Laptop VASTLY underperforming what it should be.

[SpacedOut]

I've been getting the feeling that my computer has recently (past few months) been performing worse than it should be, but convinced myself it wasn't. It's gotten to the point now, however, where I feel that it is undoubtably running much slower than it should be in games.

The relevant specs are:

4gb ram
i7 q840m 1.87GHz cpu
Nvidia GTX 460M gpu
1920x1080 resolution

I just downloaded dishonored, and the game won't run above 5 fps on MINIMUM graphics. WoW on Medium graphics runs noticeably slowly just standing around stormwind (15-20 fps).

The biggest variation I've noticed is in HoN, which I run on max graphics, sometimes smoothly at 40-50 fps, sometimes it drops to 10-15 fps. I've noticed that occasionally a system restart fixes this game in particular, not really making a notable improvement to others.

My hard drive is NEW and my OS was reinstalled 3 months ago. My hard drive is not overly full, and I check for gpu driver updates regularly. I am also careful to run as little as possible in the background.

The curious thing is that with system monitoring tools on a second monitor (which I disable normally for gaming, but leave on to run system monitor tools) my components don't seem to be being fully utilized at all, even when the game is running slowly. I'm no expert on how a CPU works, but the load rarely passes 70% and normally sits around 50% even when a game is running very slowly. My GPU likewise doesn't seem to be under any particular strain, although it is more often at high load according to GPU-Z.

Is there anything that could be preventing games, particularly steam games I've noticed, from using my computer's full power? It's not a high end machine really, not any more, and I plan to build a real desktop when I move out and go to uni (college), but that's months away and I'm going to be travelling for the next few months, so it would be useful to have a computer I can reasonably game on.

Thanks for any help you can provide

[Maruka]

No offense but that laptop really isnt that good at all, especially at that res, what did you expect out of it?

[Deleted]

First thing im guessing is somekind of driver issue or overheating (it is a gtx 460m which kinda equals room heater )
Also do you have any battery management programs? (those love to downthrottle stuff)

[BicycleMafioso]

Can you make sure that the CPU and GPU is turboing correctly (ie, clocking up to its maximum frequencies) during games?
I am going to say that yes, yes your computer is underperforming considering your speccs, so there is something amiss.

[mafao]

No offense but that laptop really isnt that good at all, especially at that res, what did you expect out of it?

Whats not good about it? That GPU scores 50 fps on Crysis GPU benchmark (high settings). It should play WoW fluently.

[Deleted]

try going to your energy management and set both values for max CPU performance to 100 and with the GPU set it to "High Performance" (or Max Performancek, not sure what it is ^^) ... also make sure to have the latest nVidia Drivers AND make sure that your laptop uses it's GPU to render the game ... this can be set in the game-profile section of your drivers menu.

[Twoddle]

Run a check disc, schedule it for next boot up and let it fix any errors. New or not a hard drive can still have errors.

[vesseblah]

I've been getting the feeling that my computer has recently (past few months) been performing worse than it should be, but convinced myself it wasn't. It's gotten to the point now, however, where I feel that it is undoubtably running much slower than it should be in games.

Probably overheating, and you're experiencing overheat throttling. Does the time you play something affect the speeds? Try clean up the fans and heatsinks with air can.

That GPU scores 50 fps on Crysis GPU benchmark (high settings). It should play WoW fluently.

Apples and oranges. WoW depends more on CPU and Crysis on GPU. You can't even begin to compare the two with such a dumb benchmark.

[Deleted]

still if it would be overheating performance should be higher in wow already (a quad core i7 first gen mobile still packs enough punch for high settings)
overheating could be the cause for HoN performance drop after period of time.

[vesseblah]

still if it would be overheating performance should be higher in wow already (a quad core i7 first gen mobile still packs enough punch for high settings)

Both CPU and GPU can overheat separate from each other and at different temperatures.

Also in case of laptops make sure you have all power saving features turned off, because those will slow you down while gaming.

[mafao]

Apples and oranges. WoW depends more on CPU and Crysis on GPU. You can't even begin to compare the two with such a dumb benchmark.

Some things are more complicated than you think they are, especially if you don't completely understand what they mean. If a machine can run Crysis well it will sure as hell run WoW well - because WoW is simply the less demanding game of the two. The 'CPU-limited' nature of WoW simply means that you can get away with using a slower GPU, because at some point a faster GPU won't make any difference. His CPU is ok for WoW.

[vesseblah]

if you don't completely understand

Oh the irony...

If a machine can run Crysis well it will sure as hell run WoW well

Again, apples and oranges.

If you put $50 CPU and $500 GPU into computer you might see 2 fps in WoW and 200 in Crysis.
Flipping it around with $500 CPU + $50 GPU would show 50fps in WoW and 5fps in Crysis.

[Terahertz]

Some things are more complicated than you think they are, especially if you don't completely understand what they mean. If a machine can run Crysis well it will sure as hell run WoW well - because WoW is simply the less demanding game of the two. The 'CPU-limited' nature of WoW simply means that you can get away with using a slower GPU, because at some point a faster GPU won't make any difference. His CPU is ok for WoW.

I've basically got the same laptop as OP except my graphics card is better. Mine is a 540m and it plays WoW on good settings (WINDOWED FULLSCREEN) at approx 50 FPS. I'm also playing on a 1920x1080 secondary monitor (which my laptop now sees as primary monitor). I play GW2 in windowed fullscreen at about 40 FPS on monitor.

Without my 1920x1080 res monitor games play a lot better with WoW going up to 70-80 FPS in Orgrimmar and GW2 going to 50-60 FPS. Not trying to brag about my -decent- laptop but I'm just telling you that a laptop cant handle a monitor that well. Also I have no knowledge about the 460m whatsoever, but by the time my 540m already struggles with WoW when playing on a monitor, it has to mean something :P

Oh and also, with MoP my FPS dropped a little. I highly suggest you to disable that new graphic option that creates small shadows around objects (I mainly have shadows and liquid detal on low/fair)

[BicycleMafioso]

I've basically got the same laptop as OP except my graphics card is better. Mine is a 540m

Yours is fairly worse, actually.

[SpacedOut]

Thanks for all the replies guys. I just woke up and am on my phone, I will be able to try what you suggested later.

As for some suggestions here:

I actually don't play with the battery in, just the power cord, and I changed up the power settings on the day I got it.

As for overheating; I'm not 100% convinced. I play with the maintainenc plate on the bottom removed and a cooler master fan blowing directly onto the components. I used to notice a slight slowdown when my CPU went over 80, which it doesn't ever really do any more.

[Deleted]

Might I ask why in the actual teabag you'd get a laptop for gaming? You're paying far more for something far worse.

As for the actual question, people have already answered that. I'm just really curious as to why.

[BicycleMafioso]

As for overheating; I'm not 100% convinced. I play with the maintainenc plate on the bottom removed and a cooler master fan blowing directly onto the components. I used to notice a slight slowdown when my CPU went over 80, which it doesn't ever really do any more.

Can you run windowed mode and monitor, on your secondary monitor incidentally, CPU-speeds, GPU-speeds and temperatures? CPU-Z, GPU-Z and HWMonitor are relevant here, I suppose.

Might I ask why in the actual teabag you'd get a laptop for gaming? You're paying far more for something far worse.

Some people don't have the space, or can only afford one computer. I know extremely few people IRL who actually has a desktop; all of them are age 40+.

[Deleted]

Some people don't have the space, or can only afford one computer. I know extremely few people IRL who actually has a desktop; all of them are age 40+.

I didn't ask why he'd get a laptop for everyday usage (which is totally reasonable for the gigantic plus in convenience and mobility), but unless I missed something, this is a laptop for *gaming*. I asked why he'd get a laptop for *gaming*, as that's like picking blueberries with boxing gloves.

[BicycleMafioso]

I didn't ask why he'd get a laptop for everyday usage (which is totally reasonable for the gigantic plus in convenience and mobility), but unless I missed something, this is a laptop for *gaming*. I asked why he'd get a laptop for *gaming*, as that's like picking blueberries with boxing gloves.

And that's what I answered. If you want to, you can create a new topic on the matter, as this is not the place for that discussion.

[Deleted]

Might I ask why in the actual teabag you'd get a laptop for gaming? You're paying far more for something far worse.

As for the actual question, people have already answered that. I'm just really curious as to why.

I have a gaming rig at home, upgraded it a year ago. I bought a new laptop last month for 900 euro's with equivalent i5 and gpu like OP, can't remember exactly. Why? I play with my girlfriend. This means we need 2 "stations" to play on wherever we are. Having a total of 4 computers seems overkill and more expensive than 2 computers and 1 good laptop. I bought this because my last one died and couldn't handle Diablo3 properly, my new one runs it on max. As does WoW.

Some people saying laptops can't game are just ignorant. Mine runs 1920x1080 flawlessly in most games. No, not Crysis 3, but I don't play that. WoW, LoL, D3 run on high/max.