Laptop runs like absolute crap since reformat.

[Cheeseman]

Originally Posted by SocketMan

Well the good news is that GPU's aren't dead/defective,and the bad news is that
BF2 still does not perform as it should.

Looks like the clocks are dropped once the 90C temperature mark is reached.
The fans are at 100%,but it's still not enough to keep it cool enough (under 90C)


It probably does the same thing with BF2 - a few minutes in,things get hot
and the GPU clock drops 1/2 - which in turn cuts the FPS in half (or more).
Can run the GPUz in the background,then load the game,and ALT-TAB to check the gpu clock histogram after a few minutes.
If it's dropped then it's probably time for some spring cleaning,always lots of dust/dirt inside the laptops.
Dell had a (PDF) diagram somewhere showing how to open the GPU block,among other things.Grab some compressed air (in a can),rubbing alcohol (99% proof if possible),qtips,screw driver and Allah willing it will get better - tomorrow or whenever you can get around cleaning it.
If not we'll try something else.

Again that's another known aspect of the G84 and G86 Nvidia mobile chips. They underclock themselves after a certain temperature which totally cripples the performance. When I use to play games on my previous laptop which had a Geforce 9500M GS (a slightly improved Geforce 8600M GT) I use to have this problem of GPU automatic underclock after my temperatures were hitting 88-90C. For some people a tool called Powermizer Switch helped disable this feature, but for others like me it didn't work. I ran it under Windows Vista, but you can give it a try under Windows XP and see if it works:
http://www.4shared.com/file/97182662...er_Switch.html

[SocketMan]

Originally Posted by SocketMan

Don't know if this would make any difference:

RivaTuners power user tab and set the value to 1 for Rivatuner\NVIDIA\Overclocking\EnableLowPower3dCont rol and Rivatuner\NVIDIA\Overclocking\EnablePerfLevelForci ng.

Then go back to the overclocking tab,and activate the now revealed "Force Constant Performance Level" command to performance 3D. Go to the top right drop down box and select low power 3d mode, make sure to select enable driver level overclocking. Do this for both standard 2d and performance 3d.

This will put the GPU in high performance mode all the time. and will probably burn itself out if you dont disable this when you are not wanting to run a game.

Is this the same thing?(result wise)^^
as CM's link:
http://www.4shared.com/file/97182662...er_Switch.html

One of these should (hopefully) do the trick.Might also be a problem in the long run -running the GPU
overheated for long periods of time.

James can you verify that the GPU clock is dropped while playing?

[Jaymz]

Originally Posted by SocketMan

James can you verify that the GPU clock is dropped while playing?

15FPS from the very beggining. Even at 1024x768 with everything on medium.

Want me to measure the clock in-game I take it?

EDIT : Screenshot of GPU-Z measuring a few minutes of BF2 in-game....

[IronTaxi]

i feel your sorrow brother.. drown it the only way you know how..

in a pair of boobies..

chin up Jaymz... its all uphill from here right? My wife just got a result on her immigration.. but the dirty buggers wont tell us over the phone.. make us wait to receive the actual documents... cursed be the immigration officer!!!!

[Jaymz]

The bastards, hopefully it's good news.

I wonder how angry Slick would get if I started a "Save Jaymz" fund on the forums . Reckon if I can get 25 cents from every PR regular I'll be in business

[SocketMan]

Originally Posted by [R-DEV]Jaymz

15FPS from the very beggining. Even at 1024x768 with everything on medium.

Want me to measure the clock in-game I take it?

Yea, in game - if we can call that a game with 15fps

It turned into long ramble (below) so here is a summary:
flash the previous BIOS back,it only takes a few seconds and it can't get much lower then 15 fps so there is nothing to loose really.

Let's do a quick recap:
laptop works fine until one day it gives a BSD (no relation to STD)
BIOS is then upgraded and windows reinstalled a few times.
From now on PR runs like shit: to be more precise the FPS is very low
In other words the video performance took a major hit.
Several attempts to fix it (including but not limited to: different drivers,settings,voodoo dancing,human sacrifices and so on) fail.

The gpu's don't seem damaged/defective and the clocks are not dropped from overheating.

Now let's talk BIOS upgrades for a moment,why BIOSes are upgraded?
Mostly for 2 reasons:to fix prevuis issues and/or to add features.

Is any new BIOS always better then an older one?
90% of people would say Yes

I'll say No,because I am using a BIOS from 2006 even thou there are 2 or more
newer ones available for my motherboard,but certain settings/timings in it are optimized for a different type of RAM and my cpu won't overclock as high (with the
newer BIOS)

Now what exactly did Dell added or fixed with this new BIOS ? (that you flashed)

http://support.dell.com/support/down...&fileid=257826

Fixes/Enhancements
------------------
1. Added support for New Graphic card.

That would be that 9650 that "appeared" from nowhere.My guess is that dell facked something up with that BIOS.
Have they tested every single (older) game
to make sure it works properly? I'd be very surprised if they did.

[Cheeseman]

I remember about a month or two after Nvidia announced the G84 and G86 defective line they issued special BIOS updates to notebook/computer companies like Dell which was said to increase the notebook fan speeds concentrated on the GPU in order to minimize the GPU failures. That's around the same time the performance mobile 9 series (9500M, 9650M) were released which supposedly the soldering problem with these new G84 and G86 chips were fixed. I'm guessing the BIOS update which seems to have renamed his Geforce 8700M GT to the newer Geforce 9650M GS (same card with fix) has crippled his GPU performance, either because it's indented as a means of preventing GPU failure or the BIOS is not completely compatible with his hardware configuration.

Even though the 8700M GT and 9650M GS are physically the same cards, I don't recall the existence of SLi Geforce 9650M GS, so this could cause conflicts in driver support and or proper functionality.

[SocketMan]

Maybe it's a Vista VS XP thing -the new BIOS is made for Vista (most likely) which "grabs" all the ram that it can (sort of speak), so regardless of the card it would still have 2gb \) of system RAM,and XP just uses the 256mb/512mb depending on the hardware ? Need to flash the older BIOS to find out - can still open up that (New PC) fund at the same time.

[Jaymz]

Flashed the BIOS back to A06 (from A10) and saw no change.

[Robbi]

I reckon it has just always been that shit, just you have never noticed it

... The HD still smells fishy to me...

But then again, I have just been the chippy so..