FPS drops on all 3D games.

I've looked far and wide across the internet to find a solution to this very interesting problem, I get FPS drops on games that I normally run at 90 FPS, like World of Tanks. For example, the FPS goes from 50-70 all the way down to 12 or so, and then it goes right back up like nothing happened. This doesn't happen when I play 2D games such as Gish or the Binding of Isaac. (Also doesn't happen with older 3D games such as Half-Life 2 or WoW)

Another thing to mention is, the other day, I was scrolling through a webpage and watching videos, and the scrolling and the videos skipped visually. I don't know if that is the same issue or a different one.

Thank you for the help, and if there is any more information you need, I'll give as much as I can.

 

You know, this happens to me sometimes as well. In all honesty i dont know what it is, but it really bugs me alot. I think it has something to do with the hard drivers. Are you using an SSD? or one of the Samsung hard drivers?

 

I believe to be the overheating of the cpu, actually, b/c when i start out playing a 3D game, it's fine, then it gets progressively worse. I have some kind of SATA hard drive.

 

First thing first, have you whitelist every game into NVIDIA Control Panel? Second, are you playing on battery? For the FPS dip, it usually happen only when your RAM is full, that you will experience temporary FPS drop/dip then return back to normal, so make sure that you have more than 512MB ~ 1GB left when you launch the game.

 

1. I know for a fact that all my games are whitelisted
2. How do I check if I'm running on battery? (I'm always plugged in)
3. How can I check if I have RAM left?

 

I have had the same problem with my M14x R1. I can tell you what the problem is. The GPU is overheating and throttling itself to keep from burning up. The GTX 555M is a dog of a GPU, a dog with fleas. It simply cant handle normal gaming, even on low settings.

Nothing you have suggested will help. The problem is the GTX 555M. Its just a terrible GPU. It overheats under normal gaming load and throttles itself to keep from burning up.

Its not the CPU that is overheating. IT is the 555M GPU. Check it with GPU-Z. Honestly, the GTX 555M is so bad that Dell should recall all M15X R1s and replace them with R2s.

Have you ever noticed how everything is fine for about 10-20 mins then you start to have more and more frame rate drops?

Thats because the GPU is getting hotter and hotter.

 

But it wasn't like this when I got it. Only in the past couple weeks has it sucked with gaming.

What would you recommend to replace it?

 

You cant replace the GTX 555M, it is soldered to the motherboard. Like me, you are stuck with it. The only thing you can do is buy a new R2 or another brand of notebook (prob a better solution).

 

Really? Wow.

Wouldn't buying something that cools it help?

 

That might help.

 

But why wasn't this problem occurring when I first got my laptop in January?

 

1. Good, if you want to make sure that the game is indeed using the NV GPU, you can enable the "GPU Activity" in the NV Control Panel under Desktop > Display GPU Activity Icon in Notification Area, once you check that, whenever you launch a game, alt tab to the Notification area to see if there's the game's icon is shown on the GPU Activity.
2. If you always plug in then you dont need to check, because it is very obvious that you not on battery.
3. Right click on task bar > Start Task Manager. OR CTRL + ALT + DELETE, Select the bottom Option with the same title "Start Task Manager".

Then what you say here also not helping, at least I try to find the cause of the problem and solution to improve, since the OP cant just pop a new GPU in. And not all GT555M are same, take mine for example, I never had any of these "throttling" problem even on battery. If you talking about performance on battery, even a GTX 580M wont be able to run a full BF3 ultra setting on battery without throttling, the battery technology is just lag behind the power consumption of the GPU need. And by the way, it is called NVIDIA GT 555M, not GTX, GT is for mainstream GPU, while GTX is for the Extreme/Enthusiastic Edition.

 

I told you the solution to the problem with the GT 555M and how to verify it. The problem is that it overheats under normal gaming conditions. I have been doing pc gaming for a long time and I have a degree in computer engineering. I know when a cpu or gpu is overheating. The GT 555M is definitely overheating in my system and the OPs system because it has poor heat dissipation under normal gaming conditions at 1600x900(in my system). When you are seeing periodic, regular drops in frame rates under normal gaming conditions it is not caused by software but by hardware that is defecive, poorly chosen or poorly designed. When a CPU or GPU overheats (assuming it has not been prevented from doing so), it decreases its clock rate to keep from damaging itself.

Regular, periodic drops in frame rates can be caused by:

1. Defective GPU or CPU.
2. Poorly mounted or installed CPU or GPU.
3. Defecive or inadequate cooling.
4. Improper overclocking or overclocking at all.
5. Weak or poor quality components that just cant handle the load.

In the case of the GT 555M, it is a weak GPU to begin with. All of the GPUs on a given wafer made by Nvidia are of the same series or generation. For example all of them are 500M series GPUs. After Nvidia makes a wafer of GPUs, they test them all and then grade or bin them based on what clock rate they can handle (stability and errors) and how well they dissipate heat at that clock rate. Based on those tests they "bin" those GPUs and slap labels on them. If a GPU has some bad components but is still functional, they will disable the bad components so that they will not affect the rest of the GPU. For example, if a GPU has a bad core, they will disable that part of the chip and slap a 540M label on it. If the GPU cannot be saved, it is thrown away. The GT 555M is an average GPU at best, testing in the middle of the pack of the 500M series GPUs. Intel does the same thing with their CPUs.

If you want the best components, you will have to pay the highest price for them. For example, any intel processor with an Xtreme label has tested the best of all of that series of processors and has the highest clock rate tolerance and best heat dissipation. Of the Nvida 600 series desktop GPUs, the 680 is currently has the highest clock rate tolerance and best heat disippation.

To put it another way, no bucks, no Buck Rogers. What bothers me is that I paid a lot of money for what turned out to be weak or defective components.

 

/sigh
Never buying from Alienware again, I'm just gonna build my own.

 

I feel your pain. If your M14x is still under warranty, make them repair it or replace the defective components. Then use it and get your moneys worth out of it or sell it on ebay.

I will give Alienware one thing, they do have good support. Unfortunately, I have needed it far too often. Call them at

866-287-6727

Dont stop calling them until your system is right.

 

Just blow out the vents with compressed air. Some people report temps drop of 30c, for example this person. http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m14x/662265-overheating-causing-low-fps.html

You can also put new thermal paste on. Here's a video of someone opening the m14x. Alienware M14x R1 R2 disassembly for GPU + CPU teardown / review HIDevolution.com - YouTube

The m14x throttles at 100c. Since your computer worked fine before you probably just need to clean it.