Guild Wars 2

Hello,

Not sure if anyone can help, but I thought the discrete card (635M) would run Guild Wars 2, but this is not the case. The Intel HD 4000 runs it about 3 times as well.

I have a Core i7 3630QM
12GB DDR3
Nvidia GT 635m
7200 RPM HDD

When I run the game using the 635m, I get 16-19 FPS no matter where I am. In a quest area, Lions Arch, etc. Lowering graphics to best performance boosts it to about 21-22 FPS

When I run the game with the Intel HD 4000 I am getting 45+ FPS in Lions Arch. on Medium settings.

This doesn’t seem right? I am not sure what to try besides using an older driver.

Anyone have any insight?

Thanks,

635m is a mobile chip for laptops (unless I’m mistaken). This is on a card in a desktop?

If the Intel video is integrated into the chipset (most of them are), it could be getting better bandwidth to the CPU than the expansion card (if the card isn’t running a full PCIe x16 bus width.

On that note, make sure your expansion card is installed in the correct PCIe slot.

Yes, this is a laptop.

I am concerned because if you YouTube “635m Guild Wars 2,” there a several videos of people running the game just fine with it.

What would be the point in including an Nvidia graphics adapter in a laptop if the integrated out performs it?

It shouldn’t. The GT 635M is roughly twice as powerful as the Intel HD 4000 in your CPU. As to why it currently isn’t? Heat causing throttling? Issue with the laptop’s ability to properly switch to it?

Don’t know, which is why I hate laptops.

It kinda sounds like you have the GPU’s ID’s backwards.

19-24FPS sounds normal for a HD4000
40-45FPS sounds normal for a GT 635M

So I would make sure you are actually choosing the correct GPUs, you can use GPU-Z and its sensor tab to verify which GPU is being used when you select them.

Well, I right click the GW2.exe and choose “Run using x adapter,” so I dont think I have em backwards, but I will try the GPU-Z program and see.

Thanks,

Edit: I ran GPU-Z, but I have no idea how to tell which adapter is being used as they both look like they have activity no matter which I am using.

Edit: Ok so I found in the Nvidia Control Panel, there is an option to “Show GPU Activity.” With that enabled, it does show GW2 as running using the 635m, which has poor performance.

I know that there is a huge thread here https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/support/tech/FPS-Issue-with-the-9-9-patch-merged with people reporting a drop in FPS since a recent patch, maybe it is affecting me too. I am going to try older drivers to see if it makes any difference.

I also want to add that this is a fresh Windows 7 x64 install, with all newest drivers and windows updates installed.

Downgrading drivers had no impact.

So I tried to run Diablo 3 RoS, and the game doesn’t even start, it crashes to desktop…

I am running a repair on the install because I just copied the game over from another laptop. I also read a thread of other people have this issue and they fixed it by disabling the Windows “Secondary Logon” service. I will try that if it still fails after the repair.

I just want to see how another games runs using the GPU.

Ok false alarm, I forgot I had SweetFX installed in the D3 directory, removing that allowed the game to run.

Diablo 3 using the GPU has abysmal performance, like 5-10 FPS slideshow.

I think something is wrong with the GPU

I’d start suspecting the actual GT635m hardware at this point. It is either defective, improperly installed (unseated etc.) or simply configure incorrectly (possibly a BIOS setting issue….like shared memory size / allocation?).

This is an HP BIOS, the settings are pretty limited. Diablo 3 running using the HD 4000 45+ FPS.

disable the Intel igpu should have that option in the BIOS I’d imagine

I already tried that, but the performance is still the same. One thing I noticed is that in GPU-Z it is barely using any of the memory on the card.

This is a screenshot of GPU-Z while I was standing in Lion’s Arch. Shouldn’t the GPU be using more than 200MB of its 2GB of memory?

And shouldn’t the Core Clock be much higher?

Here is a pic of GPU-Z and my framerate when using the Intel HD 4000.

Notice the HD 4000 is using a lot more memory.

And here is a screenshot of my FPS using the 635m
Notice in the lower right corner that the GPU monitor shows GW2 as being used by the GPU, so it isn’t an issue of getting it to run using it.

An yes the Core Clock is OC’ed a bit, but I had just made that change to see if it made any difference.

Try setting the laptops power management in Windows to high performance when plugged in then try running the game make sure the power adapter is plugged in

Impaler.6204:

I already tried that, but the performance is still the same. One thing I noticed is that in GPU-Z it is barely using any of the memory on the card.

This is a screenshot of GPU-Z while I was standing in Lion’s Arch. Shouldn’t the GPU be using more than 200MB of its 2GB of memory?

And shouldn’t the Core Clock be much higher?

Here is your problem, your 635 is only running at 230Mhz, as opposed to the normal 590Mhz.

Download MSI Afterburner and adjust the power setting to +5 and see if that helps. If it does, then your GPU is stuck in a low power state and needs to be taken out of it. Not sure how to do that with Nvidia GPUs, though.

sirsquishy.8531:

Impaler.6204:

I already tried that, but the performance is still the same. One thing I noticed is that in GPU-Z it is barely using any of the memory on the card.

This is a screenshot of GPU-Z while I was standing in Lion’s Arch. Shouldn’t the GPU be using more than 200MB of its 2GB of memory?

And shouldn’t the Core Clock be much higher?

Here is your problem, your 635 is only running at 230Mhz, as opposed to the normal 590Mhz.

Download MSI Afterburner and adjust the power setting to +5 and see if that helps. If it does, then your GPU is stuck in a low power state and needs to be taken out of it. Not sure how to do that with Nvidia GPUs, though.

Is 90-92 Celsius too hot? Do you think it is throttling the GPU because of heat? I will try the Afterburner thing, but maybe the thermal paste needs to be re-applied?

Feirlista Xv.1425:

Try setting the laptops power management in Windows to high performance when plugged in then try running the game make sure the power adapter is plugged in

Already tried this, but thanks!

Impaler.6204:

sirsquishy.8531:

Impaler.6204:

I already tried that, but the performance is still the same. One thing I noticed is that in GPU-Z it is barely using any of the memory on the card.

This is a screenshot of GPU-Z while I was standing in Lion’s Arch. Shouldn’t the GPU be using more than 200MB of its 2GB of memory?

And shouldn’t the Core Clock be much higher?

Here is your problem, your 635 is only running at 230Mhz, as opposed to the normal 590Mhz.

Download MSI Afterburner and adjust the power setting to +5 and see if that helps. If it does, then your GPU is stuck in a low power state and needs to be taken out of it. Not sure how to do that with Nvidia GPUs, though.

Is 90-92 Celsius too hot? Do you think it is throttling the GPU because of heat? I will try the Afterburner thing, but maybe the thermal paste needs to be re-applied?

Yep, to hot

This card should start throttling down@90° celsius, becaus the max temperature is 95 or 100, dont know atm.

your laptop should be in the low 70’s to mid 80’s for the temps.

You need to clean the machine out with a nice can of air, if that doesnt fix the issue then you need to take the laptop apart and replace the thermal paste under your heatsinks.

Well I took it apart, reapplied the thermal paste to both the GPU and CPU and I am now getting 40+ FPS using the 635M and temps are staying in the low 80’s.

I also don’t remember removing this cable that comes from the power supply to the motherboard, not sure if that was the power for the GPU or if it was connected to start with, but I plugged that in too.

Seems to be fixed!