Gaming performance crashes suddenly on every game with this ASUS ZenBook UX530UX model.
Gaming performance crashes suddenly on every game with this ASUS ZenBook UX530UX model.
Hey! I've been having sudden drops in game frames per second lately on all my games. My laptop is an Asus Zenbook UX530 and it's only been about 5 months. This started just this past week or so. Here are the specs: Operating System: Windows 10 Processor: Intel Core i7-7500U RAM: 8 GB Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce 940MX (2 GB) Storage: 512 GB SSD - My laptop isn't getting too hot. We tested for overheating and air circulation is fine too. I don't have any viruses either. I ran several antivirus scans and checked what programs are installed (I don't install too many anyway). It's not a problem with just one game or Steam, because it happens on both Steam and other games. My drivers are updated and I think it's not my NVIDIA graphics card, since the issue shows up even when using integrated graphics instead. The memory isn't reaching its maximum capacity during those lag spikes. This doesn't seem to be related to my power settings either. It never started happening after any specific update or installing anything recently. Sometimes the CPU goes over the limit during those lag spikes, but not always.
Worst case, you might need to do a full reinstall. If the software has a bug, it can be really hard to find the fix. It could be an old DX10/11 issue, wrong OpenGL settings, or any part of the system that isn't working right like your drivers. At some point, a clean Windows install helps a lot and lets you know if it was all software or just hardware causing the problem.
Can turning down the graphics settings fix the lag spikes? When the computer's processor gets too hot or busy, which programs are making things slower? No, even with low graphics, the FPS drops. It seems only when the game is playing does it get very slow. We can't tell what exactly is causing this because the drop happens so quickly that it looks instant.
Check your Phys-X settings under the NVIDIA control panel and see if they are set for CPU. If that is the case, change them so the 940MX is selected instead. If the game keeps using the CPU at full speed, you probably cannot stop it easily unless you find other things to use its power on. Internet browsers can take a lot of CPU and memory space if there are any running in the background. Maybe run MSCONFIG to see what else starts up automatically so you can turn those off too. Also, try turning your anti-virus software off; this could make spikes happen if it is trying to grab files that the game needs.
Hey smashjohn, let me check if your Phys-X is set to CPU or maybe switch it over to the 940MX. If you're seeing that loading screen spinning fast because the game uses all your CPU power, just cut off other things like your internet browser so they don't steal resources. You can try turning off your anti-virus program too; sometimes those programs get in the way when the game needs files. Thanks for replying! Most games aren't supposed to use 100% of the CPU all the time, but they do sometimes spike up around 50-60%, just a little laggy moments. I'll check the settings and try turning off my anti-virus now.
Maybe try changing your Phys-X settings in the NVIDIA control panel from CPU to 940MX. If it's still set to CPU, maybe that helps too. Sometimes when a game loads really hard on the CPU, you can't do anything but slow down other things like opening browsers or running programs. I tried disabling my antivirus first; sometimes that stops spikes and slows things down. Then I checked what started up automatically and there were nothing strange there either so it looks like nothing is breaking anything right now.
Worst case, maybe you need to do a full wipe of the system. Sometimes bugs in the programs are hard to spot. They could be things like graphics drivers (DX10/11), OpenGL settings, or bad parts of the computer that don't talk to each other well. At some point, just starting over with Windows takes away most problems and lets you know if it's a program issue or a hardware problem.
Same thing with my Zenbook Pro Duo using an RTX 2060 card. The processor stays busy at 50-60%, while the graphics card is also around 70-80%. Every one to two minutes, my frame rate suddenly drops way too much and it feels really annoying. I've already changed Windows, updated my GPU drivers, cleaned out old junk files, and checked that fans aren't spinning up when they shouldn't be. But nothing works better yet. I need some advice...