Nachocheesemann

Estimable
Mar 10, 2014
6
0
4,510
Hello,

I have recently bought the Lenovo Y50 with the UHD 4k display and the top specs(16gb ram, 512 ssd, 860m 4gb) that I could get, and I am having a lot of screen related issues with this laptop.

First off when I got it, applications like origin will scale really small when my Windows 8 settings is at the highest (250%) size. Also other applications like chrome will appear to be pixely and not in 4k resolution when the close and minimize icons are clear and crisp along with everything else.

Some other issues I have been having are with gaming. According to the Nvidia benchmarks and reviews of other people's Y50s, the 860m should be able to play Battlefield 4 on high settings with good frames, but I get about 30 FPS on medium settings with the native 4k resolution. I have tried setting the resolution down to 1920X1080, but there is not much change at all.

In War thunder, the game launches in the 4k resolution and looks fine, but for some unknown reason, my cursor is only limited to the top left quadrant of the screen. I am able to click on anything within, but I cannot go outside. This issue gets resolved by reducing my resolution to 1920X1080, but on ultra settings, I get only 30 FPS max, when I got about 50 when I ran my gtx 660 ti on my desktop.

In Civ 5, the game launches the first time in a low screen resolution (like 1350X650 or something like that) and once I change it to the native screen resolution, the screen shriks down to about 7x5 inches. The best resolution that I founf works good with this screen is 1920X1200. Also when I play on max settings in Civ 5, I get about 13 FPS and to play comfortably I have to set me settings to medium or low.

These are some of the issues that I have come across with the Y50 so far. Everything else with is it just great. The screen, when it works, is crystal clear, and the keyboard is crisp and sexy. The track-pad could be better, but I use a mouse anyways, so meh. The audio is phenomenal and the computer runs very cool. I have not gone on my settings and deleted all of the Lenovo bloatware, which I have heard there is a LOT. Is there anything that I can do to improve my settings so I can play these games at the highest graphical quality and FPS/game-play? I really like this computer, but if this is not the right choice for the games that I am playing, is there another fairly thin gaming laptop that will solve my issue?

Thanks so much!

Alex
 
Solution
The 4k scaling is a windows issue, not an issue with your laptop. If programs (windows especially) aren't coded and scaled for 4k. For gaming, there is no possible way the 860m will run 4k. You need to play at 1080p. You say there is no difference, but that's because its not truly on 1080p. You need to change the display both in windows and NVidia to run at 1080p not 4k. The 4k is pretty much only useful in video/photo editing, watching blurays, and Netflix.

Dblkk

Honorable
Oct 30, 2013
323
0
11,010
The 4k scaling is a windows issue, not an issue with your laptop. If programs (windows especially) aren't coded and scaled for 4k. For gaming, there is no possible way the 860m will run 4k. You need to play at 1080p. You say there is no difference, but that's because its not truly on 1080p. You need to change the display both in windows and NVidia to run at 1080p not 4k. The 4k is pretty much only useful in video/photo editing, watching blurays, and Netflix.
 
Solution

Nachocheesemann

Estimable
Mar 10, 2014
6
0
4,510


So will I get my expected performance then by switching the resolution to 1080p? The other alternative to this laptop was to get the 1080p display, but will switching everything to 1080p return the same results as getting the 1080p laptop?

*note: I've downgraded my screen resolution to 1920X1080, and Applications are starting to scale and work properly, especially origin. I've also set my target FPS on the Nvidia GeForce Experience to 50 FPS(from 30) and when running BF4 on 1920X1080 at ultra, I get about 30 FPS. I have yet to try out other games, but is there any more things I can use to improve my FPS?
 

Dblkk

Honorable
Oct 30, 2013
323
0
11,010
Yes and no. setting to 1080p will not always be the same as having and running 1080p.

Changing to 1080p will yes get you the 860m performance. I wouldn't play at ultra, id play at high though. No big difference in quality, but big gain in fps and reduced workload on gpu. The 860m is a great card.

The 1080p vs 4k screen options. You did it right. 4k is not a huge hit now, it is very new in laptops, but things will slowly but surely be going towards the 4k route. And your ready for it. And when it does work, its just stunning! I'm very envious of your 4k. I almost went gt60 dominator pro with 3k just to get the 3k boost over 1080p, but I have really become accustomed to the 17" not 15". And 4k is better than 3k. If there was 4k option on the msi, I would've bought it, no doubt.

But advice to you, just run 1080p, set things for high and 60fps target. Much better all around experience that way. I have a 880m and I still play on high, even though ultra is fully capable with my hardware.
 

Nachocheesemann

Estimable
Mar 10, 2014
6
0
4,510
Cool that is great to know. Everything working pretty good now, but I am still a lot of lag on high settings and even using the default settings in Civ 5. It is kind of bearable, but I do not understand how I am getting lag on these low settings, even when I can play ultra settings on BF4.
 

Dblkk

Honorable
Oct 30, 2013
323
0
11,010


The Lenovo is either 270xm or 860m. Those cards are not powerful enough for battlefield 4 on ultra, and high setttings on some games is also a stretch. I'm guessing/hoping that you've got the i7, if you have the i5 that could easily be your problem. But could also be heat leading to throttling, or simple things such as internet speeds.
 

Nachocheesemann

Estimable
Mar 10, 2014
6
0
4,510


The Lenovo I have has a 860m 4GB and an i7 cpu. BF4 is not the issue, because I get an average of 40-50 frames. What surprises me is that I can get such good performance on BF4 and bad performance on Civ.
 

haveasnickers

Estimable
Jul 27, 2014
1
0
4,510
I have had my Lenovo y50 4k, with the same specs as yours. I know I had this with some older games in that the 860m card wouldn't kick in on older games (some games would run just off the integrated Intel graphics), so I had to go to Nvidia control panel (right click on the desktop) and set the older games to use the 860 graphics card manually. Might want to try this and see if the problem still persists.
 

daviangel

Distinguished
Jul 17, 2006
2
0
18,510

Yup I'm running a 4930K@5Ghz with a 780GTX and if that struggles with games @4K!
That laptop stands no chance except single digit framerates like my Macbook Pro 2013 with 750 nvidia graphics gets using my 4K monitor. Game like X-Com are doable though since they aren't really graphics intense and don't mind occasional glitching.


 

Prady Rao

Estimable
Jan 5, 2015
1
0
4,510


but he also mentioned that the programs are scaling really small to the actual window, like origin. I'm having the same problems. how do we fix that?

 

dman56789

Estimable
Jan 6, 2015
2
0
4,510


So what am I doing wrong when my netlflix streaming is choppy? the sound is at 99.9% spot on, but the video lags when it pans or, ya know, tries to do what it's supposed to. Help?
 

Ali1986

Estimable
Feb 23, 2015
1
0
4,510


How can I change both ? step by step please
 

Italiandogs

Estimable
Feb 9, 2015
9
0
4,510


There is no way to change it. It is a permanent setting. If you YouTube: "LinusTechTips" and search for "Lenovo Y50" he actually explains that it will feel off. Almost like something isn't right, but he said that you will easily and quickly get used to it and it is 100% bearable to play games on.

 

MAVERICK1111a

Estimable
May 19, 2015
1
0
4,510
If anyone is having issues running games on the y50-70 then you might like to try this option.
First find the games executable and right click on this and in the menu click on choose to run program on nvidia gpu.
sometimes games will run automatically on the nvida gpu but others decide to use the internal gpu.
hope this solves your issues.