Performance issues, 100+ FPS drops to ~20

[Joemonkey]

I have an Alienware m18x with two GeForce GTX 460Ms running in SLI, an intel i7 2820QM and 16GB RAM. I have been noticing some performance issues so I got around to installing FRAPS and I've noticed that in games like COD MW3 and Warhammer 40k Space Marine I can be playing for 30 minutes at 90-100FPS, then BAM it just drops down to ~20FPS.

I've tried using MSI Afterburner to overclock the cards, then dropping them back to stock, enabling/disabling speedstep in the BIOS, official nVidia drivers, newest nVidia drivers with an edited .inf file, overclocking the CPU, returning it back to stock, and I can't pinpoint the issue, the FPS drop happens no matter what I seem to do.

I've been using speccy to monitor the temps, and the highest I've seen them get so far were 64C for the CPU, 67C for one 460M, 61C for the 2nd one, and 56C for the HDD.

What are the next steps? What else should I be monitoring?

 

[krnmastersgt]

Does this problem come up without FRAPS running?

If so then mayhaps they're speed throttling due to overheating? That much power packed into a laptop chassis is bound to get super hot running at full tilt all the time, might explain why it always drops off once its been running for a while.

 

[Joemonkey]

Does this problem come up without FRAPS running?

yes, that's why I downloaded FRAPS, to see how bad the framerate was dropping

If so then mayhaps they're speed throttling due to overheating? That much power packed into a laptop chassis is bound to get super hot running at full tilt all the time, might explain why it always drops off once its been running for a while.

I posted the temps in the OP, I've heard this hardware is stable all the way up to 80C and beyond, and I'm not even hitting 70C on CPU or either graphics card. If I disable SLI, I don't seem to get the drop, but in MW3 for example, I was consistently getting 90 FPS (well, until the drop) but w/o SLI it bounces around between 50 and 70

 

[krnmastersgt]

Well it will create some slight input lag but does this problem come up when you're running with VSync enabled?

I can't think of a reason for such a massive drop without some type of throttling taking place, but if its not triggered by heat I'm lost as to what could be causing it.

 

[fastamdman]

+1 for trying vsync. Also, try the newest nvidia beta drivers that came out yesterday

 

[davidthemaster3]

+1 for trying vsync. Also, try the newest nvidia beta drivers that came out yesterday

Well he will might need a modified .ini for his Alienware ... I have the M17x R3 and I had to find a modified .ini before the lastest (non-beta) release of the Verde drivers.

 

[Joemonkey]

so if i turn on vsync, and only get 60FPS on all games due to vsync, but the FPS never drops, i just have to live with 60FPS then?

 

[krnmastersgt]

It's not really that much of an issue as your screen is only able to display 60 FPS in reality, you could have 200 FPS but it wouldn't matter if the monitor can only display 60. The only issue many gamers would have with vsync is that it can create a slight input lag, same say its very noticeable, personally I can barely tell. I always run vsync on as it creates a smoother experience typically and doesn't force my video card to run any harder than it needs to keeping noise and heat down in the system as well.

 

[mfenn]

It's not really that much of an issue as your screen is only able to display 60 FPS in reality, you could have 200 FPS but it wouldn't matter if the monitor can only display 60. The only issue many gamers would have with vsync is that it can create a slight input lag, same say its very noticeable, personally I can barely tell. I always run vsync on as it creates a smoother experience typically and doesn't force my video card to run any harder than it needs to keeping noise and heat down in the system as well.

:thumbsup: Yep. Vsync will cause the input to be lagged by about 1 frame because of the buffering (well, really the input gets processed the same as it always does, but you can't see the effect until the next full refresh cycle). Unless you are hyper-competitive, you will probably never notice it.

 

[Joemonkey]

:thumbsup: Yep. Vsync will cause the input to be lagged by about 1 frame because of the buffering (well, really the input gets processed the same as it always does, but you can't see the effect until the next full refresh cycle). Unless you are hyper-competitive, you will probably never notice it.

well I've put in a 60 minute play session of MW3 and while it stayed at 60FPS consistently and never dropped, i can definitely tell the input lag is there, especially on high twitch maps like FFA OIC and heated melee knife battles. On warhammer 40k it also stayed at 60FPS but there was some slowdown during some scenes that wasn't there before, and the weird thing was there was absolutely nothing going on, just walking down a hallway... maybe it was loading the next portion of the level? i never noticed it before. It did seem like I would click to shoot, then i could say "one one thousand" before my guy actually shot though

 

[mfenn]

Vsync definitely isn't going to introduce anything like a 1 second input latency. That would just be unplayable. It's going to at most give you 1/30th of a second of latency.

Another thing about Vsync is that your monitor's refresh rate must always be evenly divisible by your frame rate. Thus, if you ever drop below 60 FPS, you will get kicked down to the next multiple (i.e 30 FPS). This happens even if you would really be rendering at 59 FPS without Vsync and is probably why you noticed some slowdown that you hadn't seen before.

 

[Joemonkey]

Vsync definitely isn't going to introduce anything like a 1 second input latency. That would just be unplayable. It's going to at most give you 1/30th of a second of latency.

Another thing about Vsync is that your monitor's refresh rate must always be evenly divisible by your frame rate. Thus, if you ever drop below 60 FPS, you will get kicked down to the next multiple (i.e 30 FPS). This happens even if you would really be rendering at 59 FPS without Vsync and is probably why you noticed some slowdown that you hadn't seen before.

I exaggerated of course, but it sure FEELS like a full second compared to before. Kind of how reloading while off in a corner seems to take half a second, while reloading in a firefight seems to take half an hour.

nVidia control panel has these options for vsync:

Off
On
Adaptive
Adaptive (half refresh rate)

Should I just turn it off in control panel and manage it per game? Or set it On in the control panel (or adaptive?) and just let the control panel handle it?

 

[krnmastersgt]

I personally always let the game itself handle it, unless it doesn't have such a feature in which case I create a special profile for just that game in nVidia's control panel.

Also the fact that the issue doesn't seem to be around with vsync on, I think it might still be throttling due to temperature. Yes the components should be able to operate at higher temps without issues, but because they were adapted for a laptop and are slightly different than their desktop counterparts they may start throttling themselves at lower temperatures than you expect.

 

[mfenn]

I personally always let the game itself handle it, unless it doesn't have such a feature in which case I create a special profile for just that game in nVidia's control panel.

Also the fact that the issue doesn't seem to be around with vsync on, I think it might still be throttling due to temperature. Yes the components should be able to operate at higher temps without issues, but because they were adapted for a laptop and are slightly different than their desktop counterparts they may start throttling themselves at lower temperatures than you expect.

I agree. Vsync on forces the CPU and GPU to do into a sleep state between frame when the framerate is above 60, reducing the overall output and lowering temps. Laptop manufacturer's can put all sorts of hooks in their BIOS implementations that change thermal behavior.

 

[Joemonkey]

I agree. Vsync on forces the CPU and GPU to do into a sleep state between frame when the framerate is above 60, reducing the overall output and lowering temps. Laptop manufacturer's can put all sorts of hooks in their BIOS implementations that change thermal behavior.

well as it turns out, with vsync on i go something like 4-12 in a normal game of HC KC in MW3, but I can play forever without framerate issues! Turn vsync off to go back up to 90fps and i go 20-3, but after 30 minutes have to quit as the fps drops to 20... fuck

 

[krnmastersgt]

Well you could either:
A) Turn down the settings but also turn off vsync and hope your GPU/CPU doesn't throttle down.
B) Get used to the input lag
C) Build a desktop

 

[mfenn]

Well you could either:
A) Turn down the settings but also turn off vsync and hope your GPU/CPU doesn't throttle down.
B) Get used to the input lag
C) Build a desktop

:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

Winner winner chicken dinner.

 

[Kenmitch]

well as it turns out, with vsync on i go something like 4-12 in a normal game of HC KC in MW3, but I can play forever without framerate issues! Turn vsync off to go back up to 90fps and i go 20-3, but after 30 minutes have to quit as the fps drops to 20... fuck

While your playing your lappy is sitting on a desk? Hard to tell from photos how the ventilation is set up on it and how high it sits from the surface it's sitting on. Maybe you could try elevating it up a little bit to see if it helps? Cup coasters or mabye a book on each end just to see if it helps or not.