Gateway FX Labtop, Can play games for about 5 Min then extreme lag

[mejason]

Hello everyone,

Recently, i have been having some really concerning issues with my Labtop.

Gatway FX (not sure which model) quad core 2.0ghz, Nvidia gtx 260m, 4 gigs of ram.
-I have owned it for about a year and a half

All of a sudden, i can play games for about 5-10 min without any issues, however within that time limit my FPS will drop to 5 or lower FPS and remain there.

Originally anticipating that it was male-ware or drivers, i reinstalled all the drivers with no luck. I reformatted my computer today completely restoring to factory. I updated my drivers after.

The problem persists! Incredibly frustrating, i do use an antec cooling fan under the labtop, however i have never air dusted the vents or taken the cover off to remove dust.

-I feel like it has to be either a heat issue (as it only arises after gaming for a short time) or a hardware issue (which i have no experience with), I have eliminated software and male-ware with the reformat. I do have a three year warranty with gateway so thats good, but i would like to solve the problem without sending it halfway around the world.

Any suggestions would be awesome!

Thanks so much!

 

[Levity]

Check your CPU temperature whilst playing the game. It could be a few things. But first rule out temperature/cooling problem.

Download this http://www.cpuid.com/downloads/hwmonitor/1.16-setup.exe

 

[mejason]

Can you outline briefly how i do that? I have never checked that before

 

[Levity]

Can you outline briefly how i do that? I have never checked that before

It seems that your GPU/CPU are throttling themselves down to prevent damage. Download that software in the above link. Play your game as you would normally with that software running in the background. Check the GPU and CPU temperature before, during and after the problem.

 

[mejason]

Alright just did a temp check whilst in the 2 FPS area

GPU = 108Celcius
Temp 1 = 78C
Temp 2= 78C
Core0 = 70
Core1= 70
Core 2 = 77
Core 3 = 84

Computer feels 'hot' but not extremely hot.

 

[mejason]

5 min after problem GPU dops to 90

and cores are all down 15 degrees...

Before the GPU was around 60 C

 

[Levity]

Send it back if you still have the warranty. With the temperature of your GPU, you might need a replacement. But I have heard Nvidias can go upto 120C. You may need someone more learned than me to help you here.

 

[mejason]

So your saying its probably broken?

What would cause this? super high temperatures due to improper cooling

 

[mejason]

Best answer selected by mejason.

 

[Levity]

So your saying its probably broken?

What would cause this? super high temperatures due to improper cooling

It probably isn't. However, you could open it up and give it a good spray, remove the copper and apply some thermal paste. But, isn't that nullifying your warranty?

Best thing is to check if it happens with lower settings, lower shadow, etc. If it still persists, check the same thing with a different game, and after that your only option is to send it to the maintenance man.

 

[mejason]

yeah your first option there is what i first considered however im not sure what the warranty covers ect. so if that dosent play into my hands yeah ill be getting some arctic silver

As for the lower settings it just takes longer to happen, in Bad Company 2 on lowest everything it takes about 10-15 min and similar occurance in Starcraft 2. So thanks for your help, it seems as though hardware (and or spring cleaning) are the only options!

 

[Levity]

yeah your first option there is what i first considered however im not sure what the warranty covers ect. so if that dosent play into my hands yeah ill be getting some arctic silver

As for the lower settings it just takes longer to happen, in Bad Company 2 on lowest everything it takes about 10-15 min and similar occurance in Starcraft 2. So thanks for your help, it seems as though hardware (and or spring cleaning) are the only options!

Cool. As long as your warranty covers it, you're fine. Glad to help.