Intel HD 3000 Starcraft 2 problems (worked fine--now framerate issues)

[crabapple]

Hi All, thank you for helping me purchase my system below (in the other hardware forum).

CPU: Intel Core i5 Processor i5-2500K 3.3GHz 6MB LGA1155
MOBO: MSI H61M-E23 (B3) Intel H61 Micro ATX DDR3 1333
RAM: Crucial CT2CP25664BA1339 4GB 2GBx2 240-pin PC3-10600 DIMM DDR3
Corsair CMPSU-430CX CX Series 430-watt Power Supply Compatible with Intel Core I7 and Core I5
STORAGE: Western Digital 1 TB Caviar Blue SATA 3 Gb/s 7200 RPM
VIDEO: On board Intel HD 3000 graphics family
SOUND: On board realtek HD audio

Anyway, when I first purchased this system (May 2011), I was able to play starcraft 2 on limited/low settings with lil to no framerate issues (I could even raise some of the graphics settings to medium and still have decent framerates).

Over the last week or two I've been having major framerate issues every time I try to run starcraft 2. Even the menu's when launching the game have gotten a bit laggy. I've tried reducing every single setting on the back end of the game, including the resolution (to the lowest) but it doesn't seem to be helping much if any.

This is really the only game I play with regularity that pushes the system's hardware. I haven't noticed issues on any other computer activity.

I've downloaded the latest Intel HD 3000 graphics drivers at intel but that didn't really solve the issue.

Anybody know why at one time I could play starcraft 2 with good framerates but suddenly now I cannot?

 

[Sunfighterlc]

How much stuff you have running in the background now, vs when you first bought the system? Have you added anything?

 

[crabapple]

Nothing out of the ordinary running in the background. I'm pretty good about exiting/uninstalling before I run SC2. That hasn't really impacted performance one way or the other.

 

[woshitudou]

SC2 goes slow on mine when I turn AA on, check if you have AA on.

Unrelated but related - here are some screenshots I took of the diff AA levels with SC2 when I first got it http://www.xyvo.com/sc2

 

[nukemaster]

Check to make sure your hard drive is defragged with something like defraggler

http://www.piriform.com/defraggler

The reason for the recommendation is that slower systems(my slower systems) seem to have some pauses on the game menu's(the flying ship just pauses intermittently) and at the start of a round(with a fair bit of hard drive access). it smooths out as soon as the game has loaded all its data. A good defrag may help this. This is one thing that SSD's helps allot(ssd's do not slow down with fragmentation). So maybe you just have the SC2 files fragmented and it has to wait on drive head movements.

Thats about all I can guess. SC2 seems to do some loading at the start of the game and start of maps.

I did try some SC2 on GMA 3000(2600k, so the same as you as far as SC2 is concerned) as well. was surprised that it even worked(much better then i ever guessed it would).

 

[crabapple]

Thanks for the input.

Here's what I got:

* Run pirform.com's defraggler.
* Make sure AA is off.

Will let you guys know if any of this helps after dinner.

Any further ideas/input would be greatly appreciated.

 

[vigilante212]

Has there been any game updates or video driver updates or MB updates?


On a side note it seems kind of silly to buy a i5-2500k and just use onboard graphics but thats just me

 

[crabapple]

There has been both driver and game patches.

I'm considering rolling back drivers but there's nothing I can do about a game patch update. But to my knowledge the patches fix bugs and balance, nothing that would really impact the graphics or hardware performance.

And as for using only on board video: It's something I am forced to do, based on limited budget/income right now. But starcraft 2 was working fine with my current set up; and now it isn't. That's what im trying to figure out.

 

[nukemaster]

Just to make sure it was clear. The defrag was just to help if it was start and map start lag.

Have you checked out your cpu temperatures in case the heatsink(especially if it is the stock heat sink) is getting dirty, If it gets dirty, the cpu will not enter turbo at some point when the temps get to high. The onboard video(since its in the cpu as well) has a dynamic frequency as well that may be effected by temperatures.

Try HWmon to load a game and see how high your temps get. it will show low and high temps for most parts of your system.
http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/hwmonitor.html

 

[renz496]

Hi All, thank you for helping me purchase my system below (in the other hardware forum).

CPU: Intel Core i5 Processor i5-2500K 3.3GHz 6MB LGA1155
MOBO: MSI H61M-E23 (B3) Intel H61 Micro ATX DDR3 1333
RAM: Crucial CT2CP25664BA1339 4GB 2GBx2 240-pin PC3-10600 DIMM DDR3
Corsair CMPSU-430CX CX Series 430-watt Power Supply Compatible with Intel Core I7 and Core I5
STORAGE: Western Digital 1 TB Caviar Blue SATA 3 Gb/s 7200 RPM
VIDEO: On board Intel HD 3000 graphics family
SOUND: On board realtek HD audio

Anyway, when I first purchased this system (May 2011), I was able to play starcraft 2 on limited/low settings with lil to no framerate issues (I could even raise some of the graphics settings to medium and still have decent framerates).

Over the last week or two I've been having major framerate issues every time I try to run starcraft 2. Even the menu's when launching the game have gotten a bit laggy. I've tried reducing every single setting on the back end of the game, including the resolution (to the lowest) but it doesn't seem to be helping much if any.

This is really the only game I play with regularity that pushes the system's hardware. I haven't noticed issues on any other computer activity.

I've downloaded the latest Intel HD 3000 graphics drivers at intel but that didn't really solve the issue.

Anybody know why at one time I could play starcraft 2 with good framerates but suddenly now I cannot?

you got very good processor why not get yourself better discrete gpu? also if you plan on buying H61 based mobo from the start maybe you should get normal 2500 instead of 2500k. if you have P67 or Z68 mobo you can tap your 2500k true potential. get a discrete card, switch you mobo, leave everything else as it is and you get yourself a formidable gaming system. just my 2 cent

 

[gracefully]

Is SC2 the only thing that's slowing down? Is everything else OK? Do any other games lag?

You can try running HWMonitor (already mentioned above), Furmark or Unigine to stress the GPU a bit, memtest86+ to check for memory issues, and Intel Burn Test/prime95 to stress the CPU. All to make sure the system is stable.

 

[de5_Roy]

check your cpu, gpu temps with a monitoring software.
check case airflow.
may be get an after market cooler if you think you're having trouble running on stock cooler.
do a system cleanup. use a maintenance software like ccleaner. may be a little virus scanning too. see if any unwanted processes start running.

 

[crabapple]

All great suggestions, thank you. Will get back to you with a final word if and when I find a fix.

 

[crabapple]

UPDATE:

The temperatures were fine.

I ended up checking the "vertical sync" box under graphic tab in the game, and that seems to have resolved the issue.

 

[Sunius]

Glad you solved it!

 

[crabapple]

Best answer selected by crabapple.