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Imprezme

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13 years ago

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Imprezme

8 Posts

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22455

January 28th, 2014 22:00

Alienware M18xR2

For some reason my FPS on games aren't where they are suppose to be, for example CS:GO use to run at 240 FPS now it drops to like 15 - 60 and its just terrible.  Is anyone else having this problem?

  • Milena M458

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    Posted January 29th, 2014 10:00

     

    Hello Imprezme!

    Have you tried to uninstall the video card driver and install it again?

  • Imprezme

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    Posted February 4th, 2014 00:00

    would you mind leading me the steps thru this and ill give it a try, thanks !

  • Milena M458

    6 Operator

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    Posted February 4th, 2014 06:00

    Sure, on this article you will find instructions on how to install the discrete video card driver and on this other you will find some more troubleshooting steps that might help you to fix the problem.

  • Imprezme

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    Posted February 4th, 2014 15:00

    Ok so i uninstalled my drivers and when it comes to installing the intel graphics driver it failed...when i click to launch the software and i click install, it then proceeds to say fail

  • Milena M458

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    Posted February 5th, 2014 06:00

    Are you downloading the drivers from support.dell.com

    Does it let you install the discrete video card driver? 

  • Imprezme

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    Posted February 6th, 2014 04:00

    yeah im downloading the drivers from dell, it lets me DL the drivers but not install them.  I can uninstall the Nvidia drivers and install them as well just not the intel

  • Milena M458

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    Posted February 6th, 2014 09:00

    When you open the device manager do you see an exclamation mark under display adapters?

  • BJFox

    2 Intern

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    Posted February 6th, 2014 17:00

    Ok so i uninstalled my drivers and when it comes to installing the intel graphics driver it failed...when i click to launch the software and i click install, it then proceeds to say fail

    If you are running your discrete graphics (AMD or NVIDIA) the Intel driver cannot be installed on the M18xR1/R2. You have to press FN+F7 to switch to the integrated graphics to install that. What video cards does your system have?

    Doing this will not change your in-game performance running discrete graphics because the integrated GPU is disabled. So, I would not burn any calories on that right now. If you sometimes run on battery and want the 4 to 5 hours of battery life on the Intel integrated graphics then you will probably want to press FN+F7 to update that driver, but you can address that later on if your primary reason for posting is poor performance.

    A few questions to be sure we are on the same page, and so we can determine if there is actually a problem.

    1. Are you sure you are running on discrete graphics? If there is any question, launch GPU-Z or open Device Manager and see what is showing under Display Adapter. If you see an Intel HD Graphics adapter, press FN+F7, confirm your intent to switch to discrete graphics and reboot. You cannot do any meaningful gaming using the Intel HD Graphics. It's too weak to be of any value.
    2. Are you connected to AC power? If you are attempting to game on battery, that won't work. The battery cannot provide the power the graphics cards require. Connect to AC power and your system may resume the performance you are expecting if there is not something else wrong.
    3. What Windows Power Profile is your system set to? Choose "High performance" from the icon in the system tray if it is set to "Power saver" or "Balanced" and this will help.

    If you are already on "High performance" and connected to AC, and running your discrete graphics (AMD or NVIDIA) then my next suspect issue would be high temperatures are causing your video cards to throttle to avoid burning up. What are your in-game temperatures? If you have not recently done so, remove the bottom cover. Simply take the battery out, remove 4 screws and slide the cover off. Remove the screws from the three fans and lift them out of their mounting pockets to expose the heat sink radiators. You can leave the wires connected. Use a vacuum cleaner or compressed air to remove all of the dust and lint from the fans and heat sink radiator fins. Be sure to hold the fan blades so the fans to not rev up to high speeds, as this can damage the fans. More details can be found here: Cleaning Dust and Lint from Heat Sinks and Fans to Restore Performance

    Overheating due to dust and lint clogging the cooling components is one of the primary causes of degraded performance on desktop and laptop computers. This needs to be done periodically. Doing this cleaning at 90-day intervals is good unless you live in an environment with a lot of dust, smoke or pet dander. Shorter cleaning intervals may be appropriate under those conditions.

    If all of the above suggestion don't resolve your performance issues, let us know and we can explore other possibilities. Be sure to monitor your temps during gaming if the problem persists, as you may still have a situation that needs attention (such as replacing thermal paste if cleaning things up is not enough). You can monitor temperatures with a number of different utilities.

    You can watch your temperatures in realtime using RivaTuner Statistic Server and HWiNFO64. Details on this are posted here: 

    HOW TO: Monitoring CPU and GPU Temperatures In-Game/In-Benchmark with On-Screen Display

    The best way to monitor in-game CPU and GPU temperatures is to use RivaTuner Statistic Server and HWiNFO64. The latest version (6.0.0.6228) is bundled with MSI Afterburner 3.0.0 Beta 18 [ Download Here ] and provides 64-bit game support (i.e. Battlefield 4).

     

    More detailed explanation on how to do this can be found here:

     

    HOW TO: Monitoring CPU and GPU Temperatures In-Game/In-Benchmark with On-Screen Display

     

    You can customize it to show what you want, and the end result will provide an on-screen display of information such as this:

     

      click to enlarge image in a new browser window

  • 89fordprobee

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    Posted February 7th, 2014 17:00

    well the 580/680 were known for temps being high also for issues with the improper installation of the thermal paste(not removing the plastic cover)   and yes if to much dust is in the cooling fin it causes it to heat up.... less heat removal = thermal throttling  and  throttles the speed of  the  video card..  I went with ATI 7970's due to the known issues with NVidia and  heat and the price vs performace was not worth the extra...  I average around 65C on both video and 70 ish on cpu  ambient temp 22-23C  but I clean my fans  avery 2-3 weeks  and  I say they are dusty ...

  • Imprezme

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    Posted February 7th, 2014 17:00

    Thats good to know, thanks man!