GPU problem

Hey guys,

Back with a problem with my hp dv6-7000.
While playing Borderlands 2, the gt 650m (2 gb gddr5) acts really strange!
When i play the game, it runs really smooth initially. I play on 1080p and high settings while the fps is around 50-60.
But after 1 minute i see a drop in GPU usage which lowers the fps ofcourse...
The usage % drops from 99 to 70-80. This occurs every time i play the game! When i open the menu/pause, the usage increases back to 99%. When i continue playing it drops back to 70-80..
While playing bf3 this also is the case, but not as bad as in BL2.. Instead, the usage% drops to 85%
While playing far cry 3 on high, there is no drop in usage, but the fps is pretty low (25-35fps)

At first, i thought the heat might be a problem, so i bought a notepal u3 to lower the temps.
It works really great for me and the temperatures never exceed 75 degrees celsius while playing Borderlands.
I also updated the driver for the graphics card. Worth mentioning: i did a slight overclock( +135 core clock and +501 memory clock via MSI afterburner).

Any idea's what the problem could be?

Greets,

Mistyque

 

It could be your Optimus settings, or your using your CPU as your physics processor? Try turning off Vsync. Do you get substantial FPS drops? If not, it could be just judging that the full GPU is not needed. I've been playing Alice Madness Returns (because of the Alice Otherlands kickstarter campaign Alice: Otherlands by American McGee — Kickstarter) it only ever uses 45% of my GPU; but I'm on the GTX 780M

 

I restored all nvidia related settings, since the problem wasn't there in the beginning, -> no results.
How can i check if my cpu is used as physics processor? vsync is off, as always.
And the drops are very annoying: >50 fps when playing on 99% and around 35 when playing at 70%... In heavy fights the fps can drop to 25
I want to get the best out of the games, so i prefer the smooth gameplay ofcourse

 

Due to the heavy drops in FPS I don't think its due to your physics setting. Anyway if you want to check its in Nvidia control panel under 3D settings and "set Physics configuration" Mine is Auto Detect by default, the other two options are the Nvidia GPU or your CPU.

You say you never exceed 75 C on Borderlands... I'm assuming you are talking GPU not CPU. There is a possibility that Your GPU is throttling when it hits 75 C. Run GPUz (or comparable program) while you game and record a log. See if your GPU % usage and clocks go down whenever you hit a certain Temp.

 

It is using the nvidia GPU, so that's not the problem.
While playing borderlands for a while my GPU maxed 77(average 75) and CPU 85C (average 80) but while playing Far cry 3 the temps are 5 degrees higher. So throttling at 75C seems strange to me.
To me, it looks like the GPU does not 'want' to run BL2 at 99%...

 

i just got gpuz and will test this afternoon

 

I made a log with GPU-z.
There does not seem to be any lowering of the clocks. It is always the same, no matter what temperature.
About the GPU usage, it seems like it's unrelated to heat: even when the gpu is 60C it lowers the usage resulting in lower fps.
When i played the game for a while, and the heat is GPU is 75C, the usage reaches 99% when i open the menu (esc).
When i continue playing, the usage wil drop back to 75%.. The game also crashed a few times today!

 

If its not a thermal problem, it may be your power profile, like it thinks its in balanced mode or power saving mode. Try messing with those, and in the advanced power management Make it so it will use 100% CPU when plugged in and the Graphics power state to be "Maximum performance" when plugged in not "balanced" I took a screen shot of the advanced menu:

 

It's really strange that i don't have the option to change the graphics power state.
Although i put it on maximum performance in the nvidia control panel. I'm thinking the problem is due to poor driver settings?
I guess i'll have to live with it