Strange FPS drops in GTA V (not stuttering/lag)

[Lanti]

I have an Asus N53SV notebook. The specs are:
i7-2630QM @2,00Ghz CPU (4x4)
8GB 1333Mhz Ram
GT540M 1GB GPU
5200RPM HDD

When I start the game, I've got stable 28-30FPS (everything is on minimum at 1600x900 resolution). But when I go massive distances, FPS drops first at 25, then 22, until it reaches 15FPS sometimes. However, when I going back to the menu, stay there a little bit and continue again, FPS climb back to 30. I made a little test. I started the game, FPS at 30. I didn't went enywhere, just stayed in one spot. FPS started to going down until 19-20FPS slowly. Going back to menu, wait a little, then FPS suddenly 30 again... I tried this with all of the antivirus software turned off (Microsoft Security Essentials, Malwarebytes).

I also tried to turn off auto song search feature in game, plus closing wmpnetwork and NvStreamSvc. I setted the Nvidia control panel to "maximum performance". No luck any of these.

Probably not a memory leak issue. GTA5.exe constantly using the same amount of ~2GB ram always and there are plenty of free ram available in the source monitor.

I think there are 3 bottlenech options:
CPU -> Can't keep up, listed below the recommended.
GPU -> Although I managed to stay in the recommended GPU memory range with 50-70mb, it can be slow for this game.
5200RPM HDD -> There are other forums here which suggesting game moving so many files when constantly loading new territories that HDD can effect FPS in this case.

What do you think?

Update:
Game uses 10-15mb/s write data chunks at every second under high load. My 5400RPM HDD capable of 85mb/s writing speed (according to HD Tune Pro benchmark). So probably I don't need an SSD and not the HDD my bottleneck, because game optimized to load from the disk max. 10-15-20mb/s spikes of data.

Update 2:
It can be the HDD. I have two partition (149GB and 446GB installed with the game). When I short-stroking the benchmark test at 149GB, Read speed sometimes drops to 6mb/s, which is much below that sometimes game using. Virtual memory is stored on 149Gb partition also.

Update 3:
When I inspecting with HWmonitor, when the FPS drops, CPU doesn't working on full load, just on half speed. Temps near 94-95Celsius.

 

[krtshv]

First of all, get an SSD or a normal 7200RPM HDD.
Second of all, 95 degrees on a CPU isn't normal, so it's probably throttling itself back.
Third of all that's a laptop, that GPU is not even remotely close to the minimum specs, so that could be the issue as well.

 

[Lanti]

This laptop is 3-4 years old. Can it help to re-introduce the thermal paste to fight back the temps?

 

[Lanti]

The CPU idling at 75-80C and th CPU fan 3500-4000RPM. So probably it's time to re-introduce the thermal paste and clean the dust off. Maybe cutting a big hole in the hottest spot?

The "spaghetti" effect on the CPU performance monitor can be the side effects of the heat problems?

 

[Roms]

Hi Lanti

I have the same PC and the same problem.
Did you solve it ?

Thanks

 

[Lanti]

First of all, get an SSD or a normal 7200RPM HDD.
Second of all, 95 degrees on a CPU isn't normal, so it's probably throttling itself back.
Third of all that's a laptop, that GPU is not even remotely close to the minimum specs, so that could be the issue as well.

It was overheating issue as you described. When the CPU reaches 85-95°C it will throttling back itself to 1,3-1,6Ghz from the 2Ghz base clock. This is why the first 2-5 minutes of gameplay has stable 30FPS and when it's overhot, the stuttering, fps drop starts which will never goes back.