TF2 Dropping Massive Amounts of Frames?

Post Reply
User avatar
kreshmott9632
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun Jan 08, 2017 2:58 am

TF2 Dropping Massive Amounts of Frames?

Post by kreshmott9632 »

As of yesterday I had a tight budget and had to buy myself another laptop. Every laptop that was somewhat game-worthy would skyrocket out of my price range and was extremely crushing.

I bought a Aspire E-Series E5-532-P3D4:
  • Quad-Core Intel Pentium N3700 / 1.6 GHz with max Turbo Speed of 2.4GHz
    4GB RAM and 1TB HDD
    Integrated Intel HD Graphics Mobile (Braswell) with shared video memory
After putting in some serious toaster cfg's by Comanglia() and turning everything down on low (even changing it down to dx 8), it would run decently (20-40 fps), but the frames just drop after a few minutes, or during fight, then come back up. I have a suspicion that it might be the CPU bottle-necking. Thing is, this laptop is fairly better than my old one.

Toshiba Satellite C55-A5249
  • Dual-Core Intel Celeron 1037U / 1.8 GHz
    4GB RAM and 500GB HDD
    Integrated Intel HD Graphics (don't remember rest)
This laptop after installing some high fps configs, it would run amazingly even with the graphics set on high. (70-100+ fps)

Im not sure what the problem is. Another suspicion that I have is that on my old Toshiba, a process in the task manager called Debug Profiler, or Machine Debugger or something that would start up randomly and kill preformance. But when I end the task everything goes back to running smoothly. So im assuming it has something to do with some dumb process in the background as well.

Im not super skilled with too much of this stuff but I know my way around a bit. If I could get some help that would be great!
Last edited by kreshmott9632 on Sun Jan 08, 2017 3:02 am, edited 1 time in total.
Image
User avatar
goinundercover
Veteran
Posts: 558
Joined: Tue Apr 23, 2013 7:58 am
Location: abc123

Re: TF2 Dropping Massive Amounts of Frames?

Post by goinundercover »

Well since it's completely quiet in here, I'll pop in.

Although the Pentium N3700 is technically newer, it is not necessarily better than the Celeron 1037U.

Here are the intel ark pages for each respective CPU:
http://ark.intel.com/products/87261/Int ... o-2_40-GHz
http://ark.intel.com/products/71995/Int ... e-1_80-GHz

The Pentium N3700 literally a 6watt part, when compared to the 17w Celeron 1037U. (VERY) Generally, a higher wattage part indicates a higher performance part. It's a bit difficult to compare these two particular CPUs due to the different lithography(14nm vs 22nm) and likely different CPU architectures. Too many different variables when comparing the two. However, simply going from 22nm to 14nm does not reduce your TDP from 17w to 6w, so my best guess is that although you have 2 more cores in the Pentium, each core is a bit weaker than the Celeron's core performance.

There are a couple of benchmarks on cpu.userbenchmark.com, which uses actual user-submitted benchmarks to compare CPUs.

http://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/In ... 474vsm3597

Source engine is more CPU-bound than GPU-bound. Having a higher CPU performance would result in better performance. Additionally, source engine will prefer a stronger single core performer over multiple weaker cores. And this comparison between the N3700 and 1037U linked above pretty much confirms my best guess.

Long story short, I think you went from a slightly old potato to a new potato. Nevertheless, both are still potatoes.
Last edited by goinundercover on Sun Jan 08, 2017 6:02 am, edited 1 time in total.
Retired.
User avatar
kreshmott9632
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun Jan 08, 2017 2:58 am

Re: TF2 Dropping Massive Amounts of Frames?

Post by kreshmott9632 »

Thanks for the info! I guess I just wasn't looking at the small details that could mean a lot. The only problem with my old laptop is that its hard drive went blank. So im assuming its safe to just move the hard drive from this one to the old one for gaming purposes? I have done that a couple times on other friends laptops and it worked fine. I also seem to have decent frames on less detailed maps for vsh such as Mann Co. Tower.
Image
User avatar
goinundercover
Veteran
Posts: 558
Joined: Tue Apr 23, 2013 7:58 am
Location: abc123

Re: TF2 Dropping Massive Amounts of Frames?

Post by goinundercover »

It should work, but at that point why not just return the new laptop and purchase a new hard drive? A new 500GB 2.5" hard drive should only be $50 or so.
Retired.
User avatar
kreshmott9632
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun Jan 08, 2017 2:58 am

Re: TF2 Dropping Massive Amounts of Frames?

Post by kreshmott9632 »

Budget reasoning and proportional spending. Im not too rich so I get what I can afford for now.
Image
Post Reply