Starcraft II on Sony Vaio Z

I wanna reopen this thread.

Does anyone else feel like even though you get fine fps, starcraft II feels super sluggish and runs weird? only on low preset do you get the expected snappy response.

What drivers are you guys preferring for sc2? thanks

 

I don't see how you are running it on medium.. I get only 18-20fps on medium... if you want to play this game the way it should be played get a desktop - I haven't had good success with the vpcz11. i5 with 4gb ram.

 

sum ting wong

it should be a lot higher than that, like I said before, I get 50-60 FPS at 1600x900 on all ultra except shaders and terrain on medium.

 

i would like to see some screenshots with the in-game fps counter present

 

Personally im running on low shaders because there is a strange lag/ delay when any higher which is a pain in the arse. Even at 60+ fps the game feels super sluggish.

 

Do you have vsync or smooth mouse enabled?


On the Intel GPU (on my laptop), the game feels sluggish, despite having just over 25FPS till mid game in a 1v1 (mind: this is on the rather teeny screen of the m11x).

ctrl+alt+f for ingame FPS counter.

 

As requested, here are some screenshots from a 4-player FFA on Kulas Ravine. Yes, there are a few dips into the upper 30s/low 40s under heavy action but it's still completely smooth at that. I chose a variety of screenshots, first at the outset of the game, second at halfway into the game with two large armies facing off, and third at the end of the game with my army standing over my enemy's destroyed base.

I will note that there is a mysterious input lag when quickly scrolling around on the minimap, but this goes away when playing back a replay at 4x speed. Either a bug or a bottleneck somewhere manifesting itself as input lag under those specific conditions.

Also note that I am running the MSI Afterburner overlay which actually does incur a small performance hit (which the author has acknowledged is to be expected). On the other hand I've also got the GPU overclocked to 600/1320/820.

 

interesting, I thought the Z can only run this game on high/medium settings but not ultra! also am I reading this right, 90 degrees Celsius (see: third picture)!? That's close to the boiling point of water, lol.

and what were the default gpu clock speeds?

 

yep 90 is a bit on the high side but still well within the normal operating temperature. I wouldn't start worrying til the mid-high 90s, and anything over 100 is definitely bad.

also, I found that checking "reduce mouse lag" in the video options did reduce the minimap scroll lag, but reduced the overall framerate so I keep it unchecked.

defaults are 475/1045/700

 

I am not even able to run it on medium...it keeps lagging every other few seconds.......
I thought 330m + Core i7 should be able to run SC2 on medium to high settings.....

 

If you are lagging every few seconds it's likely your thermal strategy (cooling settings). In vaio control center make sure it's set to balanced or performance....NOT silent.

 

OMG, you are right!!!! I didn't know there is thermal strategy in vaio control cetner

many thanks!!

 

screen is too small for me to be very competetive at starcraft 2

 

tried the fan setting - it was on silent... now it roars. We shall see. When I try to do the overclocking stuff... I get problems with driver failures. I think the nvidia software is conflicting with itself - as in there being 2 different versions of the console - the ones I installed from the sony z13 site, and then the nvidia performance console... any thoughts with that?

we will see about the fan... it seems like it might improve things quite a bit. You can always hook up a 23inch 1080p monitor to the laptop somethingawesome...

 

Silent profile can cause your driver crash as well. Balance is the best setting. If you leave it on silent, the fan is not allowed go spin up...so when the machine is under load it will begin throttling....but sometimes not quickly enough which can cause overheating and/or crashing.

 

I play at Med/High Settings. At beginning of game with 4v4 I get FPS in the 80's-90's. When running mid game I get around 40's-60's. During Large battles it can run down to 20's, but this is only for very large values. Overall I barely find amy lag, I'm quite happy with this beast

 

I run SC2 on full medium settings with some things adjusted a little lower, as well as v-sync and smooth mouse enabled. I have to enable both of those because without them, I get screen tearing and my mouse is finicky. i get 29 fps @ start of game 1v1 and it stays between 20-30 the entire time. It just feels overall 'sluggish'. Is there anything I can do to make it better? I don't want to overclock because I don't want to melt the machine and end up having it get slower / unusable as time goes by. I have my thermal settings on performance. I'll check hwmonitor to see my temps, but it definitely roars up and pushes hot air when in game. I can run WoW smoothly with high-ultra settings no problem on this thing, but seeing as I don't really play WoW anymore, it doesn't do me much good

Edit: For some reason, I get HIGHER fps in Windowed (Fullscreen) mode than I do in fullscreen. Why would that be? Is it detrimental to play in windowed? When I used to play WoW, I distinctly recall getting HIGHER fps in fullscreen and LOWER in windowed.

 

See I don't see 30-40 fps at proper.. I do everything I can to get as high fps as possible to get constant smooth gameplay in Sc2, and anything medium shader is just not working, it hits so hard on the small 330m.

I do how ever have a setup now where I get 150 fps at the beginning and around 50 fps when 200 vs 200 supply armies hit.

So it does the job, but I wouldn't say the vaio Z is a beast in any way when it comes to starcraft 2.

 

So you're saying that you use low shaders? I can't do that - it looks terrible. What are your specs?

So I've set things up a little differently: I'm now running in windowed(fullscreen) mode with no vertical sync but yes reduce mouse lag. I get 42 fps in base building and about 25 with an MMM ball attacking a zerg base. Both of my cpu cores stay between 80-85 and my gpu is around 80 constantly, granted those seem to be the same temps I maintain with the game just sitting in the background. I got those by alttabbing to hwinfo32 while in game so hopefully they're accurate. Maybe overclocking would be okay? I still feel like the game could run smoother, especially considering its just on medium settings. I feel like it runs smooth"ish" but not nearly as smooth as my alienware m17x r2 runs it on ultra. I like the smoothness I get when I turn shaders on low, but i'll be damned if I'm going to play the game looking that ugly - i'd rather have some choppiness than have my buildings look like pastel colored blocks. Any advice? Ways to get it to perform better? Should I oc? What should I oc? Whats a safe temperature that won't burn my chips and cause my machine any permanent damage? If I should OC, how do I do it?

EDIT: I get in the low 50's if I disable v-sync and turn on fullscreen, but then I get screen tearing when I scroll.

 

You should OC for sure... especially since this seems to be a lower clocked version of the 330m (but not underclocked). In any case, you can use tools like EVGA precision, MSI Afterburner and Nvidia System Tools. Personally i used EVGA precision, has a toggle-able OSD with FPS, GPU temp, GPU usage, core speed, mem speed, etc, etc. And you can store OC profiles on hotkeys so you can OC on the go. In any case, i usually OC to 550mhz core (15% OC), but sometimes when sh*t hits the fan (I play BFBC2) i OC to 615mhz core(30% OC) both stable and noticible increases in fps. I've seen reports of 650mhz... but ymmv the higher you go.

edit:
temp:
cpu: 100C (if i allow it to turboboost, if not: 94C)
gpu: 94C <-- consistent, OC at 550mhz.

BFBC2 is a more strenuous game IMHO.
In any case, laptop chips should be able to handle more (as there really isnt much you can do to dissipate heat). As long as you're <100C you should be fine

edit2: added pics of temps after 1 hour of BFBC2 at 550mhz core OC, w/o turboboost off (running CPU at 99% freq)

 

So I should JUST OC the GPU core? What about the CPU? The only game I'm playing on this is SC2, for now. I won't have to reboot my machine to OC? And if its a safe OC, should I just leave it there? Will it decrease my battery life if I'm on battery? Actually, it shouldn't since when I'm on battery I'm on stamina and it uses intel graphics, I think. Thanks for the info!

EDIT: Turbo boost?

EDIT: I set my GPU core to 575. If I exit the program / restart windows, will I have to redo it?

EDIT: Can anyone reply to my former post?

If I go fullscreen and take off v-sync and reduce mouselag, i get 60 in base, but the screen tearing is horrid.

I've now OCED my GPU core clock to 575 (up from 475) and with my best set up in game (windowed fullscreen, v-sync off, reduce mouselag on) I get 43-45fps just sitting in the base @ the start of a match, and between 52-58 when scrolling into the fog of war @ the beginning of a match. Still seem to be hovering around 80 degrees C on the GPU.

 

between 45 and 20 frames from the early game is just not viable for a game that needs AT LEAST 60+ to actually be smooth, specially on medium shaders even at 80 it feels sluggish on the Z, mouse reduction does work, windows too but you take a drastic performance hit when using those options.

So yes I am on Low shaders, and low everything else really, I dont mind the style and love the smooth gameplay (I play to win not to look at pretty things.) I do run in 1920x1080 at the moment without any problems.

EDIT:

And yes!! overclock.. I posted some time ago in the hybrid graphics driver thread what my clock / mem settings are. still running without problems.

 

What do you OC your GPU to? Do you OC your CPU too?

 

sorry for the slow response, i was playing some BFBC2 to add some temps on the previous post. My OC's are:
550 core, 1210 shader, 800 mem
615 core, 1353 shader, 800 mem

I think you can "tie" the core and shader clocks together (at least Precision lets you do it)

Turboboost is the "new" thing by intel the thing where it says a processor is at 2.5Ghz, but when only one core is needed, it turboboosts to 2.93Ghz for example (my 620M goes from 2.66->3.33)

Also uhh you cant OC on battery only on AC adapter, i think that's a BIOS thing. I use EVGA precision and you can store multiple profiles to hotkeys (stock is F1, 550 mhz on F2, 615mhz on F3). When you shut down comp, you will lose the OC, yes, you need to hack BIOS to change the settings to always be at one speed.

 

How do I enable / diable turbo boost to know if my CPU does it? Also, in SC2 @ 615 / 1353 / 700 I never go above 83 C in SC2. Yea, my core and shader are linked. Should I up the memory to 800? what does that do?

I really appreciate your help bud.

 

Im at work so this will be short: DO NOT disable turbo boost. Even if you believe it helps.

the cpu is made for it, the software (sc2) is taking it into count, I have tested and so far I never get anything better without turbo boost, no matter what im doing. cannot advice to disable.

 

I have no intention of disabling! I just wanted to make sure it was there!

 

Where do you live? Its late!

 

Processors &mdash; Intel® Turbo Boost Technology Monitor Overview

There's a windows gadget that displays. You will see a blue bar if you're turboboosting. Else it'll remain grayed out. I like to disable it at times (especially when i'm on battery) because it makes the cpu temps go crazy and the fan crazier. (I disable by setting max freq of cpu at 99% on power saver and i leave max cpu freq at 100% which allows turboing on balanced mode in the advanced power settings)

 

Can you please respond to my previous post?

EDIT: ALSO - lets say I have my GPU OCed and I unplug the laptop and it goes into stamina mode (aka onboard video). Will my intel graphics card be affected / messed up in any way?

If I set my clock speeds then close the application, do the clock speeds remain the same until I reboot?

 

it increases the memory speed, meaning data can be passed between the gpu memory and the gpu faster meaning things can get calculated faster, etc. I think you should increase to 800, in any case, if you start to see artifacting (like random flashes, etc) than that means your card has been OCed too high, so clock it back down

1st question: no it should not as you are playing with two different chips (one's a dedicated card, the other is the onboard igp of the CPU)

2nd question: I don't know if this is true for you, but with EVGA precision, if i OC, then close the program it still OCs in the background (I checked with GPU-Z). I think it should as all these OC programs (precision, afterburner, system tools) all run RivaTuner at it's core, so they all use the same utility, but with added fuctionality/different UI

 

Thanks a bunch. So you don't think it necessary to OC CPU? Also, why is your GPU so much hotter than mine? I keep mine @ 615 and it stays below 85C even @ peak combat. As long as it stays around there, is there any reason NOT to keep it @ 615 while in game? Also, if I keep it clocked to 615 at all times, it won't much make a difference while not in game will it?

 

So far I have seen noone be successful in overclocking the CPU on the vaio Z i5 and i7s so don't think we can. I have my bios hacked and open, still can't. FSB is lacking info so no use there either.

btw, im living in Sydney, Australia.. so just got home from work (7pm)

 

It depends on your GPU usage too, i use an external monitor when i game so i guess that adds extra strain (although i keep the in game res at 1600x900) And almost constantly, my gpu is at 95%+ when gaming. Also maybe because BFBC2 is a CPU intensive game also (able to utilize multiple threads if avaliable) and the GPU and CPU in the VPCZ share the same heat sink (have you checked out your CPU temps/usage too?)

 

Everything is around 80. So I should be good with those numbers for SC2?

 

If you could game at 50C that's great too! My temps are just an example of what the Z can handle (well, theoretically it should handle up to thermal shutdown which i think is 110C? not sure). All temps are YMMV as ambient temps, dust, blocked airflow all affect temps, but yeah your temps sound normal.

 

I just want to make sure that, as long as I stay below 90-100C, I don't damage the longevity of my laptop. I don't want to play SC2 for 2 months on a 30% GPU OC, then have thermal damage affect the performance and drop my frame rate every month.

 

Do you think it'd be beneficial to get the newest nvidia drivers from the nvidia site itself?

 

I am running 266.87 but im not sure if they are modded for hybrid systems (vaio Z) yet. but yes, newer drivers will always be a good thing.

 

No, those drivers have to be modded first in order to be used on the VPC-Z because of our Hybrid Graphics Solution by Sony. However, you can be like thomaskc.idk and hack your BIOS and make your system only run on the Nvidia GPU then, yes, you can use the drivers directly from Nvidia's site, but for the rest of us, you're going to need to have it modded

 

How would I be able to get it modded to integrate with the Z and have perfect functionality? (except better because the better nvidia drivers will have better ingame support)

 

That will lead you to this thread:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony/342947-my-discoveries-vaio-z-s-hybrid-graphics.html

 

Hi fellow nerds !!

I am reopening this thread sort of it is has been dead for a while hehe

But I have been wondering lately, specially after seeing the new mac book pro 15" with a HD 6750M run starcraft 2 seemingly flawless on High / Ultra (sandy bridge might help?) But looking at my vaio Z which runs starcraft decently (not really when you start thinking about it).

I am running everything on as low as possible, often even tweaked even lower to get 60+ frames late game and on all maps, which means low shaders, textures and so on.

How are people here running sc2 setting wise? If I put mine to medium shaders, I get around 50 fps in the early game and as soon anything happens everything starts to feel slow and sluggish, dropping to 25-30 fps and worse as the game goes on.

To me it seems like the 1gb 330m in the vaio z is the worst possible 330m you can find on the marked? because on a lot of parts lowering settings doesnt change anything, in the sense that you dont get much boost by going suuuper low which suggests that its the gpu that is struggeling.

Im just wondering if people experience the same?

 

Do you use AA?
Anti aliasing is prolly worthless on high definition screens, and it is for a lot in performance drops. First thing i would do is to set AA off.

 

Why would anyone buy a Sony laptop for gaming? They are not designed for gaming period. Sub par graphics cards and terrible heat dissipation. If you like the smell of burnt plastic, then buy a Sony for gaming.

 

^Perhaps you found yourself in the wrong thread. Not much plastic on a Z, you should consider using one some time.

 

See its comments like yours that makes so many forums utterly useless. If you don't have anything helpful to share, dont share anything.

We don't care if you think its not a gaming laptop, people buy laptops for a lot of reasons but thats still not the point!

Thanks for nothing!

@mafy

Naa no AA
I have found that setting the resolution to 1280x720 makes higher shader qualities smoother, not in the sense of more fps, but smoother and more responsive.

 

i put mine on med.shaders .then try 8 pool and finish the game within first 5 min...or else...graphics are slow when action starts...
dun even bother with 2v2

 

The 6750M is in a wayyyy higher class than the 330M is in. To start off it has Direct X11 support and 1 GB GDDR5 memory. The Z only has Direct X 10.1 support with 1 GB DDR3 memory, which runs considerably slower than the GDDR5 memory. A comparison between the 2010 15" MBP with the Z would've been more fair, but actually it still isn't fair comparing a 15 incher to a 13 incher.

Not to mention the 330M in the Z struggles to get driver updates because of the stupid hybrid graphics thing. (well, sony is probably the one to blame, not the feature itself)

 

hmm you are very right, the gpu in the new macbook is actually a lot better than I though, expected it to be an upgrade in the same class as the 2010.

anyway the driver issue I have overcome. I am running with nvidia 270.51 drivers because I disabled the intel gpu (and thereby the Hybrid system).