Gaming Issues

[silenthunder]

Not sure how many PC gamers we have here, but I'm in a bit of a bind. Whenever I type "fog" into google, I only get 3 search results..

For some reason my computer doesn't know what processor I have, but it's a Core i5 2.4GHz with a 2.8GHz Turbo. I'm running an NVidia GeForce GT 550M graphics card, and almost everything will run beautifully on max settings. However, not matter what game I play, no matter how low the settings are, as soon as there is some fog or other form of dense particles in my FOV, I get such insane lag that I'm afraid my computer will crash.

Is this a software problem or a shitty hardware problem? Is it a crappy GPU or can I fix it with a CPU upgrade?

[xciter]

As far as I know Nvidia GPU's can accelarate physical enviornment computation(PhysX). Check the PhysX software and the Nvidia drivers. I think you either have to enable it or disable it. I have not had Nvidia in a long while...

[Stackprotector]

I think you should log the cpu load, and yes PhysX is a powerfull engine. I once played mirror's edge and when i turned PhysX on all kinds of cool details appeared, like one of those plastic cover up for doors you can walk-through for isolation

[Pak_Track]

I don't understand why this is happening to you. I have had experiences with this in Counter Strike but in my case, it was because of low graphics memory. So I tend to avoid the Smoke Grenades. This will also happen when you turn your night vision on.

[Stackprotector]

I don't understand why this is happening to you. I have had experiences with this in Counter Strike but in my case, it was because of low graphics memory. So I tend to avoid the Smoke Grenades. This will also happen when you turn your night vision on.

Avoid smoke grenades XD

[Zesh]

Avoid smoke grenades XD

Aha, lol.

[proxx]

IIRC particals cannot be rendered by GPU's
Do not remember where ive seen this nor can I back this up.
I know for example blender renders or used to render particles on CPU only.

[silenthunder]

IIRC particals cannot be rendered by GPU's
Do not remember where ive seen this nor can I back this up.
I know for example blender renders or used to render particles on CPU only.

This. Sorry for the kinda late reply to my own post o.o. Particles are rendered by CPU only, my GPU should be just fine. I will try enabling my PhysX to see what happens, but last time I enabled it my processor couldn't keep up and I lagged horribly. Some games are ok, I might be able to enable it on DmC or Mirror's Edge, but I usually just keep it off.

[xciter]

Am I misunderstanding how PhysX works? I thought its purpose is to offload physical computation from the CPU a Nvidia GPU?

[Mordred]

Am I misunderstanding how PhysX works? I thought its purpose is to offload physical computation from the CPU a Nvidia GPU?

That's what I knew as well.


Also given your specs (I'm assuming it's a laptop) you shouldn't have problems, honestly. I played D3 on my laptop (Core2Duo @2.26 / 4GB / M9600GT) which for today's standards is truly a shit gaming laptop.

Stuttering like that smells like heating issues. If you have stress-testing tools (AIDA for CPU - you're gonna need a crack; FurMark for GPU), give it a go and keep an eye on temps (HWInfo). If you see either the GPU or CPU going too hot, the safe bet is to stop the test. However I would recommend giving it 2-5 seconds more to see if throttling down starts to happen.

Your issue looks a lot to me like performance throttling caused by high loads. This is especially true in laptops which tend to heat up like a girl when she's getting fingered; and given that you have a 550M I'm assuming you're gaming on a lappy, not a desktop.


The issue here is that particles should not hit your machine so hard. It was indeed true back in the day of Counter-Strike, but that was due to the shoddy programming more than anything else. Nowadays either everything is laggy or it's laggy when there's generally a lot of stuff happening, or it's not laggy. I, personally, haven't experienced particle lag since 2002 or so

[proxx]

To be honest those MXXX mobile chips from nvidia are kinda dissapointing.
Its the so called 'not shared' graphics
However its still a similar technology as the old days shared graphics crap.
The GPU works in parralel with the intel on the cycles.
Eventhough I played some games with acceptable performance... its crap.
Not to mention to horrific experience on linux with these setups.. no support.
And heat issues indeed, you just smell it.(seriously)
Tfhunck you nvidia.

[silenthunder]

Well I can tell you right now that it's definitely not a heating issue, I can start the game from boot and it will immediately lag at just above room temperature. I think Mordred is right about it just being high loads. When I build my gaming desktop, I'll probably just use my laptop for casual gaming. It's just kinda disappointing that everything can run perfect until I see a few particles.

[Darkvision]

Well I can tell you right now that it's definitely not a heating issue, I can start the game from boot and it will immediately lag at just above room temperature. I think Mordred is right about it just being high loads. When I build my gaming desktop, I'll probably just use my laptop for casual gaming. It's just kinda disappointing that everything can run perfect until I see a few particles.

depending on the game they can be lowered/turned off, have you checked all possible settings to see what you can do to lower their impact? Also different Direct x drivers handle them differently, and can sometimes be useful, if the game allows you to boot to force older driver sets, something else to try. Also it COULD just be that your CPU isnt recognized, because some games base how they talk/run just based off of that. I have had that issue before when the AMD 64bits were just coming out, had a game that didnt "recognize" my processor and ran like utter garbage that it should have crushed, i "faked" it out and it ran perfectly. So also something you could look at(such as if you can just type in a processor into your .ini files if its "reading" your hardware from that). Also ALWAYS try running in compatibility mode, some things get turned off when emulating to an older version of windows that just can not be turned off any other way.

[silenthunder]

I've dropped all settings to the lowest and the lag isn't any less, and I'm not sure about DirectX but I am running on an older NVidia driver. It's not that the games won't recognize my CPU, windows 8 itself says "N/A" when I look for my CPU on dxdiag, which I wanna try to get fixed. I'll try compatability mode though, there are a few games I can't play without running in compatability for Win7..

[zoup]

I had once a failed update of the nvidia drivers and recognized that PhysX was not properly installed. Did you try to reinstall ? Search registry for nvidia and kill  the stuff etc