Manually Adjusting CPU Power States.

Hi, guys!

So I've noticed that while playing any of my games, my fps will go from a nice 55-60 to a horrible 10-12. This will happen for a few seconds, and then it will jump back up to 55-60, then drop again, etc. First, I tampered a bit with my system configuration to make sure that I didn't have any programs running that I didn't need, changed my Windows 7 appearance to the old-school Windows classic, opened up my laptop to clean out the icky dust and doggy hairs, changed my power options to 'High performance', enabled Vsync, but the problem still persists.

Then I read somewhere that it could be possible to manually adjust your computer's CPU power states, and I was wondering if anyone knows how to do that on Windows 7, or if there's a program that would allow one to do that? From my (limited) understanding of power states, a CPU could drop from a p0 state (highest performance) to a p3 state (power saving) under heavy load. What I'd like to do is change the p3 settings (clock multiplier, voltage, etc.) to match the p0 state, and see if that solves the problem with the random fps drops.

I'm also open to any other suggestions anyone might have about this odd problem.

Thank you!


Laptop Specs:
Nyx 3712 (Clevo 370EM)
2x 680m GPU (SLI)
750GB Cache SATA Momentus XT
Solid State Hybrid Drive
Samsung 256GB 840 Pro SATA III SSD
(Big thanks to Mythlogic!)

 

I'm not sure about that bit, but I would mention to you that if you do this, the P3 state should never drop the clock multiplier and you'll be wasting a LOT of power and your battery life would be skewed. Theoretically, at least.

Also, I have never seen this issue with my machine, and our hardware is fairly similar. In fact, it's almost exactly the same, except that you have the higher-step model of your CPU's lineup and different hard drives set up.

 

Have you had a play with Throttlestop?

 

Thanks for the advice! I'll avoid tampering with the clock multiplier, I definitely don't want to cut my battery life short. That's also interesting that you've never had this problem, it leads me to believe that maybe the next step for me is to send my laptop in to a professional to take a look at it. At this point I'm starting to think that the issue might pertain to my laptop specifically. It's not a huge deal, the problem could be much worse, but those random fps drops are really annoying. Are you able to play all or most games on max/ultra settings with no problems?

Thanks! I'll definitely play around with Throttlestop once I get home from work.

 

Yes, I have, and I am a livestreamer too, so I put my CPU under far more load than you likely ever would. The closest I could think of is in Super SF4 and Ultra SF4, if I'm in windowed mode, sometimes the game will run like it's got microstutter issues... but the fps will be 60 constant. It just looks weird for a few seconds. BF4, Titanfall, CoD: BO1/BO2/Ghosts, Binding of Isaac, Arma 2/Operation Arrowhead/DayZ Epoch mod, Beat Hazard, CS:GO, Dark Souls 1 and 2, TES: Skyrim, FO: New Vegas, Nosgoth, Killing Floor, FF 7 and 8, Terraria, FTL: Faster Than Light... all of these games work just fine without issues.

You may need to RMA the machine, though I think if throttlestop does not work out for you, a quicker fix would be trying to reinstall your OS first. If that doesn't work, then RMA for certain. I'm dead certain your hardware is not supposed to be doing that.

 

Sounds good, I will try all of this, thank you! I hope it doesn't come to RMA, just in time for Archeage's early release this week But I'll have to do whatever it takes to fix my laptop. Thanks again!

 

go into your systen's bios and make sure CPU power saving mode isnt enabled

 

Oh thanks! Didn't even think about the bios - I will try this as well.