9700M is WEAK

I bought the gaming laptop Acer Aspire 8930-7665 with the hopes of being able to play Star Trek Online. I knew it did not come with a high-end GPU, rather a high mid-range one, but I felt it would be adequate, It's not like I wanted to play Crysis anyway. The other benefits of the laptop was that it was 18 inches 16:9 and had a Quad-Core and was blu-ray. (The Quad-Core was kinda slow at 2Ghz)

But wow, the 9700M has been a disappointment. I no longer think the GPU will be sufficient to play Star Trek Online on anything but low settings and AA off.

The 9700M does not play Call of Duty: World at War on anything but low settings. If I try on medium or high or extra high then initially plays smooth and then lags.

Same with Far Cry 2. However, even on low sometimes it lags.

Left 4 Dead is only playable on low settings. Sometimes it lags up.

Battlefield 2 on highest settings gets laggy, on medium settings it's smooth. And that's a 2005 game!

I even played a 2003 game Elite Force II and it plays smooth on high settings but when it gets buys it lags up.

I had hopes it would be better than this. probably should have gotten the 9800M GTX.

But now that I am shopping for a new laptop I might as well go for the GTX 280M. I would like a 18 inch laptop again, but they are non except for the M980NU which is too expensive for me.

 

the 9700M GT is a good mid-range (128-bit)... but the 9700M GTS is high-end (256-bit) (very huge boost in performance compared to the GT).

 

Isn't the 9700m basically an overclocked 9600m? And I've heard raving reviews about that card?

Something ain't right man. Try updating your drivers from Nvidia's website or go to laptopvideo2go.com

 

Something is wrong, when I had my 1722 ID2 I played farcry 2 and COD 5 all on high with no lag at all.

 

That's what I think. Something is definitely wrong.

 

the 9700M is not very powerful but should be able to play those games you mentioned. Hell, it should handle mostly high settings on Lef4Dead at very good fps.

If you are experiencing decent performance then slows down, its probably downclocking-- check your clockspeeds and temps to see if its that. Try changing drivers as well.

In case you are in for a large powerful laptop, I heavily recommend Asus W90, since it is in the realm of 18.4 inch, 16:9 1080p, quad core very OCeable, and dual Ati Radeon HD4870.

 

I once had a laptop that had a 9700M GTS and that thing overclocked got 10K in 3Dmark2006 in 1280 x 800 !!!! I hope this helps. God Bless

 

How do I find a driver for my GPU? I have vista 64-bit...do I just download the latest drivers on the laptopvideo2go.com page? The 185.81?

I can't find any drivers on the Nvidia site.

Could this really be the reason for my low performance? I don't think I ever updated drivers but the Acer 7665 is a 2008 model.

 

Have you tried Dox 182.46, I was using that when I had my 1722 with the 9600m GT and it made a big diffrence..

 

Here's the download page on Nvidia's site. Click.

 

thanks everybody! I am downloading the latest drivers now. And I will let you all know if it changes the performance.

 

Also, just checking, it is plugged in, right?

 

Also, check the Windows Power Options. Once, I noticed my ATI mobility card is not performing up-to-par and had major lags, even when it was fine before, despite the laptop being plugged in and the setting on "High Performance".

The problem was that under ATI Graphics Power Setting in advanced power options, it was set to "Maximum Battery Life" and not "Maximum Performance".

 

If the new driver doesn't change anything, monitor your temps using HWmonitor so you can see the max temp of your gpu. And if you are looking for a good 18'4 inch laptop the Asus W90 is definitely a beast.. Dunno if the system locks issues have been resolved tho.

 

PROGRESS REPORT:
I have updated the latest drivers, and there was a dramatic improvement. I was able to play COD: World at War at Extra High settings. It was great..until after 3 minutes it began to lag up and slow down. It might have been that the GPU was overheating...is that possible?

Maybe Extra was too much for my GPU to handle. So I am going to try it again at High instead.

What about the Windows Power Options. Where do I access that? Maybe my GPU power settings are off...

 

Okay, now it's HWMonitor time. Let it run while you play COD, then, when it starts lagging, keep playing for another 5-10 minutes. Turn it off, and let us know the max on the GPU and CPU.

 

I had this card in my old laptop - Some of the cards have same issue as the 8x series - overheating. When I had the 9700m card it downclocked itself to 160 MHZ core speed when reaching 82 C!

I was very dissapointed, and I tried ALL kind of drivers - nothing worked. I also tried to disable powermizer.

It end up with I swapped it to a smaller PC and got the rest of the money back.

 

power settings should be a battery image in your tray(bottom right corner, right beside the clock)

 

Make sure your computer is not clocking down, reasons for it do so could be playing while unplugged, botched PowerMizer settings, and/or wrong power profile.

Also, how much RAM do you have?

 

I have 4GB RAM.

I tried playing COD at HIGH and it works but lags down after a few minutes.

I tried playing Left 4 Dead at High. and it worked for the first time since the drivers worked, but it lagged up too after a few minutes.

I checked the GPU and CPU heat and it never got above 40 50 or 60 to 70C. That should not be too hot.

My CPU or GPU Is obivously downclocking itself. After I exit the laggy games my computer is laggy for a few minutes then returns to normal.

How do I fix this. My computer is plugged in, and set to High Performance power settings.

 

Your GPU is downclocking, that is obvious. There are ways to disable powermizer, but I'm not sure how. This is what you want to do.

 

No, 9700M GT is good enough but acer laptop arent that good in terms of thermal cooling design...As you said that the initial play was great but then it started to lag because when any GPU in acer aspire gemstone series reaches a specific temparature the bios forces the GPU to underclock automatically..

I would suggest you to get your cooling system inside the laptop changed or your stck with what you have.........Even if you manage to put a 280M the lag issue will be thier in game play as the cooling design for GPU in acer isnt sufficient...Your not the first one to complain about this their are others also..

Best I would suggest try lifting your laptop to a hieght from below and see you will notice a smooth play in game without lag issues because at that point of time the GPU vents are not blocked and are open for some air as well as the CPU and Ram...

 

Or you could always get one of those notebook cooling pads.

 

try updating your drivers.the 9700m gt is plenty powerful

 

Acer Aspire 8930-7665 (quad core 2ghz and 9700M GT)

Problem: starts playing games like COD: WAW and Left4Dead at high settings, plays fine for a few minutes, then lags up. Once application is closed, computers is a little slow for a few minutes, then returns to normal. Temperatures are not too high, CPU in the 50s, and GPU is the 70s to 80s.

Solutions I've tried: I downloaded new Nvidia drivers, and that dramatically improved performance, but did not solve the lag problems. I changed Nvidia contorl panel settings from quality to performance. I tried to disable PowerMizer but could not find powermizer file.

It's clear I think that my problems is my CPU or GPU is downclocking itself. Is that correct? I don't know how to solve this problem. The 9700M should be able to play COD at high settings for much longer periods of time without any lag at all.

If I can't fix this problems. I have to return my Acer and get a new laptop, preferably a 280M laptop. Or I might just give up on gaming on a laptop go for a desktop. Much cheaper, though no portability, but more power.

 

The 9700m GPU should play games really nice - mine 9650m GT plays everything on high without AA
Bad laptop model design maybe ? - cooling system seems to be quite badly made in your model

 

Do me a favor - SWAP IT TO A ANOTHER COMPUTER.

I had the exact same problem with this model (Acer 8930g), and there are nothing to do. Its really weird, cause Acer 6930G with 9500m don't suffer from this problem.

I swapped it to a smaller computer and got the rest of the money back (I'm buying a deskop). If you are a gamer - buy a deskop computer.

Now I have Acer 6930 and I'm very happy. No overheating (Thank god!). And it's a bit funny, that this computer runs CoD4 and 5 better than the 9700m because my new computer doesn't overheat

 

Or he can try to get a cooling pad and it might fix the .... OVERHEATING issue

 

If he buys a cooling pad it's no longer a laptop. It's a portable deskop computer.

I used 4 months trying to fix this problem - No luck.

As I said, swap it.

 

well then you seem to know best, because you had a lot to do with this laptop ....or maybe he got the exact model you returned to the seller : D ?

 

sameet.... I merged your threads as they were on the same subject. Do not create multiple threads on the same topic in the future.

 

try automatic, my 9600m gs ran at 1080*1024 max, 4*AA, the 128bit cards really aren't too powerful.

lol, yes... update your drivers.

 

Yeah, maybe he did xD

I have actually made a thread about this computer for two months ago

 

what I can't understand is how the Acer 8930 could get good reviews with such a fundamental problem as a cooling issue. At notebookcheck.com it lists a 80% rating on the laptop from 12 major reviews.

Why didn't the professional reviewers note this when they played games on it to test it out? I did research on the laptop before buying it, and in no reviews did it mention a cooling issue and lag problems associated with overheating and downclocking. If they did, I for sure would not have purchased this laptop at all, since my major use of it was for games.

 

Welcome to the 21st century my friend/pal.....Reviewers are paid money most of the time to market the product the way they want it to be done....Also, how do we know in what circumtances they had done the gaming review.....May be they might have used a notebook cooling pad underneath to test all games......

Also, if you see on notebookcheck.com they always do mention a huge gap between min fps and max fps....

So, yea there is a bottom line......I have seen worst of worst laptops getting all cool reviews like aspire 6930G with 9300M GS getting a good review for both gaming and daily usage....I mean come on guys how can 9300M GS be considered in gaming?????????Thats a big question mark???

Its basically, the acer bios error thats causing the card to downclock...All, you need to do is either contact pheonix Technologys - for an updated error free bios flash that would solve the problem but other problem will come and would be the heat issue because of incompatible cooling system......You want a gaming machine go with HP, Dell & Alienware.....These are far far better then acer machines...in terms of gaming performance...

 

I did the same. Acer 8930g gets good reviews everywhere but when you get it it's like.. Hmmm. Like this smiley:

Aditja: The 9300m GS is actually quiet good for basic gaming

 

Thanks....Actually I used it as example because my laptop came with it and I got it changed from acer guys with 9600M GT GDDR3...........

Guys tell me one think honestly is acer aspire a fake laptop series for gaming because I have 6930G and I have witnessed lag issue in mine while game play.....even when acer says that my laptop should support fully 9600M GT...What can be the cause out here...Anyone with better solutions

 

Hmmm, I would not put HP on a list for gaming machines. Asus, MSI, and Gateway are ahead of them. Acer is about with HP in terms of selection (mid-range options only), but doesn't quite have the build quality.

I feel for the OP here, though. I don't think it's a review conspiracy as much as the reviews just didn't test extended gameplay, which is where the problem seems to be manifesting. They run their benchmarks and give the score.

 

It's really sad that Acer can't figure out to make a decent cooling-system.

My 6930 doesen't overheat though (I have the 9300m GS)

 

http://www.helpweaver.com/nvgpu/nvGPUpro.zip

Download NV GPU Pro. You can override your powermizer settings. This should help. Just be careful and watch your temps.

 

That probably a very bad idea. If my Acer has a cooling problem then overriding powermizer could lead to my laptop exploding in my face!

Nah, I've given up. Thankfully I got a refund for my Acer and I will be buying the new Clevo D900F

 

I agree with you and wish to god if thier are 100 others who just return this crap piece back to acer and make them feel how bad thier product is?

I would prefer a total humiliation to be made for such wanna be....Come on if you cant design a proper cooling system then just stick with integrated cards and not MXM.......Also, I am shocked that notebookcheck.com has all praises made about acer and didnt mention a single weakness also...I wondering how much were they paid by acer to write what they wanted.......Lairs

 

Or... the unit they received possibly didn't suffer the same issues...?

 

I'm sure you'll have much better luck with that d900F. I'm loving my 901c. No hardware problems at all, stays very cool. A few software problems, but those are mostly due to me tinkering with stuff a little too much and being inexperienced at it. I love this thing tho, <3 sager.