3D intense games have RANDOM FPS DROP... Heat? VideoCard?

Hey guys,

I need some advice and comments quick.

Background:
Clevo D900K (purchased in March 2006)
nVidia Geforce 7800 Go GTX 256mb dedicated
Notebook Coolers: Cooler Master NotePAL W1 & Vantec LapCool4

My Clevo D900K notebook ( AKA. Sager 9750, Alienware Aurora m7700) has recently been acting up in current games (ex. Oblivion, BF2, Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter, etc).
It used to run these games perfect without a hitch or big problems. I always use a notebook cooler.

Update: Yes, when i game, I always use the (Fn + F2) function to turn on the fans to max.

The problem is hard to describe but is like a random drop of Framerate to less than 1 FPS after the videocard gets warmed up. It does not occur in the same exact place everytime in a game or benchmark (namely 3DMark06). It randomly drops the framerate for durations of 5 to 10 secs, and then goes back to a smooth framerate.

I believe that it might be the videocard is overheating and reaching threshold temps, which might force the game/application to drop framerates to cool down the videocard until it falls under the danger temps and goes back to a normal framerate. I did record (RivaTuner) the heat going up as I was gaming and benchmarking during the troubleshooting.

I have wasted over 36 hours of my time to troubleshoot everything possible except the video card (7800 Go GTX).

Things I have tested and done
1) can't be software:
-formatted/wiped and even used new HDD and installed Windows with drivers from Clevo (original and updated drivers)
-did all default and optimized settings of BIOS... same result
2) can't be Harddrive
-used several HDDs, same result
3) can't be CPU
-used 3500+ and 4800+.... same result
4) can't be RAM
-switched out memory... same result
5) can't be other modules (miniPCI cards)
-removed and reseated all modules.... same result
6) MXM videocard
-cleaned it out and reseated it.... same result

As you can see, I tested everything except from swapping the videocard.

So anyone got any other ideas?... or is it really the videocard?

Geez. I havent been able to game for over 2 weeks now. I am about to go up to City of Industry tomorrow to get my notebook RMA'ed.

NOTE: All normal functions (web browsing, dvd watching/burning, music, etc) of the notebook are perfectly fine. No artifacts or display issues.

Thanks for the feedback,
-Gophn

 

You're not the first person in the last couple of days who has had a problem like this - claudione314 had his Sager NP5760 RMA'd for the video card overheating problem, and now steMo's NP5720 with the same thing:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=76471&page=2
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=81239

Now let me ask you this . . if you put the fans on full blast (Fn + F2) while gaming, do you have the same problem? And if it does, when you turn the fans off how long does it take before the problem occurs?

I would check for a BIOS update too.

 

same problems with Fans on max (Fn + F2).

 

I think we can safely conclude that the problem is isolated to the video card. You are most likely going to have to RMA it, but I would look for a BIOS update first. Perhaps Sager would give it to you, all you have to do is email them (although you do need a serial number. . . ).

It's a shame that most Clevos don't have any temperature monitoring capabilities. That would be very helpful. I can monitor the CPU temperature on my 5320, but not the GPU, which is a real shame.

 

My 5760 hasn't acted up lately and still have the stock drivers for the vid card.

I just checked Sager website and realized there is a newer driver that was released last August.

So DLing it now and going to try it out if it improves it.

Wondering if maybe it needs a driver update?

 

nope tried all drivers from 79.xx to latest 8x.xx

hope they wont hassle me about me being wrong, i hate that

 

Just got back from City of Industry.

Turned out from my Building my own Clevo thread... where I said I got my Clevo D900K barebones from PC Club, it was true that I bought it from them... but they got the barebones through Pro-Star, which was 1 block east of the PC Club headquarters & factory. LOL.

(picture taken with my Treo 650)

So instead of letting PC Club deal with it, I went to Pro-Star. I explained to them extensively about my problem, but I seemed to not get my initial message through on what the real problem is... the videocard.

After a while of their tests, they came back and told me that it could be drivers... and of course I said that "Didn't I tell you that I have ruled that out?!?" Now I was frustrated that they didn't believe my word... not surprising I guess. Until I went in depth on what I know and have done... then the manager came out. Wesley was definitely aimed to get this issue resolved and really tried to hear me out.

Note: I gave them my D900K with newly installed WinXP Pro and stock drivers installed with 3DMark06, Oblivion, and Ghost Recon pre-installed.

After I pointed out that it was not an issue of locking up and started up the bechmark and Ghost Recon... they saw the problem and brought out a new MXM 7800 GTX to swap.

Problem solved!

So Pro-Star seems to be a pretty good notebook support company from my experiences. I would definitely recommend them for purchase and support.

Back to my re-install of EVERYTHING... geez.

Game On People,
-Gophn

P.S. Like with any other OEM, make sure you get your issues written down and explained thoroughly so that they won't waste their time figuring it out for themselves... also helps your credibility too.

 

Well, "good" to know that the problem gets solved by replacing the video card, at least. Sager has had my notebook for a couple of days now and I'm sure they're working on it.

These issues are starting to become quite frequent, though. I hope they're working on trying to figure out what's wrong with these cards to begin with.

C.

 

Roger that on figuring out why this problem still occuring... or are we early adopters the guinea pigs for technical feedback.

Hope it goes well for your notebook too.

-Gophn

 

Thanks. Actually, they already shipped it back... not 12 hours after receiving my RMA. I don't think they repaired that quickly, so it must be a replacement... I guess I'll find out in 4-5 days.

C.

 

I hope this is an isolated issue and not a wide spread problem. I will be receiving my new, shiny Core 2 Duo 5760 Monday. I'm all paranoid on it crapping out on me, especially the video card. If the video card does crap out on me, hopefully sager it will have a DX10 upgrade down the road (unlikely, but I can hope). A 65nm nVidia DX10 card would be a nice option to have.

Glad to hear you got your problem resolved.

 

Glad to hear your problem's been taken care of, Gophn.

Sounds like the turnaround was very quick on your too, Claudione314!

Resume Gaming!

 

Robgunn: your NP5760 will have a T5500 or T5600 Core 2 Duo, right?

chrisyano: thanks I'm expecting it anxiously all over again, lol.

C.