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    Stutter and Game Problems Need Fix!

    Discussion in 'Alienware 14 and M14x' started by mittens14x, Aug 22, 2011.

  1. mittens14x

    mittens14x Notebook Consultant

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    First of all, iv'e heard about people having hiccups with their m14x's. i heard that the problem is with McAfee antivirus, but i already paid 1 year contract for it so i cant uninstall it now. the only fix now is to turn off firewall, but im afraid viruses will get in. does anyone know how to fix this without turning off firewall?

    secondly, im tired of playing games with low settings. some games i play, for example, Wings of Prey, it says that i have less than 512mb of vram (i have 3GB) and so i have to play the game with low settings on.
    in GTA 4, it is using the Intel GPU, the benchmark results says that its only using 21% of my cpu, and the intel gpu. i can only play gta4 on low settings, but i know i can play it with almost max settings. i whitelist both games, but it is still using intel gpu! help please!
     
    mittens14x, Aug 22, 2011
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  2. jruss

    jruss Notebook Geek

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    I have no experience (yet) with how the M14x operates but from what you're describing and what I've seen while browsing these forums it sounds like it's a an issue with the anti virus software.

    The problem goes away when you turn off the firewall? Your fps in those games sounds pretty crappy and I don't think you should have to play any current game on low settings.
     
    jruss, Aug 22, 2011
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  3. SaeYaka

    SaeYaka Notebook Enthusiast

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    So I had a similar problem. I noticed very significant shearing in games I was playing and found that the video card was not being used.
    I discovered my computer did not come with correctly installed video drivers so I tried to uninstall/reinstall them from the resource DVD and the Dell site but the OEM drivers were not working.
    I ended up installing a new non-OEM driver from NVIDIA: NVIDIA DRIVERS 280.26 WHQL
    You will have to use these instructions to do so because of Dell's restrictions on non-OEM drivers: Alienware M14x - Update Nvidia driver - YouTube
    Now my computer actually uses the video card.
     
    SaeYaka, Aug 22, 2011
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  4. mittens14x

    mittens14x Notebook Consultant

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    i have the 280.20 modded driver, whitelist, still the same
     
    mittens14x, Aug 23, 2011
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  5. danm5411

    danm5411 Notebook Enthusiast

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    I have mcafee antivirus and have no such problems with my m14x, everything runs smoothly and i have only the nvidia drivers from dell not the modified INF file that everyone swears by.
    I have found all my games work with high setting at 25+fps and i think the problem may be more down to people updating these drivers when if it aint broke it dont need fixing.
    I may be wrong but this is my personal experience or i may just be a lucky one who got a well built m14x.
    Either way i do not think mcafee will be the source of your problem im afraid and i would not advise turning your firewall off.
     
    danm5411, Aug 23, 2011
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