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HELP FROM YOU GUYS WOULD BE MASSIVELY APPRECIATED! =)
I have posted a similar message in an alternate thread, but to no avail!
I have bought quite a high spec laptop (i7 4700 MQ 2.4GHz, 16GB RAM), full details below. Computer boots in around 5 seconds. It has 2 video cards - an integrated intel one, and nvidia 700M. nvidia driver updated. Playing the game at LOW settings (even though its suggested extreme)
Starting the game is ok FPS, but once more units start being made after about 5 minutes, FPS starts to drops massively.
It's weird, because there are some intermittent moments when the FPS will suddenly become perfect, even deep in battle with high demanding graphics. These moments will last for around 20-30 seconds, and then it will suddenly revert back to constant awful FPS. I haven't formally measured it, but we're talking 2 or 3 frames per second in the late game.
I am quite convinced that it is using my darned intel integrated video card, rather than my nVidia.
I have tried to force it to use nvidia through the nvidia settings (manage 3d settings).
It's so frustrating as my much lower spec old PC had far superior gameplay compared to this.
I would REALLY appreciate anybody's help or advice, as this is really bringing me down! Unplayable =(
Thanks for reading
Specs + Show Spoiler +Inter Core i7-4700MQ CPU @ 2.40GHz RAM: 16GB 64 bit Windows 8.1 Graphics: Nvidia 700M SSD Laptop: HP envy 17 notebook pc
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I am quite convinced that it is using my darned intel integrated video card, rather than my nVidia.
weird, try disabling intel integrated video card on Device Manager>Display Adapters
https://goo.gl/alNbFl
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China6270 Posts
Make sure your laptop is running at full power mode in the power settings of your control panel. Also your spec isn't really that powerful sadly. The CPU is from a pretty old generation, also a low power version. Adding in the 740M graphics (if the info I googled is correct), it is good for day to day work and light video/image editing but on the lower end side in gaming.
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United Kingdom20145 Posts
Starting the game is ok FPS, but once more units start being made after about 5 minutes, FPS starts to drops massively.
That's normal with the engine as the CPU load with a lot of units can be 10x or more higher than when there are no units on the map and performance is often (usually past earlygame) CPU limited.
The 2-3fps thing with way better performance occasionally sounds like a throttling issue somewhere so check the CPU and GPU temperatures + clock speeds while playing and especially while experiencing the poor performance. Temps should be below ~90c.
It's a bit harder to say where clock speeds will be under load because if one part of the system is throttling, the other parts may automatically downclock due to low load when the game is at low FPS but there is some useful data there too.
My go-to diagnostic program is hwinfo ( www.hwinfo.com )
It's unfortunately common to have laptop manufacturers build systems that can't run without throttling even when brand new
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I wanted to say a big thank you to all the people who took the time to reply to this thread, very much appreciate it.
@snakethebest - Thanks, as you mentioned, I tried disabling the integrated card. Strangely, the game was even more laggy from the get go - far worse performance than leaving both graphics cards running. So I've put it back on.
@digmouse - Thanks, I have ensured that power settings are all set to max performance. In reply to your last sentence, please see my message to cyrp:
@cyro - thank you for the advice. Although I agree with you that expectations for this setup shouldn't be brilliant, I wanted just to emphasise that, having played this game on lowest settings on much older laptops and desktops, I genuinely feel that there is a mismatch in performance vs specs here. Much older and worse specs have managed to play this game far smoother. This current setup is virtually unplayable in any medium scale engagements, with FPS drastically reduced. I've never had such issues with far worse spec systems. In addition, there are definite moments when the system suddenly runs at perfect FPS, even during late game, which lasts for around 20-30 seconds, seemingly random.
I have downloaded hwinfo, but am not sure what exactly I should be looking for here. Would really appreciate some input from anybody that can help. Screenshot below (with link to see full res):
+ Show Spoiler +http://i.imgur.com/vn0jtvN.png
With regards to the throttling that has been mentioned, are there any settings anywhere which I can play with and see correlation with performance?
Open to any further suggestions!
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What you really need from hwinfo is the sensor tab. It allows you to see almost everything relevant to any hardware performance such as voltage, temperature, speed in mhz and so on.
With it you can see if your cpu/gpu is throttling and if so, if it is because of overheating or some different issue which is what cyro hinted at.
From the summary we can extrapolate that your cpu has the proper multiplier, the ram is running correctly and from your gpu having a dropdown, that the system should be detecting the dedicated gpu as well as the integrated.
It most likely simply runs hot, but you can't exactly rule out any shenanigans.
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I have the same issue, I basically put graphics on low and I still get issues. This is not supposed to happen... Specs: + Show Spoiler + AMD FX-8320 8,00GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 803MHz 2048MB ATI AMD Radeon HD 7800 Series (Gigabyte) Windows 7 64bit
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SC2 is heavily dependent on single threaded cpu performance, which is exactly what these older AMD architectures are weak in.
If you're trying to stream using cpu encoding while simultaneously playing a cpu dependant game with a rather weak cpu, that might explain the performance issues.
Make sure you're turning off all the cpu intensive graphics settings such as reflections and physics. Check that you aren't running into heat issues leading to throttling.
You can also overclock if you're not already doing so, and aren't running into heat issues.
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United Kingdom20145 Posts
8320 isn't high spec, it's comparable to a 2008 intel CPU for workloads like sc2
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@hadster you can open the Sensors tab and look at CPU & GPU temperatures and clock speeds while the game is running badly. It's important to be actually running the game to see that information. If you double click on a row in the sensors tab then it'll show a short history of the data for the thing that you clicked on (max CPU core temperature for example)
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Sounds like your GPU is doing some thermal throttling (or less likely, your CPU). This is far from a high-spec computer... I was expecting a 6th gen i7 with a GTX 1060 or better, but I suppose it's all relative.
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I am necroposting this thread as I figured out how to fix this at the time, and wanted to leave the solution for any other poor soul with the same problem that comes across this thread.
My issue was that my laptop has two separate graphics cards; a NVIDIA card, and an intel HD graphics card. When playing SC2, the computer would just use the intel one by default.
I had to force the computer to use the NVIDIA one, through Nvidia control panel -> Manage 3d settings -> Find starcraft -> select the preferred graphics card.
Instantly fixed the issue.
So if you are having FPS issues, and your laptop has two graphics cards, make sure the game is running of your decent one.
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