xm15 integrated graphics issues

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   So I have had my xm15 for quite a while now, and just recently I have started getting issues with lag in games. Games that I used to be able to run at full specs, I can no longer do so. My specs are:

intel i7 3630qm 2.4 GHz

nvidia 675m 2gb

16 gb ddr5 

win 7

I have notices while playing games, after I alt tab, I get what I would image would be the proper fps, but then after a few seconds it just starts randomly dropping. Even if I am staring at a wall and not moving the mouse. 

I have set the default gpu to my 675 and not the crappy integrated card.

I have even set the specific game I want to use to use that gpu. No luck though. 

Any suggestions?

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alasqa Members Profile Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 12 Nov 2012 Online Status: Offline Posts: 12	Quote Reply Topic: xm15 integrated graphics issues Posted: 29 Jul 2013 at 2:24pm
	So I have had my xm15 for quite a while now, and just recently I have started getting issues with lag in games. Games that I used to be able to run at full specs, I can no longer do so. My specs are: intel i7 3630qm 2.4 GHz nvidia 675m 2gb 16 gb ddr5 win 7 I have notices while playing games, after I alt tab, I get what I would image would be the proper fps, but then after a few seconds it just starts randomly dropping. Even if I am staring at a wall and not moving the mouse. I have set the default gpu to my 675 and not the crappy integrated card. I have even set the specific game I want to use to use that gpu. No luck though. Any suggestions?

Alex Members Profile Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Admin Group Digital Storm Supervisor Joined: 04 Jun 2012 Online Status: Offline Posts: 16314	Quote Reply Posted: 29 Jul 2013 at 3:36pm
	Sounds like your Intel graphics card is being used instead of the NVIDA one. Try using a utility like MSI Afterburner to first see if your NVIDIA GPU is even being utilized when you are gaming? If it is, then it could be some application or software causing you to bottleneck. If it is not being used, seems to be a driver related issue and I suggest looking into re-installing your NVIDIA graphics driver.


DomTheBomb Members Profile Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Groupie Joined: 19 May 2012 Online Status: Offline Posts: 314	Quote Reply Posted: 29 Jul 2013 at 3:51pm
	Another thing to check is to make sure that you are in "High Performance" mode in your battery settings.
	DS x17, 1 Year 5 Months i7 3720QM (2.6GHz/3.6GHz) 16GB 1600MHz DDR3 Nvidia GTX 680M 4GB 240GB Intel 520 SSD Windows 8.1 Pro

Alex Members Profile Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Admin Group Digital Storm Supervisor Joined: 04 Jun 2012 Online Status: Offline Posts: 16314	Quote Reply Posted: 29 Jul 2013 at 6:24pm
	Ah, you're right!


alasqa Members Profile Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 12 Nov 2012 Online Status: Offline Posts: 12	Quote Reply Posted: 29 Jul 2013 at 7:09pm
	I am in Gaming mode in my battery settings. I have Nvidia Inspector which I read can do the same thing as MSI afterburner. And it says I am using my nvidia card. I'll try reinstalling my drivers. Thanks guys.

Meller Members Profile Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List DS Veteran Joined: 20 Feb 2013 Online Status: Offline Posts: 1627	Quote Reply Posted: 29 Jul 2013 at 10:13pm
	How dare you call it a crappy integrated vid card. It just so happens that intel invest a lot of money into their work... Yea I'm trolling, those graphic cards that are built into the cpu's are great... just not for heavy gaming. Still a nice alternative for people who don't want to drop a lot on a higher end card. Just for future reference, most video cards usually have the same tell tale signs of when they are going bad. Look for pixel's becoming distorted. Stability issues as in freezing. People like to think that stuttering is a sign of hardware issues, where in reality video cards are spoiled little brats. They either work or they say screw it and stand still. Yes stuttering can happen, though not that often. Also, just like with a desktop, go into your bios and monitor the power from the power supply to ensure you don't have extreme flux. A bad PSU (or power feed in general) can cause those same issues making you think it's your vid card.

alasqa Members Profile Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 12 Nov 2012 Online Status: Offline Posts: 12	Quote Reply Posted: 30 Jul 2013 at 12:03am
	I just reinstalled the graphics drivers and that didn't have any effect. I kinda had a feeling that it might be a power issue. Come to think of it, I really only notice a drop in fps while at my girlfriends house, but not at my own.

alasqa Members Profile Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 12 Nov 2012 Online Status: Offline Posts: 12	Quote Reply Posted: 30 Jul 2013 at 12:06am
	I don't think that the power issue would explain why my fps starts at 60-70, then drops to 30, all while looking at the same wall and not moving. Not sure though. EDIT: Just tested at my own house, same result. Don't think its a power issue.... Edited by alasqa - 30 Jul 2013 at 1:16am

Meller Members Profile Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List DS Veteran Joined: 20 Feb 2013 Online Status: Offline Posts: 1627	Quote Reply Posted: 30 Jul 2013 at 10:05am
	I'm not saying it's a power issue, those were just future reference notes to keep in mind to help in your trouble shooting. Go into your bios and see if you are able to set the primary adapter to be the dedicated card.

alasqa Members Profile Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 12 Nov 2012 Online Status: Offline Posts: 12	Quote Reply Posted: 30 Jul 2013 at 12:42pm
	I was just testing to see if that was an issue, and I couldn't find an option to edit the primary adapter in my bios. Don't know what else to do. Is there a way to completely disable to integrated card?

Meller Members Profile Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List DS Veteran Joined: 20 Feb 2013 Online Status: Offline Posts: 1627	Quote Reply Posted: 30 Jul 2013 at 3:05pm
	The only way I know is to switch it in the bios. Some bios won't give you the option to switch, but they will give you the option to disable the integrated. I've done a little research for you, and so far everything I read points to the bios. If you can't find a single thing there, your next step is to call DS Tech Support. See what they can tell you do too. Does your nvidia control panel find your dedicated card ok? You are able to see it in the device manager/control panel right? If you can't see it in either of those places, we're back to either a driver issue (which I doubt since you re-installed) or there is something wrong physically internally.

Meller Members Profile Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List DS Veteran Joined: 20 Feb 2013 Online Status: Offline Posts: 1627	Quote Reply Posted: 30 Jul 2013 at 3:09pm
	At this point, I retract what I said, and would just give DS a call directly. Some people have reported issues in stability after doing a force disable of the HD integrated graphics. I don't know enough about DS laptops to know if they are clevo based, etc... So just call DS and talk with them instead of tinkering around yourself anymore.

Alex Members Profile Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Admin Group Digital Storm Supervisor Joined: 04 Jun 2012 Online Status: Offline Posts: 16314	Quote Reply Posted: 30 Jul 2013 at 3:43pm
	You might be better off doing a fresh install of Windows now and see what that does.


alasqa Members Profile Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 12 Nov 2012 Online Status: Offline Posts: 12	Quote Reply Posted: 30 Jul 2013 at 5:40pm
	Yeah I've been trying to avoid doing a refresh install of windows though. I will probably call DS support before I decide to reformat, just in case. I feel like its switching gpus mid game.

DomTheBomb Members Profile Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Groupie Joined: 19 May 2012 Online Status: Offline Posts: 314	Quote Reply Posted: 30 Jul 2013 at 6:05pm
	I had a problem with a desktop video card that would drop fps like that mid-games and it was due to a cooling issue with the card. Maybe check your temps before and after the fps drop with something like HWmonitor to see if that's a potential issue.
	DS x17, 1 Year 5 Months i7 3720QM (2.6GHz/3.6GHz) 16GB 1600MHz DDR3 Nvidia GTX 680M 4GB 240GB Intel 520 SSD Windows 8.1 Pro

alasqa Members Profile Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 12 Nov 2012 Online Status: Offline Posts: 12	Quote Reply Posted: 30 Jul 2013 at 9:42pm
	I'll test it out, did you manage to fix it, if so, how did you do so? EDIT: Tested it out with HWmonitor, got about 50 Celsius before gaming, then jumped to about 90 while gaming, could be a heat issue. Edited by alasqa - 30 Jul 2013 at 9:54pm

DomTheBomb Members Profile Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Groupie Joined: 19 May 2012 Online Status: Offline Posts: 314	Quote Reply Posted: 31 Jul 2013 at 10:34am
	Fortunately/unfortunately I noticed the problem right after I bought the card, so I just returned it for a new one. Those temps do sound pretty high, my 680m under full load will only hit around 80C. Another thing I did to check my faulty card was download GPUz and look at the load % on the card before and after the fps drop. In my case, the load was around 60% before the drop and then around 5% after, resulting in horrible performance. If you haven't I'd definitely call DS whenever you can, they'll help you figure it out.
	DS x17, 1 Year 5 Months i7 3720QM (2.6GHz/3.6GHz) 16GB 1600MHz DDR3 Nvidia GTX 680M 4GB 240GB Intel 520 SSD Windows 8.1 Pro

Qnarf Members Profile Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 17 Jul 2013 Online Status: Offline Posts: 42	Quote Reply Posted: 31 Jul 2013 at 11:17am
	If you can get in a really cool room, use a cooling pad, or set the laptop up in front of an air conditioner, you can test for cooling issues. 90C does seem a bit too high. It at least can be somewhat easier with a laptop to generate additional auxiliary cooling for some testing. Oh, and have you checked for a dust buildup on the inside of the case? If you didn't know about it, btw, you can use FurMark for testing. Easier to see the graphs as it's going along (than to have a game going full screen and have to exit).

alasqa Members Profile Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 12 Nov 2012 Online Status: Offline Posts: 12	Quote Reply Posted: 31 Jul 2013 at 12:28pm
	Well my gpu load while running FurMark was a constant 99% and the temperature went up to 100C. The test was set at 1920x1080 with 8 AA samples. I don't seem to get any issues with games while not in fullscreen, and a lower resolution. I do have a cooling stand for my laptop that I constantly use. I called DS support but they said they would have a tech call me back, so I'm just awaiting that call.

Qnarf Members Profile Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 17 Jul 2013 Online Status: Offline Posts: 42	Quote Reply Posted: 31 Jul 2013 at 12:42pm
	Interested to hear what the DS tech says. From some research, it seems that the operating temp for a 675m can get up to 90C, but that should be on the peak side. 80-85C seemed to be more normal.

alasqa Members Profile Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 12 Nov 2012 Online Status: Offline Posts: 12	Quote Reply Posted: 31 Jul 2013 at 5:22pm
	I noticed that I no longer have the documentation that came with my laptop. I would like to reformat but I don't have the dvd with the software that came with the laptop. I'm not sure if I reformat if I will be able to still use my keyboard shortcuts using the function key. (i.e. the color switcher) Is there a download link to this software or is it built into the laptop?

xm15 integrated graphics issues

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