newbie to assetto corsa, very very low fps with core i7 + GEforce GT650M

[manu68]

Hi everybody.
My name is Emmanuel, from france.
I purchased yesterday assetto corsa on steam, at a very fair price (31€ for the game + dream packs 1-2-3 + porsche pack 1-2-3)

I have raced online many years with Grand prix legends and rfactor and netkar pro
After many years dedicated to play more electric guitars, i have recently decided to install again my old racing simulations. I must admit that I don't intend really to race online seriously anymore (question of time), but I would like to hotlap and have fun with the fantastic cars and tracks on assetto corsa.
(I would also improve my rank at Grand prix legends, which also looks fantastic with the new 60fps patch and improved graphics).

My problem is thew following.
I get only 8-10 fps in Assetto corsa, and that not depending on the display resolution (1920x1080 or 1280x720) or game setting (full details or no detail at all).
I can change what I want, I have about 10fps.
(in the game statistics)

My computer is a laptop dell 17R inspiron SE 7720. It is fure sure not a killer gaming PC, but I suppose that I should get more than 10 poor fps with assetto corsa (It runs rfactor and netkar pro at 60 fps without problems and with a lot of details). I don't intend to have 150fps at full details, but just a decent game (above 40fps alone on track with decent details would be nice)

Not sure about the precise characteristics, but is is something like that.
Intel Core i7-3630QM (2.4/3.4GHz), 8GB DDR3 (1600MHz), 2TB SATA HDD (5400RPM) + 32GB mSATA SSD, BRay Combo, 43.942 cm (17.3 ") 3D LED FHD, 1920 x 1080, NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M (2GB), 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, Fast LAN, Windows 8 64-bit

What do you think about the situation.
Do I have missed something ?
Is my laptop not able to run the game better than 10 fps?
Should I use some configuration tweak (like 4gb patch or +fullproc tip with Rfactor ???)

I could provide some more information from nvidia inspector (I am not a specialist of such software).
I just can say that the GPU is at 100% all the time as soon as I am into the game.
profil P8. I am not sure but the clock speed of the GPU seems to be very low.

Many thanks in advance for any advice.
Emmanuel

 

[RasmusP]

Happy to hear that man!
Windows 10, Laptops, adaptive GPUs... Who doesn't have trouble with it

 

[digital1nk]

Ok so looks like you need to work with temperatures, probably your GPU's thermal paste getting a bit old?

 

[RasmusP]

Good point, but I had never issues with thermal paste in any PC/Laptop I ever saw.
I would think the Laptop rather needs some cleaning and maybe one of these "cooling stands" for Laptops to get more air

 

[HypoToad]

Good point, but I had never issues with thermal paste in any PC/Laptop I ever saw.
I would think the Laptop rather needs some cleaning and maybe one of these "cooling stands" for Laptops to get more air

I agree. My wife's laptop started to shutdown due to over heating, we took it to a nearby tech who found it was full of dust blocking the ventilation ducts and heat sinks. I know I have to clean out my PC once a year, it's amazing how much dust and fluff gets stuck in there.

 

[manu68]

I have checked that the fan runs well.
I have found à vidéo on how to change the fan (disassembling the laptop).
I'll make that for cleaning. It just can be positive and seems to bé no complicated at all

 

[thepharcyde]

I was able to overstock both my 650m in Sli to 1100mhz each easy. I also had bat files setup.

The maxwell cards overclocked well, a good blow out of the fan/vents should sort that.

 

[manu68]

Some updates.

I went further regarding the setting of my computer for running assetto corsa.
After different trial and research on the web, there is unfortunately no way to act on the fan by means of software like MSI afterburner or Nvidia inspector.
I has been very surprised to see that it was no way to adjust the speed fan (option is greyed into the soft), but it is normal. On Laptop, the graphic card has no own speed fan controller. The fan is shared with the CPU, and can not be separately driven. At least this is so with the Geforce GT650M.

I could maybe change that with the bios, but I am not at all a specialist, plus I went into the bios and didn't see anything about Fan speed

I could check again the dust inside my laptop (no time for that until now), but I am pretty sure it is not the root cause of my laptop crashing with assetto corsa.

I have made some trials , and everytime the laptop crashes after about minutes, because the temperature goes above the 91°C limit.
Then I have changed my way of thinking, and I have decided to "downclock" the GPU just to see
And it works. Of course some of you would think that I am crazy to downclock such a "small" GPU, but it is better that nothing.

The normal clock speed is 735 MHz in P0-State / 3D applications.
The boost mode is 835 MHz.
When launching Assetto corsa, the GPU goes automatically to 835 MHZ and crashed after several minutes because of the temperature. It just seems that the GPU doesn't accept to stay on the boost mode for a long time
If I "downclock" the GPU at "only" 735 MHZ, the game doesn't crash anymore. (may I rmember that is is better than the 135 MHz I was stuck with some days ago )
The temperature goes high (90-91°C), but after some minutes it comes back to about 86°C and stay there.
I have also set the frame limit at 61 fps, in order to not generate "too much" frames that I don't really need.
I could not play very long, but it seems to work and the laptop doesn't crash.

That said, my first impression is that the game looks fantastic, even with the low setting I use
(AA 2x, AF2X, loww shadow, 1366x768 @ 60Hz).
With my current graphic setting, I have a steady 60 fps (limited in menu) about everywhere at all the tracks I have tested at the moment, and this is pretty cool I must say.

I could drive the Lotus 49 at spa66, the nordschleife, Monza66, longford, .....
What a beast !! (but honestly probably easier to drive as in Grand prix legends)
I also tried quickly some 911 porsche at diverse road tracks, and all seems to be sooooo promising

After some summer holidays I will try to further tweak the game to my needs (FOV, force feedback, ...)

The conclusion , if there was any doubt, is that assetto corsa can run perfectly (at least hotlapping alone) with an core i7 + Geforce GT650M
There is some graphic limitations of course, but the game looks already fantastic in comparison with older sims
(I also tested Nektkar pro, and it looks really good too with some more graphic options AA/AF, ..)

Emmanuel

 

[digital1nk]

Update us if you manage to do some dust cleaning, your laptop shouldnt crash with stock GPU boost unless theres some temperature problems.
Oh and congrats on managing to finally run the game!

 

[manu68]

Yes, I will do some dust cleaning for sure. It can only help.

Just for information, I made some trials with a downclock of 90 Hz instead of 100Hz (also 755 MHz instead of 745 MHz). The laptop shut down after several minutes.
It is like the laptop doesn't like at all the GPU boost mode above the "normal" 745 MHz 3D application.
With 745 MHz GPU clock, no shut down so far.

 

[thepharcyde]

Yes, I will do some dust cleaning for sure. It can only help.

Just for information, I made some trials with a downclock of 90 Hz instead of 100Hz (also 755 MHz instead of 745 MHz). The laptop shut down after several minutes.
It is like the laptop doesn't like at all the GPU boost mode above the "normal" 745 MHz 3D application.
With 745 MHz GPU clock, no shut down so far.

It's blatantly overheating, take that back over off, stop faffing with downclocking, clear out that dust, overclock and enjoy

 

[manu68]

It is an old thread, but I post some update just in case someone may be interested.

Unfortunately I can not play as much I would like.
I have some spare time for Assetto corsa, and I have looked again to see what could be done with my laptop .

Recently, i have put my laptop totally in pieces to remove the fan and clean the dust.

Almost no dust.
It means that the overheating is inherent to the design of the laptop itself. The fan is just to small in gaming situation.
Until now, the only solution I could found was to "downclock" the already weak GPU in order to avoid the Laptop to shut down itself after just some minutes of playing.
745 Mhz instead of "normal" boost frequency 835 MHz.

With 745 Mhz GPU I am able to play with 60 fps with decent graphics in 1366x768, 17" laptop
Nothing impressive, but looks pretty nice and stable for my needs
But the temperatur remains high, about 90°C, and I must admit that I am afraid to kill the laptop (which is my main laptop for electric guitar rig).

I have looked for a solution and I finally purchased a small cooling device, Klim cool +

After some tests, I must say that even if it is not miraculous, it does a pretty decent job for the price.

I can know play at about 77°C ( (Hotlap ) instead of 90°C (with fps locked at 61 in game), and that with the nominal boost frequency of 835 MHz.

Benchmark Spa Assetto corsa (15 cars, Spa francorchamps)
(In this case the T° with klim cool+ is just about 5°C less, at about 85°C. I suppose that it is because the fps is not limited at 61 fps and the CPU/ GPU are really at 100%.

835 Mhz , Klim cool + (+12% Frequency)
AC VERSION: 1.16.3 (x64)
POINTS: 10840
FPS: AVG=74 MIN=50 MAX=96 VARIANCE=0 CPU=41% (+14% AVG FPS)

745 MHz , without Klim cool+
AC VERSION: 1.16.3 (x64)
POINTS: 9612
FPS: AVG=65 MIN=44 MAX=84 VARIANCE=0 CPU=33%

This lower temperatur offers me some more room to improve (a little) the graphics and/or to play online, waiting probably for a new dedicated sim racing PC purchase until the end of 2018.
Until now it was just impossible to use 835 MHz without the laptop shuting down by itself

(I can also play grand prix legends, GTR2 HD10th,... at full spec in excellent conditions)