My M18XR1 adapter goes off while playing GTA V

I get this problem only while playing GTA V. The adapter shuts down after about 5mins in game, and causes stuttering since the laptop runs on battery. At first, I thought my laptop gets overheated because CPU goes up to 91 C degree, however after I did a repaste, the problem still happens while CPU only goes up to 80 C degree.

Plus I got the latest driver 350.12.

 

It's likely your brick not being able to cope with the load, mine did the same thing and then I looked behind the machine and realised one of my bricks had come loose and the machine was only running off one.

 

what do you mean by "bricks"? There is only 1 brick

 

anyone?

 

Meaker is speaking of his system (Clevo with dual AC adapters).

If your GPUs are overclocked, set them back to stock clock speeds and see if the problem goes away. If you are running stock (not overclocked) your AC adapter is probably just worn out and needs to be replaced. I've worn out several of them. They generally last me 12 to 18 months of hard use. If yours is the original part, it has served you well for so many years.

 

I'm running stock. This problem only occur when I play GTA V, maybe because this game consumes a lot pf power? Could you tell me where can I buy the new AC adapter?

 

Yes, GTA V may be consuming more power than your other games. You could try running 3DMark11, Vantage, Fire Strike and Sky Diver benchmarks and see if it turns off like it does with GTA V. You could also try using some different in-game settings to see if it lowers the load on the GPUs without sacrificing anything meaningful with the gaming experience.

I have purchased 330W AC adapters on Amazon and eBay. Good deals are not common, but if you watch like a hawk you can snag them really cheap once in a while. I have purchased brand new genuine Alienware 330W AC adapters for less than $50 each, but those deals don't last long. Average price is in the $100 ballpark. If you pay substantially more than $100 USD you are getting shafted royally.

 

You can get them for even less in the UK too, just keep an eye out. Luckily there are not too many knock off 330w units floating around.

 

Mr. Fox,
I have tried 3DMark11 and nothing happen, I guess it must be the GTA V game.
By the way, how come my CPU goes up to 83 degree, and 78 for GPUs even though I have done a repaste?

 

@dr_gin_rain - It sure sounds like it. Strange that the GTA V game would do it and 3DMark11 does not. Try running the 3DMark Suite (2013 benchmark) across all tests. If it passes without shutting anything down, we can blame GTA V for sure and consider your AC adapter is probably still fine.

Regarding your temps, that depends on a number of things... the paste and ambient temps, as well as how clean the heat sink radiators are and if the fans are working right. Heat sink radiators can get significantly clogged up in 30 to 60 days under some environmental conditions. If you are using the system in a hot environment, the best thermal paste in the world is going to struggle to keep the system chilly. That said, if those are your peak temps after gaming for a good while, there is nothing wrong. While lower is always nicer, those are fine and safe temps and I would not lose any sleep over sub-85° CPU or GPU temps.

 

3dmark 11 does not have a high draw from the wall compared to a stressful game I have found.

 

3DMark11 Test #1 has a huge power draw if your CPU and GPU(s) are not throttling. In fact, it will trip the internal circuit breaker on a 330W AC adapter about one second into the test if you are doing any kind of meaningful overclocking or have a weak AC adapter.

 

Mr. Fox,

I have run 4 of the 3dMark Suite and nothing happens. What are possible reasons about this game GTA V to make this problem? And is there anything I can do? I can't play the game now

 

I have a similiar issue, the only way that I can play is if my battery is fully charged. You can give this a try.

 

My battery is always fully charged 100%, and when the adapter goes off, it causes the game stuttering, then I have to wait for a while to re-plug the adapter. Is your problem like that?

 

Yes, but it only happens if I try to play when the battery is not at 100%

 

I don't know, and I don't have GTA V to test things. Based on what @Rotary Heart heart is telling you, as well as your own testing, I think it is appropriate to blame the game. Are you using 350.12 drivers? It's also possible the display driver is doing something goofy to your 680M cards, causing them to misbehave and that may be shutting down the system. Try an older driver if you are using the "Game Ready" (what a joke) GTA V driver. This new 350.12 driver has caused a plethora of issues for both desktop and laptop owners. The thread at GeForce Community is chock full of documented issues relating to this driver. All three of my machines with GTX 780M GPUs malfunction with 350.12 drivers, but it works fine for me with 980M SLI.

The good news is, based on your testing with the benchmarks, your machine appears to be functioning properly.

 

@Mr. Fox I double checked, the problem goes away when the battery is fully charged at 100%. I didn't check it before, because sometimes batterys stay at 96-98% and I thought it was full. But I think this is just a temporary fix. By the way, you said that my laptop is still functioning properly, but should I replace the adapter since I have it from be beginning when I bought my laptop ( late 2011 :]] ) I don't know if the adapter causes other problems beside GTA V.

 

OK, that's excellent information. Again, that points to GTA V as being the reason for your issue and corroborates what @Rotary Heart has experienced. If you want a spare AC adapter, that's always a nice thing to have handy. (In fact, having a spare is a good enough reason to buy one.) If the new replacement solves this weird issue, it would be nice to find that out. That would suggest that @Rotary Heart would also need to be thinking about a replacement.

Since this problem ONLY happens with GTA V and all stressful benchmarks have passed with flying colors, I am going to assume your AC adapter may be perfectly fine even though it is old. I overclock the crap out of my laptops all the time, and I frequently push my AC adapters beyond their intended load/output. I should probably feel lucky to get more than a year out of one under such a demanding use scenario. If you are mainly using your system at stock clock speeds, I wouldn't buy a replacement only on the basis that it is the original part.

 

Its definitely better than mine, because I can't play or bench without the battery at 100%. I already have a bought other one, but I want to keep using this one until it dies.

 

What happens if you just remove the battery completely so it has to run off of the AC adapter? My systems work fine with or without a battery installed.

 

Well I got sever lag, here's a comparison with a normal run of 3d mark with battery

http://www.3dmark.com/compare/fs/4657642/fs/4581525

it even report a very low turbo clock

 

That's really odd. Performance should not change as long as the system is plugged in using AC power. I wonder if Windows 8 is goofing something up with your OS power profiles?

 

It could be, I did notice that once it stopped throttling the FPS got back to what they always run. I will be doing some test with all the windows I have installed. Will report back when I'm done

 

Be sure you are using the "High performance" power profile, go into the advanced options and make sure everything is maxed out for the "battery" and "plugged in" options, including setting minimum and maximum processor states to 100% and disable anything alluding to balance, "efficiency" or saving power.

Edit: also look at NVIDIA Control Panel. Follow the same logic. Choose the middle radio button labeled "Use the advanced 3D image settings" then go to the Global Settings tab and be sure all of the available options are set for maximum performance instead of worthless crap like "adaptive" or "quality" options.

Are you running that 350.12 driver? If so, stop, clean up with DDU and install an older driver. That one is no good for 780M.

 

Doesn't affect me. Also GPU usage is from 60% to 85%.

 

For a time I used Prime95 blend and eve online with v-sync off to test the PC as it ran it pretty hard