Alienware 18 stuttering

Hi guys,

I would really appreciate your help in resolving this annoying issue I'm experiencing. I've recently done a clean Win8.1 install on my Alienware 18 laptop. And now I have stuttering while wathicng videos online and playing games. The stutter is just a one second or maybe less than a second lag during which the picture slows down or stops and sound gets a disruption. It happens randomly at different intervals.

I have no idea what it is. There was nothing like that before clean install. I updated BIOS and installed the drivers from here
Product Support | Dell US
Alienware Initial Driver Installation | Dell US

Thanks a lot in advance for your advice.

 

I have a question for you... Do you leave HWinfo on in the background while you're playing video games or watching movies?

The reason I ask is because I get measurable latency spikes when I leave that program running while I play video games. Try a game without HWinfo running in the background

 

have you turned off EC compal sensors in the option of hwinfo64 ?

 

No, I don't have it in the background.

You mean the sensors which measure fan speed? I don't run Hwinfo in the background while playing games but I will try to turn them off and see what happens.

Do you guys need a video to show you what I am talking about? Can't say I'm a streamer but if that would help.

 

Can this be related to CPU or GPU clocks? Or maybe BIOS settings? Before clean install I was trying out XTU. I even downloaded a settings profile but I don't think it changed much. And after that I flashed BIOS.
I also noticed that GPU clock is at 770 MHz. Although specifications for 780M show it should be 823 + boost. Is this ok?

 

download DPC Latency checker and run it in the background while you play games. Once you notice a stutter in a game alt tab to the DPC Latency program and see if theres a tall red "off the chart" spike that was recorded.

 

This was while running Planetside 2.

However the software website says latency checker does not show correct values for Win 8 - DPC Latency Checker

 

Try using newer NVIDIA reference drivers. If you're using those old Dell display drivers that might not be helping your situation. DPC latency is more notorious for causing audio artifacts than it is video or game stuttering.

If you are trying to run games on battery, that will not go well. If you are not connected using AC power, plug it in. Also, be sure your Windows power profile is set to "High performance" (not Balanced or Power Saver). Open NVIDIA Control Panel and be sure the middle option to "Use the advanced 3D image settings" radio button is selected. Click Apply, then click the "Take me there" link. On the Global Settings tab, change "Adaptive" to "Prefer maximum performance" and change any other settings you find to the high performance option. Click the Apply button again and see if things are better.

 

OT : Please use the Win7 for maximum thoughput in everyway possible, unless you are running a Maxwell GPU.
Believe me I've used this Win8 and it really sucks !!

 

I'm using the latest Nvidia drivers and I'm running games with AC power connected. Power profile is set to high performance, same goes for Nvidia settings.

 

Well the thing is I wasn't getting this stuttering until I did a clean install. I just want things back to normal.