celticjasen Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 I just got my Alienware M18x laptop a few days ago (9 JAN 2013) and downloaded and installed Skyrim. Skyrim suggested High GFX settings for me. I started playing and I have TERRIBLE random FPS spikes constantly even when I'm just standing still doing nothing it constantly spikes. I've tried all graphic settings and many different resolutions and I've turned antialiasing and anisotropic filtering on and off and tried forcing them to be used only with the graphics cards I have and tried FXAA. Messed with the SkyrimPrefs.ini to get rid of shadows and tweak quite a number of things to try to improve performance. It happens in windowed mode and full screen mode. I tried turning on SLI to use both GFX cards. I've tried turning off every other application I could. I downloaded something to see if my computer was getting too hot and it wasn't. I've monitored my CPU to see if it was getting overloaded and it didn't seem to be. All drivers are up to date. This is really starting to get to me. I don't know what to do. This laptop should be able to handle Skyrim just fine. I thought maybe I should turbo boost my CPU but I don't know if that would do anything. The spikes do seem much less frequent on the lowest GFX and resolution settings but will still happen. I have heard Skyrim is CPU intensive... I'll put my computer specifications below. Alienware M18XR2Windows 7 ProfessionalIntel Core i7-3740QM CPU @ 2.70GHz 2.70GHz (3.7 with Turbo Boost)RAM 32GB64-bit Operating SystemnVidia dual GeForce GTX 675M 2GB eachSamsung SSD PM830 2.5" 7 I think that's it... please help me out if you can. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Georgiegril Posted January 13, 2013 Share Posted January 13, 2013 Have you tried limiting your FPS? My NVidia inspector notes that 58 fps will reduce problems for some people using SLI (I can't vouch for it since I don't have the equipment for SLI). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
celticjasen Posted January 13, 2013 Author Share Posted January 13, 2013 I downloaded an update for my GFX drivers and now skyrim works with kinda decent FPS but when I turn on SLI the FPS spikes like crazy. This is really strange... so I'll try lowering the FPS limit to 40 since my options are 60 or 40. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
celticjasen Posted January 13, 2013 Author Share Posted January 13, 2013 So I turned SLI back on and lowered my refresh rate to 40Hz in the nvidia control panel and it didn't help the random FPS spikes. Skyrim should be working just fine on this rig but it's been just terrible. Works without SLI on but the FPS is low and makes everything feel weird and slow to respond. With SLI it's nice and smooth until the random FPS spikes hit and for those few seconds I'm unable to control anything. I really don't know what to do anymore... I've tried everything I can think of so far. Any other ideas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Georgiegril Posted January 13, 2013 Share Posted January 13, 2013 HAve you checked your graphics settings in Nvidia Inspector? I had a problem where the SLI was set to force SLI when I had it set on autoselect. I read that some people had problems with it being set on force CPU (?!). Anyway, I always check all of the settings now after every update, just to make sure they are exactly how I want them. You have a much better card than me...sorry you are having a hard time. I have read a lot of people having problems with SLI and skyrim, tho. I wonder, when you tried forcing AA and AF, did you use the "enhance" game setting rather than override? I think that override doesn't work. Is it possible the lags are caused by a background process that has not been disabled? Also, are you positive it is not a problem with your power supply/battery? Another thing, probably you know, but just in case...when you open the "options" through the steam menu window, it overwrites any changes you have made to your prefs ini and your driver interface. Just in case.... Sorry again, I hope someone else has some better ideas than mine for you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
celticjasen Posted January 14, 2013 Author Share Posted January 14, 2013 Lowered resolution, turned SLI off. I'll just play like this. It's just not going to work with Skyrim and it's too much of a hassle to deal with. Now I can at least play it and it's on High settings just at a lower resolution. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gamefever Posted January 14, 2013 Share Posted January 14, 2013 (edited) Have you tried playing other games on it, this may be a seroius problem indicative of a faulty product? My brother has had to return stuff before and heck I've had 4 consuls I had to return that were brand spenking new outta the box becuase they flat out died withen days of purchase. Edited January 14, 2013 by gamefever Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
celticjasen Posted January 14, 2013 Author Share Posted January 14, 2013 I'm thinking of downloading The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition to try that out. If it gives me problems I'll probably freak and call Alienware to fix this shite Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve40 Posted January 15, 2013 Share Posted January 15, 2013 Go to your Windows advanced power settings and make sure the default max CPU usage is set to 100%, otherwise Windows may throttle your CPU usage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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