Drop in FPS

Hi there,

For a month now my Frame rate has fallen to around 30-40 FPS. I used to be running at around 60-70. Its pretty disappointing for me because I can't record video's anymore, (Using Fraps, and the FPS falls to around 1-5, used to always hang around 20-30)

My System Specs are:

Graphics: nVidia GeForce 9200M GS (256MB)
Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) Dual CPU T3200 @ 2.00GHz (2 CPUs), ~2.0GHz
Memory: 2042MB RAM
DirectX Version: DirectX 10

Thanks if anyone can help me. (I'll also mention that I have graphic errors now as of recent too with EotN and Nightfall Map Portals, as they cut across my screen)

Hmmm ... graphic corruption? I hope it's not true but your graphic card might be damaged. Overall slowdown may be caused by overheating of CPU as well as GPU. If you have still warranty, make sure your GPU, CPU and motherboard are fully operational and check your fans as well. I can't really help you much besides this vague advice, because you need a technician to find out the problem.

Just in case, try reinstalling your game and defragmenting gw.dat file with Smart Defrag (freeware).

I was actually thinking that too :S

You see I run on a notebook, and its running usually most of the day. I notice the fans create a lot of heat and noise after an hour or two. And I know that laptops aren't truly meant for hardcore gaming, everything still works, but Ive just been wondering where the slowdown has been coming from.

But I will try defragging the .dat file and updating my drivers too.

Download Everest Trial Edition, free to use for 30 days. You will be able to check your temperature on CPU and motherboard (unfortunately not on graphic card). My experience with 'gaming laptops' is that they work well for 2 years, start having overheating problems just when 24-month guarantee ends and are nothing but a junk after 3.5-4 years of full use. After this sad experience I use laptop only to surf internet, watch videos, check e-mail and play Civilization IV

Btw, when your CPU is overheating (above 85+ temp in Celsius), it starts 'throttling' which is equivalement of temporary downclocking to reduce the produced heat energy, in cost of overall performance. I believe all Intel laptop chipsets work like that.

Hopefully for you the graphic glitches are unrelated to the slowdown. Either reinstalling GW or repairing your dat file will determine this.

If the graphic problem persists after that then there is an issue with either your graphics card or its drivers. Try uninstalling and reinstalling your graphics drivers if this is the case.

If repairing/reinstalling GW fixes the graphics glitch but the slowness remains then we may need more information to determine the problem. Names of anti malware software you're running, along with HijackThis logs would be the first step to take down this path.

Sounds like your video adapter especially since you're getting screen glitches. I'm surprised that you were getting 60-70 fps with a 256MB card. Overheating is the most likely culprit and the least expensive to deal with so I'd try the following first.

1. Buy a Chill Pad (or laptop cooler) to sit under your laptop to help with heat issues. Several even get their power from an available USB port. (You need one anyways if you're gonna be gaming with your laptop.)

2. Make sure you have the latest drivers for the video card, CMOS and motherboard of your laptop's make and model.

There's several free apps that are available for testing video memory, motherboard, cmos, etc. etc. cpu-z and gpu-z are the two I use. These will let you know if you're having memory issues etc. Just be sure to follow the manufacturer's instructions when updating motherboard and cmos drivers.

Hope that helps.

Deakon

Thanks guys,

The issues I had with the portals were related with the drivers I updated. Ive gone up ~5 FPS too after defragmenting.

I am also going to take better care and watch out for overheating. Thanks for all the help! This is why I hate PC gaming, with consoles its so much easier imo

Well... I was recently having terrible performance, freezing screen, random polygons shooting out of my head. No driver re-installations or windows re-installation fixed it. Then I swapped back to my old ram and it fixed it, my upgraded ram was bad. So maybe your ram is bad?

Its better, I guess the defragmentation was really needed. Thanks again guys, I'm able to enjoy the game again

whoa i've never gotten my fps that high LOL your really zooming now man grats .

i'm usually at 10-15

my pc goes as follows :
pent.4 2.4ghz
3.5gig sys ram
dx9.c graphics card with 256 mg vid ram
2 mg browsing speed dsl.

i'm running defrag now LOL.