Alienware 15 disappointing performance in BF4

Hi guys, my Alienware 15 finally showed up yesterday so I've being playing some Battlefield 4 to check out the performance. So far I'm a bit disappointed and not sure if it's me or not, and wanted to see if others are experiencing the same as me.

My config is the i7 4710HQ CPU, 8GB ram, 980m GPU, 1080p screen, 256GB SSD, running Windows 8.1.

In BF4, I'm finding I'm only averaging about 30-35fps on high settings, which just doesn't seem right. Reviews of the 980m peg the card capable of average frames around 60fps on ultra. So 30fps on high seems to be under half the expected performance in BF4 for this GPU. On ultra the game is unplayable (about 20-25fps).

This is with both the stock 344.27 drivers that ship with the machine as well as the newer 347.xx drivers. I have the power plan on high performance (but I have not checked the settings there thoroughly). I'm pretty sure however that the GPU is set to max performance under that plan.

I understand that the performance *will not be identical* to other machines in the market due to the weaker PSU that ships with the Alienware 15, as well as the differences in configurations (eg: different RAM, CPU etc), but I would have expected that I'd be getting close to the above frames per second (certainly not half).

Is anyone else getting disappointing frames in Battlefield 4 (or other games)?

 

Have you updated the BIOS? It might fix this issue.

 

The A02 update? Not yet. Worth trying?

 

Yep.

 

That performance is really disappointing. Are you using the stock 180W PSU?

Let me know if you get a better performance after Bios update. I'm waiting my Alienware 17 with similar spec and the only game that I play is BF4.


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Yep just the stock 180w PSU at the moment.

I haven't tried any other games yet, but not looking great so far. Will perform the suggested BIOS update tonight and report back.

I will mention that the machine does not sound like its being taxed under current load - the fan is hardly audible and nothing is overly hot to the touch. The hope is something is artificially holding it back software wise and/or the PSU just isn't enough.

 

Make sure bf4 is utilizing the 980m and not the igpu. Nvidia control panel.

 

Yeah I would say the same thing. Make sure you are actually using the gtx 980m instead of the igpu. Make sure you change your performance to high. Make sure you are connected to your ac adapter as well.

 

It's definitely utilising the 980m (I've had a few Optimus machines in the past). But yes that was one of the first things I checked. Forcing the game to the Intel GPU gives a measly 5fps

As mentioned in the OP power plan is set to high performance (but may need to recheck the settings in there). PSU is definitely connected.

Many thanks for these suggestions though, hopefully we'll find the answer.

Would like to hear from other Alienware 15 owners if they're around. Very interested to hear what kind of performance they're having in BF4 (and other games for that matter).

 

Check your temps and let us know what you are reading.

I am curious about this as well because I am about to place an order for a 15...if the performance suffers this bad from an insufficient psu then I will have to make sure to get the 240w when I order.

 

Ok, I can report that the A02 BIOS update did virtually nothing. It's possible I might be getting a few more frames than before (I believe it hit 40 a few times on high settings) but it's hard to tell - it certainly didn't feel like it was running much better. Still nowhere near the 980m benchmarks as reported in comparable machines. Ultra is still around 30 frames.

Something interesting was I was gaining no additional fps when changing resolutions from (1080p down to 720p). Changing down to medium settings isn't really giving any more frames either. I find that pretty weird.

The interesting thing was that when the BIOS update was running the fans went full power - I've never heard them go that loud before (about 3x louder than I've ever heard previously). This indicates to me that it's holding back thermally in favour of trying to stay quiet for some reason. OR it simply can't get enough power to push itself to the higher limits. Regardless it seems the fans are not being used to their fullest here.

High Performance has everything set to max performance.

Temps for the GPU are about 60 degrees C according to GPU-Z. I haven't checked CPU temps yet.

I am contemplating a complete fresh OS install to see if that fixes anything. But yeah, we're running out of options.

Anything in the BIOS worth checking?

Can an Alienware rep confirm this is the kind of expected performance from this system? If it is I don't think many people here will be happy.

 

Sounds like your CPU is throttling

 

You're probably right.

EDIT: Alright finally some good news. After a couple of reboots and unplugging and replugging the AC power, the computer doesn't seem to be throttling anymore so the bios update must have finally kicked in. Getting ~60fps in BF4 on high on most maps (50-60 on larger). 45-60fps in Crysis 3 single player on very high settings. I think this is about right.

When plugged in and gaming, the battery power seems to drop slightly. I thought I read somewhere that this bios update makes the battery supplement for the lack of PSU power or something, so that would explain that.

What doesn't make sense is why they'd ship this thing with a PSU that clearly can't power the machine. Unfortunately I'm in Australia so don't qualify for the PSU exchange.

http://www.dell.com/support/article/us/en/19/SLN295814

 

Maybe you should try asking for the 240w power brick since you got the 980m

 

I think I will. Will contact them and see what they say.

 

In response to this issue seems that Dell decided to stop selling AW 15 with GTX 980 in my country, only 3 options: GTX 965M / GTX 970M / AMD R9 M295X.

 

Wow you are right, Dell brings no more 980m in italy and Poland too, strange

 

I hope they won't do the same with the 17R2.

 

That could easily be an issue with availability of the motherboards. No info on any changes on this yet.

 

My 780m pulls better then that on Ultra so there is something def wrong with this picture as your 980m should bury my 780m. Check temps, check drivers, make sure your running on the Nvidia card although I doubt the iGPU would pull 35 FPS on BF4 on high. Try repairing the game, just to rule that out.

Agreed...this sounds like a GPU/parts shortage. Alienware removes options from the config page if they run out so that people don't keep ordering machines that then sit in production while they wait for parts.

 

Totally agree MogRules, the performance should probably be better.

Since the BIOS update (which appears to make the computer use both battery and AC power to get enough power) I'm currently achieving a fairly solid 60fps on high with Vsync and shadowplay running in the background. Temps are definitely not on the high side (the fans aren't near full power or anything). I still think it's a lack of power that's ultimately affecting it. It's definitely the Nvidia card running, as mentioned the Intel GPU can barely hit 5fps.

I'm still surprised no-one has chimed in to share their experience. Surely others are playing BF4 on this machine?!

After some more playing last night, I should note that the BIOS update doesn't seem to be a complete consistent fix for the issue. After stopping the game and coming back an hour later, it seemed to stop using the battery for extra power (you could tell because battery stayed at 100%) and was outputting less frames as a result. After restarting it was working again as before.

They really need to sort this. I really think a bigger PSU is the only way to get consistent performance.

 

You are def not the only one experiencing problems with the 180w adapter. There was a thread shortly after the first units shipped out with someone showing that he got higher FPS and benchmarks with the 240w adapter from his previous laptop but it wasn't a ground breaking difference, but any difference is unacceptable IMO. If the machine is capable of using more power then the adapter can output and they have to fix that with a bios update as you say then obviously the wrong adapters are being shipped and they neex to replace all the 180w adapters with 240w's.

 

My Alienware is under production still. For sure I'll give you some report after I get mine because, as I said before, Battlefield is the only game that I play and I expect great results with a 980m.

Did you compare your FPS with YouTube benchmarks? There are several videos there. Just make sure you are doing this using same video config, map etc


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Did you have any luck getting the 240W PSU?

 

I haven't brought it up with them yet. Thanks for reminding me!

I'll likely buy one anyway even if they don't offer one. Games just aren't running consistently. BF4 will run at 60fps for a couple matches and then will drop down to 45, then 30 over time, with GPU usage going from around 90% (at 71 degrees C) to 60% (at 60 degrees C). A reboot sometimes solves this, but not always.

 

Oh oh! I know this problem. Had it with my GS60 before. Go to GFE, Preferences, left tab there should be battery boost. Click on it and you will see battery boost enabled with 30fps optimization. Uncheck battery boost and you should be good to go!

 

That's one of the first things I disabled (and I don't run on battery anyway) so that has not been the cause of the problem. Nice idea to check it though.

 

I have BF4 and my 15 has just entered production I ordered the 240Watt PSU at the same time so I will report back

 

Very curious to see the results of your test with the 240 Watt PSU. If Dellienware truly put out a system with a discrete graphics card option that isn't fully powered then something is seriously wrong over there in testing and design. It's not as if BF4 is some new entity, a common battery of tests would reveal something is not right quickly, in this or other games.

 

The EC component to bios updates can require a full power down with removal of AC to apply, always worth doing after confirming it boots at least.

 

I shall run a suite of tests when it arrives on 180watt and 240PSU and report back

 

Well, I got my Alienware 17 today and I am really impressive. First thing that I did was install BF4 to check FPS.

On Ultra, I got between 50-65 fps with some drops to 40-45. Its playable, but its not comfortable.
On High, I got practically the same: 55-70 fps with some drops to 40-50 fps (but less frequently than on Ultra settings).

Great difference in graphics. Low FPS difference tho.

And yes, I got a 180W PSU.

 

Another user today received a 240w PSU and told me that now he's playing always at 60 FPS with everything on Ultra.