Random FPS drop & lag 2017 Helios 300 GTX 1060

Hello, I recently started having trouble with my laptop. In the past it would keep switching between power saving and performance doing that beep sound like if I was unplugging the battery while still plugged in. This problem would go away eventually by itself so it didn't bother me too much. One day I was playing a game notorious for poor optimization: Blade & Soul. On games like this my laptop would get super hot. To the point that touching above the keyboard it felt like I could fry an egg. After playing several hours like this, the battery issue resumed again so I stopped playing. This time it took a long time to finally go away and it took forever for the battery to go back to 100% from 95%. I then noticed that other games I had no problem playing before at max settings would get random lag spikes and huge fps drops. I started monitoring my temperatures in predator sense and noticed that whenever these spikes took place the cpu would spike from 70-80 degrees to 90-100. Oddly enough, even at 90-100 degrees it still never felt hot to the touch like frying an egg so I can only imagine what the temperatures may have been at before I started monitoring. I also noticed that the cpu fan had stopped spinning, but gpu one was still going. Since then I have bought a new power source, replaced the fan, and applied new thermal paste. I also tried entering this method that supposedly turns off thermal throttling I found online. My temperatures now almost never go past 70 degrees, however i still notice the occasional spike, although not as bad as before. My hope is someone recognizes these symptoms and can diagnose what happened and if anything was damaged? I don't know if this computer had thermal throttling, and I find it hard to believe it was even active if it allowed things to get to frying egg levels without dropping my fps. Did the system activate it automatically while doing the battery beeping thing? Or is my computer damaged from the stress of a day of super heat? Is there a way for me to run a program that can check that everything is running the way it's supposed to at its peak performance? What is that program called / where can I get it if so? The computer is running fine for the most part now but those random spikes are making me extremely paranoid and I find it especially annoying on games that ran smoothly before. Any insight would be greatly appreciated!

Accepted answers

xapim

Gaudeamus u need to optimise your windows properly undervolt check here if you havent already and most probably u need to get it repasted with kryonaut or similar if you can without voiding your warranty (if any left) also if you recently updated windows that might be the cause of it and check your battery wear percentage with either hwinfo or battery bar pro

All comments

xapim

Gaudeamus u need to optimise your windows properly undervolt check here if you havent already and most probably u need to get it repasted with kryonaut or similar if you can without voiding your warranty (if any left) also if you recently updated windows that might be the cause of it and check your battery wear percentage with either hwinfo or battery bar pro

Gaudeamus

I used artic silver 5 for the paste. It says battery wear is at 15% in hwinfo (not sure if that's good or bad and whether I should unplug the battery inside to prevent further deterioration). I just ran userbenchmark to see an overall report. It says everything is running above average in the higher percentiles, except for the gtx 1060 which is at 50% but says most users get 46%. I ran the test twice and first time said the m2 ssd was running poorly in the 30% percentile then I restarted and ran the test again and this time it said 72% but 30 for the storage drive. Not sure how accurate these are. I'll look at the undervolting and don't mind giving it a try, but my whole gripe is that I'd like the computer to run as well as it did out of the box again before any undervolting. I'm wondering what changed that day that caused me to go from running Heroes of the Storm at max settings lag free to getting spikes during team fights.

Gaudeamus

I also wanted to add that it hasn't done the battery beep thing again since that event with playing Blade and Soul, nor has the temperatures felt frying egg to the touch, although I haven't tried that game again since that day.

Gaudeamus

Another update. After playing Heroes of the storm on average settings for 30 minutes, I exited and noticed the battery at 95% despite being plugged in the whole time. It didn't do this before, why is it not getting enough power? (I was using the original charger that came with the computer)

xapim

Gaudeamus as5 its useless youre using a bad thermal paste it was premium 6/7 years ago today its useless use kryonaut instead and spread method only a thin layer covering both diodes its enough too much paste its bad keep checking your temps cpu shouldnt go above 85'ish and cpu 70/75 max also if you havent already optimise your windows properly and undervolt check here and make sure to have the back lifted 2/3" at all times for a proper airflow also when repasting do not forget to clean the fans and exit airflow properly (as i already stated above) and userbenchmark wont do u any good when it comes to temps etc just benchmarks your hardware specs nothing else its useless

And no never unplug the battery you should always play on AC 15% wear its not bad more than 20 consider replacing it the battery main purpose its to provide more power to the cpu/gpu when the adapter cant provide enough so its completely normal that the adapter asks the battery to step in with more power on more demanding games for long period of time

Monitor your temps in realtime when gaming with MSI AB/riva tuner osd display

Gaudeamus

Okay here's an update. Got the kryonaut today in the mail. Opened it up and cleaned off the as5 and applied the kryonaut. Started up the computer and at first it didn't seem like it was much of a change. Then an issue happened with the gtx saying windows shut it down due to an error. Was worried I may have damaged the gpu from over cleaning or maybe getting some as5 gunk in between the little spikes the chip has surrounding the mirror in middle. I uninstalled the GPU in device manager and restarted and updated drivers to get it working again. Now on to gaming. The temps seemed about the same but the spikes in temperature were about 5-10 degrees lower than before. Not going past 78 degrees.

One question I have is about the brick power adapter. That thing is considered the full power source in that if I'm having an issue not getting enough power, replacing that would fix any problems or is there another internal part in the computer to worry about? Also does the brick have overheat protection, and is that what caused the unplugging beeping?

I have yet to undervolt but will soon, just wanted to make sure everything was running smoothly again like before. Thank you again for all the help!

Gaudeamus

Just to clarify the brick question, I wanted to know if it has its own separate throttle from the computer, where the brick would give less power after overheating? That would explain the long recharge time on the battery if so, and why it hasn't happened again since then after doing only light gaming and video watching.

xapim

Gaudeamus no the adapter doesnt have any throttle at all to check if its faulty you need a voltmeter to really know if its outputting the correct voltage and the battery beeping might even be a faulty battery have u already checked the battery wear as i suggested above ?? and kyonaut if properly app;ied can drop your temps down up to 25+ as it dropped on mine i always use the spread method when repasting any laptop as i already stated and dont forget to lift the back for a proper airflow and and if you feel your issue its solved please accept the best answer(s) that helped you solve it to mark the thread as solved so everyone else with similar issues can find it quickly

Gaudeamus

Yeah I said in a previous post that the wear for battery is at 15%. I'm actually surprised yours was lower since it seemed like you left the computer on more than I do. I got this computer back around October of 2017. The fix that worked best was reapplying thermal paste as far as heroes of the storm is concerned. But the difference between artic silver 5 and kryonaut is mostly 2-5 degrees sometimes up to 10 from what I'm seeing. I used the same method of spreading on both to get a good comparison. The only thing that worries me is if I harmed the gpu or got enough of the gunk off between those pins around it. I'll have to reinstall blade and soul though in order to see if the old problem arises again, which I haven't had since that time since I've been mostly playing games that take 20-30% of my cpu and gpu usage such as tales of vesperia. I'll do some more testing during this week before clicking on a solved response.

xapim

Gaudeamus my laptop its on non stop since i got it in 2018 and its on 24/7 only use it as remote access i only calibrate the battery once every 6 months or so last time i had about 11/12% wear after calibrating it came down to where it is now also kryonaut dropped my temps down 25+ if properly applied you will see great improvements sometimes it takes a couple of times to get ot properly done and in some cases might take a few days for the thermal paste to seat properly before you see good results the so called pins around the gpu/cpus diodes arent pins are lets say capacitors/transistors and yes they should be cleaned with careful thats why i always use alcohol cotton buts toothpicks etc to clean everything properly and its great to know that you managed to get it controlled so far

Gaudeamus

Okay I'm about ready to end this thread with a solved. I highly doubt I'll be having problems for a while, the temps have been decent and I still haven't undervolted. I'll post a new thread if the battery issue happens again. I had bought a new brick the moment it happened, and kept using the original so I can swap the new one in if the problem ever arises again to see if that solved it, but it's just not happening. Used to happen somewhat often, like once a month. Right now Resident Evil 2 is probably my highest cpu gpu intensive game. Shows temps never exceeding 81 degrees on recommended settings. My only remaining question is if I should try overclocking with MSI afterburner? Or does undervolting kinda make that pointless?

Gaudeamus

Oh and just to add more information. Computer idles at 46-50 degrees. 81 temps don't happen until game is on for about an hour on resident evil 2, slowly rises. Also despite the temps being a lot lower than before, I notice the heat touching above keyboard starting to get as hot as before. Hopefully that means the frying egg levels weren't as bad as I had thought and no damage was done.

xapim

Gaudeamus seems youre finally good to go well done also you can either undervolt your gpu via curve to lower the temps further or overclock it but the temps will go higher its up to you

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