Help with laptop that is starting to have issues when gaming

Forums › Laptops and mobile computers › Help with laptop that is starting to have issues when gaming

duckDecoy

899 posts

Ultimate Geek

Subscriber

#285779 17-May-2021 19:08

Ive got an Acer laptop which is about 5 years old that my son and I play a few games on it. I mainly play Team Fortress 2 (TF2)

Ive never had any issues playing TF2 up until now, but for the last month or so I have been getting what looks like bad lag - it goes all jerky and other players "strobe move". Its pretty much impossible to play as it currently is.

But I don't think it is lag, as you can play in an offline mode (against the computer) and exactly the same thing happens. Furthermore it only happens when interacting with other players, if I am on my own just walking somewhere I have no problems. Its only when the scene gets "busy" that it shows these signs. You'd think that if it were lag it would happen randomly at all times.

I dont recall an update recently so I dont think the game has updated to a state that its out of my laptops reach.

Someone said look at your fps while playing and there is an option to do that, but it is normally about 60-100fps which seems fine, even when it is stuttering all over the place

So I am thinking that something is going wrong with my laptop somewhere, and was wondering if I can get some help diagnosing it. I am pretty noob when it comes to computers, but I can follow instructions if people have any things for me to try.

One thing I am wondering about is overheating. I notice the fan on a lot lately and it seems pretty warm. I cannot say it didnt do that before, maybe I am lately looking for things seeing as I'm having issues. But my last laptop died from overheating and they said the fan was stuffed full of dust, so perhaps that is happening again Could that be the issue? Is there any way to investigate this, and is cleaning a laptop fan something a noob can do?

Perhaps my graphics card is dying, or the motherboard or something. Are there ways to diagnose these types of faults?

I have uploaded some pics of my system info, no idea if they are helpful or not.

All help appreciated

1 | 2

13463 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Lifetime subscriber

#2708654 17-May-2021 20:10

its probably thermal throttling because it too hot. given its age the thermal paste is also likely cracked and not very effective

couldnt hurt to give it a clean, and re-apply the thermal paste under the heatsink

Batman

Mad Scientist
29769 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2708658 17-May-2021 20:34

It's over heating.

Needs a good clean and reapply thermal paste every where

xpd

Geek @ Coastguard NZ
13769 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2708659 17-May-2021 20:41

Yup,as above. Take the case apart, check for any obvious buildup of dust near any fans or inlet/outlets. Raise the laptop on bottle caps to allow better air flow underneath.

Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

LinkTree

Gurezaemon

~HONYAKKER!~
1355 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Lifetime subscriber

#2708661 17-May-2021 20:42

If it is overheating, it is pretty easy to diagnose.

1) Download Speccy and install.
2) Download CPU-Z, install, and from the 'Bench' tab, click 'Stress CPU'.
Leave this running for a few minutes, and while it is running, run Speccy and look at the CPU field, specifically the temperatures. If it is 80° or higher, that would indicate a CPU temperature issue. The CPU will probably be reducing its performance in order to reduce temperatures, giving you the lag.

My suggestions would be to first get a can of spray air and clean out the fans, but it is probably more than that.

Next step would be to take the back off, and look at redoing the thermal paste. YouTube "your model number" "thermal paste" for hints on how to do this.

Thermal paste - I don't know where you are, but a decent computer store will have thermal paste that you can apply to the chip and its cooler - I've rescued 2 laptops in the last 6 months with this exact same problem.

Redoing thermal paste can appear intimidating at first, but it is pretty easy to do (think 'smearing on a bit of toothpaste'), and immensely satisfying when you rescue your first computer from the trash heap because of it.

Get your business seen overseas - Nexus Translations

duckDecoy

899 posts

Ultimate Geek

Subscriber

#2708662 17-May-2021 20:44

Ok thanks. I’m guessing this is outside a noobs capability, any recommendations on where you n AKL is should go to get this addressed?

I’d rather avoid PBTech if possible, had a bad experience with them in the past and would rather not give them my $$ if I can avoid it.

Gurezaemon

~HONYAKKER!~
1355 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Lifetime subscriber

#2708664 17-May-2021 20:57

duckDecoy:

One thing I am wondering about is overheating. I notice the fan on a lot lately and it seems pretty warm. I cannot say it didnt do that before, maybe I am lately looking for things seeing as I'm having issues. But my last laptop died from overheating and they said the fan was stuffed full of dust, so perhaps that is happening again Could that be the issue? Is there any way to investigate this, and is cleaning a laptop fan something a noob can do?

The software steps I outlined are absolutely something a noob can do. Remember, all us 'non-noobs' figured this stuff out by tentatively taking that next step and giving it a go. Give it a go — you might surprise yourself 😊

Get your business seen overseas - Nexus Translations

duckDecoy

899 posts

Ultimate Geek

Subscriber

#2709394 19-May-2021 07:26

Gurezaemon:

If it is overheating, it is pretty easy to diagnose.

1) Download Speccy and install.
2) Download CPU-Z, install, and from the 'Bench' tab, click 'Stress CPU'.
Leave this running for a few minutes, and while it is running, run Speccy and look at the CPU field, specifically the temperatures. If it is 80° or higher, that would indicate a CPU temperature issue. The CPU will probably be reducing its performance in order to reduce temperatures, giving you the lag.

My suggestions would be to first get a can of spray air and clean out the fans, but it is probably more than that.

Next step would be to take the back off, and look at redoing the thermal paste. YouTube "your model number" "thermal paste" for hints on how to do this.

Thermal paste - I don't know where you are, but a decent computer store will have thermal paste that you can apply to the chip and its cooler - I've rescued 2 laptops in the last 6 months with this exact same problem.

Redoing thermal paste can appear intimidating at first, but it is pretty easy to do (think 'smearing on a bit of toothpaste'), and immensely satisfying when you rescue your first computer from the trash heap because of it.

Results are in.

Core 0 sits at 89'C

Core 1 sits at 77-79'C

Core 2 sits at 81'C

Core 3 sits at 70'C

Average temp reported to be 80'C So you are all probably on the money that its an overheating thing.

i will check the fans myself and see if that helps. I you tubed thermal paste and think thats a step to far for me, im worried I will ruin something when scraping the old stuff off, so if the fans are clean I might pop into a shop and see if they can do that for me.

Thanks everyone

Quic Broadband

Move to New Zealand's best fibre broadband service (affiliate link). Free setup code: R587125ERQ6VE. Note that to use Quic Broadband you must be comfortable with configuring your own router.

Jase2985

13463 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Lifetime subscriber

#2709395 19-May-2021 07:40

my laptop sits at 92 degrees when under intense load and doesn't thermal throttle, it depends on the chip. 90-95 is still fine in some cases.

K8Toledo

1014 posts

Uber Geek

#2709476 19-May-2021 09:14

duckDecoy:

Ive got an Acer laptop which is about 5 years old that my son and I play a few games on it.   I mainly play Team Fortress 2 (TF2)

Ive never had any issues playing TF2 up until now, but for the last month or so I have been getting what looks like bad lag - it goes all jerky and other players "strobe move". Its pretty much impossible to play as it currently is.

But I don't think it is lag, as you can play in an offline mode (against the computer) and exactly the same thing happens. Furthermore it only happens when interacting with other players, if I am on my own just walking somewhere I have no problems. Its only when the scene gets "busy" that it shows these signs.   You'd think that if it were lag it would happen randomly at all times.

I dont recall an update recently so I dont think the game has updated to a state that its out of my laptops reach.

Someone said look at your fps while playing and there is an option to do that, but it is normally about 60-100fps which seems fine, even when it is stuttering all over the place

So I am thinking that something is going wrong with my laptop somewhere, and was wondering if I can get some help diagnosing it.   I am pretty noob when it comes to computers, but I can follow instructions if people have any things for me to try.

One thing I am wondering about is overheating. I notice the fan on a lot lately and it seems pretty warm.    I cannot say it didnt do that before, maybe I am lately looking for things seeing as I'm having issues.   But my last laptop died from overheating and they said the fan was stuffed full of dust, so perhaps that is happening again   Could that be the issue? Is there any way to investigate this, and is cleaning a laptop fan something a noob can do?

Perhaps my graphics card is dying, or the motherboard or something.   Are there ways to diagnose these types of faults?

I have uploaded some pics of my system info, no idea if they are helpful or not.

All help appreciated

An educated guess says thermal throttling CPU.

To confirm, download & configure MSI Afterburner to show CPU & GPU temps. CPU/GPU load wouldn't hurt either.

K8Toledo

1014 posts

Uber Geek

#2709485 19-May-2021 09:29

Jase2985:

my laptop sits at 92 degrees when under intense load and doesn't thermal throttle, it depends on the chip. 90-95 is still fine in some cases.

90c - 95c is not OK. That's almost TjMax.

TjMax is Maximum Junction Temperature - the point at which HTC (Hardware Thermal Control) shuts down the machine.

Intel & AMD documents repeatedly state that running CPU's over 75c for sustained periods deteriorates the chip.

How are you measuring the CPU temps?

Here's a CPUID shot of my Vishera.

K8Toledo

1014 posts

Uber Geek

#2709502 19-May-2021 10:06

duckDecoy:

Ive got an Acer laptop which is about 5 years old that my son and I play a few games on it. I mainly play Team Fortress 2 (TF2)

Ive never had any issues playing TF2 up until now, but for the last month or so I have been getting what looks like bad lag - it goes all jerky and other players "strobe move". Its pretty much impossible to play as it currently is.

Depending on "strobe move", the GPU could be overheating. Laptops are far more likely to die from a kaput GPU's than a kaput CPU.

GPU's afaik (dedicated at least) cannot throttle or shut down a machine. They usually just start artifacting.

duckDecoy

899 posts

Ultimate Geek

Subscriber

#2709518 19-May-2021 11:01

K8Toledo:

Depending on "strobe move", the GPU could be overheating. Laptops are far more likely to die from a kaput GPU's than a kaput CPU.

GPU's afaik (dedicated at least) cannot throttle or shut down a machine. They usually just start artifacting.

Is the GPU one of the things that the thermal paste might be failing on, and so new paste could fix it? Or is that just CPU stuff and if it was the GPU then it would need replacing.

K8Toledo

1014 posts

Uber Geek

#2709537 19-May-2021 11:22

duckDecoy:

K8Toledo:

Depending on "strobe move", the GPU could be overheating. Laptops are far more likely to die from a kaput GPU's than a kaput CPU.

GPU's afaik (dedicated at least) cannot throttle or shut down a machine. They usually just start artifacting.

Is the GPU one of the things that the thermal paste might be failing on, and so new paste could fix it? Or is that just CPU stuff and if it was the GPU then it would need replacing.

Paste is found on both GPU & CPU, but new thermal paste won't prevent overheating particularly if the problem is a clogged fan.

But first we need to pinpoint the cause of stutter, so check the temps. If CPU or GPU is high we can go from there.

duckDecoy

899 posts

Ultimate Geek

Subscriber

#2709541 19-May-2021 11:29

K8Toledo:

But first we need to pinpoint the cause of stutter, so check the temps. If CPU or GPU is high we can go from there.

I ran a different program to the one you recommended this morn and posted the results above. 2 of the cores were > 80'C So it definitely sounds like at min my CPU is overheating. I will do your recommended program when I get home tonight and see what the GPU is doing. Thanks

tripper1000

1618 posts

Uber Geek

#2709614 19-May-2021 13:23

Lots of good advice above. At the risk of asking a dumb question are you blocking the underside vents inadvertantly? What surface are you resting the laptop on? (are you playing on a hard surface like a table top, or something soft and squishy like a table cloth, bed, carpet or your lap?). Have the laptops little rubber feet come off, so it doesn't have good airflow anymore?

I ask because I've have seen the same behaviour (different apps) where a laptop consistently failed on the same app, but not for me, and it turned out that the owners useage habbits meant they blocked the vents when using that one app but not other apps.

1 | 2