Not really happy with my performance

[Hoopi]

EDIT: This is an m14xR2
On the Lowest possible settings on pretty much every game,
I get pretty lousy performance.
I have the 64gb SSD,8gb RAM model of the m14xr2.
I don't think I'm overclocked.
Purchased in July 2012, from a store, not ordered from online.

The fan is running really loud when I just turn on the computer and when I open chrome it gets worse, but then quiets down.

COD4: With lowest settings will even lag when people are shooting.
MW3: Only Playable on lowest settings on resolution.
Black ops 2: Good for a few seconds, then Don't even bother.

I have contacted Alienware support and they were nice, and helped me a little bit, but the problem still persists.
Any help?

 

[sway]

Have you updated your drivers? Make sure your gpu is running how it should. In those games you should be able to run max or close. Need to go through the basics of why your not getting good performance, like drivers etc... to find out if it's in the software or hardware.

tapping from the Note II

 

[Hoopi]

Have you updated your drivers? Make sure your gpu is running how it should. In those games you should be able to run max or close. Need to go through the basics of why your not getting good performance, like drivers etc... to find out if it's in the software or hardware.

tapping from the Note II

The alienware staff took me through updating and installing pretty much everything, including the BIOS.
It's also good to know when this is all fixed i will have awesome performance.

 

[MattyB]

Hang around. The guys here will sort you out and have you rolling in no time.

 

[sway]

What graphics driver are you on?

tapping from the Note II

 

[MattyB]

If its that bad, it almost sounds like the GPU isn't working at all and it's just using Intel graphics.

Have you had a look through the Nvidia settings?

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I actually managed to play MW3 with the Intel graphics on low settings once so it can be done. Badly.

 

[Hoopi]

What graphics driver are you on?

tapping from the Note II

The nVidia card is on version 310.90
and the Intel integrated card is being updated right now to: 15.28.12.64.2932 (9.17.10.2932)

 

[MattyB]

Have you got yourself a GPU monitor so you can see what kind of load it's under when you're trying to use it? Something like GPU-Z

 

[Hoopi]

Have you got yourself a GPU monitor so you can see what kind of load it's under when you're trying to use it? Something like GPU-Z

Trying this now.
I do have the Nvidia one that tells me what programs are running of the card, and my games are.

 

[AeonSoul]

I'm just going to doublecheck this:
have you set in the nvidia control panel to use the dedicated GPU to run the fames? Double click on it, in the 3d settiongs section add the .exe file of the game to the list, if it's not already there, and select the option in the dropdown menu which says to use the dedicated graphic card.
Hit apply and try that again. If it's not working after forcing the GPU like that then most likely it's an hardware problem.

 

[MattyB]

It really seems like the Nvidia GPU isn't being used or it's got some serious problems. Dell should be all over it for you. Did you buy it from JB Hi-Fi? If you did, what have they said?

 

[Hoopi]

Have you got yourself a GPU monitor so you can see what kind of load it's under when you're trying to use it? Something like GPU-Z

Just did this.

Idle I'm now sitting around 55 degrees, and the fans have been working quieter since I updated the integrated card.
The following is Black Ops 2 on Lowest Settings with a resolution of 1600x900
On menus I had around 68 degrees and 72 in game.
On Menus I had a load of 52% and in game I had a load of 73%
Here is a screenshot of the max of everything after 10 minutes of playing.

I'm just going to doublecheck this:
have you set in the nvidia control panel to use the dedicated GPU to run the fames? Double click on it, in the 3d settiongs section add the .exe file of the game to the list, if it's not already there, and select the option in the dropdown menu which says to use the dedicated graphic card.
Hit apply and try that again. If it's not working after forcing the GPU like that then most likely it's an hardware problem.

I have already done this, but thanks anyway.

 

[MattyB]

Welcome to the forum by the way. I hope you get through your issue soon.

 

[Hoopi]

It really seems like the Nvidia GPU isn't being used or it's got some serious problems. Dell should be all over it for you. Did you buy it from JB Hi-Fi? If you did, what have they said?

I did buy it from JB. I haven't tried contacting them yet.

Thanks for all the help so far, everyone.

 

[MattyB]

I'm sure they'll just palm you onto Dell but it is their responsibility first. What kind of FPS are you getting? Do you have Fraps or another program which will give you your frame rate?

 

[Hoopi]

It was around 60 then drops to 20-30 maybe 40, if I'm lucky.
Now after updating my Intel driver (Even though I'm apparently not using that card) and my RAID drivers I get a solid 60 (well that's what it says, even though it will maybe drop to 50). So generally better.

 

[MattyB]

Maybe it's you PhysX config. Make sure that it's not set on your CPU. It's in the Nvidia controls.

Probably not it but anything is worth a try

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50-60 is pretty good. Anything over 30 is completely playable.

 

[yikes81]

I had to roll back on my Nvidia drivers. I updated to the latest driver, and my in game FPS would drop to 5 sometimes. After a rollback, it was all ok again.

 

[hospitalmadness]

I had your same issue
I had to completely format my hd and do a new installation

 

[michaelbyz23]

roll back to dell's 307 driver. 310.90 does not work well on m14x r2, i just dont understand why. very dissapointed though. on games like dota 2 or diablo 3, 310.90 causes big lags and fps could drop down to 20fps during fights.