insomniac34 Posted September 20, 2008 Report Share Posted September 20, 2008 (edited) Hello. My laptop, a Dell Inspiron 1720, has been having strange performance drops in games ever since I began using the Release 177 series of drivers. The problem is, after about 15 to 20 minutes of gameplay, my screen will freeze up for a second, and then my performance will drop significantly and I will be forced to restart the game. Now, my graphics card has been getting mighty hot lately, so I believe it may be in need of a cleaning, but this to me sounds like a driver issue. Is there any way I can get rid of this annoying FPS drop without sacrificing relatively recent drivers? thanks! Edited September 20, 2008 by insomniac34 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phnx Posted September 20, 2008 Report Share Posted September 20, 2008 If it is downclocking due to heat then the only way to stop it is to get it cooler. Clean out the cooling system (with compressed air/q-tips etc) and then see if it goes away. If not, then post back here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Marley Posted September 20, 2008 Report Share Posted September 20, 2008 The 8600m GT also has some problems with thermally-induced failure. If you cannot get the temperature back down, you might want to get the GPU replaced. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
insomniac34 Posted September 28, 2008 Author Report Share Posted September 28, 2008 Well, I FINALLY got my laptop aired out at the campus tech support center (where I work). And, the problem is definately NOT overheating. According to RivaTuner, my temperature is maintained between 50-60 degrees during graphically intensive gameplay (World in Conflict, 1440 x 900 resolution). According to the RivaTuner stats, the temperature is steadily maintained, but both the Core and Memory clocks both experience a significant dropoff. So, my video card is randomly downclocking, and heat is not the issue. Please help!! here is a screenshot of RivaTuner's report right after I experienced the FPS drop in World in Conflict... thanks!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gameo Posted September 28, 2008 Report Share Posted September 28, 2008 I've fixed that issue somehow, but after that I'm now getting really high temperatures.....the 8600m GT may not be such a joy as it should be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Marley Posted September 28, 2008 Report Share Posted September 28, 2008 Have you tried disabling PowerMizer using the registry settings? For some reason, Vista will downclock the videocard sometimes even when full power is needed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
insomniac34 Posted September 28, 2008 Author Report Share Posted September 28, 2008 Have you tried disabling PowerMizer using the registry settings? For some reason, Vista will downclock the videocard sometimes even when full power is needed. yeah I have its really bizarre I cant imagine why it would still be downclocking after i disabled powermizer... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest matmat07 Posted September 29, 2008 Report Share Posted September 29, 2008 On what game does it happen? The same thing happens on my 9500m gs on UT3. You can use constant perf level with rivatuner to solve it if you're not afraid of always running the card at max. I tried a lotto things to solve it, I could list them when I go home Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
insomniac34 Posted September 29, 2008 Author Report Share Posted September 29, 2008 I assume it happens on all of them, as I usually notice a slight performance drop after around 20 mins of gameplay. It is REALLY noticeable, however, on World in Conflict Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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