Why must I play games at their lowest settings?

This is ridiculous. I shell out the money for a gaming rig that's over priced as is, take care of it, and in just over a year it has crapped out on me. And yet Alienware finds it necessary to charge me 300 dollars to extend my warranty.

Most recently, I purchased Assassins Creed: Brotherhood, and even on the lowest possible setting the video and audio is out of sink and it's very jumpy. The worst part is, stealth mode is OFF.

I noticed my RAM and SWAP usage skyrocket even whenever I'm just using a little emulator.

What could be the problem here? I use MS essentials for virus protection, and the basic scan didn't find any threats.

 

What are your specs? Also have you tried just turning stealth mode on then off again. It helps sometimes. Also what are your temps?

 

These are my regular temps with nothing running.

Just my basic specs.

 

What GPU do you have?

Can you make a Throttlestop log and a GPU-Z log while gaming and post the files here? It seems that a leat your CPU need to be repasted, the min temps have a very huge difference between the cores.

Also reinstalling the whole OS once in a while can help a lot, especially to get rid of all the software you don't need anymore and to simply have a clean, fresh and up to date OS.

 

It's an nVIDIA GeForce GT 240M (GT216) PCIe v2.0 x16 (5.0 Gb/s) @ x16 (5.0 Gb/s)

I'll get back to you on the logs.

 

Well sorry to be a killjoy but you have the lowest GPU you can get for the M15x. It is no screamer. Even the GTX 260m struggles with Assassins Creed.

 

Don't expect too much from this card if you're playing at 1600x900 or 1920x1080.

 

Yeaaah.. That card is awful. Worse than the 335M in the M11x R1/2. You are in a sore need of an upgrade, hah. 5850M is a good choice, but temps will go up.

 

Yep, sorry to say this, but it's what everyone else is saying- it's that 240M. That card's really low end. My 260M's not even that good (I overclock the crap out of it), and I've been hoping to upgrade as soon as I can get myself into a better financial situation. Are you familiar with doing any gadget surgery or computer repairing? If so you should upgrade. Find yourself at least a cheap 260M on ebay, but to be honest I'd look for a 5850M or a 460M.

 

5850M is the way to go, very fast and cheaper than a 460M.

 

Why did you get a I7 but get the cheapest GPU?

 

When the M15x got released there were only the 720QM, 820QM and 920XM available, and (at least inn Europe) only the 240m and the 260m.

The i5 and i3 CPUs got released Q1 2010 if I remember correctly, the M15x got released in Sept. 2009.


Edit: Though, I don't know when the OP got his machine.

 

The OP more than likely got it very recently if theyre just posting about it now.

 

i would upgrade the card and do a fresh windows install

 

Everybody rags on the 260M, but so far no game I have come across has made me lower the settings.

Then again, the only game I play that would be technically demanding is Crysis. Max settings, and 2x AA is what I can push it too. Never drops below 30fps. Really miss DX11 though.

After all that, I'd still say skip it and go for the top. Just me though.

 

@fittyman: No, don't worry, nobody said a bad word about your 260m, we're bullying the 240m

 

I have grown attached to it, sorry.

 

5850 supports dx11 that is and will be(for some time anyway) used in most new games and is easier to afford than the beastly(in a good way) 6970m. Can't compare it to an Nvidia card tho, never had one of those.

 

Fittyman, that is some 260M you have if it never drops below 30fps in Crysis at max settings. My 6970M/920xm (all stock) can only manage 27.25fps average on the Crysis benchmark.gpu at 1920x1080, no AA, all graphics on Very High, DX10, 64-bit. The 5850M (@ 750/1050) that came before could only manage about 19.6fps at the same settings. You should treasure that card.

 

Maybe he is playing at 720p? I remember at that res, my old 260m could manage those kind of frame rates.

 

Maybe I need to upgrade to a 260M; sounds like it blows away anything I've ever had. LOL.

 

@The Rev: Hahahaha, shoot me a PM, I'd be willing to part from my 260m

 

nice r3 in your sig rev. that thing is gonna be a beast!!!! can't wait to battle it out, hehehe

 

well i only can say, thats the way the tech goes old.... its totally normal that you can´t expect from an 2 year old rig with the cheapest gpu to run the newest games ^^

even my rig can´t handle the newest ones on max.. but who cares?
i use the m15x for nice MP games like cs source, call of duty and for that its more than enough power.

if you wanna play always the newest games on max, u just have to buy every 1/2 year or year the newest system, that for sure...

 

8x AA is impossible. 2x AA is the max, but I find its rather redundant at the higher res, so I turn it off. Very little gain for massive performance hit. Also, I can't run it at 1920 X 1080, I have the 900P screen. I would have to use a program to say that definitively, it never drops below 30fps I suppose (Sorry), but I never have "slow" movements. Cut scenes, gameplay, firefights, nothing seems to faze it. Its fluid. It's the demo if that matters. I don't have the full game.

Some other games I can max out include, Dragon Age Origins, Mass Effect 1 and 2, Company of Heroes Opposing fronts (That's more of a CPU heavy game though), Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl; with Stalker complete 2009 Mod, and that's it. All of those I can play with max AA and AF with no slowdowns.

I'll download fraps when I get home and start frame watching

I'm not sure why your 6970M is having trouble Rev. I'd say the 6970M = the 5850 desktop variant, and it was able to run it maxxed out as well. If it helps, I was previously on the Beta drivers for my 260M and I noticed the performance was absolutely garbage (Previous owner I suppose) so I rolled back the drivers to an earlier version signed by WHQL. Been sticking with it ever since.

 

Nevermind. I'm talking about actual benchmark tests using the real Crysis with highly configurable test parameters, not subjective results from a demo. There's nothing wrong with my 6970M. Those benchmark results are a measure of Crysis' graphical challenges (or poor optimizations) at max settings. I misunderstood your initial statement; I didn't know you were talking about a demo.

 

Thanks to you, my friend. Due on the 29th. When does your new one arrive? Are you going to use the green casing with it?

 

real world testing trumps synthetic testing? Between the demo and the actual game, I miss out on the story line. I still get all the options you would have. I think.

I did not mean to offend in either case.

 

same here the 29th, yeah gonna swap cases once i test everything on the new unit. we pretty much have the same specs. gonna be fun benching together again.

 

Got a lot of catching up to do first. Going to be fun.

 

None taken, none meant. The Crysis benchmarks are just a well-trodden trail for some of us. Here's a screenshot from a 5850M test.

 

I'll run this when I get home. Did not know it existed.


Would running Crysis at max, not yield the same results? Or does the benchmark do something the game can not?

EDIT: Like say, cause throttling through heat temps rising? I assume the benchmarks are much harder on the system than playing the game itself. 70-80 degrees is not out of the question for an hour and a bit worth of playing time for me.

 

The benchmark program gives a standardized, repeatable test bed and a precise measuring tool. It is more demanding that gameplay because it's operating at full speed throughout, with no stops, rests or slowdowns, but it's only for relatively short periods, so it's certainly not brutal. Temps in the 70's-80's are normal during the test runs in my experience, so throttling is not an issue. Problem is this is not standalone. It requires the full Crysis game in order to operate.

 

Ahh, so it's essentially running the game minus load times in between, at full speed.


I'll pick up the full game to try it out.