M860tu strange issue

Now that i've noticed this on two different games, i felt like i should ask you guys about it.

I first detected this in far cry 2. First time I installed and played the game, i was getting 35-40+ fps at the settings i play on (settings non-important, i dont change them). I then started to notice that sometimes when i would start-up the game, i would be at 18 FPS or so (not going up), just standing outside. the game would never "recover" and it felt like i was basically playing on half GPU power or something. I restarted the laptop, and loaded the game up (same save) and it loaded in at 35+ FPS like normal, stays that way till i finish gaming. i've noticed this multiple times now. I will load up far cry and it just gets terrible FPS unless i restart. Also, i'm not sure but it seems like i need my external monitor plugged in during the boot-up to keep this from happening.

For instance, if I turn on the laptop, log in to windows. plug in my monitor/keyboard, then start far cry i seem to get crappy FPS. i need to have the devices plugged in before it boots to not have this problem.

This problem also seems to occur if I just leave the comp on for an extended period of time before playing the game. like if its been idle for an hour or two before i load up, this seems to cause this issue.

at first i thought this was just some issue with the engine far cry uses (it is new right?) but i just recently picked up fallout 3 and i noticed the same thing last nite. only my 3rd time playing, but the first 2 times i ran the game i had absolutely no problems with a smooth experience (i played for 5 hours, got in combat, outside exploring etc) when i loaded the game last nite, it was choppy as hell. none of my settings changed at all, and it appears to be the same issue as farcry. (i dont have numbers for fallout because i was using the in-game fps counter for farcry, and didnt download fraps or an equivalent)


is this a known issue with external devices/monitors/vista? My next check is to run the games without the external monitor when i *think* i would normally have the problem, and see if it occurs. I apologize if this post appears a little vague, but its difficult for me to pin down the exact issue because of the factors involved. I get about half performance at seemingly random times (when i started fallout last nite, it was only 4 mins after i booted the comp, only thing i did was boot and THEN plug in external monitor) <--- things like that throw me off memory leaking, but i'm open to anything.


9800gt//4gb ram//P9500//vista 64 - default drivers for everything (went for stability over performance.Irony bomb)

 

Hey, my m860tu is the same specs as you except i am on xp 32 pro sp2.

In fallout 3 i have been noticing this. This is the only game i have seen this. When i play for extended periods of time(usually 1-2 hrs) after zoning/loading my fps will hit the crapper go from like 55-60 to like 15-20 and will not recover. the only way to fix this is to exit the game to windows and start it up again.

I do know the reason why this is, i have tried a few different drivers. ultimately reloading the original drivers. However it has not done this is awhile (but i have not been playing games much because of mid terms).

Just lettin you know you aren't alone

p.s i also use external monitor + keyboard. And i think that there might be memory leaks or something going on. If a patch comes out right away, that will probably be the reason.

 

Yup, I've also had the same issue with the framerate dropping off but it was usually after 3 or 4 hours of steady playing. A quick reboot and then was well.

 

Sounds like an unoptimized game that does not use memory that it takes very well to me.

 

I'm sure gophn isn't far away from posting his clean your vents thread....it sounds more like your card is going into 2d mode when performance isn't need and then staying there.. Only thing you could really try is changing drivers or reinstalling the current drivers.

For the OP I had the opposite problem for a while when using a external monitor, my graphics card would never come out of 3d mode. Reinstalling my drivers while connected to the external monitor fixed it. For some reason though when I reinstalled the drivers while not using the external monitor it would still have problems.

 

yeah, i was wondering if there was some "feature" on the GPU that was lowering the clocks and just not bringing them back up. strange though, that i also play Source engine games alot (CSS TF2) and never see this problem. of course that could just be that even "downclocked" the gpu can rip out 80-140+ frames from the old source engine.

If it turns into more of a problem then i will re-install the graphic drivers. If not, then i'll wait for an "official" driver release. Like i said before, i dont like using modded infs.

Thanks again

 

My notebook vents are very clean. I also blow it out on a regular basis. Yah, i will monitor my gpu clocks on my 2nd monitor when i play again. Busy ATM.

 

i have the same specs, no issues, make sure you're definitely plugged into A/C power on boot or you won't go past 3d gpu clock mode (and onto "extra"). that cable pops out easy and if you aren't on A/C during boot it won't allow the gpu to clock to full speed. i use 177.98 drivers and they perform absolutely beautifully.

 

While you are at it (monitoring your clock as you play), do varify you are not overheating the GPU as it downclocks by itself after 96-97C. But then your FPS would drop much more than half, so I doubt this is the case, but just in case.

 

i actually noticed this very same issue in far cry 2. i dont have fallout 3 yet so i havent tried that.

 

I didnt know that, i actually frequently boot up the comp and then plug in the A/C.

Thanks

 

Perhaps this has been overlooked; Check to make sure your in Performance setting in Vista. I often forget that i've switched to Power Saver when playing games and get horrible framerates in FarCry 2.
This ties in with you saying after your comuters been idle for a time. Maybe you put it in power saver and didnt know that it made a difference. (Engaging Power Saver Mode downclocks the GPU giving you shabbier Framerates.)
Try it out. Should be in the bottom right toolbar

 

Does the power saver mode also downclock the CPU?

If I want to do programming that is CPU intensive but don't want the fan running like a beast can I go into power-saving mode and do anything but gaming? It's really the noise that'd be an issue more than battery life for me.

 

Power saver mode, by default, only lets your cpu run at 50%. But if it's the noise you're worried about, just turn on silent mode. As far as I know (correct me if I'm wrong), silent mode just turns off the fans, it doesn't downclock anything.

 

Excellent. Thanks heaps mate. That's exactly what I want to know/hear.

My retailer didn't seem to think that there was any ability to toggle with the fans on the 15" though. He said only the 17" ones had that. I'll make sure to double check that with them as this silent mode sounds fantastic.

 

Silent mode should just be the closest button to the left of the power button, when you press it there should be a message thing that pops up in the upper left of the screen that says "silent mode" with a picture of a fan next to it.

The fans aren't very loud IMO but will be noticed in a quiet room if they kick in.