Am I completely buggered?

My problem is related to an Asus laptop, but I've chosen to post it here as the problem is more GPU related (and possibly other components).

Lately I've been getting terrible game performance. My laptop is an NS55SL with i7 CPU, Geforce 635m, 16Gb DDR2. It used to play games like Crysis in high settings. Now I'm struggling to play some of my favourites in the bare minimum settings. Arma 2 is one of those games.

I tried updating drivers but to no avail. I even did a fresh install of Windows today. I also noticed that audio distorts in games. Sometimes it's often, sometimes it's not. Even with an external soundcard with different set of drivers the audio pops, distorts and lags. Sometimes even in just a Skype call. It seems to distort more when under load (i.e. gaming)

I'm struggling to run any new games and run out of ideas. With a clean install of Windows and newest drivers for my hardware, I've come to the conclusion that my laptop is somehow damaged. I've not done any benchmarks, but I did run the Windows performance test thingy before I reformatted and the scores didn't change... But games are definitely slower. After my clean install, I do notice that boot up time is quicker. I thought that because my HD was full and loaded with garbage it affected how fast RAM could retrieve data from it.

Beginning to lose hope. It's Windows 7 64 bit installed currently. I want to play some games :'(

 

Also to elaborate a little. If I first load a game and get into a level, the framerate is smooth. As soon as something happens, such as firing a gun or moving units around, it turns into a slideshow and audio distortion gets worse (not restricted to any particular game).

I can run games that are 10 years old just fine though.

This laptop is so much worse than it used to be. So confused.

 

I know what it is, I had the same problem, if the temps are too hot the laptop will forcibly reduce the frequency of both the cpu and gpu, making game very slow, you need to clean the cooler and change the thermal paste

 

Hmmm that's a good point. There doesn't seem to be much dust obstructing airflow (can feel it flowing out the vent happily) but perhaps the thermal paste needs replacing (only after 2 and a half years? I've had laptops last longer than that!). I think I have some paste lying around somewhere.

 

some laptop thermal paste are of poor quality and because its way hotter than a desktop it decays a lot faster, you need to change every year, with good pastes you still need to change every 2 years or so.

 

Strange, I've gone through various laptops over the years and not had to change paste. Blowing dust has always been sufficient. Fingers crossed this does the trick! Cheers

 

ASUS laptops tend to do this. They'll break down and just not work correctly after some time. I've had a friend's laptop get tons of overheating-related shutdowns from anything beyond web browsing. Thermal paste changes, cleaning out the fans... none of it made a difference. If your thermal paste changing and fan cleanout chore is done (because it will be a chore to get at the components) and you STILL get performance throttle and such, the last resort is a Windows reinstall followed by just buying a new laptop.

I hope it clears up for you though!

 

download core temps, hwinfo64, gpu-z from link below and monitor your temps.

 

Are you sure your not confusing it with Acer? Sounds more like an Acer laptop to me with those symptons... My G73JH was a champ and never had to clean fans or repaste for 4 years...

 

Nope. ASUS ROG. I don't have the exact model off the top of my head though. But the two people I've personally known with an ASUS have both had cooling problems that only popped up after a year or so of owning the machines. I'm not doubting your model was good and served you faithfully, but from what I've seen users endure personally, I can't recommend ASUS. It's like how I never recommend the killer wireless cards, because they have a high enough chance to be "faulty" that it's a bit of a gamble to buy one, even though when they work they WORK.

 

The build quality of my ASUS NS55SL is terrible. Worst I've ever seen for a laptop at this price. I've had better built machines form Dell and Acer.

 

It sounds like your memory is very outdated. You're thinking of the pre-G73JH ROG models from '06-'09, which were your typical averagely-built shiny plastic & colorful LED's gaming notebook, and the later models had a tendency to severely overheat. But since ASUS drastically changed the industrial design starting with the G73JH, the ROG lineup has had great build quality and some of the best cooling on the market. Only shame are the proprietary GPUs, soldered CPUs, and difficult disassembly.

 

At least one of them was, you're right, but the second one (the one that was fixed by thermal paste re-application for the most part) still has no fan for its GPU (though it's a GT 540M) but is I believe a early 2011 model. It has a Sandy Bridge CPU on it. And I still hear many stories about non-working USB ports and such. I treat ASUS like I treat the Killer models: if it works it'll work great, but I'd rather not tell someone outright to get it and then it causes him/her problems.

 

I have a question what happened to asus laptops they used to make the best motherboards and be a top brand much like sony in the 90s and 80s. I had an asus laptop and his gpu could be failing, I recommend the oven bake ethod if its mxm or rma or selling it

 

Then it wasn't an ROG laptop. After the G73JH (early 2010), which was the last one with an AMD GPU, no ROG model has had a GT series Nvidia GPU. They have all been GTX.

 

2 and a half year????
You should clean your notebook inside vents, fans, PCB etc with pressurized air and repaste atleast once per year. Thats the minimum. Doesnt hurt you going over with the dust-off can 2x a year.

A clogged up system and a dried up paste will result in higher temps for the components and more fan noise

 

Well I do clean the dust every now and then. There wasn't much dust when I cleaned it today. Anyway, I replaced the paste with Arctic Silver 5.

Result? Laptop runs brilliantly now. All fixed

GPU runs at 70C when gaming (I think that's cooler than when it left the factor) and CPU reaches 85-90C (which is acceptable I think)

Thanks for the input guys!

 

Yup... I'm not surprised... Asus factory thermal paste is ... I bought my G73JH from Gentech and had it repasted with IC Diamond from them and even after 4 years, temps were reasonable...