FPS Issues possibly?

[StealthArsenal]

Hello All,

I bought a new MSI Dominator GT60 424 a month or two ago and finally had a chance to take this laptop away with me on an overseas work trip. With that said, I am potentially having an FPS issue with the GTX870m that is on board. Games I have been testing with are WoW (I know WoW isn't too demanding and I had a free trial, so I figured I would see what happens) and Splinter Cell Blacklist. These are just the two games I chose to take a look at. With that said, I am seeing anywhere from 38-48 FPS on WoW on Ultra settings (there are some drops down into the 20s during combat). Just to try and eliminate the Intel onboard graphics from taking over while plugged in, I have changed all of my settings in the Nvidia control panel to use high performance Nvidia gpu. Additionally, I have added the individual games to the priority list under 3d settings. With all this said, am I crazy, or should the 870 be pushing better frames? The laptop is cool and with Cooler boost on, the graphics emits virtually no heat. I am running nvidia driver 340.52.

Thanks

 

[Cons29]

what is your temp when playing? monitor them, it would help, including cpu

 

[StealthArsenal]

Hello Cons,

With my cooler boost on, I was getting up to 56C on the GPU and topped at 66-69C on the CPU. I was playing a battleground in WoW just a bit ago, and frames just crashed to 24 on ultra settings (high wasn't much better). I am updated on drivers and such, but I am unsure if the Intel Graphics are trying to take over.

Thanks

 

[StealthArsenal]

I rolled my drivers just to see what happens. WoW and Diablo 3 (Both Blizzard Games) seem to be running low (380ish frames dropping into 20s) on ultra settings. On the other hand, Blacklist is running at between 40-50 frames and BAttlefield 4 is running between 60-80 on high settings. Maybe I am expecting more from my laptop when my desktop is SLI 670 FTW's. I would like to figure out this FPS drop on Blizzard games now. Not sure what that could be.

Thanks

 

[modernwar99]

It could be poor game optimization, drivers that the games don't like, or both. Enable Vsync and see if that holds the frame rate at a constant 60fps.

 

[StealthArsenal]

Hey Modern,

Here is a little bit more specific break down for my issue. I have enabled Vsync and its seems to be a tid bit better, but still stuttering and not as smooth as when I got the laptop a couple months ago.

Splinter Cell BlackList - Generally between 40-50 FPS (in combat dropping to 30-35) but there is some noticeable lag between cut scenes from time to time. Almost like a incorrectly mixed movie where the talking is not on time with the actual acting.

World of Warcraft - Here if I am sitting around frames are fine (60 or 60+ without vsync on) but during combat these are dropping between 20-30 (17 was lowest)

Diablo 3 - Same as World of Warcraft above

Battlefield 4 - This has to be the extreme exception, the game is running on high settings with frames between 60-85 fps. This game seems to run flawlessly which has me completely miffed at this point.

Corrective Action:
1. Updated to the latest GeForce drivers with no change. I have Since rolled back to the MSI driver just to make sure they didn't tweak the drivers out in a particular way that might cause a conflict.
2. Confirmed that 3d Settings in the Nvidia control panel are set for "High Performance Nvidia GPU" so I am not running off of the Intel.
3. Within 3D Settings, I manually added games to the list and set them to run directly on "High Performance Nvidia GPU" just to make sure.
4. I had read a recommendation of deleting the DX3Diag.prefs for Diablo 3 with no change
5. Enabled V-Sync in WoW and Diablo 3 based upon recommendations.
6. I am running cooler boost everytime I game on the laptop as most of you know, this laptop gets hot. (A cooling pad with another cooling fan might be needed even though I have the laptop elevated)

I had gone over to the MSI product page/Drivers for the GT 60 Dominator 2PC (I did not see a direct driver page for the 424 which is the model in question) and saw that there was a vbios update there from June, 2014 which I have not applied. I see it has to deal with the Optimus Technology operating on the GTX870m. My issue here, when I download the bios, it does not run on Windows 8.1 64Bit. Says something to the effect that it is not for my laptop even though it came from the GT 60 2PC Driver section. Is this vbios update a significant one that would make some graphical improvements similar to other MSI notebooks?

What else could I try? This Dominator is running the i7-4700mq, GTX870m 3gb, 8gb of ram, OCZ ssd.

 

[modernwar99]

Hmm, vsync should've cleared up the stuttering. I don't recommend flashing your GPU BIOS. It will have no effect on performance at all. If you don't know what you're doing and you mess up, your GPU will be garbage. If you didn't already, uninstall the Intel HD graphics drivers. The splinter cell fps dropping in battles is normal. It happens in all games, 64 player BF4, PS2 (really bad lag), but it shouldn't be happening that drastically in wow or Diablo 3. It sounds like it might have something to do with your CPU. BF4 barely uses the CPU at all, which might explain why you are getting normal fps.

Since it's a laptop, it should have power options. Click the battery icon in the system tray. There should be a "more power options" link, click it. You should enable high performance (which will burn battery much faster), click the "change plan settings" and then "change advanced power settings". Under the "processor power management" tab, enable maximum performance. Also plugging it in to the charger increases performance because the power plans are designed to conserve battery life while running on battery. Be sure to change the power settings back to balanced or power saving if you unplug it from the charger.

 

[StealthArsenal]

Modern,

Thanms for the response. I game on it while plugged in and I pull my battery. Power settings are high performance for sure. I will uninstall Intel drivers tonight when I land back home to in the states and just run on nvidia which is what I want.
Splinter cell is playable, so I can live with that. It the stuttering and such like in Diablo and wow that is driving me crazy. Like I said, I am not used to it as my one gaming desktop is sli gtx670 ftw editions and the other is gtx780ti sli. I'm not the slightest worried about flashing so if there is a thought it could work, I am down for it.

Thanks

 

[StealthArsenal]

As and addition, it have been recommended to uninstall GeForce experience so it can set the optimal settings and in turn I can define what I want. MSI recommendation.