Frame rate issues and lackluster performance in general with 8600GT

I have an Asus G1S-A1 with an 256MB 8600M GT. And I get just plain worse performance that it seems like I should. Even at fairly low settings on TF2, at 1280x800 with medium textures, no AA, I get about 40 FPS at best; and on COD4 I get even worse. Also, no matter the game and settings, the game will randomly drop to 4-5 FPS occasionally for no real reason. It's Vista 32 bit with 2 gigs of RAM and a 2.2 Core Duo. When I see people with the same card post, they often get better performance than me with the same card at a higher FPS. Any ideas?

Drivers are 174.93 from laptopvideo2go.

 

I sort of had the same problems for a while, but then again i have two of those cards in my lappy.

If you do have 2 cards, enable SLI -- that helps. Alot.

Either way, right click your desktop and open NVidia control panel.

(i'm sure you've already done that but im trying to help)

i'll give you my settings, gets me between 60 and 100FPS on CoD4

Anisotropic filtering: Application controlled
Antialiasing gamma correction: on
Antialiasing mode: Enhance the application setting
Antialiasing setting: 4x
Antialiasing transparency: Multisampling
Force mipmaps: None
SLI Performance Mode: Force Alternate Frame Rendering(2)
Texture Filtering Quality: Quality(not High.)
Texture Filtering - Trilinear Optimization: On
Threaded Optimization: Auto
Triple Buffering: On
Vertical Sync: Use Application Setting


Hope that helps, thats how i tweaked my settings and in FPS's it boosted me about 50 frames.

Good luck!

 

I cannot find my Nvidia Control Panel since installing these drivers, it's just not there. Anywhere I can download it?

Searching for it doesn't bring it up and neither does right clicking the desktop.

 

Not that I know of.
Hm, heh, now i don't think I want to update my drivers.

Next best option is downloading nhance...

someone recommended it to me, and really its the same thing as the nvidia control panel with a few more options.

they use somewhat different terms than Nvidia CP, but i suppose it'll get the job done of tweaking your graphic settings.

PS- i havent actually used it yet, so i dont know how effective it is. im assuming it works though, since someone recommended it.

 

No. It's part of the driver package. Try re-installing the drivers, or try different ones. There are lots out there. Some work better than others for particular users. I personally prefer 174.12, these seem to help me no end with regard to stuttering and GPU max temps.

 

The 174.74 are pretty much the most stable drivers out there - with very good performance. Try installing those - so you'll know it isn't a driver issue.

Properly install the drivers:
1. Uninstall current driver
3. Reboot to safe mode
4. Run programs Driver Sweeper and CCcleaner (registry)
5. Then launch the installer for the new driver
7. Restart normally
8. You're done

 

For you maybe. I cannot run any drivers post 174.31 as I get really bad stuttering with the GPU clocks dropping during gameplay. I don't know why, I've reinstalled Vista, and tried many different things, I just cannot get them to run stably.
One thing to note, if you un-install your old drivers there will be quite a bit of them left in the registry, even using driver cleaner. These may cause instability issues, I found the under hkey_local_machine, software, controlSet002, control, class, {4D36E968-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}, 0000. There is also a load under ...ControlSet003, ControlSet004 and CurrentControlSet. I delete this lot as a matter of course now, when installing new drivers-Obviously done in safe mode.

 

So I went with 174.74 and did the CounterStrike Stress Test (I don't have 3DMark06 right now) and I got 74.40 FPS at 1400x990 with high everything and 8xMSAA; is this what I should be getting?

(Can't test in game since I'm at work right now )

 

have you checked to see if your card is GDDR2 or GDDR3..you can do this by getting GPU-Z and checking the clocks, for GDDR3 they should be:

475 702 905

 

I'm almost certain the Asus G1S-A1 is DDR3;

Riva Tuner gives me
475/950 with 700 memory clock.

 

Yeah that's the DDR3 version. I'll run the same test in CS:S with my DDR2 version of the card and see what I get, that should at least give some frame of comparison.

Or not, CS:S is crashed on me from some platform error.

 

This might be really stupid, but did you check if your power scheme is set to performance as opposed to power saver or balanced?

 

70 FPS is about right for your G1s at max settings at that rez. I have the same laptop, and I get around the same, it dips of course when in play with smoke or nades.

 

I'd read the sticky at the top of this forum and get the video drivers 175.16 from laptopvideo2go.com.

I never recommend forcing ANY video options in the Nvidia control panel. In almost every case this causes crashes, instability, and general wonkyness. Use the in-game settings.

Otherwise, you really should be expecting better performance, I get about 40-50FPS with all details max at 1440x900 on my Macbook Pro in TF2.

 

I get about 150~ fps at 475/700 under the video stress test with the same GPU. Even when underclocked I hit about 120 fps. It sounds more like the CPU is underclocked or something. 70~ fps for CS:S & 40~ fps in TF2 would sound about right if the CPU is downclocked.

Download some utility to check if your CPU is downclocked.

 

150 FPS? WTF? Your not running on the same resolutions here.

 

Damn...sorry. I just read the first post about running TF2 in 1280x800 and no AA, and assumed you did the same for CS:S too.

Anyway I ran it again according to your settings, 1440x900, all high, 8xMSAA and I got an average of 86.3 fps.

 

TF2 for whatever reason is very CPU dependent. Way to much CPU dependent. They have done something in the last few patches that has affected ALOT of players in a bad way.

 

What would I use to check if my CPU is underclocked? And my machine runs hot enough as is; should I bring it up to stock if it is?

Also, I'm still getting the frame drops occasionally.

 

So am I just completely screwed on this or what?

 

have you tried running games as administrator?

 

How would I do that through Steam?

Also, I get terrible performance in COD4 also, averaging like 30 FPS when someone on here benchmarked it with the same settings with a DDR2 version of the card and averaged 50-60.

 

Run 3dMark06, it's not a big download.

 

I just ran 3DMarkVantage and I got a P930, an error in the score, and it told me that I had an 8600 GS, which I know isn't true.

Installing 3DMark06 right now...

 

Well I just ran 3DMark06 and I've gotten like an 800 point drop since I got this machine; I got a 2954 which is horrible for an 8600GT. Also, 3DMark thinks the card is an 8600M GS and not a GT. What the HELL has happened?

 

3Dmark06 reads it wrong, mine is also read as a 8600M GS, if your laptop is playing up maybe you should return it and exchange it for another?

 

That isn't really an optimal answer.

Anyone have experience with Asus and what they do in this situation? There seems to be something wrong with the machine.

 

Yeah 3dMark06 reads them as the GS model, probably because of the notebook.

BlackYoshi,

That score doesn't help us much unless you tell us the sub-scores so we know what's under performing.

 

CLEAN Install of Vista + update driver and bios + use forceware 174.74 and run 3mark06. Before you run the test, go to your Nvidia control panel, which should be accessible by right clicking destop, and if it isnt, its under personalize:display settings, advance settings: geforce8600 tab:start Nvdia control panel. Make sure to set let application decide In Adjusting Image with Preview in your Nvidia panel and dont overclock the first time you run the test . Tell us the scores then, if its still low its definitely a hardware issue.

It'll also help us alot if you list your specific COD4 settings:

 

I really think this is a CPU issue not a GPU issue, but that's just a guess until he posts his 3dMark06 sub scores.

 

i don't think the cpu should be affecting frames THAT bad, and by googling asus g1s-a1 it showed the cpu being a T7500.

OP - try running steam as admin.

 

i have to agree with the clean vista install .... if nothing else works try it.. i have found at times that was the last resort and that was what ended up fixing the problems... just a thought, and yes please post the sub scores.

 

Subscores:
SM 2.0 - 1298
SM 3.0 - 1072
CPU - 1799

 

When I ran 3DMark again, it gave me 3122, which shows some wild inconsistencies in the scores and makes me think that it's a temperature issue with the processor or card throttling itself down. Also, this is at stock clock speeds for everything using 174.74 drivers.

 

Eh yeah GPU problem not CPU problem, although if you really do have a T7500, 1799 is a bit in the low end, I score in the 1840-1920 range, depending on what I have open.

]

That's with a decently overclocked DDR2 card, you should be scoring in that range or a bit higher stock.

 

Well looks like Asus has ****ed up for once and sent me a damaged notebook. How do they normally handle this?

 

Not necessarily, you haven't even tried reinstalling Windows, which is a lot easier than getting the whole system replaced. Take some GPU-Z screenshots prior to benchmarking, monitor your temps with HWMonitor while gaming, etc.

 

I do monitor the temps, it hovers around 95-100 with anything, which I was told is what that card does at stress.

I've had Windows reinstalled on here once before, and the performance never improved. The card has always underperformed, but now it's getting worse.

 

Ran 3DMark again with the tweaks in the first response and got a 2952 with
SMR2.0 - 1214
SMR 3.0- 1011
CPU - 1808

 

i think i would start fresh imo

 

I still say its probably drivers. I know its been mentioned before in this post, but try several different drivers, from the stock ones that came with your notebook to the more recent ones. Some work well for some people, whilst the same ones are crap for someone else. Computers are not like console's. They are all slightly different in their requirements as you have to take into account the software installed and the differing hardware requirements. I have spent a lot of time trying different drivers, on one particular day I went through 7 different sets from LaptopVideo2go, and have found that some work, others give me really bad performance. As I said a while back in this thread, anything past 174.31 gives me stuttering and general instability in games.

 

See but every driver I've been recommended has given me problems.

 

You should know by now that the stuttering issue of the 8600M GT is famous and pretty much uncurable...

 

This isn't a stuttering issues, this is a general complete lack of performance across the board; look at my 3DMark scores compared to anyone else's with the card; I'm scoring a thousand points less.

 

Hmm.
I'll probably repeat what everybody said , but:
-make sure you're plugged in
-make sure Vista is using High performance / xp using Always On
-make sure the drivers are installed correctly etc...

Follow the link in my sig for further details.

 

It's possible that you're being downclocked, 95-100 is freaking hot even if it's semi-expected.

 

But then why is everyone else not getting downclocked?

 

Most of these cards don't run that hot, even the XPS M1530 people are typically maxing in the 80's. I think only the C90 gets that hot.

 

Its just a twist of fortune friend. Its common these days for a manufacture to seriously screw up one part of your laptop assembly. Its across the board for every big manufacturer. Look at dell screens! Maybe its graphics cards for yours. Your warrenty should still be up right? the best thing is just to swap your laptop for another one. Better to start anew than to sit wondering why misfortune must fall on your head.

 

I get down clocked on all the 174 series post 174.31. And with all the 175 series drivers. I don't even get to 90C when it happens with these. Yet how mkany people "recommend" the 174.74, 175.16 etc? as I've said many times before, keep trying different drivers. Do the original drivers that came with the notebook make any difference? Do any change the overall performance? If all else fails send the thing back.