Dell Inspiron N5110 Adapter(?) problem.

Question

Ok so I'm pretty sure you guys get this quite a lot but yeah. Fast specs: I7 core CPU 2200 GHz nVidia 525m GPU 4gb ram ddr3   Here's my problem: I bought my laptop in late December or early January (can't recall precisely). I've been happily using it for a few months but then I started having a FPS related problems in basically any game. Literally any game from old 2000ish games to the newer 2010+ ones. Now , I know this is not how is should be , so don't say that cuz I've been getting it a lot. I know laptops are not for games , and I would've settled for this explanation if I were an idiot.I'm not trying to play it on a 40 inch tv with super HD resolution. The problem is that every 15-20 seconds my fps drops from 60+ to 15-30 for a couple of seconds then goes right back up.Game details don't matter.If I play a game on high details and get 60 fps it drops to 15-30. If I play that game on very low with 150+ fps , the drops STILL occours and it still goes down to that same 15-30. I've tried basically everything. Re-installing the OS (Win7 btw) , reinastlling / updating drivers & bios.Disabled / enabled SpeedStep... Pretty much every single suggestion out there.  I've reached the conclusion that it's not a thermal problem and also not a software related problem and here's why: The fun part. I made it so the laptop runs at 100% capacity on both battery and when plugged. When plugged: 60+ fps on full load. Drops every 15-20 seconds then back to a smooth 60. When unplugged(on battery): 60+ fps full load. NEVER drops. When battery reaches critical levels like 5% I have to plug it back and guess what ? after 15ish seconds the drops are back. So I've been thinking that my adapter is either very broken or that there might be some problem in which the laptop either recieves too much power and this causes some occasional surges which create a stutter , or it doesn't recieve enough power. It's not that likely that it doesn't recieve enough power in my opinion because if that were the case it should never reach that 60+ fps in the first place,right ? Anyway , another reason that makes me think it's something related to the adapter / electricity is that when the fps drop occours , there's also a weird static-like buzzing coming out of my speakers. This also helps me see that these fps drops don't only occour in games ,since I occasionally hear the static sound and notice a downswing in performance while browsing the internet or watching videos / movies. Obviously it's harder to tell when watching a movie rather than playing a game,so yeah.   The adapter is not damaged in any visible way. So I'm thinking of buying a new one , but before I spend money on this I'd like to know if there are any practical solutions to this. Thanks for your time and sorry for the long story , I like to be as explicit as I possibly can to avoid the standard 'Update yo drivers brah' kind of replies.

crystalx · Accepted Answer

i also have the same problem, i bought my dell laptop in june 2012, anyone have solution to this problem ?

RCata · Answer

Oh and also , I've ran the Dell Diagnostics on Dell Support. Passed every field.

RCata · Answer

yeah,apparently this site is a complete waste of time. I had absolutely 0 responses from anyone so yea,about that , you guys are completely pathetic.

Anyways , I've came to know that it actaully WAS a thermal problem and the design or something of the dell inspirton n5110 is completly stupid.

The thing is , the fps goes down once the core temperature hits 95+ degrees (which is WAY HIGH BTW), which basically happens when you run any GPU stressing applications (such as games or / and even movies).

the holy grail of solutions for this is:

Search and download Throttlestop. A simple "download throttlestop" on google will set you up. It is a free app that allows you to controll the frequency of your processors- rather risk free. Depending on the game and details , you will have to lower the values of this frequency quite a lot.

Examples:

I run Starcraft 2 on medium at 19x (1900 ghz MAXIMUM allowed frequency) out of a max of 30x( -30%+ of whats supposed to be the maximum performance)

I run WoW on Good on 17x out of max of 30x (almost 50% , i cant stress this enough , 50 PERCENT of maximum performance to run wow decently)

I run I run Torchlight 2 on high res at 21x out of a max of 30x (again,30ish percent)

I run skyrim - very low - on 21x , - high - on 15x(literally 50% reduction ,high beeing the recommanded settings for my specs). All these games are set for minimum processor performance so the fps would barely maintain at a decent 60 fps cap(as you may know,you really dont need more).

These values are roughly what it takes so you can play without ANY fps crash and burns throughout your entire play ( weather you play 2-3-4 hours on end,doesnt matter , main things is it keeps the core temperatures at bay - somewhere around 80ish degrees , anyways , less than 90)

Anyways , you can email me at <ADMIN NOTE: Email id removed per privacy policy> and I will run you step by step on how to resolve your issue. It took me about 7 months to find out what was wrong on my own,so Ill gladly hlep you out since i know how frustrating it is.

Also , I'm completly hammered right now. Like completly face smashed. so there might be a lot of spelling mistakes and whatnot.

Tommorow I should be good aside from aabsolutelly gigantic hangover so seek me out and I'll help you out,

RCata · Answer

by the way, i also suggest you use a very high performance notebook cooling pad. Like , the strongest you can find. The better the cooling pad , the higher the core speed limitations can be.

crystalx · Answer

My 2 cousin brothers were going to buy dell laptop this week, but i told them to never buy dell laptop because of poor support and dead community. I recommended them sony laptop and sony laptop runs great on all games without any problem (note that both laptop have 500 mb nvidia graphics card, and still they run every game perfectly) and my dell laptop has 1 gb nvidia graphics card and it still slows my game down while playing , making my gaming the worst and most horrible experience.

crystalx · Answer

Thanks for helping and telling solution for this mate, its really shameful that dell don't support and don't give answer about our problem.

I installed the tool which you said, but my problem isn't solved yet. My game (assassin creed 3) still slow down frequently.

RCata · Answer

Assus is also very good. I haven;t tried to run AC3 so I cant share any experiance in that regard but by doing what I said I managed to solve al issues. Try lowering the frequency even more , you'll get there eventually.

RCata · Answer

Other games that require a bit less will work though.

crystalx · Answer

any idea mate, how to lower frequencies ?  a detailed description will  be appreciated.

crystalx · Answer

also, i have heard somewhere that such problem may be because of wrong order of installation of all drivers. when i bought the laptop, then there was no problem of slowing laptop down. but when i tried to install window again and then installing the drivers, this problem of slowing laptop in gameplay and during movie play occurs.

may be this problem is because of wrong order of installation of drivers.

any solution for this ?

Locked Topics – Laptops General

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