sebastiansamurai Posted June 15, 2006 Report Share Posted June 15, 2006 As the title suggest, I'm running a GeForce FX GO 5200 (Windows XP, 512 RAM). My question is about a performance issue that plagues my computer regardless of the driver (I'm running 84.21 at the moment). Anyways, come games, i.e. Call of Duty, work flawlessly. But most of my games (FIFA 06, Knights of the Old Republic, Sid Meyer's Pirates, etc.) will run fine for about ten minutes, then do this thing will they sluggishly slow down. It slows down for about 5 seconds, returns for a good 10 or so seconds, then slows down again. This makes playing the games miserable. Does anybody know how to remedy this problem (it could just be a horrible graphics card, which I realize). Thanks in advance for the help. -Ryan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fabrice Roux Posted June 15, 2006 Report Share Posted June 15, 2006 Look for overheating and Dell 5150 threads... you'll find a lot of information there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sebastiansamurai Posted June 15, 2006 Author Report Share Posted June 15, 2006 Alright. I searched through a lot of the 5200 threads but none of the problems addressed the issue I had (but I'm sure I missed threads). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fabrice Roux Posted June 15, 2006 Report Share Posted June 15, 2006 What you are facing is overheating... you might want to raise the back of your laptop to help fresh air in. (it might get you a couple of extra regular fullspeed gaming) Then you want to clean your radiators off dust... use canned air. The last resort would be to lower your GPU clocks a little... or play game in the refrigerator. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sebastiansamurai Posted June 15, 2006 Author Report Share Posted June 15, 2006 Alright. Thanks for the info. But before I move my laptop to the freezer, can you point me in the direction of what I need to do to lower my GPU Clocks, and by how much? Thanks in advance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sebastiansamurai Posted June 15, 2006 Author Report Share Posted June 15, 2006 you are definitely right about the problem being overheating. I placed a book underneath, and that helped, but only for a few minutes. I went and adjusted the core clock speed like you recommended (lowering it to 150), but that only helped for so long. Do you have any other advice? I find it hard to believe heating is stopping me from gaming. I noticed progams where you can adjust the fan speed, but my warranty just ran out and I'm not sure I would know how to use them. thanks in advance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rwm32 Posted June 15, 2006 Report Share Posted June 15, 2006 (edited) Here's a link to one of very many posts on the Dell community forum about this: 5150 choppy display + overheating You will find a further link in that thread to some detailed instructions for getting at the radiator grille to clean it properly. You could download and run I8kfangui as well. It is very easy to install and set up, and it is well-documented. Don't be put off by seeing "version 3 beta 4" -- it works fine. We have two 5150s. With clean radiator grilles, they idle at around 46C. I have the fan set to kick in at 50C. Edited June 15, 2006 by rwm32 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sebastiansamurai Posted June 15, 2006 Author Report Share Posted June 15, 2006 Thanks for the assistance, I'll check it out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sebastiansamurai Posted June 15, 2006 Author Report Share Posted June 15, 2006 (edited) Just to make sure, I've bought a can of compressed air and I blow it INTO the fan, right? That won't have any adverse effect by blowing dust and stuff around will it? Didn't see any answer to this in the other overheating forums. Thanks. I downloaded that fan control system. Seems pretty useful. If I uninstall it control resorts to the BIOS, correct? Sorry to keep pestering you. And my ideal speed is around 55, so obviously there is some dust. I remember getting my fan replaced about 6 months ago (thank God for warranties) but I guess that wouldn't change the dust quantity on the radiator grille. I'm going to try to clean it myself and pray to God I don't ###### anything up. Edited June 15, 2006 by sebastiansamurai Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fabrice Roux Posted June 16, 2006 Report Share Posted June 16, 2006 Imagine the fan system like a pipe... with one or more entrances and one or more exits. When I clean my cooler I just blow air from both side until the dark smoke fades away. :) You don't need to uninstall the software to return to BIOS default fan handling... just turn off the software autorun with windows. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sebastiansamurai Posted June 16, 2006 Author Report Share Posted June 16, 2006 Thanks for all the help. I went inside, removed the fan, and blew the dust blocking the radiator. I'm not joking when I say that there was a piece of dust 3 inches wide and almost an inch thick. With that gone, my computer idles at around 45 and during gaming doesn't even reach the 60's. Thanks again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rwm32 Posted June 16, 2006 Report Share Posted June 16, 2006 Wow -- that is serious dust! The I8kfangui program controls the fans (obviously) but does not disable the BIOS control. Even with I8kfangui running, if the temp reaches the BIOS setting, the fan will come on. However, the BIOS setting is far higher than most of us would want. Now that you've cleaned out the grille, you can keep it clean with the canned air. As you will doubtless have worked out for yourself, the trick is to blast the air in from the back of the laptop, through the grille and towards the fan. Blasting air through the fan towards the grille is less effective, if not downright counterproductive. I'm really glad it's working properly, anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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