MSI GX630 unable to run CoD4 and other games at high res/graphics

[sadbluescreener]

Hi I have a MSI GX630. it has a AMD Athlon X2 QL-62 processor @ 2.0GHz, 4GB of RAM but I'm running a 32-bit version of Win7 and a 9600m GT GPU with 512MB VRAM.

My problem arose when i started playing CoD4 earlier this year. I realise when playing singleplayer the gameplay is choppy and keeps sticking and this was at 1280*800, the native resolution of my machine. i lowered this to 1024*768 and still there was no real improvement. i now play at 640*480 (sad isn't it?) and there are still times when my gameplay is just difficult. i put my power settings to max performance and still, no improvement.

this problem is also evident in multplayer, be it online games or LAN. i find that i lag a lot of the time. in servers with many players my FPS drops from 30+ to 12 and even lower at random times, and though that is to be expected in a large server, i don't see it happening with my friends' machines and those are older than mine.

this happens in other games also, like Portal and Team Fortress 2 and Fallout 3. is there anyone that could help me with a fix or fill me in on why my "gaming" machine is performing like this?

 

[nismo91]

Hi I have a MSI GX630. it has a AMD Athlon X2 QL-62 processor @ 2.0GHz, 4GB of RAM but I'm running a 32-bit version of Win7 and a 9600m GT GPU with 512MB VRAM.

My problem arose when i started playing CoD4 earlier this year. I realise when playing singleplayer the gameplay is choppy and keeps sticking and this was at 1280*800, the native resolution of my machine. i lowered this to 1024*768 and still there was no real improvement. i now play at 640*480 (sad isn't it?) and there are still times when my gameplay is just difficult. i put my power settings to max performance and still, no improvement.

this problem is also evident in multplayer, be it online games or LAN. i find that i lag a lot of the time. in servers with many players my FPS drops from 30+ to 12 and even lower at random times, and though that is to be expected in a large server, i don't see it happening with my friends' machines and those are older than mine.

this happens in other games also, like Portal and Team Fortress 2 and Fallout 3. is there anyone that could help me with a fix or fill me in on why my "gaming" machine is performing like this?

hi, i got a friend who experience similar problem with identical laptop (GX630 with AMD). he claims he has to overclock (by pressing turbo) in order to get playable game framerates in almost any games.

i would recommend you to check these things first:
- power option -> high performance -> min&max cpu = 100%, HDD spindown = never, PCIE LSPM = OFF.
- nVidia Driver -> uninstall and update to latest (beta 257 works fine with me, 9600M GT)
- try disable superfetch -> run services.msc -> stop superfetch (my friend claims this helped him)
- check the temperature of your CPU and GPU under idle and load.

 

[sadbluescreener]

thank you for the speedy reply.
- i always make sure i am on high performance and min/max cpu is 100% all the time, HDD spindown is on Never and LSPM was already OFF
- i constantly upgrade my GPU's driver, i also check nVidia's website frequently just to see if there's something that could help the card. i will uninstall and reinstall though, just to see if there is improvement
- i have disabled superfetch, i see no changes but i will keep it disabled, is that ok?
- i use CoreTemp which gives me CPU temps, and i used to have overheating problems. my CPU will idle at upwards from 60 degrees. when gaming i've seen it get to 98 degrees and even 100 once or twice.

 

[nismo91]

thank you for the speedy reply.
- i always make sure i am on high performance and min/max cpu is 100% all the time, HDD spindown is on Never and LSPM was already OFF
- i constantly upgrade my GPU's driver, i also check nVidia's website frequently just to see if there's something that could help the card. i will uninstall and reinstall though, just to see if there is improvement
- i have disabled superfetch, i see no changes but i will keep it disabled, is that ok?
- i use CoreTemp which gives me CPU temps, and i used to have overheating problems. my CPU will idle at upwards from 60 degrees. when gaming i've seen it get to 98 degrees and even 100 once or twice.

If your laptop is more than a year old, I strongly recommend you to clean the fan and cooling system by dismantle open or using a powerful vacuum cleaner to the fan exhaust slot. Also add a decent laptop cooler. 60*C at idle is not amusing.

my GPU never touches 100*C at game although I overclocked the video card (650/800/1550). It should be cooler if you're not OCing the card. Although I must admit i regularly clean the fan and am using laptop cooler.

no problem with the superfetch, if you feel things becoming slow instead, then u can enable it again. additional note: did your machine comes with win7 or by 'upgrade'? I have a friend who upgraded his laptop from vista to 7 with upgrade method and it really ruins his system performance.

 

[sadbluescreener]

I have cleaned it with compressed air recently. I do not have a laptop cooler anymore, I had a simple cooler with two fans earlier this year but it no longer works.

I do not OC, in fact when I turn on the "Turbo mode" there is no real improvement :S

I upgraded to Win7 because of all the problems i had with Vista. Vista was the reason my name is sadbluescreener lol

 

[nismo91]

well um if you happen to use the 'upgrade' feature, it might be the culprit. as far as i know, there is also 'custom' mode which allows you to 'clean install' the PC and wipe out everything that has been there before aka format

reason is because i 'upgraded' few laptops from vista to 7 and all of them has this shitty performance. one of them got artifacts when playing game now.

i just checked mine, well its only 72*C under game even though i oc'd. well if you could, get a better laptop cooler cause your temp is slightly hot.

 

[sadbluescreener]

no, i didn't use the upgrade feature. i did a clean install and since then I've had none of the problems I had with Vista.

my temp is beyond slightly hot, it's burning up. i mean right now coretemp says it's 78*C and all i'm doing is facebook =(
i definitely need a new laptop

 

[nismo91]

glad you use the clean install. the upgrade feature is horrid, at least for me.

i come across a friend qosmio f50 which idle at 80*C and 100*C for the graphic card. successfully drop 40*C with a vacuum cleaner session. it was ridiculously dusty inside.

well new MSI GX with mobility 5870 is not so expensive, perhaps time to upgrade?

 

[sadbluescreener]

i don't have access to a vacuum cleaner at the moment, only compressed air. and i have had this machine for just over year.

lol i wish i could. my money is being put towards school right now. but if i were to buy a new machine i would never get another MSI. customer service is horrible.

 

[nismo91]

lol, i never used any compressed air. but strong vacuum cleaner is good enough to do the job, since they suck all the dust and debris out. for compressed air i don't know where the dust go.

once i thought i was about to try MSI laptops, since they have value gaming laptops. after hearing my friend's experience and yours, i probably not.