[SOLVED] I'm considering overclocking my pc but ...

titus78

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Jan 11, 2019
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So I recently got Battlefield V for my PC and have been having some issues with my fps, mainly stuttering. It stutters on all but 2 maps and I'm not really to sure why. I usually get around 50 to 60 fps while play the game which is pretty bad for me and honestly ruins the game for me. The cpu temps see fine between 68 to 80 c but never going past 80 so I don't think thermal throttling is the issue.

here are my specs for my Dell Inspiron 7577 Laptop
15 7000 Gaming Series Edition 7577 15.6-Inch Full HD Screen Laptop - Intel Quad-Core i7-7700HQ, 128GB SSD + 1TB HDD, 16GB DDR4 Memory, NVIDIA GTX 1060 6GB Graphics, Windows 10

7th-generation Intel Quad-Core i7-7700HQ 2.50 GHz with Turbo Boost Technology up to 3.80 GHz
16GB DDR4 2400MHz Memory, 128GB Solid State Drive M.2 + 1TB 5400 rpm Hard Drive with 8GB Cache
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 with 6GB GDDR5

So my question is if I overclocked my cpu , say maybe 5 to 10% would that help my fps? I know I'll really have to say on top of my cpu temps and I might consider getting this to help
https://www.amazon.com/Havit-HV-F2056-Laptop-Cooler-Cooling/dp/B00NNMB3KS/ref=sr_1_4?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1547223818&sr=1-4&keywords=gaming+laptop+cooling+pad

 
Solution


First off, after more research, this IS a Max-Q laptop as I expected, which you did not mention. Your performance is also going to be worse if you game on battery vs wall outlet. You also haven't mentioned the ambient temp of the area you play in, and whether you set it on a flat surface, or your lap, the latter of which is not advised for gaming, as it can block the vents and pick up heat from your body.

The reviews I've read are generally good on this laptop, nothing bad to say about temps or performance...
No, those are NOT good CPU temps, and OCing it will only make them worse. High temps are a common problem with a lot of laptops.

A common example of what a heat problem laptops are is the 1060 "Max Q" GPU. That variant of the 1060 in laptops is so common now it's hard to find non Max Q versions anymore.

A Max Q 1060 is basically a 1060 that is clocked according to how effective the laptop cooler is. Pretty much all 1060 Max Qs are clocked lower than a stock 1060, and ALL laptop CPUs and GPUs are clocked lower than their desktop counterparts to begin with.

A decent laptop cooler will help some, as long as the heat isn't due to internal dust clogging the heatsinks, or excessive ambient (room) temperatures, but even if those are not the problem, it may only bring the CPU down to normal temps, which the OC would negate.

 

titus78

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Jan 11, 2019
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what about using the turbo boosting technology to try and get it up to 3.80 or 4.00ish GHz. the last bench mark I did was at 3.47GHz and the cpu temp was 76 c. do you think that could work?
 

titus78

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so basically what your saying is that the cooler my pc runs the better preformance I will get ie fps

 
Yes, that's one way in which laptops vary quite a bit. The problem is though, you're restricted to the type of cooler the laptop was designed with. Laptops all have unique and minimal interior space, which s why no one tends to make custom coolers for them.

I always tell people buying laptops for gaming that excellent cooling is a key feature to look for, but most only look at CPU, GPU, RAM, Display, Keyboard, basically anything BUT the cooler.
 

titus78

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so then what would a good temp for my gaming laptop?
 

titus78

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also if I were to get a cooling vacuum (that attaches the heat exhaust vent to suck more heat out of the cpu) and was able to get my cpu to run say 5 to 10 c cooler would I be able to see significant improvement in my fps?
 


First off, after more research, this IS a Max-Q laptop as I expected, which you did not mention. Your performance is also going to be worse if you game on battery vs wall outlet. You also haven't mentioned the ambient temp of the area you play in, and whether you set it on a flat surface, or your lap, the latter of which is not advised for gaming, as it can block the vents and pick up heat from your body.

The reviews I've read are generally good on this laptop, nothing bad to say about temps or performance. NotebookCheck even said the temps were no worse than yours, even with 1 hour plus stress tests that run the CPU and GPU at 100% continually, which is way more stress than games would put on it.

The only negative reviews I've read are like 3 out of the 9 customers that reviewed it on Amazon, but none were related to bad performance or temps. It's really hard to say if yours is running too hot or slow without knowing the ambient temp and use scenarios I pointed out above, and what games you're playing, for how long, and whether on battery or adapter cord. Keep in mind Max-Qs on average are clocked 10% lower than a normal laptop 1060, and all normal 1060 laptop GPUs are clocked lower than their desktop counterparts. For all I know, performance wise you could just be having unreal expectations on your first laptop if comparing to a desktop.

It's interesting to note the first paragraph below I quoted from the Ultrabook review though, which proves temps can lead to better performance in some games, which was the whole point behind the Max-Q design. Overall Dells have above average cooling compared to other budget laptops though. They also have a fairly solid defect rate, though you wouldn't know it by the Amazon reviews, which may or may not involve some software incompatibility issues or user error.

NotebookCheck.net

"We stress the notebook with synthetic benchmarks to identify for any throttling or stability issues. When subjected to Prime95 loads, we can observe a steady CPU clock rate and temperature of 3.2 GHz and 67 C, respectively. Running both Prime95 and FurMark will impressively result in a steady CPU temperature of 83 C without affecting clock rate. Core CPU and GPU temperatures are quite low at under 70 C when gaming for extended periods."

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Dell-Inspiron-15-7000-7577-i7-7700HQ-GTX-1060-Max-Q-4K-UHD-Laptop-Review.282650.0.html

LaptopMedia.com

(Scroll near bottom of page for temp test)
https://laptopmedia.com/review/dell-inspiron-15-7577-gtx-1060-max-q-review-improved-but-still-flawed/

UltrabookReview.com

"This guy on the forums mentions here that : “I turned on my undervolt (-.165v) and overclocked the GPU by 200mhz on the core and 250mhz on the ram. Max fan speed was 4800 rpm (na: from the 5400 rpm out of the box). The highest ambient temp was 74C. The GPU and CPU stayed at max clocks and I had no throttling”. This allowed him to run Witcher 3 at 50-60 fps with Ultra settings, with the CPU and GPU averaging around 65C (on the base i5 configuration). In other words, with this kind of tweaks you can expect nearly full-size 1060 performance, but from a chip that runs cooler due to its lower TDP.

In the end, choosing between the i5 and i7 is entirely up to you. At list prices, the i7 configuration is not worth the extra $300 imo, but with all the available discounts you might get it for much less. You should also keep in mind the i7 is going to run a little hotter than the i5, but given what we know so far, temperatures and performance should not be a concern on this laptop. In fact, with the CPU/GPU averaging mid 70s out of the box without any tweaks, we could argue that Dell could have put a proper GTX 1060 chip inside this laptop and not the snipped Max-Q version, although there are some benefits of going for this option, as mentioned earlier.

As for the outercase temperatures, I’m seeing high 40s with gaming, with the area on top of the keyboard getting the hottest, while the WASD keys hit mid 30s. I couldn’t’ find anything about the bottom temperatures, but I’d expect high 40s down there as well. In other words, expect the Inspiron 7577 to run hot with games, but not hotter than most other gaming laptops on the market."


https://www.ultrabookreview.com/18534-dell-inspiron-7577-reviewed/





 
Solution

titus78

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Jan 11, 2019
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First of all I want to thank you for doing all this research for me, I'm still pretty new to pc gaming so i'm sorry if I go a little light on details. The room temp is around 60 F and I do play on a flat surface with the back of my laptop raised slightly to get airflow underneath and it's always plugged in to the wall.

I play mainly Rainbow 6 siege, Overwatch and I've never had any issues with fps with them. Battlefield V is the one causing the most issues right now in terms of gameplay stuttering and subpar fps 40-60. here is Reddit post that outlines more.
https://www.reddit.com/r/BattlefieldV/comments/aecyco/stuttering_in_battlefield_v/
and
https://www.reddit.com/r/BattlefieldV/comments/af99by/how_common_is_fps_stuttering_on_pc/

here is where I found out that people with much better setups than me are also having this issue so I think the problems may be coming from the game and not my laptop, this would make some sense seeing as BF V is VERY bugged currently and has many issues so this might be one of them possibly.
what do you think?
should I try doing this?
This guy on the forums mentions here that : “I turned on my undervolt (-.165v) and overclocked the GPU by 200mhz on the core and 250mhz on the ram. Max fan speed was 4800 rpm (na: from the 5400 rpm out of the box). The highest ambient temp was 74C. The GPU and CPU stayed at max clocks and I had no throttling”. This allowed him to run Witcher 3 at 50-60 fps with Ultra settings, with the CPU and GPU averaging around 65C (on the base i5 configuration). In other words, with this kind of tweaks you can expect nearly full-size 1060 performance, but from a chip that runs cooler due to its lower TDP.



 
I would not worry a whole lot if BF V is the only game having issues, and quite frankly, 40-60 FPS on BF V with a Max-Q 1060 laptop is not all that bad really (depending on settings, which you also didn't mention). I know it's a buggy game, especially in MP. It's possibly because it's one of the games made for RTX, which is also a work in progress. There's been lots of performance issues with RTX GPUs too. Many think it's due to problems with the new GDDR6 VRAM standard. I'd say it's likely a combination of things related to RTX in general.

I would only attempt that undervolt/overclock combo if you're experienced at such things and are confident at doing it. Otherwise, just leave it alone and see what the laptop cooler can do.

One thing you didn't clarify is if the temps you were referring to are only in BF V. They're rather high, but it may be the norm for that title (thus far). It's rather irresponsible to release games in that condition, but in this case I feel Nvidia might be partly to blame for encouraging them to sync it with the debut of RTX, which was also not ready for release.
 

titus78

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Jan 11, 2019
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do you know of a good youtube video guide on undervolt/overclock?
 
You could ask the guy that did it on the forum it was mentioned, which is accessible via a link in the text if you use the Ultrabook link I posted. http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/dell-inspirion-7577.808514/page-15#post-10612169

If you get no response, there's always the YouTube search bar. Just enter something like how to undervolt and overclock a Max-Q on a Dell i5 7000. The reason a lot of people don't get responses here is all the searching involved, which quite frankly is not that hard, just time consuming.