M1530 getting laggier?

Hi guys, I'm new here. So about a year ago I bought a XPS M1530. It was pretty good to begin with. I remember playing COD4 without any lag or delay. After finishing COD4 and being bored with it, i stopped playing games in general. Now, about a month or two ago I decided to install L4D2 and SC2 Beta. During gameplay, there would be moments of complete smoothness but then random stutters and lag. It is rather annoying. I am not quite sure what is causing this problem. I guess it might be the graphics card. I have tried reinstalling the graphics driver and even downgrading it, but it doesn't seem to work. I am also afraid to try to fix this on my own since i am not good with computers. Someone please help. Thanks.

 

Could be down to a dirt in the fan assembly or the thermal paste gradually breaking down.

I changed my thermal paste a few days ago and my temperatures dropped by over 10C, therefore the laptop doesn't doesn't get too hot and throttles back. When doing this I also cleaned out the fan assembly, about 1/3 of it was clogged!

 

oh thanks for the advice, I think I'm going to go clean it out right now and see if there are any differences. Thanks.

 

I have cleaned out the fan and got rid of all the dust that I could. The problem is still there. Anyone have any other ideas? thanks.

 

How hot is ur GPU and CPU getting cuz it sounds like your system is throttling to bring the heat down

 

Sorry, but i'm new at this.. how can i check?

 

You can download a program like HMonitor from cnet to check your temps.