Question Laptop lag spikes when playing on emulators

Mar 16, 2022
3
0
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Windows 10
HP Laptop 15-da0xxx
processor i5-8250U CPU @1.60GHz
BIOS Insyde F,35 9/12/2020

basically every 10 minutes I get weird lag spikes when playing games on DS or 3DS emulators. They worked just fine few months back without any lag, I have no idea when or why exactly did the problem start. And it's not just the game itself playing at like 2 FPS, the whole laptop slows down for a minute or two till it gets back to normal and this keeps happening every 10 minutes or so.
I have laptop set to high performance, use Nvidia graphic card for all programs.. is there something that could cause the slow down? anything I should check or update?
thanks for any help.

//I posted this yesterday but I don't see the post anymore..? So I'm reposting cause I need help..
 
I would suggest you use the task manager to see if you can identify another activity consuming lots of CPU/GPU when the slowdown occurs. This is not always easy to solve but is a starting point. It could also be some sort of resource deadlock which is harder to track down.
 
Mar 16, 2022
3
0
10
I would suggest you use the task manager to see if you can identify another activity consuming lots of CPU/GPU when the slowdown occurs. This is not always easy to solve but is a starting point. It could also be some sort of resource deadlock which is harder to track down.

I've used task manager and checked programs while the lag happened, the only other things with high CPU usage I saw were client server runtime process and desktop window manager - they go up to 20% at times during the lag.
 
The problem you have is difficult to solve, but a few more suggestions:
  • Also look at the task manager for disk usage and GPU usage.
  • Click on the TM Details tab, right click on the PF Delta selection and look for high number of page faults (tens of thousands/sec).
  • Uninstall any software you really don't need. Something may be running some background activity that is hard to spot.
  • Look at the startup page in TM and disable pretty much everything you don't absolutely need for gaming (keep track so you can turn it back on). Reboot and see if anything changed.
  • Do a clean reinstall of Windows (very time consuming).
There are some real pigs out there. I recently removed Spotify and Adobe Desktop from my wife's PC. They were consuming almost 20% of her processor all the time.
 
Mar 16, 2022
3
0
10
The problem you have is difficult to solve, but a few more suggestions:
  • Also look at the task manager for disk usage and GPU usage.
  • Click on the TM Details tab, right click on the PF Delta selection and look for high number of page faults (tens of thousands/sec).
  • Uninstall any software you really don't need. Something may be running some background activity that is hard to spot.
  • Look at the startup page in TM and disable pretty much everything you don't absolutely need for gaming (keep track so you can turn it back on). Reboot and see if anything changed.
  • Do a clean reinstall of Windows (very time consuming).
There are some real pigs out there. I recently removed Spotify and Adobe Desktop from my wife's PC. They were consuming almost 20% of her processor all the time.

The problem started happening with GBA emulators as well as DS and 3DS ones...
I've took some screenshots of the task manager while the lag spike was happening.
It's in my native language, so I apologize for that.

unknown.png


The one under Citra is desktop window manager, the highest I've seen it go is 14% GPU

unknown.png


The second to last section are the page faults, with my browser, wacom graphic tablet, desktop window manager, discord and whatever MsMpEng is going up to millions. I don't think my browser or discord are the issue since I've tried to play without having them open up too.
I've uninstalled all I could, nothing seemed to solve this.
I do not have the time or patience to sit through a windows reinstall (also I've never done one before and I'm not sure about the exact steps)
I'm thinking of bringing my laptop to the local service next week to see if they could help out.
 
A few observations (may not be useful.....)
  • I looked up Citra and saw that Canary is a pre-beta version. You would be better off running a final version unless you are a tester.
  • MsMpEng is the MS antimalware program. That has been known to cause problems such as lagging. There are articles on the internet about how to disable it. You might try that temporarily but it's not a permanent fix. You are running without protection. If you can disable the internet at that point and still run your game, that would be good.'
  • I think you are looking at total page faults rather than page faults/second.
  • In my experience, one can have slow downs that are never understood. There may be ways to run these down, but I don't know them. Someone else may have additional suggestions. There are a lot of articles on the internet about "lagging PC", Some may be useful. I avoid any "helpful" tools that offer to fix such problems for you or update drivers. Good way to pick up malware.