Possible Video Card Issue- Halp! (Massive Frame Rate Drops)

[GilloD]

The card: GeForce 9800M

This issue first started showing up when I played Battlefield BC 2. Basically I hear the fan go on 'High', my machine and the vents get really fucking hot (Hot enough that it hurts if I put my hand near the vent) and my frame rate PLUMMETS. I figured it was a BC2 thing, but then it happened in Just Cause 2. And now it happens in Roller Coaster Tycoon 3. And League of Legends. I'm talking huge FPS drops, from like a smooth 60 in RC2 or LoL down to 1 or 2 or even less than that. If I exit out to a menu or ALT+TAB out for 30 seconds, it'll be fine for maybe another 10-15 minutes. Then it happens again.

ANy ideas? I can't play anything for more than 30 minutes or so anymore.

[Great Rumbler]

Have you blown the dust out of your computer lately?

[Smooth Groove]

Try another driver.  Bebpo mentioned something about a bad NV driver that won't dial down the fans.  

Uninstall Nvidia drivers from add/remove programs, restart and go into Safe Mode then use Driversweeper to remove all Nvidia related drivers.

http://downloads.guru3d.com/Guru3D---Driver-Sweeper-%28Setup%29_d1655.html

Also, if it's not too much trouble, remove the card then put it back in, preferably in another slot if your MB has it.  Nvidia cards sometimes have weird bugs that are fixed by removing them from the MB. 

[Van Cruncheon]

the 9800m is a mobile gpu. i'm assuming gillod is on the rog.

that's cpu or gpu throttling -- if a laptop cpu or gpu's heat sensor passes a certain tolerance (usually 85 degrees C), power is quartered and the cpu/gpu is hardclocked down (the multiplier is set to its lowest setting). sometimes, you can change this in the bios; also, some manufacturers (dell and asus) provide updated bioses that set the tolerance higher or remove the throttle altogether. either way, you're running too hot: make sure the vent is clear, you have no dust, you're gaming in a cool area, and if worse comes to worst, buy a cooling pad/mat for the laptop.

[Smooth Groove]

GilloD, here's your solution.

[GilloD]

the 9800m is a mobile gpu. i'm assuming gillod is on the rog.

that's cpu or gpu throttling -- if a laptop cpu or gpu's heat sensor passes a certain tolerance (usually 85 degrees C), power is quartered and the cpu/gpu is hardclocked down (the multiplier is set to its lowest setting). sometimes, you can change this in the bios; also, some manufacturers (dell and asus) provide updated bioses that set the tolerance higher or remove the throttle altogether. either way, you're running too hot: make sure the vent is clear, you have no dust, you're gaming in a cool area, and if worse comes to worst, buy a cooling pad/mat for the laptop.

It's definitley a heat thing- It gets REALLY hot when this happens. Our apartment isn't especially dusty and i'ts pretty cool. I also keep the window next to my desk open. The thing is that it tends to happen really suddenly- It just gets super fucking hot really fast and then conks out. I can try cleaning it out- Is there a guide anywhere to disassembling an RoG for this purpose?

[Smooth Groove]

You should probably just send it in for repair before there is real damage.  I doubt dust alone would cause that much problem.  It's possible that thermal compound needs to be reapplied. 

[GilloD]

I just b;lew into the main vent for kicks and huge amounts of dust came out. I'm guessing the inside is even worse- I'll have to try and take it apart. Hopefully I can find some docs.

Sending it in for repair might be a nightmare from Korea.

[Smooth Groove]

But you may void warranty if you open it.  The tech guys are usually savvy enough to tell if the hardware has been tampered with or not. 

If you really want to open it, at least make sure the protective labels aren't torn.  Just blow a hairdryer on a label for a minute or so and it comes off easily. 

[GilloD]

Popped it open- The fan was pretty dusty and the vent was worse. The rest of the laptop looked fine- No dust bunnies. The bottom cover was kind of dusty. Gonna play some games and see what happens

[Van Cruncheon]

consider getting a cooling pad or mat

[Smooth Groove]

consider getting a cooling pad or mat

Doesn't that kinda defeat the purpose of a gaming laptop? 

[naff]

In task manager there's another pane you can open to check the performance of your CPU (Not the normal process pane which shows you processes in RAM) I bet at the top of your list will be  a 'system interrupts' process taking up a crapload of your CPU which you can't stop. This is generally caused through driver issues or memory leaks but usually the former, and usually something to do with your GPU.

[Draft]

consider getting a cooling pad or mat

Doesn't that kinda defeat the purpose of a gaming laptop? 

since most gaming laptops are permanently affixed to a desk, not really.

[Van Cruncheon]

gpu-z will monitor your gpu heat sensors: http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/

[pilonv1]

I had to get a cooling pad for my Asus G1 laptop (had a GeForce 7700 Go). It was hot as a motherfucker under the GPU, and about 2.5 years later (Nov 09) even with the cooling pad it died