Game jams, lags

Hi, I just bought a new BenQ Joybook s42 about a month ago, that has a GeForce 9600m GT 256 MB graphic card. My ram is 2X2 gigs, so 4.00 gig. I'm running Windows Vista. However, when I try playing a couple of newer games, it lags something crazy.

The games I installed so far were:
1)Icewind Dale: Old, and could play on Vista! I was surprised. It worked fine. But then it should.
2)Spore: Occasional lag, but otherwise smooth play the whole way.
3)Sims 2: Quite a lot of lag. If I zoom in really close, the lag lessens. But just a bit further out and the lag increases.
4)Last Remnant: The starting movie was fine, and then the fight scene came on after a looong wait, and you could count the frames as it moved really slow. It was pretty bad.

So I'm wondering now, is it my device driver? Or what? I bought this laptop so that I could play games like these enjoyably, but they're all dying. Please help!!! I can't figure out what's wrong. If someone could help me I'd really appreciate it. =)

 

Download HWMonitor, GPU-z (type the names in google; probably one of the first results) and open them; HWMonitor will tell you your computer's temperature and also record the highest temperature while the program is running and GPU-z will tell you your GPU's clock speed.

Leave the programs open in the background and run a game that demonstrates your problem.

If the temperatures hit something ridiculous, then your GPU is probably overheating and throttling.

 

What's your Nvidia driver version? Have you tried patching the games to latest version? Also, Is your OS updated to Service Pack 1?

 

Hi, thanks for your replies.

Namaiki: I downloaded the 2 programs as you directed. The hardware monitor recorded the ACPI temperature at 51 celcius before I turned on the game, and then at 54 celcius while it was running Last Remnant. So it only increased 3 celcius. I'm not sure if that is good or bad. As for the GPU-Z, I noticed something strange. Is it supposed to say that my computer has Nvidia Geforce 9600m GT? Because it doesn't. It says Mobile Intel(R) 4 Series Express Chipset Family @ Bus 0, Dev 2. What does that mean? I don't really get what the GPU is supposed to do or tell me. Is my computer not detecting my nvidia graphic card?

Zerojin: I don't know what my nvidia driver version is. I just installed the one from the driver cd BenQ packed with the laptop. I just bought Last Remnant, so I don't know about any patches. But for the Sims 2, which also lags, it is very up to date. My OS is service pack 1.

 

Try put your computer into high performance mode, if you don't know how, near the clock (in the bottom right hand of your screen), there's a picture of a battery, or a power cord and a battery; click that, and click 'High performance'.

Also, how about the other temperatures?

 

If your playing games on the battery they may perform less since the system clocks down to save power. To remedy this plug your laptop in, or as namaiki has stated, set your system to "high performance" or "gaming" modes.

 

intel mobile chipset? That doesnt sound right. go to start -> run, type in dxdiag and hit enter.

Click the display tab. See if that shows the 9600m GT. If that also shows intel mobile express whatever, then you may not have the 9600m GT...

 

At least for the Last Remnan game I went on their site and the recommended GPU is a Geforce 8800...So maybe try turning some settings down in game and see if that helps with your FPS. Good luck!

 

Hey thanks a lot everyone. It was the battery as namaiki and usapatriot said. I had some trouble finding the battery options (as it didn't appear in my launch bar), but got it in the end. So all's good and quick now. Thanks a lot for all your help! Really appreciate it!

 

Just a little FYI, you know that your BenQ S42 has hybrid GPU? There must be something to enable you to switch between integrated GPU and dedicated one, try check it out. Turn it to integrated GPU when you don't need the power of a dedicated one to save power.

And the latest DOX's 185.85 driver has hybrid GPU support(Provided you select it at the drop down box), try to get that for better performance. Be warned, only driver that support hybrid GPU will work on your notebook, so don't simply throw anything else at it.

 

Stick with stock for now, I get some random freezing with the Dox driver.

If the computer is plugged in and on balanced or on High Performance, then the nvidia GPU will be used. Fn+F10 is used for switching GPU manually.