Ok, this has been going on for a long time now while I'm playing games on my laptop and right now it's getting very annoying and has made me not play games, so this is the problem.
Whenever I play a game on my laptop (apart from the ones pre-installed) the game starts off fine and plays normal for a while, but then, the music goes slow, the screen goes slow, the game just goes a lot slower which is very annoying, it goes from 100% running well to 70% running well, but, once I pause it and play it again it runs perfectly again. I have a Dell Inspiron 1525 with Integrated Graphics and 2GB memory with 160GB hard-drive (which is not nearly full).
I have installed a piece of software from IObit called 'Game Booster' which is suppost to help gaming performance, it stops any processes of programs that you do not need so you have more memory to run games, but it doesn't help.
There has to be a way to fix this because it wouldn't run normally for an amount of time. I would really appreciate if someone can help me.
Thanks.
First… a disclaimer: I'm not a gamer, so I'm not likely to know any of the fancy tweaks that may be available.
Are you running your games from Games Explorer?
If so, you should have a "right-click" option to run in DirectX 9.
If your machine has DirectX10 it will attempt to run by default and your will have to use the right-click options each time you run a game.
DirectX 9 may help the game performance over DirectX 10.
Vista takes about 2gb of RAM to run effectively.
Since you have "onboard graphics", your video performance will derive its performance from machine RAM, thereby reducing overall machine performance and game enjoyment.
Not much you can do about onboard graphics solutions acting like vampires feeding on RAM. Sorry.
There "may" be a video Driver update available from your laptop manufacturer's website.
Look up your machine to see if there is.
Finally, Turn-Off any any background applications and software.
For instance, you probably don't have it, but Diskkeeper kicks in to try to constantly defrag the hard drive.
I think it's a waste of time anyway, but certainly you would not want that or similar programs running when you are "gaming".
I've never used the (IObit called 'Game Booster') It may be useful, or maybe not. I'm rarely convinced of such processes and would be suspicious of it helping at all.
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You "might" discover some useful information about your machine's performance by running the PCPitstop OverDrive Full Tests.
Register, accept the ActiveX, Run the Full Tests, and post the URL to your Test Results back here into this Thread.
Maybe we'll notice something that will help.
I get your point, that there may be something that can be fixed, since the games do perform "for a while" at good levels.
Again, maybe the PCPitstop Full Tests will give us a clue.
Do you notice anything going on with your Fans or the heat that you may notice at the bottom of your laptop when the games slow down?
Hi there Doug, I appreciate the reply.
I amn't exactly a "gamer" either, I just enjoy playing old school games like the N64 or some games on the laptop the odd time like Battlefield.
Games explorer, is that Start > Games? If so no I am not running them from the games explorer and even if I was, I don't know what you mean by 'right click' to run it in DirectX 9. How would I do this? And does it mean that DirectX 9 is better than DirectX 10 for Vista? Is there any way to download all previous versions of DirectX for Vista?
"Not much you can do about onboard graphics solutions acting like vampires feeding on RAM. Sorry." - Nice by the way.
Game Booster disables all background applications and is very useful as it clears up almost 300MB of RAM each time.
I have carried out a PC Pit Stop test and found 3 errors, these errors were to update some drivers. I don't exactly know how to post the results from PC Pit Stop onto these forums because there is a lot of information, is there a different and easeir way of doing this?
Apparently I need to get:
Marvell Yukon 88E8040 PCI-E Fast Ethernet Controller
Intel® High Definition Audio HDMI
Conexant HDA D330 MDC V.92 Modem
Can you please display links on where to get these?
Also, no there is nothing wrong with the fans when the games slow down, they act normal.
Thanks.
Sorry, I don't know much about it. You'll have to decide for yourself if the effort is worth it to you.
As for the Pit Test Results…
The "link" is the URL for the Summary Recommended Fixes page of your results
Here's an example: 📎PCPitstop_Full_Test_URL.doc.jpg
Note: Like many automated help tools, the Pit Full Tests tends to be heavy on suggesting Driver Updates.
I wouldn't bother with any of those that you've listed.
I was a really avid gamer and now am somewhat of one, and from personal experience, NO program has helped improve the performance of any games (unfortunately). My best advice is to change the games Graphics Settings to the lowest possible or at least change the game's resolution to 800x600 (that helps a lot sometimes). Also close every program you can (not anti-virus ;)), check your system tray for any programs that normally stay running but than you can afford to close.
As the others suggested, even though you don't think it's a problem, check your fans and see if they have any dust. My laptop has 3 fans and the dust build up on them is immense, all you need is a vacuum cleaner with a side hose and then you just put it over the fans and it sucks a majority of the dust right out. I've noticed a large decrease in game crashes whenever I do this for my computer.
One other thing, when you play these games and experience the decrease in speed, are you playing online, or single-player without connecting to the internet?
Jephree, the games on my laptop never worked well, they always glitched and started to go slow once I was "getting in to them". At least I think so anyway, but now that you have pointed it out, my fan doesn't seem to work anymore. My friend, who has the same laptop as me makes noises indicating that the fan is working, this hasn't happened to mine in a long time now. Funny this, because I just got my fan replaced by Dell not even two months ago.
I also used "Can You Run It", everything came up alright that I looked for.
Vectris, "change the games Graphics Settings to the lowest possible or at least change the game's resolution to 800x600". I have done that, still nothing. You see, the games that I have installed on my laptop like Battlefield 1942, work ok, these don't slow down during gameplay, online mode there can be a few glitches. But when I try to play emulated games, such as N64 or DS games, this happens. It's like the game is going grand, nothing wrong with it at all and then suddenly the game starts going slow and this won't stop unless I get out of the game and start it again or click the toolbar and go back into the game.
Is there some sort of 3D plugin I can download to improve performance? Could a Firewall be doing this (doubhtful) or could it be DirectX? You see, the N64 and DS games aren't that powerful to play so I don't see why my laptop wouldn't be able to play them perfectly.
You appear to have your machine well maintained.
You seem to have System Restore "turned off". If true, I wonder why, since this is an excellent safety feature.
You should manually set a Restore Point prior to installations and changes to your machine's settings.
** If you haven't already, check the Dell site for video adapter driver updates.
** Do you use an N64 emulator?
There seem to be some available from what might be "dubious" sites.
This one is available from a generally accepted download site (but no guarantees) http://www.softpedia.com/get/Others/Miscel…Project64.shtml
Read the various support and articles provided by SpeedFan website to assist in your use.
I'd periodically check the Main Readings(tab) but would also select Charts which may assist in recording changes when gaming.
But when I try to play emulated games, such as N64 or DS games, this happens. It's like the game is going grand, nothing wrong with it at all and then suddenly the game starts going slow and this won't stop unless I get out of the game and start it again or click the toolbar and go back into the game.
Is there some sort of 3D plugin I can download to improve performance? Could a Firewall be doing this (doubhtful) or could it be DirectX? You see, the N64 and DS games aren't that powerful to play so I don't see why my laptop wouldn't be able to play them perfectly.
Ok this makes a WORLD of difference. We assumed you meant your PC Games, emulator games would mean it's a problem with the emulator(s).
I have an N64 emulator myself, along with a very fast computer and I still find a few lag spikes while hitting up some Super Smash Bros. There is really no fix for this.
I highly suggest getting this N64 emulator, it supports the most games with the fewest glitches and should run the faster than your current one. If you already have it then make sure it's updated. http://www.pj64-emu.com/downloads/
I haven't used any DS emulators so I don't know what the best one is, your on your own for that.
Also, while you may think that N64 and small platform games should run fine on a computer because the graphics are way lower, you'd be surprised. If N64 games were directly compatible with computers then yes, it would be fine, however the emulator has tons of information to process as it is basically converted one platform to another platform and it takes a lot of speed (and probably CPU Usage).
Oh and as for your questions, yes updating DirectX would definitely help since that's what the emulators use, you can probably update by going to the site and downloading the latest version or by finding some shortcut in the program. You can always google it if you need to. Also, I doubt it's a firewall since it has nothing to do with the net or accessing different areas of the computer other than normal procedures.
Thanks for the replies once again. I appreciate it.
Doug, For the System Restore points, "Advanced SystemCare Professional" does this when it cleans up files while on idle and sometimes I create a System Restore so there's no need to worry about that.
I never really liked the whole driver side of computers as I don't know where to start, where can you find driver updates and how can I find the right updates?
I do use a N64 emulator and I use the one that you showed me "Project 64". I was playing it today and ran well for quite some time, give it around 10 minutes while playing Super Smash Bros. The emulators and roms I have are fine, I tried them on different computers and they work perfectly. It's just on my laptop that they don't run well. You see, the computers I have tried them on have specs that are not near as good as my computer so something must be going wrong somewhere.
What exactly is "Speed Fan"? Does it help in maintaining your computer or is it just a monitoring tool?
Vectris, where can I download a file that has the latest DirectX along with the older versions of it? I heard that this is available for Vista and improves performance. It's quite weird, but when I play the Gameboy Advance roms everything is ok, there is nothing wrong with the way it works, but when it comes to 3D, like N64 and NDS, it starts happening. It's like something isn't letting 3D games run properly, or it does for a short time then stops working again. Any ideas?
Therefore it will have a Dell tag on the outside of the case, probably on the bottom.
Look for the Service Tag number (should be a 5-character alpha-numeric)
Go to the Dell.com website
Select Support & Downloads
Enter your Service Tag number to identify your machine.
Dell will then display the components of your machine exactly as it existed when you first purchased it.
Driver Downloads for all of the components can be found directly from Dell in this manner.
If you want to, you can register an account with Dell.
Then next time you go to the Dell site, you can login and options to access your specific machine will again be available.
I have several machines registered at Dell this way for easy access.
SpeedFan is a powerful tool that can be used for a variety of advanced purposes with hardware.
In your situation, I am only interested in you being able to see the Temperature Readings.
The advanced settings are not something that should be changed for a Laptop, and Dell has features installed on your machine which will prevent you from using the advanced features anyway.
Please Report back with information about temperatures.
* when system is at idle.
* when system is stressed (as in gaming when your problem occurs)
Thank you Doug about the driver updates, I will soon get back to you on this when I go on to the Dell website.
Now, I downloaded and installed Speed Fan, it's a very nice piece of software.
When my system was idle the Core was at 70C. When I started playing Super Smash Bros for the Nintendo 64 it rose a good bit. It went up to 94C. Weird thing was, the game was playing normal up until it reached 94C, but once it reached 94C the game started to slow down, but so did the heat, it went down to 90C in the space of five seconds with the CPU useage at the highest at 54.8%.
Will do. I just got a new fan in from Dell. Now i'm going to have to spend hours again on the phone with their customer service just like last time.
The only problem is that my warantee ran out last month.
If I get the fan fixed, would it help performance in gaming? Oh and I visitied the Dell website. There is one update for the Video Driver, I had to download 17 drivers so I am currently updating everything now.
