Valve based games - FPS drops

[Nichrome]

Hi

Specs first:
i7 6700HQ max 75C
16GB DDR4 2133MHz
GTX970m 3GB 1037MHz core and 6000MHz Memory. Max 72C
Windows 10 Pro 64bit with all updates installed

Win10 installed on 128GB M.2 SSD. Games and steam are on 500GB 2.5" SSD.

The issue:
Any game that is based on valve engine, I am getting random fps drops. I can play the game, lets say CS:GO, on ULTRA at 1920x1080 or on minimum possible (same resolution), and my FPS will never go over 100 (max_fps is set to 300) at any times, but also randomly drops down to 20-40fps for a second or two making it terrible experience.

I can play BF4 on Ultra (AA off) on this resolution, GTA V on medium/high, League of Legends maxed out, RUST maxed out and many other games, but anything that is made by Valve, it gets random fps drops.

So far happens in the same way on:
CS:GO, Insurgency, Garry's Mod, Left 4 Dead (2 too). Single player/offline mode or multiplayer, same crap happening.

Does not happen on ANY other game.

Nvidia settings made to get highest performance on these games. Running my laptop on power brick+battery. Overclocking, underclocking and stock clocks for GPU does not change anything. Steam was reinstalled already, just like games.

It is using dedicated GPU (not iGPU of i7-6700HQ).

Anyone, anything? I don't think it's hardware issue, because anything else works perfectly fine.

[rojimboo]

Nichrome eredeti hozzászólása:

Read the initial post. Not even 80C for GPU and CPU
Just to make things clear, PCs is my hobby. I know more than most players about PCs, and I usually solve such myself. But this with Source games got me stumped.

If it reaches 80C, the GPU will downthrottle, so as not to reach it.

It's still worth stress testing with something like MSI Afterburner and Unigine Heaven demo.

[Nichrome]

It does NOT throttle. If it runs fine with GTA V and Witcher 3, why should it not work fine with CSGO or Insurgency?
When I got this NB(1 month ago), I stress tested it with FurMark 1920x1080 4xAA for 12h (77C after 12h during hot day, was 33C outside and 24C in my room). CPU stress tested with Prime95 for 24h. Same day/night, 78C was max ever for CPU throughout 24h stress. Also Intel Burn Test ran for 30 laps on Maximum stress load (almost 15gb ram). Never had a BSOD or anything. And this GPU temp is with overclocked core and memory.

Just to note, neither CPU or GPU usage/utilization goes above 45% during CSGO or Insurgency gameplay. Feels like CPU and GPU does not want to give more FPS and to make them stable.

[rojimboo]

Nichrome eredeti hozzászólása:

It does NOT throttle. If it runs fine with GTA V and Witcher 3, why should it not work fine with CSGO or Insurgency?
When I got this NB(1 month ago), I stress tested it with FurMark 1920x1080 4xAA for 12h (77C after 12h during hot day, was 33C outside and 24C in my room). CPU stress tested with Prime95 for 24h. Same day/night, 78C was max ever for CPU throughout 24h stress. Also Intel Burn Test ran for 30 laps on Maximum stress load (almost 15gb ram). Never had a BSOD or anything. And this GPU temp is with overclocked core and memory.

Just to note, neither CPU or GPU usage/utilization goes above 45% during CSGO or Insurgency gameplay. Feels like CPU and GPU does not want to give more FPS and to make them stable.

I don't actually believe it was the throttling, as it is mild in the beginning, and shouldn't result in a 80fps drop.

You still have to check Nvidia Inspector profile settings, remember.

Next step, I would say is networking or DPC latency. But it's a weird problem.

By the way, your max temps during stress test *seem* like it throttled. The only way to make certain is to look at GPU clocks during the stress, if it appears like a stepwise function and the FPS goes down in steps accordingly.

[Nichrome]

I've checked with DPC Latency yesterday. It only went above 1700 uS upon launching game, loading map or quitting the game. Never above 1600uS during the gameplay, even when FPS dropped.

Not sure how many times am I going to say that it does not throttle? FPS never above 100, utilization never above 45% for CPU and GPU, and no matter if I put lowest possible settings (even resolution of 640 x something) or highest possible with AA and multisampling (etc). Same FPS during gameplay and random FPS drops.

Temps are fine. I have also a button to put both (2) fans to 100% speed. While then, temps drop to 67C CPU and 62C GPU, and the issue STILL occurs. Is it still throttling??

I will check Nvidia inspector now.

Also, just because my temps are so low, it doesn't mean it throttled. I know what software to use, and how to use it. If it would be hardware related problem, I'd email MSI about it.
I've also updated vBIOS and BIOS (together with Intel ME) without positive results towards Source based games.
I've also disabled Core Parking (which was already disabled).

Again, I know stuff about PCs, built a desktop myself one too (custom watercooling for CPU+ GPU, 8 HDDs, RAID arrays blah blah you name it), and whatever I had an issue, I fixed it myself without anyone's help. Here is quite obvious issue with Source games (compatibility??) which I cannot fix, as it's not hardware related. I did almost any test possible, even made a fresh Windows installation (because this issue is facing me since I got the laptop). Tried via 2.4GHz and 5GHz WiFi connection, through direct Ethernet connection. Network is also a stable 100Mb connection. Connecting to my own server (20ping) or local host on my desktop, gives same fps drop results. I can't tell how, why..

[Tywin]

How can anyone know if its a compatibility issue when you wont detail the system? Everyones supposed to guess whats in it and on it?

[Nichrome]

Read INITIAL post. Very first thing, apart from HI, is the specs.
http://puu.sh/pyFVo/9789285140.png

[Nichrome]

I have gone through Nvidia Inspector. No improvement at all. Different settings, profiles, reboots, new user... same issue..

[Nichrome]

I think I will forget about those games on my laptop. It handles much more demanding games easily, and together with your help, I did all possible things as far as the user can do. Nothing odd at any point, just source games..

[[☥] - CJ -]

Consider doing this then
Download DDU
Download the Latest NVIDIA Driver for your OS
Unpack DDU to a folder on your Desktop
Uninstall Anything NVIDIA Related, Reboot and continue uninstalling if needed, but try to do it all in one go.

Run DDU
Drop down list, Reboot into safe mode
After it reboots DDU will run automatically
Choose Clean and Restart(First Option)
If it asks to Disable Windows automatic driver downloads ACCEPT IT

After it reboots
Run the NVIDIA Installer
Choose CUSTOM INSTALL
Unless you SPECIFICALLY need something, ONLY select the NVIDIA Driver and PhysX
NOTHING Else, not even the crappy GFExperience.

Reboot after
Test your games.
-

Close ANY Un-Needed Processes running in the background

[Nichrome]

Yes CJ, that was already done. Even better as I did it with 6 different driver version for the sake of Source..

[[☥] - CJ -]

Then it could be a CPU limitation as Source games are more CPU bound than GPU.
If it doesnt affect your other games, i wouldnt worry about it.

It is a Laptop afterall.

[rojimboo]

Take some snapshots of all Nvidia Inspector settings, for say CS.

[Ryder]

Same thing happened to me just now

[[KTW]Darktooth]

UP,
I have same thing here.
DVR off
Integrity cache is ok
Graphic drivers are updated
Nvidia Sharing is off too
It only happen on Source games, I have Forza Horizon 3 who needs A LOT of memory and runs perfectly.
Config :
AMD FX 8320 Eight core 3.5 GHz
GTX 750-Ti
8GB Ram
No disk entry (where games takes ram from disks)
CPU doesn't goes above 60%
RAM 6Go / 8Go

EDIT : !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I found my problem, that was windows who makes S h i t, look this video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ir7vttsB5Og

[Nichrome]

Try to use Windows 7. Valve/Source sucks at optimisation. Getting Win7 actually solved my issue... But those games are NOT worth the hassle.