tried raising the back of your laptop to decrease the temp. (try propping it up with a DVD case).

Unfortunately i don't have any of those games so I can’t really help you specifically with them.

Have you considered switching to Vista?

I know it would be a pain, but I don’t really know my way around XP, and since these are newer games I think they may run better.

If this is out of the question then I’m sure there will be someone else on NBR who could help!

 

It sounds alot like your graphics card is downclocking itself,
get a small program called GPU-Z, see what the clocks are when your framerates are good vs when your framerates are bad.

 

oh ya, how about left 4 dead? i run it so very well at 1024x728 resolution, but then i changed it to the lowest resolution possible at 800x600, and turned the graphics at all low, now it runs so fast, but still.. no matter how i lower the graphics, it still has this "laggy" time, it runs so good, but in a couple of minutes it lags and goes back to normal again, it goes simultaneously.. im planning to be back at vista also..

 

dseo80 how can i stop the downclocking? im downloading gpu z

 

tim, your GPU is oveheating, when it goes above 85 it starts to downclock to protect itself, that may be due to a defective video card, call dell and say you are having heat problems with your graphics card, they should send in a new motherboard. ( if you dont want to call them jus talk with them in dell tech chat)
This is the only solution, the problem can not be solved by software, ( you can also try to clean your vents by blowing compressed air into them)

best of luck!