[SOLVED] FPS slowdowns every minute or so in Fallout 4.

[Morpheus77]

Hello,

This is my very first post. My problem I'm having is that my Fallout 4 has random FPS drops in the 10's or so. Its not consistent and happens randomly. My laptop specs are as follows:

Ryzen 5 5600H @3.3ghz, 16gb 3200hz ram, 1 tb SSD, 512gb SSD, and a 3050 ti 4gb Vram GPU.

Please help.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Sounds like it might be thermal throttling to me. Have you taken a look to see what the CPU and GPU thermals are doing at the time you are seeing the FPS drops? I'd recommend installing HWinfo, run it, choose the "sensors only" option and then see what the thermals are doing while running the game.

Might also want to check to see that you have the latest BIOS firmware installed and the latest chipset and graphics card drivers as well.

 

[Morpheus77]

Hello Darkbreeze,

I'll go right ahead and check those temperatures now.

Thank you

 

[Morpheus77]

So I was playing Rimworld and my temperatures for my CPU reached 200°F, is that bad? How do I reduce temperatures for a laptop?

 

[Darkbreeze]

Did you use HWinfo? If not, please install that, then run your game. What we want to see is whether that temp is actually the maximum it's hitting or if it's throttling to stay at that temp since the max safe temp, and I do mean MAX, is 105°C. Make sure any monitoring app you are using is set to use Celcius because that is what hardware manufacturers specify temps for, although you can certainly convert from F to C, it's just easier to not have to. At 200°F you are sitting at about 98°C which is within the thermal envelope it's specced for but just barely really. Especially if it's only running at that temp by throttling itself, which is possible.

In HWinfo there will be a section in the sensors only window that will tell you if any thermal throttling is happening. You ALSO really want to check the GPU temperatures as well, because that may be throttling even if the CPU isn't.

 

[Morpheus77]

Hello Darkbreeze,

Yes I used hwinfo. I went ghetto and plugged in a portable fan and placed it under the laptop on my lap and now the temperatures are down by 20 degrees. I think i solved my problem. Thanks!

 

[Darkbreeze]

Well, you found the problem anyhow. I'm not sure that's really the solution I'd be looking for. And right off the bat I'd say that having it ON your lap, IS at least part of the problem. Laptops have active cooling for the CPU and often also for the GPU if it's a gaming model and it should never be used on your lap, or on your bedclothes (Blankets, sheets, etc.) or on carpeted floors. They should ALWAYS be operated on flat, hard surfaces that cannot block the intake air vents. You might also want to get a can of compressed air and blow out all the intake and exhaust cooling vents.