Micro-Stutters with 8600m GT

Hello,

I currently have a Dell XPS m1530 and is using the Dell Drivers for the video card (v.174). In some games, like GTA San Andreas, I get micro-stutters meaning that game plays smoothly then jumps slightly and so on. Its very annoying. I get the same issue in certain emulators like Fusion and MAME. For the emulator, setting the refresh rate 60.5 helps the problem for the emulators. Disabling V-Sync helps the stutters go away, but insane amount of tearing happens. I'm using Notebook Hardware Control and the PowerMizer switch for maximum performance. What should I do ?

Thanks

 

Do you run the games in administrator mode (assuming you have Vista)?

 

no.. I have XP

 

try enabling vsync AND triple buffering in the nvidia control panel.

 

Already done.. and as far as I know, triple buffering only works for OpenGL

 

Try setting ' maximum pre-rendered frames' in Nvidia control panel from 3 (default) to 5 or 6. When your mouse starts responding less accurate, lower it. This might smooth things out.

 

It helped a bit but still there... any other suggestions ?

 

I think I know exactly what you mean by 'micro-stutters'. It doesn't seem to be anything to do with FPS, because I can be chugging along at 100FPS in older games and still get a brief stutter for a frame or two. I also have 8600m GT. Are you running Vista?

My ideas for solutions: Graphics driver? Audo driver? Cleaning the vents (I reallllly need to do this at some point, had my laptop 9 months)? Anti-virus (I use avast!)? Background processes?

I also wonder whether this is Powermizer, for example, downclocking for a brief second and thus causing a slight 'skip' in between frames.

Any more information that you could give?

 

Do you get those stutters in other apps? It might be bacause your CPU jumps between SuperLFM and the other multipliers. Try downloading RMclock and disable SuperLFM. I had problems with iTunes stuttering... disabling SuperLFM did the trick for me

 

Hmmm I also get that iTunes stuttering. Funny thing is that I had the iTunes stuttering when I first got the laptop, then it disappeared, and now it's come back again. What is that SuperLFM anyway?

 

SuperLFM, is intel's super low frequency mode whereby the processor tries to drop to the lowest possible frequency (typically 800MHz) when the demand is not that high. At best it saves you battery life a little, at worst (and most common) it causes stuttering/freezing in applications. Setting your power profile to Performance should stop it, but Vista seems to have a hard time doing this properly (a bit hit or miss for me) so your only option to get rid of it using either a setting in the bios or rmclock.
iTunes is renowned for stuttering when the harddrive isn't too well optimized. Defrag it and see if you still get problems. I would highly recommend Perfect Disk (although you have to pay for it), failing that Defraggler works well for me too.
Drivers (nVidia specifically) can, and do, cause stuttering during gameplay. Try several different ones. No one can tell you what the best for your notebook is as there are just too many variables. The manufacturer can have a guess at what works best, but generally trial and error is the way to go. Head off to LaptopVideo2Go and have a try at several from each series. I would recommend drivers but again your notebook is setup differently to mine so what works for me won't necessarily work for you.

 

SuperLFM throttles down the FSB rather than the frequency as far as I know !? Anyway, it's a feature that is supposed to save battery-life.