FPS Problem

Hello! This might get buried but i will ask anyway. My Alienware M14x is beautiful and I love it. I just recently purchased it around the Holidays. It is running great until one day on all of my games my Fps significantly and randomly dropped on all my games that were previously running at 50+ fps on high settings. Sometimes when i turn on my laptop the games play just fine, but then other times I'm getting only 10-25 fps on Skyrim, Dead Island, Fallout 3, and Left for dead 2. I have the the GT 555m 290.53 beta driver. I previously had the normal driver but it was having the same issue. Sometimes I'm also getting a fps cap and 60 and other times I am not. Please help me out guys. It would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you
-NickLikeWhoa

 

Make sure youre not covering the fans or anything, I notice it will throttle if a high temp (80's-90's) persists for more than 30 minutes. Next time you get a sudden drop, check in GPU-Z to see what your clocks are. If you're using an overclock you'll obviously know what the clocks are, but if not the stock clocks should be around 590 for the core.

You can download GPU-Z here
Download TechPowerUp GPU-Z v0.5.7 | techPowerUp

Just load it up, make sure the bottom left core is on the 555M and not the Intel GPU, and go to sensors. If its at 200mhz when you get the drop or so, then its throttling. Note that if youre not gaming, it should be around 200mhz or less as thats optimus

 

Scratch what i just posted.
GPU Core clock:202.5 Mhz
GPU Memory Clock: 324 Mhz
GPU Shader Clock: 450 Mhz
GPU temp. : 45 Celsius

Gaming:
What you said. I think it is throttling. What can I do to fix it?

 

Restart your computer to fix the clocks, and then try not to cover the back vents. I usually get throttling only when I use HDMI out, were you? Btw, when you check your clocks after it drops to the lower FPS, make sure the game is still running (it will automatically drop to 200mhz after it closes because of optimus)

 

How do I fix my clocks? I have always used a laptop cooler since I got my Alienware. Should i try without it? Give me any suggestions you have.

 

If you have throttled just restart your computer and they will reset. And no, the cooler will only help

 

I will try this. Thank you for all of your help. I heard from somewhere that I should turn off the optimize thing and I might not experience this anymore. Is this a good idea? would it harm my computer or dis-convenient me in anyway?

 

I dont think you can without getting a modded bios (voiding warranty), but it wouldnt actually hurt the computer; I'm pretty sure that wouldnt fix throttling either though

 

I've had a couple instances when my performance dropped out of nowhere, and both were solved by fixing my Windows Power Options. For some reason, my custom power option bugged and games started to suffer huge FPS drops. When I changed to the default Balanced settings, performance went back up so I deleted my old custom settings and re-constructed a new one using the Balanced settings as a basis.

Also, make sure you're using the right AC adapter. If you use anything less than 150 Watts, the M14x will underperform regardless of your power options.