Slow gaming and Low GPU Usage

[KendiKong]

Got a new ultrabook. This is the one http://www.ncixus.com/products/?sku=92843

Anyways, I'm playing a free PC shooter called AVA. Seeing has how this graphics card is 2x stronger than my previous one, it should be running the game flawlessly on max settings, but its slow on medium, which should not be the case at all.

I'm running MSI afterburner and my GPU usage is approximately 30-60% the whole time I'm running the game, and I'm getting around 30-50 fps. My last laptop was capable of running the game at 60 fps on high, so there is something wrong.

Here's an image of what im speaking of

Also, it seems that my core clock, which is 875, seems to drop down sometimes. If I turn the graphics down to low, my core clock runs at 719, and I still get low fps.

However, when I play Battlefield 3, my GPU usage is 99% and my core clock is 875. But, for some reason if I have MSI afterburner on before I start Batttlefield 3, the core clock is a constant 540.

I have already updated the laptop's graphics drivers and also downloaded the graphics driver from nvidia's website. Also, I already turned off all the power management options I could find (battery options, and in NVIDIA control panel)

Anybody know how i can get my gpu usage to 99% with AVA, and why my core clock keeps changing even though my power savings are on the maximum performance setting.

 

[Ketchup]

What was the previous card/ computer that you are saying was half as strong with graphics? What resolution are you running the games at?

You also might want to make sure your game is running the Nvidia card, and not the Intel 4400 on the chip. On my laptop, I can right-click the game shortcut and select this manually.

 

[KendiKong]

My last card was an hd 5650m, and it ran it at 720p at high. It's definitely using my dedicated graphics card, cause the core clock is too high for a hd 4400

 

[frozentundra123456]

What was your last system? If it was a full voltage cpu, it could be actually faster than your current system.

That ultrabook has a ulv cpu designed for long battery life, not gaming. Look at the clockspeed and 15 watt tdp. Since your gpu usage is quite low, I suspect you are cpu limited. The cpu could just not be fast enough, or it could be throttling when it reaches the max TDP or a certain temperature. That is also a thin chassis with a discrete gpu, so it will acerbate temperature issues under heavy cpu and gpu usage, like gaming.

Edit: even if you set the power settings to maximum performance, the cpu or gpu will throttle if power usage or temperatures get too high, in order to protect the components from damage.

 

[KendiKong]

What was your last system? If it was a full voltage cpu, it could be actually faster than your current system.

That ultrabook has a ulv cpu designed for long battery life, not gaming. Look at the clockspeed and 15 watt tdp. Since your gpu usage is quite low, I suspect you are cpu limited. The cpu could just not be fast enough, or it could be throttling when it reaches the max TDP or a certain temperature. That is also a thin chassis with a discrete gpu, so it will acerbate temperature issues under heavy cpu and gpu usage, like gaming.

Edit: even if you set the power settings to maximum performance, the cpu or gpu will throttle if power usage or temperatures get too high, in order to protect the components from damage.

Temperature is not the issue. I'm pretty sure the CPU being slow is not the issue either. My last laptop had a 1st gen i3. I guarantee you that my last laptop is not faster. Everything about my new ultrabook is better than my old one. fast SSD>HDD, 8GB>4GB, 4th gen i7 > 1st gen i3, HD730m > HD5650m

I should definitely be able to play AVA at 60fps on high with this graphics card. It is not that demanding of a game. But for some reason my graphics card is giving a half-ass attempt to run it. It seems to be able to run Battlefield 3 using its full effort, but for a free PC shooter game, it's not showing much effort

 

[KendiKong]

Muther Effing. This is making me so frustrated.

My graphics card is essentially running AVA with almost the same performance as my integrated card. Extremely low GPU usage (as low as 15%) and its using 540MHz core clock instead of 840 MHz. Sometimes it uses 715 MHz. Occasionally the GPU usage drops to 0%, and the game lags a lot. It's so godam annoying

 

[KendiKong]

Okay I figured something out. When I fullscreen the game, I suddenly get 99% gpu usage, and my GPU uses its full core clock speed with overclocking. When I use windowed mode, it uses 719 MHz or 540 MHz, and my MSI Afterburner overclocks dont affect the value at all.

Anybody know what the issue here? I'm pretty sure its using dedicated graphics in both cases because the game shows up under NVIDIA GPU Activity.