[SOLVED] Severe Throttling making any game unplayable. New Motherboard!

[souvik33]

i5-8250U CPU 4 cores 1.6Ghz ~3.40Ghz. Geforce 940mx 2GB , 8Gb memory and 1tb hdd win 10.
very stumped at this issue which seems to re-occur despite of a motherboard replacement. At first, I thought it was an issue with the game, but then every game started delivering unplayable framerates apart from some very old titles like POP. I monitored the Performance trends in-game. Temperature max was 82-84 degrees celsius. Cpu usage around 23-55% depending on games like Battlefield 1, far cry 4, AC Syndicate and COD BO2. In modern titles, Cpu usage never exceeded 2.9 Ghz. FPS Dropped as low as 13 from 32. Gpu usage uniform at 99%.
Already informed my maintenance dept, looking forward to know what people here have to say. I had unparked my CPU. Can that be a cause of this repetitive problem?
Regards

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

Hmmmm. What is the native res of the panel/monitor?

Your system is not a gaming machine per se. It can game, but not very well. Specially those games you've listed. The res of the monitor will play a huge part in what your system can do at that resolution. It also depends hugely on what in game settings you choose.

You've a decent laptop. nothing stellar. It will not perform very well at 1080p resolution. Knowing the res is key. Also, give the laptop model number too, so we can check more.

Run HWMon while you are gaming, then alt-tab out of the game and take a screenshot of HWmon and post it here. We can then see if there are any hardware issues at play.

You can also run MSI afterburner with the OSD, and set the OSD to display, CPU/GPU usage, temps, along with system ram usage.

 

[souvik33]

Hmmmm. What is the native res of the panel/monitor?

Your system is not a gaming machine per se. It can game, but not very well. Specially those games you've listed. The res of the monitor will play a huge part in what your system can do at that resolution. It also depends hugely on what in game settings you choose.

You've a decent laptop. nothing stellar. It will not perform very well at 1080p resolution. Knowing the res is key. Also, give the laptop model number too, so we can check more.

Run HWMon while you are gaming, then alt-tab out of the game and take a screenshot of HWmon and post it here. We can then see if there are any hardware issues at play.

You can also run MSI afterburner with the OSD, and set the OSD to display, CPU/GPU usage, temps, along with system ram usage.

I already know what my laptop can deliver, and it isn't that bad since I game at 1366x768. My laptop's native monitor is 1080p. I am already using MSI OSD, and see nothing unusual. The temps are fine, as mentioned initially. The framerates are dropping, not consistently low, which is an indication of a bug, not a limitation. I will follow up soon, as I am expecting a technician to show up after some time.

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

So your MX940 is an average mobile GPU. Your generally low frames are because of that. For the games you mentioned you will experience FPS drops.

Also, temps aren't fine IMO. 82-85c is high for a laptop CPU and if the CPU throttles, it can also cause fps drops. Those temps won't kill the CPU, but will slow it down.

Finally for BF1, ACS, system ram usage can be quite high and often above 8gbs usage. If this happens, your system will start using the swap/page file, and this can also cause FPS and stuttering. You can check this with the OSD. It also worth making sure you have the latest GPU drivers, system drivers.

Have you changed any settings in the Nvidia Control Panel? Its worth trying a reset to default for the control panel.

IMO it's not a bug. A bug across all games!? More likely the limitations of the system, which I've outlined.

 

[logainofhades]

CPU is low utilization, with the GPU at 99%? Your GPU is holding you back. The CPU is literally waiting on the GPU to do it's thing.

 

[Karadjgne]

Didn't happen to do a Windows update recently did you? That alone can possibly cause all sorts of issues in gaming especially. Windows has a habit of ignoring 3rd party drivers because of timestamps and version numbers, using its own drivers because they are newer. But the game engine is using and looking for the audio drivers and not getting them. This'll cause lag, low fps, freezes even bsod.

Have to make sure after every windows update that you still have the latest motherboard chipset drivers, not just the gpu drivers. This can include bios update.

 

[souvik33]

So your MX940 is an average mobile GPU. Your generally low frames are because of that. For the games you mentioned you will experience FPS drops.

Also, temps aren't fine IMO. 82-85c is high for a laptop CPU and if the CPU throttles, it can also cause fps drops. Those temps won't kill the CPU, but will slow it down.

Finally for BF1, ACS, system ram usage can be quite high and often above 8gbs usage. If this happens, your system will start using the swap/page file, and this can also cause FPS and stuttering. You can check this with the OSD. It also worth making sure you have the latest GPU drivers, system drivers.

Have you changed any settings in the Nvidia Control Panel? Its worth trying a reset to default for the control panel.

IMO it's not a bug. A bug across all games!? More likely the limitations of the system, which I've outlined.

Do you think my GPU is at fault?
I just got a new thermal paste and servicing/cleaning done 2 days ago from a service center and experienced a similar stuttering of fps dropping to 17 from 31 in Far Cry 4. Problem was firs seen today. If my system is not capable of running the game, then a stable 31-33 fps in the first few minutes of gameplay wasn't a miracle, was it? I've not checked other games, but if this happens across all games, I will update this thread. Also if you check youtube, even a 7th gen i5 can run Far cry 4 and BF1 decently.

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

Do you think my GPU is at fault?
I just got a new thermal paste and servicing/cleaning done 2 days ago from a service center and experienced a similar stuttering of fps dropping to 17 from 31 in Far Cry 4. Problem was firs seen today. If my system is not capable of running the game, then a stable 31-33 fps in the first few minutes of gameplay wasn't a miracle, was it? I've not checked other games, but if this happens across all games, I will update this thread. Also if you check youtube, even a 7th gen i5 can run Far cry 4 and BF1 decently.

Yes, it's very likely it's the GPU. But also the other things I've mentioned. When a game first launches, it doesn't fill up the max vram, system ram, or CPU usage at first. But eventually it does. If you don't have enough resources it starts to slow down.

Although the CPU is an important factor for gaming, THE most important thing is the GPU. Your's is weak-ish. If you drop down resolution and you get a bump in FPS, that indicates your GPU is maxed at the monitors native res. By dropping the res, your GPU has less work to do. Specifically for the games you mentioned FC4/BF1 GPU is huge. On a standard desktop with a good CPU, an equivalent card to the mobile MX940 would only be playable on low in game settings, and prob with crappy frame rates.

Laptops are fun and all, but they are not very well balanced in terms of performance, and specially so for gaming.

It may not happen in all games. If you are playing Tetris, then you won't notice any issues. If you are playing BF1/V then you will. This is about limitations of the hardware. If you want to game with fluid frame rates, with no slowdowns, or bottlenecks you need a new (powerful laptop) or a cheaper gaming desktop. Both of which will serve you better for gaming than your current system.

 

[souvik33]

Yes, it's very likely it's the GPU. But also the other things I've mentioned. When a game first launches, it doesn't fill up the max vram, system ram, or CPU usage at first. But eventually it does. If you don't have enough resources it starts to slow down.

Although the CPU is an important factor for gaming, THE most important thing is the GPU. Your's is weak-ish. If you drop down resolution and you get a bump in FPS, that indicates your GPU is maxed at the monitors native res. By dropping the res, your GPU has less work to do. Specifically for the games you mentioned FC4/BF1 GPU is huge. On a standard desktop with a good CPU, an equivalent card to the mobile MX940 would only be playable on low in game settings, and prob with crappy frame rates.

Laptops are fun and all, but they are not very well balanced in terms of performance, and specially so for gaming.

It may not happen in all games. If you are playing Tetris, then you won't notice any issues. If you are playing BF1/V then you will. This is about limitations of the hardware. If you want to game with fluid frame rates, with no slowdowns, or bottlenecks you need a new (powerful laptop) or a cheaper gaming desktop. Both of which will serve you better for gaming than your current system.

Alright. I will contact my service center and will see what can be done. However, this problem wasn't there when I first purchased this laptop in September '18. Will have to think of a solution in the long run. Thanks for your help, I will try and stop windows update as well which might be clogging my drive during gaming. Also will use Razer Cortex Game booster to improve the overall gaming stability.

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

Let me know how you get on. Or if you have any questions, feel free to PM me.

Cheers.

 

[souvik33]

Let me know how you get on. Or if you have any questions, feel free to PM me.

Cheers.

Thanks. Update: Grand theft Auto V showing exactly same problem. Every 4 minutes fps dropping from 37 to 18 and making it unplayable. 2 years ago I had an i5-4210u dual core and geforce 820m with 8GB memory and GTA 5 ran on it without any problems like I've mentioned here. Now, I'm really suspecting something amiss other than a hardware limitation. Do you know any software with which I can track the performance and submit results here so that there will be more clarity on what's actually happening? Thanks in advance.
I also relayed the problem to my service center chap, who told me he'd order a new motherboard. But I'm unsure of that solution since the current motherboard is less than 2 months old. My laptop is in warranty.
Regards

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

For me, it's not a mobo issue, but for peace of mind if it helps, swap and see.

You can use MSI afterburner and the OSD (on screen display), set it to show CPU usage/speed/temp, GPU usage/speed/temp and also set it to show system ram usage. You can set it to show frame time variances, this might help diagnose some issues, but may not reveal anything we don't already know.

Also, install and open HWMon. Take a screenshot of your system as it's idling. Then play a game, and alt tab out of the game and take another screenshot of HWMon (but as your playing).
HWMon will also show us fan speeds on the GPU/Laptop, voltages and may show us some anomalies that may add up to your problem.

 

[souvik33]

For me, it's not a mobo issue, but for peace of mind if it helps, swap and see.

You can use MSI afterburner and the OSD (on screen display), set it to show CPU usage/speed/temp, GPU usage/speed/temp and also set it to show system ram usage. You can set it to show frame time variances, this might help diagnose some issues, but may not reveal anything we don't already know.

Also, install and open HWMon. Take a screenshot of your system as it's idling. Then play a game, and alt tab out of the game and take another screenshot of HWMon (but as your playing).
HWMon will also show us fan speeds on the GPU/Laptop, voltages and may show us some anomalies that may add up to your problem.

Here's how I fixed the problem(looks like): I read this article: View: https://www.reddit.com/r/intel/comments/7pdxq0/intel_core_i5_8250u_kabylake_with_mx150_laptop/

I changed my core voltage offset to -0.90V and turbo boost power max and turbo boost short power max to 14.50W from 35.00W. Now my average fps in BF1, FC4 and GTA 5 is 31. CPU usage is reaching 3.4 ghz and much lower temps, around 74 deg. No more throttling. But I'm wondering if this alleviate the issue...

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

Yeah, thats was one of the first things I mentioned. Thermal throttling.

That could very well be the issue. You will only know as you game.

 

[souvik33]

Yeah, thats was one of the first things I mentioned. Thermal throttling.

That could very well be the issue. You will only know as you game.

Hi. Just Got a new motherboard yesterday. However problem doesn't seem to be contained. I realised that my CPU Cores were unparked, now that I just formatted my PC and Parked my cores using Park Control by Bitsum, can I expect the throttling to cease? Saying so because More active cores means more heat right? Looking forward to your response.
Thanks.