Games run slow

Jeremy Jedwabnik

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Jul 2, 2013
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So I have an XPS 17, windows 7 with a quad core i7, 12gb of ram, a 3gb nvidia gt 445m card, and a 7200rpm hard drive. Even with low settings games lag a huge amount, I'm mainly playing Civ 5 and Borderlands 2. I updated the drivers of my graphics card, defragged my disc, and my computer doesn't run that hot. What else can I do? Thanks
 
Solution


Yes it seems you need to up the settings of your GPU. I ran a little test a while back on Civ 5 (brilliant game) were I overclocked my GPU and played for 30 minutes. And the underclocked (if I can say that) and played for 30 mins. I could tell the difference immediately. textures where smoother. My units when running or building wouldn't be as laggy and the whole smoothness of the game was improved when overclocked.

Try doing that or have some practical fun and clean your GPU (doubt there will be a difference) but it is still good to keep...

Azrael47

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You could have viruses. Download Avast or AVG to get rid of them and also download Malwarebytes to see if you have any malware hidden in the form of trojans etc in your system. A trojan will hide away in your storage and multiply.

I also recommend you do a disk cleanup
 

Azrael47

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As in 'slow' do you mean laggy or low FPS. If so then you made need to adjust your GPU clock and memory speed :)
 

Azrael47

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Yes it seems you need to up the settings of your GPU. I ran a little test a while back on Civ 5 (brilliant game) were I overclocked my GPU and played for 30 minutes. And the underclocked (if I can say that) and played for 30 mins. I could tell the difference immediately. textures where smoother. My units when running or building wouldn't be as laggy and the whole smoothness of the game was improved when overclocked.

Try doing that or have some practical fun and clean your GPU (doubt there will be a difference) but it is still good to keep your components clean.


:D
 
Solution

Jeremy Jedwabnik

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Jul 2, 2013
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And how do I do that? Haha
 

Azrael47

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Usually there is a program where you can adjust your GPU settings. I don't know what it is for intel but for AMD it is called CCC.

Remember Civ 5 drains a lot of CPU power as it is a turn based strategy game.

 

Jeremy Jedwabnik

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Jul 2, 2013
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I don't think that's the issue as it has 3gbs of memory and it used to run deus ex human revolution just fine, no lag whatsoever
 

Azrael47

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wow that is strange. Have you tested how your GPU performs in other games?
 

Jeremy Jedwabnik

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Jul 2, 2013
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Nope, it used to run deus ex fine, I stopped playing for awhile, started civ and borderlands and all of a sudden it laggs like crazy, and then my whole computer laggs till I restart it, I don't get it
 

Azrael47

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Hmm I seriously am confused just like you. It seems silly how it would play a game fine and then all of a sudden it begins to lag. Maybe toggle some of the in-game settings such as AA or shadows etc.

 

Jeremy Jedwabnik

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Jul 2, 2013
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Yeah I put all the settings as low as they go. Even a rig with a lot lower specs should have no problem...
 

ikaz

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Well first your video card is very very weak however if you were trully playing ok up until a few days/weeks ago then there is problably some else wrong. After you finish playing a game Run task manager (press ctrl alt delete) and see if your CPU or memory has high usage.

Now I also noticed that you have a laptop so you kind screwed can't upgrade the video card another problem could with cooling. Your laptop maybe getting too Hot and down clocking because of that, you may want to look into a laptop cooler (to be honest not sure they work) basically see if playing a game with cooler temps helps.

 

Azrael47

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Yes I agree. resit your GPU again and make sure the cable is securely fastened in. Apart from that I cannot rthink of anything else you can do.

You have updated all your drivers.
performed disk cleanup/defragment
put in-game settings to low
used anti-virus software
 

Jeremy Jedwabnik

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Jul 2, 2013
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It runs relatively cool, and how is it a weak card? Seems pretty strong for a laptop card, Nvidia Gt Seriers with 3gbs of memory