Sager NP 8690 Game Stuttering help

Hello,
I've been having trouble with my laptop lately where every game (even some programs) I play would have a graphic stuttering problem. I tried reformatting, defrag HDD, and reinstalling all drivers, etc. nothing seemed to work. At first my graphic card driver would die randomly and then 'recover'. However, I'm not sure if this problem is with the graphic card or motherboard or something totally unrelated. I tried looking everyone online for solutions but was unable to find an answer.
Now I lag no matter what game I play regardless of settings.
Interesting to note is that when I run a Hard Disk Utility called HD Tune and run a Error Scan while I play a game I have ZERO stuttering. Once the scan stops stuttering continues. However, this causes my HDD to go up to really high temps so I try not to play with it on. I'm not a computer person so I have no idea what this could mean other than maybe my harddrive is the cause?

Any help would be appreciated

Display 15.6” FHD 16:9 LED Backlit Wide screen (1920x1080) Super Clear Glare Type Screen
Processor Intel® Core™ i7-740QM, 1.73-2.93GHz, (45nm, 6MB L3 cache)
Thermal Compound - IC Diamond Thermal Compound - CPU + GPU
Graphics Video Card nVidia GeForce GTX 460M 1,536MB PCI-Express GDDR5 DX11
Ram ~ 8,192MB DDR3 1333MHz Dual Channel Memory (2 SODIMMS) (Requires 64-Bit to utilize Full 4GB)
Optical Drive ~ 6X Blue-Ray Read/8X DVDRW Super Multi Combo Drive-
Primary Hard Drive ~ 500GB (w/ 4GB SSD Memory) Seagate XT 7200RPM NCQ Hybrid (Serial-ATA II 300 - 32MB Cache)
Memory Card Reader Internal 7-in-1 Card Reader (MS/MS Pro/MS Duo/MS Pro Duo/SD/Mini-SD/MMC/RS)
Bluetooth Internal Bluetooth + EDR
Wireless Network Intel® Ultimate-N 6300 - 802.11A/B/G/N Wireless LAN Module
Camera Built in 2.0 Megapixel Camera
Sound Card Sound Blaster Compatible 3D Audio
Battery 11.1V Smart Li-Polymer battery pack 3800mAh, 42.18Wh

 

welcome to nbr
its best to run HD Tune while the computer is idle as it is checking sectors for errors and while you are gaming it wont check them sectors that are being used. you need to run a full sector scan which can taake between 2-3 hours.
you could also check on the seagate website where they have their own checking tools for hard drives.

all your temperatures look fine so its not over heating so downclocking.

you could also check the ram by downloading mem test

do you ever run benchmarks like 3dmark06/vantage/3dmark11
all the software you need can be found in my signature below. at work at mo so gotta rush

 

That does sound very frustrating, and I'm sad to hear you're dealing with something like this. I had a 8690, and it was for the most part flawless, aside from some cosmetic issues that were my own problem. Either way, that issue does sound related to the hard drive somehow, but also if you could somehow isolate it, then you would really know. what happens when you're on the internet? Like im thinking you should try to play some flash based hardware excel. games that use the graphics card. See if you still notice the stuttering then.

Otherwise, maybe you can run a 3dmark vantage test, and let us know what your results are. Install the new Nvidia drivers also. Drivers | GeForce

 

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-740QM Processor,CLEVO CO. W860CU score: P1789 3DMarks
That was my 3dmark11 test. Sorry about late response, I've been out of state and didn't take my Sager with me.

I tried the HDTune test again without any other programs on and got 100% pass.

What kind of other tests could I run to check? I ran all the Intel Hard drive checks, memtest, hard drive programs and updated all the drivers again. Still frustrating :[. This stuttering occurs mainly when I run games ( Starcraft 2, Heroes of Newerth, League of Legends, Guild Wars2) and when I watch videos ( even videos online i.e. Facebook videos, Youtube).
Once again I would like to point out that the stuttering completely stops if I run HDTunes Error Check while I play a game or watch a video, then once the scan stops stuttering immediately continues.

Thanks for your taking your time to help out!

 

now thats a strange one if it runs fine while having hd tune running in the background.

i have no benchmarks recorded with the 4** graphics card running 3dmark11. the benchmark links below are from either the days of 8800/9800/280 gpu's and then the latest upto date with 680cards.

could you download Vantage and even 3dmark06 from my signature below and post them scores and then we could give a rough idea how they are compared to others.

 

Hmm... I wonder if it has something to do with the cache on the solid state? I've never used a hybrid drive - or really serviced many systems that had one installed.

Did the hard drive come with a utility disc? If so, look for diagnostic software on that. I would point you towards using Hard Drive Sentinel to get the S.M.A.R.T status and health of your drive, but I'm not certain it will give you feedback for your hybrid.

On a separate tangent, try running MemTest86+. And since you mentioned you've been having hiccups with the graphics driver, see if you can run this:

Heaven DX11 Benchmark | Unigine: real-time 3D engine (game, simulation, visualization and VR)

*Edit*
I saw your 3D mark score. You might want to consider an alternate driver.

 

I had the exact same problem with you.

I have a 8690 and had a 500gb momentus xt, and games started to stutter.

I did a lot of research, and my symptoms seemed to match with a failing momentus xt.

The way to test this is the following:

Download the seagate hard drive utility.

All the tests will say it's ok, but while you are running the "long" test, try playing a game. There will probably be no stuttering what so ever. One way the momentus XT fails is that it starts constantly powering down and up the normal hard drive. By running the test you are making the hard drive run constantly, and this restricting it from shutting down.

I ended up buying a 750gb momentus xt gen 2, and it fixed all my problems. Prolonged the life of my 8690 a year(just getting a gt60 now)

Send me a PM if you want any help.

 

I've noticed a lot of hard drive diagnostic software doesn't work properly (yet) on hyrbrids or SSDs. I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation as to why, but... why?

 

My guess is that the hard drive itself is not failing, but just stopping to save energy too much.

 

This is the benchmark test for my hard drive. No idea how to read this :/

 

Is there no other way to fix the shutting down problem on the 500 gb Momentus? Other than buying a new one I mean

 

Sorry could not figure out why I cant PM you (spybenj) , but my hard drive is now officially dead :[ . If I were to try and replace it what do you recommend? 750gb momentus xt gen 2 as you previously mentioned? Or is there a better upgrade I can go with? Lastly ,is there like a specific model I should be looking for or do all laptop hard drive fit with my laptop? thanks

sorry for re visiting an old thread

 

i think you might need 10 posts before you can send a private message.

so it was a faulty hard drive in the end.

if you can afford one i would recommend a ssd as they are much faster than previous spindle drives and have no moveable parts.

samsung are the best for read write speeds but my crucial m4 still boots in 12 seconds and im on the forum and these are a lot cheaper.