I upgraded my AN 515-52's Memory and Storage, but CPU maxes out and poorer performance while gaming.

vasics

Hello, i have a AN515-52 which I've had for almost a year, which i used for school but mainly for gaming. I got an upgrade for the Memory and the Storage just today, here are the previous specs:

• Windows 10
• Intel i5 8300H, 2.3GHz
• 8GB DDR4 RAM, 2400Hz (two 4GB in each available slot, one was 2667Hz, which was at slot B of my laptop, while the 2400 Hz was at slot A, so the system read 2400Hz, although i'm not entirely sure if thats how it works)
• 1 TB HDD, with around 200-150 GB free
• GTX 1050 (website says the laptop offers 1050 Ti, although iirc when buying this it only had 1050, and Device Manager says 1050 only)
• 60 Hz screen

My issue is regarding gaming, I mostly, religiously play Rainbow Six Siege at low settings, and i got:

• 95 - 120 Fps,as reported by the in game FPS display, but my display only caps at 60.
• CPU usage was around 65% - 80% usage
• RAM was 70% - 80%.

Considering that i had 2/3 or double more FPS i could display was capped out by my screen, i wanted a 120Hz screen upgrade, but i had to set my priorities straight first, and decided to make the Laptop perform better all around, so i got a RAM and SSD upgrade first, and then planning to upgrade the screen in the future. Here are the system changes:

• Removed 2400 Hz 4gb RAM from slot A, and replacing it with a 8GB 2667 Hz RAM, so i have 12 GB in my system.
• Added 256 GB of SSD storage, moved windows 10 there, and installed Steam and copied my game to the SSD from the HDD.

I then reinstalled GeForce Experience, and NitroSense (CPU temp and usage monitoring, and manipulates Fan speed for gaming). The upgrades i observed seemed to have made gaming worse (?).

• CPU Usage maxes out at 100%, 3.98 GHz (I think this how RAM upgrades work, but i'm not entirely sure).
• mostly 90 FPS, ranging from 85 - 100. making me second guess my screen upgrade, which feels kinda wasteful now it doesn't reach 120 Fps for a 120Hz screen replacement.
• FPS drops to 30-40 FPS, for 2-4 seconds, and happens around 3 or 4 times in a 45 minute game.

Why does it seem like my upgrade made the performance worse? What can i do?
Note: I'm not quite sure if the RAM slots work the way i described it (slot A/slot .

Commodore_1995#

Have you already configured the battery and adapter to use 100% of the processor here?

Also, have you ever let the battery charge 100% and disable batteryboost?

vasics

egydiocoelho said:

Have you already configured the battery and adapter to use 100% of the processor here?

Also, have you ever let the battery charge 100% and disable batteryboost?

Hello, do those settings matter if i play while its plugged in? And yes i have those settings on and battery boost is disabled.

Commodore_1995#

Yes my friend.

vasics

egydiocoelho said:

Yes my friend.

I had these settings set before the upgrade, so i set it after the upgrade aswell, so i don't think this is it.

Commodore_1995#

The first thing I would check is whether the rams are working on a dual channel. Probably, as you have 8 + 4 = 12, 8gb are working in dual channel and the remaining 4gb are working in single channel. Can you check this with cpuz? Check here too:

vasics

egydiocoelho said:

The first thing I would check is whether the rams are working on a dual channel. Probably, as you have 8 + 4 = 12, 8gb are working in dual channel and the remaining 4gb are working in single channel. Can you check this with cpuz? Check here too:

I've set these settings recently, but there the only change was with the FPS cap, which i first set to 60, then 110, they were the same mostly with the FPS drops happening with many stuff happening in the game, but the in game fps counter was just capped. I checked CPUz as well, and it says it is on Dual Channeling.

Commodore_1995#

Have you updated your drivers recently? Sometimes an older version works better.

vasics

egydiocoelho said:

Have you updated your drivers recently? Sometimes an older version works better.

I did update them, which ones do you think i should rollback?

GAMING6698

vasics said:

egydiocoelho said:

Have you updated your drivers recently? Sometimes an older version works better.

I did update them, which ones do you think i should rollback?

While playing game when there is fps drop immediately check temperature in nitrosense.

Commodore_1995#

Try reverting the driver to an older version.

vasics

GAMING6698 said:

vasics said:

egydiocoelho said:

Have you updated your drivers recently? Sometimes an older version works better.

I did update them, which ones do you think i should rollback?

While playing game when there is fps drop immediately check temperature in nitrosense.

 https://imgur.com/a/y06S6Kh This album shows the readings i got from Nitrosense while playing (as well as other stuff), and i've noticed that it hangs around 94-97 C when there are stressful events in game, ones where you expect FPS to drop maybe 5 - 10 frames, but not significantly as to call it an FPS drop. The FPS drops i experience generally happen around these events, but sometimes even while everything is mostly peaceful, i experience an FPS drop. When not under stressful events, it's around 90 - 94 C, and while in between rounds it's below 90 C.

I also included the Memory, and CPU usage, i tried to alt tab immediately when i experienced a drop and change the refresh rate of Task Manager from Low to Paused, but i wasn't fast enough so the readings in the screenshot are a moment after the drop, which gave enough time for Task Manager to refresh and read the state of me being alt tabbed, not in game. The CPU usage is fairly consistent while playing, maxed out at 100%, regardless of FPS drop or not, and same with the RAM, at around 65% usage.

Note: Those huge drops of temperature or usage in the graphs are me being alt tabbed, while those small drops are while in between rounds.

Commodore_1995#

Perhaps this is the problem. I suggest you check out this topic: https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/577183/throttlestop-undervolt-profiles-pre-made/p1

andylb

Do what my colleague @egydiocoelho says and check out the link he provided

vasics

egydiocoelho said:

Try reverting the driver to an older version.

I'm not sure which drivers to revert back though, and as i recall, the drivers i had before the upgrade were up to date versions.

vasics

egydiocoelho said:

Perhaps this is the problem. I suggest you check out this topic: https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/577183/throttlestop-undervolt-profiles-pre-made/p1

Okay, will try it out.

vasics

egydiocoelho said:

Perhaps this is the problem. I suggest you check out this topic: https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/577183/throttlestop-undervolt-profiles-pre-made/p1

I get hit with an error saying i'm missing mfc120u.dll, the thread says to upgrade Microsoft .Net, and C++, which i did, but the error is still the same.

GAMING6698

vasics said:

GAMING6698 said:

vasics said:

egydiocoelho said:

Have you updated your drivers recently? Sometimes an older version works better.

I did update them, which ones do you think i should rollback?

While playing game when there is fps drop immediately check temperature in nitrosense.

 https://imgur.com/a/y06S6Kh This album shows the readings i got from Nitrosense while playing (as well as other stuff), and i've noticed that it hangs around 94-97 C when there are stressful events in game, ones where you expect FPS to drop maybe 5 - 10 frames, but not significantly as to call it an FPS drop. The FPS drops i experience generally happen around these events, but sometimes even while everything is mostly peaceful, i experience an FPS drop. When not under stressful events, it's around 90 - 94 C, and while in between rounds it's below 90 C.

I also included the Memory, and CPU usage, i tried to alt tab immediately when i experienced a drop and change the refresh rate of Task Manager from Low to Paused, but i wasn't fast enough so the readings in the screenshot are a moment after the drop, which gave enough time for Task Manager to refresh and read the state of me being alt tabbed, not in game. The CPU usage is fairly consistent while playing, maxed out at 100%, regardless of FPS drop or not, and same with the RAM, at around 65% usage.

Note: Those huge drops of temperature or usage in the graphs are me being alt tabbed, while those small drops are while in between rounds.

There is fps drop because of temperature. @andylb help you in this case

andylb

First try undervaluing using one of the custom Throttlestop packages designed by one of our dedicated gamers, they are safe, well tested and easy to use
https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/577183/throttlestop-undervolt-profiles-pre-made/p1?new=1

ohfoxy

Undervolting is pretty much a requirement for these laptops but something doesn't sit right with me that you are getting lower performance after performing upgrades which should not, in theory, be increasing your heat generation.

Is it possible that you have created a memory configuration that has some incompatibility somewhere? The pairing of a random 8gb and 4gb module sounds dicey to me. This could explain the CPU spikes, if you are having issues with memory efficiency. Are you able to post the model numbers for the two sticks you have in there? Or just a screenshot of what CPU-Z reads from them? I can look into it for you. 

I wouldn't call myself a true hardware expert because there are some gaps in my knowledge, but I've been building and upgrading PCs for myself and friends and family for almost 20 years so I have a good deal of experience and I've always found a safe rule of thumb for upgrading memory is to stick with the OEM's configuration. For example, if you're going to upgrade an 8gb (4gb x 2) dual-channel memory configuration, you should almost exclusively consider either 16gb (8gb x 2) dual channel or 32gb (16gb x 2) configuration as your available options.

Anyway post your hardware and I'll do some research for you.