Low FPS in cs go w/ 860m.

Saberen

Estimable
Jun 5, 2014
48
0
4,580
I was playing cs go and as soon as i launched the game and go into a game i was getting fps dropping as low as 27 with an average of 50fps. i checked to see if i was using the inte hd graphics on my 4710hq cpu but the gpu was staying at 54c. I can play rome total war at max settings without problems but why is this game causing me trouble?
 
Solution


I don't have my Nvidia laptop with me, so I'm going by memory. Hopefully I remember well wnough :p

1. Open Nvidia Control Panel (either right click on desktop, or look it up on the start menu/screen)
2. Go to "Manage 3D settings"
3. Select "Program Settings" or something like that. One option in the tabs is "Global Settings" and the other is the one you want.
4. In the dropdown menu, find the executable file for CS:GO. You might have to add it manually if it's not on the list.
5. There should be another menu that lets you choose which GPU will be used when the program launches...

Epsilon_0EVP

Honorable
Jun 27, 2012
23
0
10,590
Since this is a laptop, maybe Optimus is having trouble detecting the game properly? Try forcing it to run with the GPU in the Nvidia Control Panel, and see if that helps the framerate.
 

Saberen

Estimable
Jun 5, 2014
48
0
4,580


How do i do that? i've optimized the game in GeForce experience and i still get bad fps. Even when the recommended settings for the game are maxed out.
 

Epsilon_0EVP

Honorable
Jun 27, 2012
23
0
10,590


I don't have my Nvidia laptop with me, so I'm going by memory. Hopefully I remember well wnough :p

1. Open Nvidia Control Panel (either right click on desktop, or look it up on the start menu/screen)
2. Go to "Manage 3D settings"
3. Select "Program Settings" or something like that. One option in the tabs is "Global Settings" and the other is the one you want.
4. In the dropdown menu, find the executable file for CS:GO. You might have to add it manually if it's not on the list.
5. There should be another menu that lets you choose which GPU will be used when the program launches. Instead of "Auto-select", choose "Nvidia high-performance graphics".
6. Click apply and exit the control panel

This should be more or less the steps to force CS:GO to run on the Nvidia GPU. If this does not work or I'm wrong, let me know and we can try a different approach.
 
Solution

Saberen

Estimable
Jun 5, 2014
48
0
4,580


Did it, nothing changed. I opened msi afterburner and the gpu was being used at 61% while i was playing cs go. This is very odd because literally every other game plays just fine so far.
 

Epsilon_0EVP

Honorable
Jun 27, 2012
23
0
10,590


Interesting. The CPU is also not likely to be the bottleneck, since it's a rather powerful CPU (for a laptop). What are the settings that Nvidia GeForce Experience optimized the game for? It is possible it activated DSR, which destroys framerate (although it does have a rather good effect on image quality). If it did, that would be the reason we get low framerates. So, what settings is it set to?
 

Saberen

Estimable
Jun 5, 2014
48
0
4,580


DSR is not on. I was having bad fps even before i optimized it.

 

Epsilon_0EVP

Honorable
Jun 27, 2012
23
0
10,590


Can you still list what settings it is at? It might help to see if there is something else wrong. I'll try to think of what else could be the issue meanwhile.
 

Saberen

Estimable
Jun 5, 2014
48
0
4,580

I'm running at default.
Ambient Occlusion- off
anisotropic filtering-application controlled
anti-aliasing-FXAA-off
all other anti-aliasing is off.
CUDA-Gpus-all
maxiumum pre-rendered frames- use the 3d application settings.
multi-display/mixed gpu acceleration- multiple display performance mode
power management mode-Adaptive
Shader cache-on
texture filtering -anisotropic sample- off
texture-filtering-negative LOD bias-allow
Texture-filtering-quality-quality
texture-filtering-trilinear optimization-on
threaded optimization- auto
triple buffering-off
verticle sync-use the 3D application setting
virtual reality pre-rendered frames-1

I can't find DSR anywhere here.

 

Epsilon_0EVP

Honorable
Jun 27, 2012
23
0
10,590


All right, DSR is not the problem, then. However, I did notice that the power management mode is adaptive. According to Nvidia's support page, this can cause incorrect throttling of the GPU, which would affect your performance. Try seeing if changing that solves your porblem.

Notice that selecting the maximum performance mode will lower you battery life. To avoid that, we can change this setting for CS:GO alone, by changing the setting in the "Program Settings" tab instead of the "Global Settings" tab. Your battery life will still be lower when playing CS:GO than before, but battery life isn't usually a priority in gaming :p
 

Saberen

Estimable
Jun 5, 2014
48
0
4,580


Not sure if relevant but msi afterburner shows a core clock of 405 mhz on the memory and on the core clock. That means it's detecting the intel hd graphics. also what i noticed is that if i scroll down through msi afterburner it says gpu 2 which i assume is the 860m. maybe i was using the onboard graphics all along. Update: i found out it is on the 860m. I also ran the Metro last light benchmark at max settings and i was getting an average of 31fps. yet i average around 30 fps in a non demanding game like cs go. During the benchmark the gpu was at 90% utilization and was around 80c. Something is not right.

 

Saberen

Estimable
Jun 5, 2014
48
0
4,580


I am an idiot. i set my system to power saver. once i put it to balanced i was getting high frames again. i'm sorry for wasting your time.
 

Epsilon_0EVP

Honorable
Jun 27, 2012
23
0
10,590


No biggie :) This is why tech support usually begins by asking you to check stuff is plugged in :p At least you were still able to fix it. Good luck!