Low performance with Alienware m14X R2

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
C

ctownsend

Reputable
Nov 3, 2014
7
0
4,510
Hi,

I really hope someone can help me. I have a m14x R2 laptop. And it seems that lately my performance has really dropped. A lot of games run at awful FPS using the NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M card.

I ran Unigine Valley Benchmark 1.0 and scored a 222, (min :3 high :12). This looks rather wrong and I wonder if anyone can give me any advice?

So far I have:
Re-installed a fresh install of windows.
Switched to using a SSD for my main windows install.
Made sure all NVIDIA drivers are up to date
Made sure all dell drivers are up to date.
Made sure windows is up to date.
Made sure all games are running using the nvidia card and not integrated graphics.
Cleaned out fans with compressed air.

Here is a small breakdown of my system (i can provide more)

Time of this report: 11/3/2014, 19:00:36
Machine name: CHRIS-M14X
Operating System: Windows 7 Enterprise 64-bit (6.1, Build 7601) Service Pack 1 (7601.win7sp1_gdr.140303-2144)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: Alienware
System Model: M14xR2
BIOS: InsydeH2O Version 03.72.24A08
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3630QM CPU @ 2.40GHz (8 CPUs), ~2.4GHz
Memory: 16384MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 16252MB RAM
Page File: 4827MB used, 27673MB available
Windows Dir: C:\Windows
DirectX Version: DirectX 11
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
User DPI Setting: Using System DPI
System DPI Setting: 96 DPI (100 percent)
DWM DPI Scaling: Disabled
DxDiag Version: 6.01.7601.17514 64bit Unicode
Click to expand...


I have been using a cooling pad for most of the time I have had the laptop (about a year) so the temperatures always stay quite low (50-70 degrees) on both CPU and GPU.

Any advice would be so much appreciated
 
Solution
plaintuts
Yup.

Thermal throttling, the cpu is downclocking performance to cool itself and prevent damage.

Laptop heatsink is probably malfunctioning or not having proper contact with the cpu and Gpu.
Sort by date Sort by votes
C

ctownsend

Reputable
Nov 3, 2014
7
0
4,510



Already did that, it didn't help. I believe it is something to do with the graphics card as when running some games the FPS starts of high then slowly drops down to a crawl, whereas the integrated graphics (although crappy) stays constant.

I clean out the fans now and again to make sure it doesn't get clogged up.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
C

ctownsend

Reputable
Nov 3, 2014
7
0
4,510


I take the back off and blow air through the fan and out the vent holes.

The laptop itself is about 28-30 degrees idling. Those were just for the CPU and GPU.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
plaintuts

plaintuts

Admirable
May 5, 2014
2,856
0
7,460
The laptop is idling?

If I recall, the Gpu and cpu temps are more important, because those are what produces heat.

Anyway, use something like h/wmonitor to measure temps at full load, run heaven benchmark for the gpu
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
C

ctownsend

Reputable
Nov 3, 2014
7
0
4,510



I ran 3D Mark. This is the result
http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/4594174

Rather awful for a gaming laptop :\

Using HWMonitor.
During the test my CPUs range between 83-87 degrees and my nvidia graphics card got up to 70 degreees

I did notice however that when I used to play resource intensive games my fans would spin alot louder to account of the load. They didn't get any faster while that benchmark was running. Dunno if that means anything.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
C

ctownsend

Reputable
Nov 3, 2014
7
0
4,510


Ahh ok, well I'm going to take a look tomorrow and reset the the heatsink with new thermal paste on both the CPU and GPU. Hopefully that should make some improvements. This was the only thing I could think of so I'm glad you could confirm it for me.

How could it be malfunctioning?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I

Itsbattles

Reputable
Jan 3, 2016
41
0
4,540


Hey man I know this is a really old post but I have the same pc and am experiencing the same problems if u don't mind telling me what you did that would be awesome!
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
C

ctownsend

Reputable
Nov 3, 2014
7
0
4,510


Hi,

Sorry for the late reply.

The actual problem with my machine was that the thermal paste that is between the graphics processor and the heatsink had eroded away enough that not enough heat was being taken away by the heatsink. This is not suprising as it was about 3-4 years old at this point. I also removed quite a bit of dust that had built up between the graphics card fan and exhaust. The reason these cause the slow down is that the graphics card will start to overheat and reduces its processing to keep it from overheating too much.

With this said, doing this work on your laptop can be a bit risky if you dont know what you are doing and should only be done with the proper equipment.

If you do indeed want to do it yourself there are alot of guides online, and also breakdown guides on youtube for this model that show you how to take it apart.

If you need any more advice I'll be happy to help.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom