Lenovo Ideapad Y580 not performing as well as it probably should

I recently purchased a Lenovo Ideapad Y580 (you know, just in case you didn't read the title). I'd be happy to give more information if necessary, but here's a few specs:

Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3610QM CPU @ 2.30GHz
RAM: 8GB
Video Card: GeForce GTX 660M

Anyways, everybody that I've talked to has said that it's a good laptop and should run most games. However, I still experience a decent amount of lag, even with games at their lowest settings. They're never any particularly high-end games like BL2 (that's a fairly graphics-intensive game, right?); for example, I just recently stopped playing Mass Effect 1 (at its lowest settings) due to the ridiculously annoying and very disruptive lag. I've tried the usual - closing out all other programs, defragmenting my hard drive, uninstalling programs I don't need, scanned for viruses - but the problem persists. Is there anything that could be causing this problem? Thanks.

P.S: I'm not sure whether this is relevant, but my laptop occasionally runs other programs pretty slowly. After starting up, everything is slow, laggy, and frequently not responding for the first few minutes. Even after that, when I'm navigating through folders, at random times it'll take upwards of a minute just to display all the files. It's not that much of a deal, but I'm certain it's not normal and could indicate the problem.

 

do you have MSI afterburner installed? check the GPU usage when it lags. also did you set those programs' performance to high in Nvidia toolbar (they might be running off the HD 4000)? what driver are you using?

 

check CPU speed (a old lenovo laptop of mine would stay at low speeds for some reason in games so i had to run throttlestop in the background)
check to make sure your nvidia GPU is being used and not the intel graphics card
i would also do a disk check. you may have a faulty harddrive.

 

check and see if your power management is downclocking things. for instance on my S15 if i have the fans set to silent or battery saver it severely downclocks my cps/gpu.

when you run a game try starting it by right clicking the icon and selecting the Nvidia GPU to run it.

 

Are your power profile settings set to maximum performance on A/C power? Perhaps your integrated graphics is kicking in for some reason.

Sounds like some other issue going on. You should have no problems running Mass Effect 3 at 1080p with that card, let alone the older games like ME1 and ME2.

 

With my Y580, I find that maybe 33% of games, I have to manually set to High-Performance GPU mode in the Nvidia settings. Otherwise it will stick me with the HD4000. Also on the Lenovo energy management software, I use dynamic graphics instead of just high performance.

 

Thanks for all your suggestions! I've been busy with exams, so I won't be able to run some of the tests you've suggested for a little bit (I may get a chance today, but I'm not sure), but I can probably answer some other questions off the top of my head.

I've had my power settings on "balanced" for a while. The two other options that seem promising are "High performance" (which I usually set my other computers to, I'm not really sure why I didn't have it set on this) and "Lenovo Dynamic Graphics." Will the latter option be the best choice, or will it do something like run the integrated graphics instead of the nvidia for some reason?

I'll check the CPU/GPU as soon as I get a chance. I'm fairly certain that it's running the nvidia, but I'm not sure how to tell. Do these screenshots tell anything? They're the most relevant thing I could find on the matter.



Also, I did some looking around, and I don't believe I have a faulty harddrive.

I had the preformance/quality thing you were referring to as "let the 3D application decide." I changed it to performance over quality, I'll see if that changes anything. As for the driver, directx 11? I'm not sure if that's what you're referring to.

 

i would choose performance instead of auto select. also the driver i am talking about is nvidia driver, which can be found if you click that "system information" at the bottom left of the screen you posted. try set the performance to high instead of balanced. lastly see if you can get MSI afterburner to check GPU usage

 

Driver version is 306.97. Will the "auto-select" option I chose run nvidia when I open up games? If not, how can I tell which video card is being used when running a game?

EDIT: Found another place where it said driver version is 9.18.13.697. Not sure which one is correct.

 

Yes, don't use balanced for gaming.

Set it to high performance and go through each individual high performance setting to make sure the setting is correct for running games on A/C.

 

I think its likely a nvidia gpu setting issue. I used to play Mass Effect 1 on an old MacBook in Bootcamp, 256MB memory Nvidia 9400 or something like that. If that old computer could run ME1 yours definitely should!

Definitely try running performance, not auto select. Also see what the default settings are. On my laptop, I always had the setting set to High Performance when plugged in.

 

Is there any drawback from my laptop using the nvidia video card all the time, as opposed to auto-select?

Sorry for asking, but are there any specific settings that I should look out for? I'm going through the settings, and I'm seeing a lot of "turning off the display" options, and not a lot of options that would seem relevant. Even with the options that pertain to performance, I'm not sure which ones I should be changing and which ones I shouldn't. I'd hate to ramp up an option that did nothing to improve gaming quality other than drain the battery faster. Thanks.

 

NVIDIA Optimus Driver Tutorial


Many reviews for your laptop model say the GTX 660m version has nvidia Optimus. From the above, it sounds like your unaware of how nvidia Optimus works. The linked video may be of some help.


You should also download a hardware monitoring program [HWmonitor or HWinfo], and tell us the temperatures of your laptop while you are gaming. This way we can check to see if your computer is "lagging" due to thermal throttling.

 

Have you tried starting the game by specifically selecting the Nvidia high performance graphics by right clicking the game icon and going through the menu?

took a screen shot to show ya what I mean.

 

Thanks for all your help. I made sure the game was running the nvidia video card, as well as turning up the battery power to high performance. I was getting 60-ish percent GPU usage most of the time (running ME1 at the lowest settings). It didn't lag quite as much; however, the core temperature was maxing out at around 92 C and my fan sounded like it was going into overdrive. I'm no expert, but it doesn't seem like this should be happening - it's not like I'm running anything ridiculously demanding.

 

Have you cleaned out the fans/vents recently? This could be why the GPU is running hot. A good rule of thumb is to blow out the vents/fans every month or so using compressed air. Be sure to stop the fans with a paper clip or something though, you can damage the fans or laptop!

 

Out of curiosity, what specs are you running mass effect 1 at? I know you said the lowest settings, but what resolution is that at?

Have you ever updated the drivers before?

 

Do you mean right here?



Would I just stick a paperclip through the grill and blow through it with some compressed air? How will I know when I've stuck the paperclip in far enough?

Resolution is at 1366x768. I just updated the drivers yesterday.

 

The idea is to have two different power settings profiles, one you intend to use when on battery, for example, either the "Balanced" or "Power Saver" mode with all the settings adjusted the way you want to preserve battery life, and then a second power options profile for use when you are on AC power and want to run demanding apps or games. I would not recommend playing games on battery, as either you will compromise performance, or the battery will die very quickly.

 

no dont stick paper clips in there. most of the time I use compressed air (caned air works). the best way to clean out the fan is to pop the back off so you have direct access and blow some air through the fan, this should be done every 4-6 months.

92C does seem a little hot, though the CPU can handle up to 102C if im not mistaken.

how long ago did you purchase your laptop?

 

92c sounds way above average for the Y580. Mine barely reaches 70c, and thats only very demanding games. It could be a number of things. Improper contact between the GPU and heatsink, too much dust and no ventilation, improperly applied thermal paste. The list goes on, but I hope you can figure out what the deal is. Especially at 768p, the gpu shouldn't be that strained.

EDIT: Just realized your CPU temp was 92c and not GPU? Either way, mine never goes above 70c.

 

I only just bought it about 5 months ago. I've tried propping it up a few inches more above the ground to provide extra circulation, but the temperature is still the same. I've been considering buying a cooling pad, but from what tinytop said, it wouldn't change the problem that there's something wrong with my laptop.

Just did some more measuring. At high performance, my CPU temperature maxes out at 62C without running any games.

 

62C idle is well above my 47C idle temps. Something is definitely going on with your cpu, and I would put my money on one of the 3 problems I posted before. If you aren't that computer savvy, I would just call support and get it repaired if you are still under warranty. If you want to try and give it a shot yourself, the Lenovo[Ideapad] forums should be able to lead you in the right direction.

 

yea sounds like either the thermal paste and or CPU fan is not doing its job or something is wrong with the actual CPU. call up lenovo and see what they say, might have some diagnostics software they want you to run before sending the laptop in.

 

Update: I cleaned out the fan and the vents. Didn't do anything to fix the problem, except now my games are running worse than ever. My FPS rarely goes into the double-digits when playing Mass Effect 1 (at the lowest settings as usual). I checked and it's running the nvidia video card, I have my battery on high performance, and the slider on the nvidia panel is on "performance." I'm probably going to call support and figure out what the deal is about the overheating, but I don't think they'll be able to diagnose the ridiculous lag.

 

Probably had too much dust accumulated within the unit. By blowing into the vent, you just crammed it even further into the fan. Blowing out your vents is a good thing, but if you let it go without a cleaning too long, then you have to manually open it and remove the dust.

But as you said, you need to call Lenovo Support. Good luck and keep us posted with any updates.

 

I've only had it for about five months. I didn't want to manually open it because I wasn't sure if that would void my warranty.

 

I understand. I was only pointing out that once a large portion of dust is accumulated within your unit, the only way to remove it is to open the laptop [which the Lenovo shop will do].
However, when you receive your laptop back from the shop, make sure you clean the vents at least once a month to prevent this issue in the future.

Good luck

 

Called them a few hours ago, they said they're going to take a look at it and see what they can do.

 

I just got my laptop back a few days ago. According to the piece of paper enclosed in the packaging, they had replaced the thermal unit, or something along those lines. I also picked up a cooling pad and am currently using it. However, my laptop is still running quite hot. It's currently idling at 50-55C, and it maxes out at 85-90C during gaming (again, nothing too graphics-intensive). I cleaned the vents, but to no avail. Is there anything else I can do?