Sporadic gaming performance with laptop

[NappyZ]

I have an HP Pavilion dv6 laptop that's a little over a year old. For the last couple months, I have been getting sporadic gaming performance. Here's a couple of examples:

I start up Borderlands 2. For those that don't know, the opening menu is a rendered 3d rotating image of your character that doesn't really change in any way. I'm getting a steady 60 frames per second for a few minutes. I leave my computer for 10 minutes or so and come back to 15 frames per second. I can't get decent performance again without shutting down the game and starting over.

I play Path of Exile. I'm getting good performance until I hit an area with with lots of enemies and particle effects. Sometimes things will be fine, other times my framerate drops significantly there and stays there even when nothing is happening in-game. I alt-tab out of the game for a few minutes. When I come back, my framerate is back up to normal levels.

I know my laptop has an integrated graphics card as well as a discrete gpu. I have disabled all of the performance throttling software I know of on my machine and everything on the machine tells me it is using the discrete gpu for gaming.

I know my machine isn't a powerhouse, but I'm also running these games with all the graphics settings far lower than recommended for a machine like mine. I'm sorry this information is so anecdotal, but I really don't know where to go from here.

Here's the specs of my laptop:

CPU: Intel i7-3610QM
ram: 8GB
GPU: Integrated HD Graphics 4000 with GeForce GT 650M

Thanks in advance for any suggestions/advice.

 

[john3850]

I am not into laptops but it might be temperature related and down clocking etc.
You first need to install some temperature software such as RealTemp and post your cpu gpu temps at full load.

 

[NappyZ]

Thanks for the suggestion.

I downloaded RealTemp and ran a stress test. It looks like my cpu cores are hitting between 100 and 105 C under full load. I didn't see a way to measure gpu temp with that program, so I downloaded GPU-Z. This gives me information on my integrated gpu, but locks up every time I try switching it to monitor my Geforce 650M.

I'm really starting to think it may be a temperature issue with my gpu. Now to just find a way to prove it.

 

[NappyZ]

Ok...I proved it.

I download GPU Temp and started up Borderlands 2. Everything was fine for a few minutes. Eventually, my GPU hit 92C and stayed there while my framerate kept dropping. I took a couple ice packs and put them under my laptop. Temp went down to 85C and framerate went back up to a smooth 60.

Is 92C a good threshold for a GPU or should I figure out how to raise it? Is there anything I can do?

 

[Arkaign]

Get a well reviewed cooling pad for your laptop.

If you're brave, look up IC diamond and think about disassembling, cleaning off the stock paste, and improving the thermal conductivity of your GPU cooling there. It won't do anything for the airflow, but it will help. I did it on my older DV7, and it definitely made a good improvement.

Beyond that, you can go crazy really. For a friend's alienware laptop with 5870 mobility, I actually fabricated a custom grille and installed a higher RPM fan for vastly improved airflow. It dropped temps dramatically and even allowed for decent overclocking. If you don't feel comfortable with that much work, that's fine though. It definitely voids the warranty, and things can go wrong as well if you're not careful.

 

[paul878]

Sounds like your laptop needs a good blow out. Go find a compressor and blast all the dust out of the cooling system.