Bf4 problems on laptop

[Marvzl1357]

Hey guys,

Firstly specs in spoiler

Gtx 750m

I7 4500u

Windows 8.1

All latest drivers

Laptop known as acer aspire v7.

So I was playing bf4 a few days ago and I was getting a mediocre-but-stable 30-40 fps across the board on absolute lowest settings, which was ok...

But today I went to fire up bf4 and it's running a consistent 15-20 fps even on the same settings, even on the same maps.

Nothing's changed between the two times I've played, just my location (from HK to KL).

So... What gives?

One thing I noticed as I was playing is how quietly my laptop runs when running 15-20 fps, and (I think most importantly) only the CPU fan was spinning, which lead me to believe that only the CPU and integrated was running and the 750m was just twiddling its transistors(thumbs). But of course Nvidia control panel says that bf4 was actually using the gpu so... Bummer.

Anyway, don't know if anyone's experienced the same problem before, but a fix would be greatly appreciated.

[Guest]

Maybe you set the Windows Mode to power saving.

Also go into the Nvidia control panel and change the Power Mode on the main list from 'Adaptive' to 'Prefer maximum performance'.

Also the laptop will limit itself when on power, to preserve battery. This has a huge effect on gaming performance.

[dragoon20005]

are you on battery or plugged to main power?

 

also is this when you are playing online multi player?

[D4RK]

-check ur laptop power options.

-get some gpu monitoring software like gpu-z, and check that u are using ur gpu to 99-100% load when playing.

-check other games too, if its only on bf4 then its from bf4 "try lower settings or something else then".

[Marvzl1357]

(sorry I'm on mobile at the moment and it's easier to tag people than to quote)

@D4RK

Totally forgot to monitor gpu performance I'll give that a shot and return with results

Oh, and yes, Windows power options is on high performance

@dragoon20005

Yes, of course it's plugged in, and it's in multiplayer only

@Pearsonia

I've changed it to "prefer maximum performance" on a per-game basis for bf4, not sure if that's the same as changing it on the "main list"

[dragoon20005]

(sorry I'm on mobile at the moment and it's easier to tag people than to quote)

@D4RK

Totally forgot to monitor gpu performance I'll give that a shot and return with results

Oh, and yes, Windows power options is on high performance

@dragoon20005

Yes, of course it's plugged in, and it's in multiplayer only

@Pearsonia

I've changed it to "prefer maximum performance" on a per-game basis for bf4, not sure if that's the same as changing it on the "main list"

in that case check GPU load and also the ping or network speed

[jaikens]

(sorry I'm on mobile at the moment and it's easier to tag people than to quote)

@D4RK

Totally forgot to monitor gpu performance I'll give that a shot and return with results

Oh, and yes, Windows power options is on high performance

@dragoon20005

Yes, of course it's plugged in, and it's in multiplayer only

@Pearsonia

I've changed it to "prefer maximum performance" on a per-game basis for bf4, not sure if that's the same as changing it on the "main list"

May be a dumb suggestion, but... When you launch a game, have you tried right clicking on the exe (bf4 launcher) and choosing Run with graphics processor, then choose High-Performance Nvidia processor. Sometimes, even though you set it to always use the GPU, it will sometimes screw up and use the integrated CPU graphics instead. This is Nvidia's lovely process called nvidia optimus technology.

 

TLDR: right click on the exe (bf4 launcher) and choosing Run with graphics processor, then choose High-Performance Nvidia processor (pic): http://gyazo.com/046130fb43eeb483b0cd85037b88b48f

[Marvzl1357]

May be a dumb suggestion, but... When you launch a game, have you tried right clicking on the exe (bf4 launcher) and choosing Run with graphics processor, then choose High-Performance Nvidia processor. Sometimes, even though you set it to always use the GPU, it will sometimes screw up and use the integrated CPU graphics instead. This is Nvidia's lovely process called nvidia optimus technology.

 

TLDR: right click on the exe (bf4 launcher) and choosing Run with graphics processor, then choose High-Performance Nvidia processor (pic): http://gyazo.com/046130fb43eeb483b0cd85037b88b48f

yes...I can do that, but bf4 launches through battlelog via chrome, so I'm not sure if I can directly right click the bf4 exe and have it launch into a server...

 

in that case check GPU load and also the ping or network speed

Ping isn't bad, around 50ms ping, and network speed is fine.

But this lag isn't network lag, you can very clearly tell that it's hardware lag

[jaikens]

yes...I can do that, but bf4 launches through battlelog via chrome, so I'm not sure if I can directly right click the bf4 exe and have it launch into a server...

 

Ping isn't bad, around 50ms ping, and network speed is fine.

But this lag isn't network lag, you can very clearly tell that it's hardware lag

Give it a go, It will still work.

[Marvzl1357]

@jaikens @dragoon20005 @D4RK @Pearsonia

 

well...Not quite sure what voodoo buttons you guys got me to click but it totally works now, actually the mystery now isn't why it works but rather why it didn't, considering that it worked fine just a few days ago...

[jaikens]

@jaikens @dragoon20005 @D4RK @Pearsonia

 

well...Not quite sure what voodoo buttons you guys got me to click but it totally works now, actually the mystery now isn't why it works but rather why it didn't, considering that it worked fine just a few days ago...

Like I had said before, It was most likely using the integrated GPU. Not the dedicated GPU (Gtx 750M). Nvidia optimus is weird and sometimes doesn't choose the correct GPU. By right clicking the EXE, then choosing run with Nvidia-GPU, It now knows that it needs to run with the specific GPU when the game boot up.   http://www.nvidia.com/object/optimus_technology.html