Gaming Issues with 650M

[slvrkramer]

Hi everyone.

I bought a new laptop mid last year, a dv6t Quad Ed from HP to be precise. Here are the specs:

• 3rd generation Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3610QM Processor (2.3 GHz, 6MB L3 Cache)
• NVIDIA(R) GeForce(R) GT 650M Graphics with 1GB GDDR5
• 8GB DDR3 System Memory

Quite frankly when I had it for the first few months, gaming with it wasn't an issue. I was playing battlefield 3 on ultra and many other games on higher settings. But after about 2-3 months in my computer started to heat up much faster. I have a laptop cooler that does a bit of cooling.

Once I started playing Hitman Absolution my computer had constant lag issues during gaming. For a comparison I was playing Battlefield 3 when I first got it on 1080p and on High settings. But now I am forced to run it on 800x600 on the lowest settings and even then the computer lags. I read a lot about heat issues with this model, so I went and even changed the thermal paste on it. There was no noticeable change in terms of performance. I used to play Dead Island on highest settings. Now it lags once I start the game.....

Even according to the windows Performance Index it rates pretty well:
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3610QM CPU @ 2.30GHz 6.3 --- 5.9
Memory (RAM) 8.00 GB --- 7.4
Graphics Intel(R) HD Graphics 4000 --- 7.0
Gaming graphics 1696 MB Total available graphics memory --- 7.0
Primary hard disk 491GB Free (911GB Total) --- 5.9

I don't understand what seems to be the problem. Can anyone help me with this? I would like to be able to enjoy playing games on my laptop without having to drop the quality to the lowest settings and even then still lag.

Thanks in advance.

Oh and before anyone says it. I am quite sure I'm running on Nvidia instead of the Intel graphics card through the setting ons the Nvidia Driver/Program Settings.

 

[DarkSable]

What's the native resolution of the screen? Just wondering, because the 650M is not a gaming chip, and I'm very surprised it'd run BF3 on ultra... that couldn't have been at 60 fps unless you had like, 600p resolution, could it have been?

As for the lag, it almost sounds like you've got a virus... I can't think of anything else likely that would cause that significant lag so suddenly. You've done scans, I presume?

 

[aicom]

That's way low on the CPU side of the WEI. I have the exact computer you have and the CPU score is a 7.8. When I was initially using it, I found that the CPU and GPU cannot run at their maximum clocks at maximum load indefinitely. Usually the GPU will drop its clock down when the thermals get north of 90 C. I also assume you know that the firmware forces the GPU clock to 405 MHz on battery which really tanks performance. You could also try changing the maximum CPU state in the advanced power options to 99% from 100% which has the effect of preventing turbo boost from activating and driving your temps up.

 

[slvrkramer]

What's the native resolution of the screen? Just wondering, because the 650M is not a gaming chip, and I'm very surprised it'd run BF3 on ultra... that couldn't have been at 60 fps unless you had like, 600p resolution, could it have been?

As for the lag, it almost sounds like you've got a virus... I can't think of anything else likely that would cause that significant lag so suddenly. You've done scans, I presume?

Hmm I guess I'll check for a virus I guess. I haven't seen anything out of the place though. I used to run it at 1920x1080 with no graphical lag whatsoever and I recall it was on default setting which was High-Ultra. Perhaps it was only going at 30fps. I didn't check the frame rates.

@aicom. I'll try your suggestion with changing the advanced power options. I didn't know that the firmware forces the GPU to clock on battery.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'll try all of them for now. Hopefully it fixes it. I'm quite unhappy with how the laptop has turned out.

 

[slvrkramer]

That's way low on the CPU side of the WEI. I have the exact computer you have and the CPU score is a 7.8. When I was initially using it, I found that the CPU and GPU cannot run at their maximum clocks at maximum load indefinitely. Usually the GPU will drop its clock down when the thermals get north of 90 C. I also assume you know that the firmware forces the GPU clock to 405 MHz on battery which really tanks performance. You could also try changing the maximum CPU state in the advanced power options to 99% from 100% which has the effect of preventing turbo boost from activating and driving your temps up.

I just checked the power settings. Not sure why I didn't do it before I replied. According to the setting the power option is already set on 100% on battery. Any idea how I could stop the GPU to clock at 405mhz? Thanks.