Question Sudden HORRENDOUS performance on Gaming Laptop
Question Sudden HORRENDOUS performance on Gaming Laptop
Hello!
I’m experiencing a problem with my gaming laptop.
Model: Acer Nitro 5
CPU: i7-11800H
GPU: RTX 3070
RAM: 16GB
Recently, while playing Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, the performance dropped sharply to about 7 fps after a few days. The fans increased significantly and the game became extremely slow. This issue has happened before, but not always consistently. I also noticed other games acting similarly.
I’ve followed the usual steps—updated GPU drivers, installed Windows updates, ran an antivirus scan, set power settings to high performance, and checked temperatures. No major concerns there.
Interestingly, I faced the same problem last year with the original Kingdom Come: Deliverance. The fix was updating the BIOS and downloading the latest version from Acer’s support site, but since no newer updates are available now, it wasn’t possible this time.
Do you think there might be another cause? Any suggestions would be appreciated!
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I frequently encounter feedback about gaming laptops struggling with performance.
Typically, this happens when using them while connected.
A common reason is thermal throttling.
Since laptop coolers are usually compact and underpowered, they often don’t handle high loads well.
Monitoring tools like HWMonitor will show the current, minimum, and maximum CPU temperatures. You can check each core individually.
For Intel chips, a red max temperature of 100°C indicates throttling is occurring.
With Ryzen processors, the safe range is usually around 85°C to 90°C.
When the CPU reaches this level, it reduces its clock speed and power consumption to avoid overheating.
Lowering the multiplier can cause the CPU to operate at full capacity.
This might result in your system using nearly all available resources.
What steps can be taken?
Ensure your cooler’s airflow is unobstructed and the fan is running.
Adjust the Windows balanced power profile to a maximum of 95% instead of the default 100%.
You might not immediately notice the impact on performance.
It actually doesn't appear to be a hardware problem. As I mentioned, the temperatures weren't an issue, and the problem disappeared unexpectedly once.
The breakdown of CPU, GPU, SSD, and RAM utilization while playing the game.
Everything seems typical. The CPU is running about 30% during the game. The GPU is at full capacity, though it doesn't indicate any issues, and temperatures are normal. RAM is at 95%, with only 6GB utilized by the game. Disk space is around 25%.
And I recommend checking Task Manager, Resource Monitor, and Process Explorer (Microsoft, free) to see what the laptop is doing when performance drops.
Keep all three tools open for observation.
Do not rush to conclusions.
Run each tool separately, note any changes, and watch for patterns.
Look out for background apps attempting updates, backups, or simply connecting to the internet.
They might have started through Task Manager > Startup or via Task Scheduler.
These tools can reveal details about CPU, GPU, SSD, and RAM usage as mentioned by @rgd1101.