Playing RDR2 on a slow laptop is quite a challenge.
Playing RDR2 on a slow laptop is quite a challenge.
Well, after a year of debating 'should I try it?', I've been holding off since its release. It's not much, but it shows my effort. Spoiler: 1280x720 resolution, the lowest settings I can achieve, plus some minor grass LOD adjustments from LowSpecGamer. The build is a 940MX OCed with a +135 MHz clock and +495 MHz memory clock. I didn't make huge changes—roughly 3-5 frames per second with a temperature rise of 3-5 degrees, which is essentially a one-to-one gain. Still, it works in some cases, reaching 30fps or more, which feels fine to play. Temperatures stay steady between 69-72 degrees. I set the performance mode to "Better performance" instead of "Best performance" so my i5-7200U doesn't constantly crank up to 3.1GHz (it doesn’t need much power). This reduced some heat by 2-3 degrees. Temperatures fluctuate around 78, sometimes hitting 89. Probably because the heatsink design forces the CPU to match GPU temps. The thermal pastes were recently replaced (third time in a month) since the CPU temps were too wild before—even with the fan at full speed. The paste didn’t stick well on the CPU. MX4, by the way. Spoiler: That AC-powered cooling fan really helps bring both temps down to 2-3 degrees and keeps my hands comfortable. There’s also an extra Deepcool N17 unit below the laptop. And yes—I played it from the external drive (same speed as the SATA drive), since I only have 120GB of internal storage and don’t want to risk more space. I’ve already destroyed three of them. I won’t play it often here. It would drain the battery again. Still, it’s worth a try. Now, how can I actually lower the temps a bit? I’m not expecting a massive improvement, but even a small drop is nice. I won’t go into troubleshooting details right now—just curious if using an external GPU could help.
You have few choices for boosting laptop cooling. Either apply higher-quality thermal paste or go the extreme of physically modifying your device (which I don’t recommend). If your system has a PCIe 1X port, you might consider an eGPU, though it’s not practical for this type of laptop.
Yeah, and I'm kind of regret of getting a laptop instead of PC somehow. But I needed it more for college unfortunately. Got a thought to just copy the game to my brother's PC, pull some Cat 5e cable, and just stream it out of it lol Already using MX4 thermal paste, which is just pasted (again, after twice of no-good temp results) hours ago.
Well I mean, laptops are PC's... Anyhow, those temps are just fine and expected from a laptop, and apart from all the things you've already done there is nothing you can really do to get them lower in a manner that would make any sense.
Hey there! We all got the same GPU *high fives*. For your temperature concerns, assuming the laptop isn’t too dusty, it works great—perfect for 5-10°C. Pro tip: don’t plug it into the laptop; use a USB cable and phone charger instead to avoid damage or power issues. Another idea: lowering the resolution can help you hit around 30fps. (Press alt+enter for full screen details)
With the proper configurations and cooling, it can handle around 239 FPS—though that’s mostly due to the older racing game, which is a bit of a cheat. Running Monster Hunter World “just okay” is possible without overclocking, thanks to the AC in the hotel. Monster Hunter World (sub HD) functions well enough.