[SOLVED] Low FPS when gaming

[Thyroiec]

Hi,

Since several days I have very low FPS when gaming, about 7 to 12.
This happened suddently, from one day to another, whith games that were running perfectly well before. I do not recall any software update at that time.

Specs:
Dell G3 15 3500
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-10750H CPU @ 2.60GHz (12 CPUs), ~2.6GHz
16 MB RAM
NVIDIA GeFroce GTX 1660 Ti
SSD Pm991a NVMe Samsung 512GB
BIOS 1.12.0
DirectX 12

• I rule out an overheating problem since it start immediately when I launch a game. My laptop has no time to heat.
• I try to roll back the driver of my graphic card, from both NVIDIA and Dell website with no avail.
• All my other drivers are up to date.
• Windows 11 is up to date and I do not have the possibility to roll back to a previous Windows 11 update.
• The BIOS is up to date.
• Setting the games to minimal graphic did not help.
• Unsitalling and reinstalling the games did not help.
• The online troubeshooting Dell service did not find any issue on my computer.
• I have checked for viruses or malwares (Avast + Adwcleaner) but did not find anything.
• The DirectX diagnosis tool found no issue.
• I do not know if it is significant but I had an issue with the Alienware command center approximately at the same time, it would not update. I uninstalled and re-installed it.
• There is no physical damage to my laptop (no shock, no water spill,...)

I run user benchmark test and I seem to have an issue with my graphic card, as it cannot be fully analyzed. However I do not know what to do with that, given that the driver is up to date.
https://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/50550088

Except for reseting my computer, I run out of idea of what to try. Does anyone has a suggestion?

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

Hey there,

Userbench failed because you are running an overlay. Simly close MSI Afterburner or whichever program you use to monitor fps, and then run userbench again. it should now complete the test.

Keep in mind, Userbench is just a comparison of systems. It's not an a real indicator of a GPU's performance. For that you can run something like Superposition, to look for issues. Will put your GPU to full pelt, as opposed to a small, irrelevant test as in UBM

Edit: Are you using Geforce Experience by chance?

 

[Thyroiec]

Hi keith12,

I ran Superimposition on a stress test at 1080p and it went smoothly:
FPS: min: 64 avg: 82 max: 109
GPU °C: min 64 max 74
GPU utilization max at 100%

This is much much better compared to what I experience these last days nad it feels normal.

Yes I use GeForce Experience.
Either it was installed by default or I get it with an update of my GPU at some point.
I do not really remember (my computer is about 1 year old).

 

[James Apollov]

I have a similar build and have the same problem.

Specs:
ideapad Gaming 3-15IMH05 Laptop - Type 81Y4
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-10750H CPU @ 2.60GHz, 2592 Mhz, 6 Core(s), 12 Logical Processor(s)
16 GB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Ti
UMIS RPJTJ256MEE1OWX SSD 256.0 GB
ST1000LM035-1RK172 HDD1000.2 GB
BIOS 3.2
DirectX 12

The worst game to play for me is COD MW while i was able to play it flawlessly before.

I also use geforce experience, does that have a negative effect on perfomance?

I suspect the windows 11 update..

 

[Thyroiec]

In my case I would rule out the switch from Windows 10 to Windows 11. I did that several weeks before my problem arise.
Now, it could very well be a Windows 11 update that is causing the problem.

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

So, if you use Geforce Experience and optimize games, it can certainly kill FPS and make things stutter. When optimized it changes the settings and can even apply DXR, which destroys FPS. Generally I have uninstalled and configure game settings through the game itself or if needed NVCP global settings.

You don't necessarily have to uninstall GFE, but make sure it's not optimizing your games. Even when you do that, it's advisable to default your video settings in game, and then reset them as you like. Hopefully this will mean much smoother gameplay

 

[Thyroiec]

So I tried without GFE optimization, it did not change anything. I unistalled it to be sure but it did not work either.
I also try to disable windows 11 game mode (I read somwhere else that it can sometimes be problematic) and nothing changed.

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

What power plan are you running?

Try ultimate or high by doing this:

Type into powershell:

Ultimate Performance: powercfg -duplicatescheme e9a42b02-d5df-448d-aa00-03f14749eb61
High Performance: powercfg -duplicatescheme 8c5e7fda-e8bf-4a96-9a85-a6e23a8c635c

Does that change anything?

Even if you have the high power plan already, refresh it using powershell to default it.

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

Also, what temps are your CPU while gaming?

 

[Thyroiec]

I paste the codelines in the powershell and nothing changed (I did not restart my computer after doing so, I hope it's fine).

Regarding the CPU temperature, I run the same test as for the GPU (Superimposition Benchmark) and use CPUID HWMinotor (fisrt time I use it) to see the max temps reached during the test:
Core 0: 94°C
Core 1: 88°C
Core 2: 98°C
Core 3: 86°C
Core 4: 95°C
Core 4: 95°C
Package: 100 °C (I have no idea what package means)

Once again the test went smoothly.

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

Ah, at those temps, it's very possible your CPU is throttling. When it gets into the high 80's and above consistently, the CPU will dial back clockspeed to keep within it's thermal envelope. This can have a very negative effect on FPS. I know you've stated it happens at start of game when CPU isn't that hot.

You can try a laptop cooling pad to increase the flow of cold air into the intakes on the underside of your laptop.

You could also look at undervolting your CPU, which can reduce voltage and heat, and by consequence your CPU can boost higher and for longer.

Have you done any cleaning of the unit? Internal fans etc? This is definitely worthwhile.

The power plans won't harm your PC in in anyway, although I'd recommend using the high performance profile instead of Ultimate as ulitmate disables all sleep states for various pieces of hardware, and keeps them active all the time. (more useful on desktops).

After unsintalling Geforce experience, I'd suggest using DDU to unstall the GPU driver, and then do a fresh install with the 'Custom - Clean install' options.

 

[jnxzi94]

I paste the codelines in the powershell and nothing changed (I did not restart my computer after doing so, I hope it's fine).

Regarding the CPU temperature, I run the same test as for the GPU (Superimposition Benchmark) and use CPUID HWMinotor (fisrt time I use it) to see the max temps reached during the test:
Core 0: 94°C
Core 1: 88°C
Core 2: 98°C
Core 3: 86°C
Core 4: 95°C
Core 4: 95°C
Package: 100 °C (I have no idea what package means)

Once again the test went smoothly.

That's clear thermal throttling and your CPU should shutdown or crash when it hits 100 C.
That CPU needs more cooling or something...

 

[Thyroiec]

So, I tried to unisntall the driver with DDU and reinstall it and it did not solve my issue.
I already have a cooling pad and when I started using it I saw it reduces the number of times my fans reached max speed, to me the pad is working.

I can hear that my CPU is too hot, especially during the benchmark, but then I do not understand three things if my CPU is faulty due to overheating or premature wear:

- Why the benchmark animation, which is demanding, went smoothly while my games have low FPS? It was 64 FPS min when I currently have 12 FPS max when gaming.

- Why my problem occurs immediately when I load a game save? During the benhmark test, the fans do not reach max speed at the begining of it. I do not have a continuous reading for the CPU temp, but the GPU max temp was not reached immediately. I really think that the CPU has not time to reach problematic temp while I already experience the FPS drop.

- Why my problem occured suddenlly from one day to the next, without intermediate degradation of the FPS?


Edit 2: I tried to undervolt my CPU but it is locked and apparently it is a stance from Intel.

Edit: I do not know wether this is relevant but I did a little test with a game that ran perfectly well before (The Witcher 3). I went to the device manager and deactivated (not uninstalled) my NVIDIA graphic card. It makes no difference compared to the activated condition. It might be confirmation bias but it makes me think that, for some reasons, the GPU does not kick in when I start a game, but does on the benchmark run.

 

[Thyroiec]

Right, I solved my issue, the culprit was Citrix software, which I use to remotely connect to my work.
I uninstalled it and now my games run as before.

It is discussed here if someone is interested:

Citrix Workspace causing low gaming performance on PCs.

Hi I was hoping to bring this attention to citrix as best as I could. A couple people on reddit and myself were experiencing poor gaming performance in certain games. I noticed an update that I installed on Saturday that seemed to be causing this issue as once i uninstalled citrix the issue went ...

discussions.citrix.com

There was an update of the software in early february, as I did not played right after the update, I did not make the connection. With the instillation of the software, a (virtual ?) graphic card is installed and can be found in the device manager. I tried to deactivate this Citrix graphic card (without unsintalling Citrix) and it did not solved my problem so I (wrongly) supposed that it was not the issue. Everything should be fine with an older version of the software.

My guess of why it affected the game and not the benchmark? Because of Internet.
I have my games on Steam, so at some point, my computer will try to connect to the Internet (even if I am in plane mode, I suppose it will try). For remote connection to my work, Citrix will also connect to the Internet (obvisously).
However the benchmark was local and did not required Internet connection. So I guess that when I tried to play a game with Steam, for some reason Citrix took over and prevent the full activation of my graphic card.
But I have the informatic skills of a cooked mussel so I might also be completely wrong.

Anyway thank you people for helping me, especially keith12

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

Excellent. Glad you found the culprit. Funnily enough, my partner has been temporarily using my gaming PC for work, and has been using Citrix receiver for that. However, I've noticed some very odd behavior with at least to start up apps, not starting up! Uninstalled Citrix, issue gone. Don't figure.