Is my laptop underperforming?

[madisonstreet]

I recently purchased a new laptop and I'm getting 30 - 40 FPS on Starcraft II with Ultra.

Specs are as follows

Alienware m18x

Graphics: Dual AMD 6990's in Crossfire

Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2630QM CPU @ 2.00GHz (8 CPUs), ~2.0GHz

Memory: 4gb

I'm using the latest drivers and tried various CAP profiles for crossfire.

Just trying to clarify that the FPS I'm getting is WAY below what it should be correct?

- I've tried running with a single gpu configuration and I get a lower frame rate.

I understand CFX isn't supported by Starcraft II but it still boosts my frame rate.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Supernova1138]

Odds are you are actually hitting a CPU bottleneck. SCII on ultra requires a lot of CPU horsepower to get high framerates, and laptop CPUs are simply clocked too low to accomplish that. Run task manager in the background and see how much CPU usage you are getting while running the game. If it is running your 4 physical cores at 100%, you have a CPU bottleneck. Overclocking really isn't an option to solve this problem is most laptops will lock you out from doing that, and the laptop form factor simply does not allow for adequate cooling to do any real overclocking. Despite having a lot of GPU horsepower, 30 to 40 FPS might be the best you can do in SCII with that computer. I would suggest testing some other games, most titles tend to be more GPU bound and will take better advantage of the the 2 6990m cards you have.

 

[madisonstreet]

Task manager says I'm running at 40% usage. I've read a bit about OC'ing my particular m18x on the NBR forums.

I just didnt think it was necessary.

The various techs I'd spoken to at dell etc said my laptop should be more then enough to handle ultra on SC II.

Thanks for the help if theres anything else you can think of feel free to let me know!

p.s. there was another user with a similar build to mine slightly better i7 believe the 2730 and he was getting 100 - 150 fps on ultra. Does that change anything?

 

[Supernova1138]

You have to check your CPU graphs in the performance tab, just because it says 40% overall usage doesn't necessarily mean you aren't hitting a bottleneck. The i7s have hyperthreading, so Windows sees it as an 8 core CPU. I don't think SCII uses hyperthreading so the maximum overall usage number you would get would be 50%

The only other thing I can suggest would be to ensure that the game is up to date and that you have the latest drivers for your GPUs. Framerates may also vary depending on what's happening in game, a smaller map with 2 players won't tax the CPU as much as a large map with 8 players.

 

[madisonstreet]

Yea the 40% was what CPU graphs in the performance tab was telling me.

SC II doesnt use hyper threading so the 40% I'm seeing is = to 80% ?

 

[Supernova1138]

Windows sees your CPU as 8 cores 4 physical, 4 logical, each "core" has an individual usage graph. Beside them is the overall CPU usage graph. If 4 of your cores are showing 100% use while in game, which would show as 50% overall CPU usage, you probably have a CPU bottleneck. If not, then your low framerates are probably the result of a game or driver issue.

Another thing to check is RAM usage. 4GB should be enough for gaming, but you might be running low on RAM if you have a lot of programs open in the background while you play. If the game has to go to the hard drive to retrieve data instead of RAM that can cause framerate drops.