Random lag spikes when gaming GTX780M (MSI GT70)

Hello, so um yeah, let's get straight to the point. Well, I've had this laptop for about half a year now and am quite happy with it. It does what I want it to do. However, over the course of this time I've run into some problems with it. The first one was where I used to get random BSODs. But I've managed to fix it by deleting the old drivers, reinstalling the other ones and then following this guide on their official site:

MSI USA - Online Technical Support FAQ

It's all good now but I'm having a different problem now. Once in a while, while gaming, I get random lag spikes. Say I'm playing Black Ops II maxed out (4xTXAA, no FXAA) and on average I'm getting like 70 frames I'd say. However, out of nowhere it sometimes may drop to like 15-20 frames. The worst I've had was below 10 or something. I've also had the same issue on Portal 2 and GTA IV so it's not just one game. And I wonder if there might be a way to get rid of this. Cause I've no clue what can be causing this issue.

Has any of you had similar stuff happening? I suppose it's not related only to this laptop but someone may have had something like this on desktops too. If so, has anyone been able to fix this issue? I'd be interested to know. Thanks in advance.

 

How... do you ONLY get 70fps on BO2 with 4x TXAA? I can get 90-100fps on that game with 16x CSAA if I force it to one card, and that's at stock. Are you using the modified vBIOS for your 780M? It sounds like your card is randomly throttling. I would suggest acquiring a second screen and running GPU-Z with the sensor page open and playing your games and checking your temps, core/memory speeds and utilization percentages when you get your lag spikes. Something is definitely wrong, but I want to rule out the card first.

 

70+ is just average I'd say, I think it can go up to 130s if I disable the frame rate cap but the lowest I had was 30s or something during high explosions. And I keep checking the temps while playing, yesterday I had 75-77 celsius. But GPU-Z reported usage as 100%. Not sure what else I can add. And I'm not sure if it's the modified one, how can I check?

 

If you did not flash the modified vBIOS yourself after purchasing your machine, your vBIOS is stock. I don't drop under 150 fps with SLI enabled in BO2 with 16x CSAA at 1080p with FXAA on and every single other setting as maxed as it can get, and I don't hit 100% util on each GPU. With single GPU, your min framerate should be somewhere around 75. Period. My cards aren't OC'd.

You want to see your core and memory SPEEDS in GPU-Z. 100% utilization of a 600MHz core is about equal to 70% utilization of a 850MHz core on the same card. If you're getting low framerates and framedrops with your GPU clocking 823MHz constant (your boost clock) then something is definitely wrong.

 

I believe the core clock drops to as low as 400-450MHz during those lag spikes. Just need to test things up a bit.

 

Okay. If it does, then that's your problem. You're essentially dropping to 1/2 performance though your utilization does not change. What you need to do is go over HERE and sign up and make 5 quality posts or become an elite member ($5) and then download and flash your vBIOS. That'll stop the throttling as long as you're not out of power.

That being said, you said you are using MSI, correct? Are you using your battery? Your battery should be there to add power to your game, as you probably have a 180W PSU. If your battery is not plugged in you are going to be power starved under load.

 

Yes, MSI GT70 Dragon Edition 2 specifically. And no, the battery is out, I'm only plugged into the outlet. But you said I should put the battery back in, yes?

Well, today I was playing like 5 hours straight w/ a cooling pad and haven't had any random frame drops. Had pretty much consistent frame rates. GPU-Z reported core/mem clocks @ 705/1248 at all times. Only thing I did was change NVIDIA settings to maximum performance mode.

In case, I do get those weird lags again, I'll consider flashing my vBIOS. So thanks for your response.

 

Yes, nvidia settings should be set to maximum. My old 260M throttled to 70%, took me over a year to notice and find that setting..

Someone can probably explain this better but your MSI is using the battery for extra power. Cool feature or workaround because of too weak PSU depending who you ask.

 

Yeah, I totally made up my mind now. I'll be flashing my GTX780M and always using battery when playing. I suppose I'll be getting better frame rates for sure and no throttling.

 

Yes, you need the battery in for the card to get enough power. MSI released 180W PSUs and added that "feature" for the cards that drew too much power. I suggest using your battery while plugged in and gaming.

Also, your card is supposed to run MINIMUM at 823/5000 with stock vBIOS unless you're thermal throttling. So 703 is definitely a throttle. The modified vBIOS will keep your card at 850/5000 normally.

 

Yeah, I always had the idea that my card was underpowered or something with those speeds lol

 

Well, I flashed the vBIOS of my 780M but now I'm unable to install the drivers for it. It says the installer cannot continue. What can I do?

In fact, this is what it looks like when I go to Device Manager (I uninstalled the drivers because my computer didn't detect them after the flash).



Should I flash back or what?

Edit: I did a system restore to a point before I deleted the graphic drivers but it still fails recognizing my GTX780M card. It says I have a VGA adapter even under GPU-Z. What can be?

 

See this



I used the vBIOS file that was provided for my card on the link you sent me. Any others I may use as that's probably why it didn't work or is there something else that needs to be done?

 

Wow, this is nuts! So I finally modified the .inf file by adding the 2 lines and was able to install the drivers and now the card is detected normally. However, in-game I have terrible performance! GPU-Z reports core and memory clock rates as low as 135-160Mhz!! Why's that? Should I revert back to my old vBIOS? I don't know why is this happening!

 

That's extremely weird... I think you should probably report this on that same techinferno thread. You'll find more help about the vBIOS there; I've never seen someone flash it and get the performance you are getting before.

 

Yes, and I indeed flash successfully. Then edited couple lines in the .inf file to install the drivers. All installed successfully. It's just when I tried to run a game the performance was terrible. Saints Row 3 only ran on 8 fps, COD4 on 15fps. I decided to revert back and now looking for more info on this.