Slow Performance - Problem with GeForce go 7600, processor, over heating?

I bought a new laptop from Cyberpowerpc.com in late May (see signature for specs) and expected it to be fairly powerful and capable of at least medium graphics settings with good fps on most current games. However, there have been some problems.

Day of Defeat: Source has some big performance issues. It works great for a few minutes on high graphics settings eventually dropping significantly in fps, even to an unplayable level (I'm talking 5-10). Now, this might be because of the connection I've been using while at a university over the summer. They force everyone connecting through the school to use Cisco Clean Access Agent and Windows Defender in order to protect the network, which sucks big time. I figure this might be the problem in reduced performance online, even though it could be related to something else.

I installed the FEAR single player demo to get a second opinion of sorts, and it's affected a little differently. With settings at high and 1024x768, the key word regarding the fps is inconsistent. It would be at 30+ for a time, then drop drastically to 10 over the course of a few minutes. I know this could easily be related to the environment within the game at the time and the high settings, but I had the same inconsistent performance using all medium settings, which I figure my computer can run. Performance differs from time to time quite a bit even in the same part of the game. Is everything functioning as it should in terms of hardware and drivers? Is the limiting factor my graphics card, a GeForce go 7600, or possibly the driver it came with (84.71)? I'm considering getting a more recent driver, but not quite sure about some details, for example on laptop2video.com I don't understand what an INF file is in relation to the driver. I'm frustrated because I think my system should be able to play these games, at least with all medium settings and 1024x768 resolution.

Something else I noticed was that the core temperature of my graphics card maxed out at 94 C, and is normally idle at between 60-70 C, which seems pretty hot. Are these numbers normal and could this be the reason for inconsistent performance? If a bad thing, how can I fix this? I've also read that the two processors could be the issue, and setting one to run for the game might help, but it didn't seem to do anything.

I appreciate all the help I can get and sorry for the novel.

 

The dual core processor should adjust to the game. I doubt it is the problem. 94 C is very hot, and it could be the problem, causing the incosistent FPS during gaming. Since you've recently bought the notebook, I can't see the problem being anything to do with a gather up of dust. Its a good idea to upgrade the drivers, as they could be causing problems, particularly, if the ones you currently have are old ones.

 

Could you provide a link to this notebook? If that Uniwill is the same as the Alienware m5550 (I have a feeling it is), then this is a problem due to overheating. Check out the Alienware forum for user feedback and also look at our cooling guide.

 

your card may be autooverclocked. turn that off/check it out by: right click desktop, nvidia displayl, laptop display, clock frequency settings