Laptop Framerate Issues

[Taintedmind]

A friend of mine purchased a computer from his mother that had a virus on it, so I fresh installed Windows 10 on it, updated it and installed all of the drivers to get it up and runnin.  It's an ASUS w/a GTX 960m, 4k built-in monitor and a M.2 Sata SSD 500gb.  I installed all of the free Blizzard games on it and Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel to test some games out and the FPS is atrocious.  It's around 10-40 FPS (dependin on the game) and I'm tryin to troubleshoot to fix the issue.

 

I tried Borderlands and StarCraft II, but the framerates weren't playable, so I was wonderin if there're any tips on resolvin the issue.  He should be droppin it off today for me to troubleshoot in-person, instead of tryin to assist him over Skype when he's home, so I can get more details on the model number and such then, if needed; any useful help would be appreciated.

[2SidedPolygon]

What resolution/settings are you running at? It's not like that's the world's most powerful GPU.

[Taintedmind]

We started at 4k, but then I told him to tone it down to check FPS and it got a little better at 2560x1600 (I've never seen this resolution before), then we did 1920x1440 (if I recall) and it still got marginally better.  Nothin major, but Blizzard games are pretty graphically weak and well optimized, so I was expectin to get around 60 FPS, if possible, on Medium Settings in that and Borderlands.

 

The resolution settings were quite odd and were ones I've never seen before, excludin 4k.  The rest were off from traditional resolutions.

[SpookyCitrus]

2 minutes ago, 2SidedPolygon said:

What resolution/settings are you running at? It's not like that's the world's most powerful GPU.

Yeah running even those titles at 4K with a 960M is going to be tough, the only other problem I can see it having is thermal throttling. When running the games and stress tests use HWMonitor to check your temps. Almost every time I've had an FPS issue on a gaming laptop with a 900 series GPU it's needed to be re-pasted.

[Taintedmind]

He's mainly tryin to play Borderlands 2/Pre-Sequel and RTS games, like Company of Heroes, Dawn of War and many Red Alert games from back in the day.  Is this PC just too old even for such non-demandin games or could trouble shootin fix the issues w/lowered settings and resolutions?

[KING OF THE DIRTY DANS]

A 960 M is about on par with a 750 TI, so you just gotta optimize it 

[SpookyCitrus]

2 minutes ago, Taintedmind said:

We started at 4k, but then I told him to tone it down to check FPS and it got a little better at 2560x1440 (I've never seen this resolution before), then we did 1920x1440 (if I recall) and it still got marginally better.  Nothin major, but Blizzard games are pretty graphically weak and well optimized, so I was expectin to get around 60 FPS, if possible, on Medium Settings in that and Borderlands.

There's UHD 4K which is 3840x2160, QHD 2K which is 2560x1440, and FHD 1920x1080. Don't know how you've never heard of 1440p it's almost more common than 1080p now. But anyway, if even on lower settings and resolution you still have major frame drops, check your temps and see if the CPU and GPU are thermal throttling. Like I said in my other comment usually with gaming laptops that are having that issue it's a temperature issue and they usually have to be re-pasted. Although I have noticed some laptops with seemingly gaming specs don't actually handle games very well. Is the laptop specifically a gaming model or just a standard notebook with a GPU in it?

[Taintedmind]

2 minutes ago, SpookyCitrus said:

There's UHD 4K which is 3840x2160, QHD 2K which is 2560x1440, and FHD 1920x1080. Don't know how you've never heard of 1440p it's almost more common than 1080p now.

I've heard of 1440p, since I'm currently runnin it and I know all of those dimensions, but what I posted weren't traditional dimensions; like 1920x1440 (not 2560x1440), which's quite odd to me.

 

I'm not sure if it's specifically a gamin model or just a general laptop w/a mobile graphics card.  I'll be able to find the model number when he drops it off later today, if it's necessary.  I'm def. goin to look into the filters to see how much dust is inside of it, since it was put into storage for many years.  His mother may have gotten a virus on it, so she just put it in storage for quite a while.  He stated it was a $1600 laptop at the time of purchase, so I would lean towards gamin computer she uses for graphic design for their in-home side business.

[Taintedmind]

6 minutes ago, KING OF THE DIRTY DANS said:

A 960 M is about on par with a 750 TI, so you just gotta optimize it 

I have a GTX 760 FTW 4gb in my old PC my g/f uses and it handles games amazingly.  But it also has an i5-4690k in it and it isn't a laptop, so it's a different story.  I'm goin to see if I can rip it open and look for the thermal paste applied and dust around the vents and fans.

[SpookyCitrus]

4 minutes ago, Taintedmind said:

I've heard of 1440p, since I'm currently runnin it and I know all of those dimensions, but what I posted weren't traditional dimensions; like 1920x1440 (not 2560x1440), which's quite odd to me.

Ohhh, didn't even realize it said 2560x1600. Depending on the aspect ratio of the laptop then that could be why the resolution is a bit different. But yeah when you get the laptop back, check the internals, dust it out, definitely re-paste it if you can, that thermal paste is probably dust.

[genexis_x]

Which model? Full specs?

[Taintedmind]

14 minutes ago, GeneXiS_X said:

Which model? Full specs?

I'll have them when he drops it off later today

[Taintedmind]

Are the acceptable thermal temp. ranges the same for laptops as they are for desktops?

[genexis_x]

35 minutes ago, Taintedmind said:

Are the acceptable thermal temp. ranges the same for laptops as they are for desktops?

Nope

[Taintedmind]

I did a stress test and found out the laptop is overheating.  It's at 72-76c while idle and the Unigine benchmark at High Settings put it up to 92c and Ultra Settings was 94c.

 

Specs:

 

ASUS N501VW Laptop

Intel i7-6700HQ (4 Cores/8 Threads at 2.6GHz)

GTX 960m 2gb

Windows 10 - Home (64-bit OEM)

16gb 2133 MHz RAM (Dual Channel)

512gb M.2 Sata (Samsung MZVPV512HDGL)

 

[genexis_x]

1 hour ago, Taintedmind said:

N501VW

1 hour ago, Taintedmind said:

72-76c while idle

Too hot, do repaste and undervolt

[Taintedmind]

I've updated the BIOS and it's actually lowered the majority of the FPS issues, so I'm goin to wait on the thermal paste and thermal paste remover to come in tomorrow; then I'll clean it out and it should be good-to-go.

[genexis_x]

17 minutes ago, Taintedmind said:

thermal paste

Which paste?

[Taintedmind]

30 minutes ago, GeneXiS_X said:

Which paste?

Noctua NT-H1 10g, Pro-Grade Thermal Compound Paste (10g)

[genexis_x]

5 minutes ago, Taintedmind said:

Noctua NT-H1 10g, Pro-Grade Thermal Compound Paste (10g)

Not the best for laptops, but should perform better than stock

[Taintedmind]

Anything should perform better than how old it is, along w/likely how dusty the fans are.  The vents aren't large or spread out much, so it could've been designed a bit better for thermals.

[Taintedmind]

I've put on new thermal paste and the temps have stabilized.  They're around 50-60c at idle and 76c in-game and 92c at load.

 

The CPU/GPU were all dried out and caked on, while the other ones were fine - I had already scraped them off prior to takin the picture (2 left & 1 bottom-left).