Performance much slower than 2 years ago.

[Zapthos]

Hi, in the end of 2016 I bought this laptop. It's a used laptop, but it was like 2 years old when I bought it. But the problem is... it's very slow. GTA 5 used to play at ~50fps avg on 1366x768 medium, but now it gets ~30fps avg on 800x600 medium. Also Rocket League, used to play it at 60fps+ with max settings, but the lowest settings now won't get any near that. I've tried a fresh install of every Windows version that's still usable in 2018 (7, 8.1 & 10), but no difference. All drivers are up-to-date. Also cleaned the inside of the laptop & replaced the thermal paste. Temps are ~40-50 idle so that should be fine. Here are some of the specs:
I5-2430m @2.40GHz 2c 4t
8gb ddr3 mem
GeForce GT520MX + Intel HD Graphics 3000 (tried both gpu's btw, gt520mx is faster as excpected, still lags as I said)
750gb 5400rpm hdd (I think it's some kind of Western Digital)
Intel Centrino Wireless N100 - Update 31/10/18: I upgraded the network adapter to a 5GHz one, the TP-Link Archer T1U AC450
Asus K53SC-SX404V
Intel HM65 chipset

 

[hang-the-9]

Are you installing the drivers from the vendor? For laptops you would want to install the vendor drivers, especially with dual graphics.

 

[Zapthos]

Are you installing the drivers from the vendor? For laptops you would want to install the vendor drivers, especially with dual graphics.

Yep, I tried from both Asus and Intel & Nvidia. I've tried some overclocking but the improvements weren't big.

 

[Zapthos]

I think I found the problem... but not the solution, see this cpu-z screenshot: https/imgur.com/XCQXePl it doesn't even hit 800mhz but it should be 2-3ghz. My ram is also running at 667mhz instead of 1333mhz which Asus says.

 

[hang-the-9]

I think I found the problem... but not the solution, see this cpu-z screenshot: https/imgur.com/XCQXePl it doesn't even hit 800mhz but it should be 2-3ghz. My ram is also running at 667mhz instead of 1333mhz which Asus says.

You are looking at idle speeds, under load the speed will be higher. The RAM speed is normal, you double the base speed of the RAM (DDR). depends on what speeds you are looking at.

 

[Zapthos]

I didn't know you have to double the ram speeds to get what you actually have. I will update on what the clocks are under load + I might try some modded drivers if I can find them.

 

[Zapthos]

With a cpu intensive game (GTA 5) running, it's still at a very low clock. https/imgur.com/a/ICSVxEl The only reason I can think of why it would be this low is overheating, but it's getting temps which are normal, so that's not the issue right here. Very interesting...

 

[Zapthos]

CPU-Z LOG file in case needed: https/pastebin.com/7QbpPP59

 

[hang-the-9]

Check for a newer BIOS, did you install the chipset and other drivers also? Check in the BIOS for the default speed settings, set things to max performance, and make sure you run the tests with the power plugged in.

 

[Zapthos]

Check for a newer BIOS, did you install the chipset and other drivers also? Check in the BIOS for the default speed settings, set things to max performance, and make sure you run the tests with the power plugged in.

I already have the latest BIOS (221 from 2012). The BIOS has no control over performance things. I'm running the chipset driver from the Asus website, and I also tried the newest one from Intel, but no difference. I'm using the laptop with both the battery and the charger (4.74A 19V 90W). I'm running the 'High Performance' power plan in the settings.

 

[Peter Martin]

do you think he needs older nvidia drivers? are the new ones bugging him out?

 

[Zapthos]

do you think he needs older nvidia drivers? are the new ones bugging him out?

Don't think so, Asus has the drivers that came with this laptop, so it should work fine. These aren't compatible with Windows 10, but still on 7 & 8.1 it's still very slow.