NP8130 Input Lag in multiple games!

I received my NP8130 yesterday. When playing the more demanding games I own (The Witcher 2, Deus Ex Human Revolution), I experience substantial input lag from both keyboard and mouse. That is, about 1/2 second after I press a button, the game responds.

I've read about isolated incidents in these games, but I'm having trouble with both. This gives me the impression that it is not the game that is at fault, but my computer. Perhaps my video card? I am currently running the most recent Nvidia GTX 560m drivers.

I've tried playing around with the graphics settings in-game, including reducing them to low-spec and disabling v-sync and triple buffering. I've tried forcing v-sync/triple buffering in the Nvidia control panel. I've tried D3DOverrider for forcing v-sync/triple-buffering as well. Nothing has worked.

Any ideas? It's a huge bummer to purchase a gaming laptop and be unable to play the games I want to play.

 

might be a silly question but have you got it set to high performance in power settings.

 

Yes, both windows power settings and the included power utility (the one that runs in the system tray) are set to high performance.

 

Keyboard AND mouse lag is unusual. Are the games running at acceptable frame rates when playing or are the settings turned too high? Does it do the same thing when using an external keyboard/mouse?

If it doesn't affect all games equally, then it sounds like a game setting/performance setting that's causing problems.

 

I also just took delivery of a NP8130. I will be changing out my 500gb hdd for a 128gb crucial m4 today when it arrives

but I have a slight guess, maybe you have updated your graphics drivers too far. try out the one on sagers site?

 

The framerates are acceptable, and I've tried running at low specs. No dice.

I don't have an external keyboard, but I have the same input lag with two mice and the trackpad.

All games seem to be affected equally

 

I have also tried downgrading to previous drivers, still no luck.

 

Try running a benchmark program like 3d mark vantage to see if your score is where is should be. That will help isolate it to a video card problem.

You said you installed previous drivers, were they the ones on the drivers disc that came with the computer. If not try those.

 

it's only these 2 games you get this input lag?

 

I will try benchmarking my system.


These are the two games that exhibit the problem. The only other game I have is TF2. TF2 does not exhibit this problem. Sorry, I was a bit unclear about this earlier!

Thanks so much for all of the helpful replies, guys!

 

For deus ex the solutions revolve around vsync (which you tried), disabling (or try edge) AA, or try setting HBAO to medium or low.

 

I have played with Deus Ex's settings, nothing has cured the problem.

 

This may sound silly, but are you playing on your built in screen or on an external display? Input lag is quite common on TV's used as external displays.

What were the results of your benchmarks? It would be helpful you had other demanding games to test besides TF2 (Crysis, Crysis 2). Could you try demos of those to see if they do the same thing?

Other than that, it sounds like you hit all the other common issues. So I can't think what else would cause that.

AnandTech - Exploring Input Lag Inside and Out

 

I am not currently using an external monitor. These are all problems experienced with the built-in screen.

I'm working on getting 3D Mark Vantage up, but the "free" version is now asking me to register for a "trial." It's extremely misleading.

I'll let you guys know when I get scored.

 

3D Mark Vantage scores my system at "P10042 3DMarks," which seems about right for my specs.

Any other ideas? :\

 

Perhaps another silly question, but along with setting the power setting to balanced or high performance, you also have the laptop plugged in? Your 3d graphics will lag severely if it's not plugged in.

I just got my NP8130 a few weeks ago as well, and I have been playing DE:HR without issue. Not saying you don't have one, but it's good to know

 

Yes, my computer is plugged in. It's really unnerving to hear that someone else is playing without issue :\

I'm at a loss as to what the problem could be at this point. Manufacturer's defect?

 

I've installed Crysis 2, and I still have the same problem: Perceptible lag between mouse/keyboard inputs and what's happening on the screen.

Starcraft 2, on the other hand, doesn't have have any input lag. As stated before, neither does TF2.

I really don't know what to think about this, to be honest. It seems like the most demanding engines (Crysis 2, Witcher 2, Deus Ex: HR) induce input lag, while the less demanding engines (SC2, TF2) run fine. However, reducing the graphical quality, including playing with v-sync and triple buffering, have no effect on the lag.

 

Did you change settings in your Nvidia control panel? Like forced V-sync in all applications, maybe AA and AF as well?

For reference, I have the 280.26 drivers installed from Nvidia's website, Win7 x64, and Core i7-2630QM

 

Yes, I have tried playing with the nVidia control panel. Also, our specs are exactly the same, down to the drivers.

 

Check your Nvidia settings and try playing with the max # of pre-rendered frames.

That anand article is one I read a long time ago. I forgot when it's best to set it to 0, or 1, (or leave it at the default 3), but check it out, he mentions it.

Then of course, you can just try and see if it makes a difference.

 

This will occasionally happen to my computer during periods of intense HDD activity. Even then it only lasts half a second or so. I'd try making sure you don't have something running in the background (like a virus scan or something) eating your hard drive.

 

I have tried the pre-rendered frames option in the nvidia control panel. Everything from 0-8 frames. I have the same problem regardless of its setting.

I suppose a background application could be the problem, but I doubt it. This is a fresh install with a minimum of software.

Nonetheless, I'm currently reformatting the hard drive. I'll report when I know more.

 

Let us know what happens after the reformat. If that doesnt help a BIOS update would be the next suggestion

 

Reformat has not solved the problems, still have input lag. For example, in Crysis 2, the gun doesn't fire until a split second after clicking. Aiming is no different, feedback on the screen is still delayed from my input. It makes it all extremely difficult to play.

Where can I find updated BIOS drivers?

 

Just to note, as I may not have made this clear before:

I only experience the input lag within games (except Starcraft 2 and TF2). When doing things in Windows, everything seems fine.

 

This is interesting: I had played with graphical settings, but I never reduced resolution enough to notice a difference.

When I play Witcher 2 and Crysis 2 at 800x600, it's perfectly responsive. As I increase the resolution from 800x600 to 1920x1080, the input lag gets progressively worse until it's unplayable at 1920x1080. When I change v-sync at the 800x600 level, it creates a little bit of perceptible lag, so I can understand people's claim that v-sync adds lag, but it's nowhere near as bad as the lag at 1920x1080.

Also, I've updated to the beta Nvidia drivers released yesterday. No change.

Isn't this supposed to be a gaming notebook? :\

 

Just to give a little comfort in that, there HAS to be something specific to your system, and it's not a problem with the design in general...

I've not played it extensively, but Crysis 2 does run well for me, with the DX11 Pack, High Res Textures, all set to HIGH, Objects set to Ultra, Shadows set to Medium, 1920x1080, VSync Off.

Your temps all look ok? Haven't heard you say yet, I don't think. I top out around 75C.

 

My GPU also maxes out right at 75C.

I wanna thank you guys for being so persistent in helping me, you've all offered really valuable advice so far. I'm getting really fed up with this stuff, and I appreciate you guys sticking it out

 

No prob. I'd consider myself overly sensitive to lag too, so I'm feeling confident that if you're saying you've got a 1/2 second, with what you've done at this point that you should take the next step and speak with the reseller you purchased it from.

 

I was getting some input lag or relative slowness in Deus Ex:HR on my old Gateway laptop with 8800m GTS. The FPS were still okay, but it seemed like the game definitely maxed out the available 512mb of vram. Doesn't seem like this is the problem with you though...

Seems pretty strange, I don't know what to tell you. When you lower the resolution and it is better, that generally refers to the video card holding it back though.

What I would do to test the video card, is get GPU-Z, and run one of the games in windowed mode at a resolution where you can see GPU-Z, and make sure the GPU clock is up where it is supposed to be, and also that it's not overheating

 

Great idea on monitoring clock speeds!

GPU Core clock: 776.3 MHz
GPU Memory Clock: 625.0 MHz
GPU Shader Clock: 1550.0 MHz
GPU Temperature: 70.0 C
Memory Used: 557 MB
GPU Load: 68%
Memory Controller Load: 33%
Video Engine Load: 0%
VDDC: 1.0000 V

These results were gathered after playing Crysis 2 for about five minutes.

It seems my GPU is running at expected speeds, so I suppose that's out... I'm going to try installing Crysis 2 on my roommates Macbook Pro just for giggles... I'm at a loss otherwise, other than RMA'ing it.

 

Yup, I"m out of ideas

 

It's kind of a long shot here, but maybe i should ask since no one else i saw has.

Have you installed any mouse drivers and/or software? If so, might be worth running off of the windows drivers and seeing if that makes any difference. Otherwise, it could hurt to use a spare mouse to see if that makes any change.

 

That was one of my first thoughts as well. However, now that I'm on my fresh installation without Logitech setpoint, I still have the same problem. In fact, I have the same problem with three different mice and the trackpad, in addition to the keyboard lag.