Bought a new pc, still too slow for AoE 2: DE?

[Vikingo]

Hi guys,

I bought a new laptop just to play some good old Age of Empires II.

Specs:
DELL XPS 9560
i7-7700HQ @ 2.8 Ghz
16Gb RAM
GTX1080 4Gb
Intel(R) HD Graphics 630 4Gb
477 Gb SSD

I'm playing on a 2nd monitor, connected by USB-C

My opponents are often complaining about lagg. The clock next to my name is often yellow.

Benchmark at low settings: 1114.8
FPS: 28 to 33

Here a screenshot of the task manager during the benchmark: (it's usually stable, but when going back to main menu, usage almost doubles, as visible in this screenshot below)

Internet
Download: 95 Mbit/sec
Upload: 90 Mbit/sec


Can anyone explain if the lagg is caused by my laptop, or by the internet?
Did I just buy a laptop with spec too low for this game?

Happy to hear your opinion and expierence!

Cya!

 

[Vikingo]

@Vikingo Haven't tried it but might be good try for you:

GitHub - gregstein/SenseiDE: Unleash The Ultimate Performance from Age of Empires 2 Definitive

Unleash The Ultimate Performance from Age of Empires 2 Definitive - GitHub - gregstein/SenseiDE: Unleash The Ultimate Performance from Age of Empires 2 Definitive

github.com

I tried this program. Same score at Benchmark test, 1122. FPS stays the same, 30.

Thanks for the tip though!

 

[Vikingo]

I have a laptop with much worse specs but the at the lowest possible settings i get 60fps without any problems. But i make sure to not use wifi at all because thats when i start to lag. Maybe you have some extra programs running in the background that cause the FPS to drop.View attachment 190964

I have no programs running in the back, when I'm browsing in the ingame menus, FPS is around 60, when the game starts it drops to around 30 and stays like that.

 

[Vikingo]

yes. but luckily, since the new ryzens have a pretty low powerconsumption (makes cooling easier) and aoe2 mainly using 1 core, it should turbo all the time. unless u do a lot of other stuff on the side ofc

The CPU is running at 3.5 Ghz, giving a 30 FPS. When it would run at like plus 4.2 it won't give a lot higher FPS I guess.. Is there a way to check the IPC of this CPU?

Thanks in advance

 

[AkeNo]

Try putting something like: fps_max 60
in the steam launch options for the game

 

[AllPingsConsidered]

yeah to me as well it sounds like their is maybe a cap to 30 fps set somewhere in your system, especially when changing the resolution and graphics settings has no effect on the fps at all (although if you say in the game menu it's 60 fps that kinda contradicts this hypothesis).


So also check the nvidia settings (right click on desktop) to see if there is any system-wide limit on framerate (or specific to aoe2).

Also: Is the frame rate also this low in a simple singleplayer game or just during the benchmark or multiplayer?

 

[SouFire]

The CPU is running at 3.5 Ghz, giving a 30 FPS. When it would run at like plus 4.2 it won't give a lot higher FPS I guess.. Is there a way to check the IPC of this CPU?

Thanks in advance

View attachment 190995

You have some kind of frame cap, 30 fps exactly is weird, most system having issues with the game have lows and spikes during the benchmark, like i said before check the wire specifications you are using to connect that monitor, cause something seems to be affecting your performance.

You can always download synthetic benchmarks like cinebench or even cpu-z to check your single core and multi core score.

Give us details of ur screen settings, 1080p is +60hz usually but if your screen is set to 1080i then it is only running 30 hz.

 

[Vikingo]

Hi all,

I changed settings at NVIDIA Control Panel. I forgot to save the old settings
See below ss for current settings:

When playing a 1v1 multiplayer the game starts smooth at 60 FPS. After 20 (AoE) minutes the FPS drops to around 35 FPS, no yellow clock though. I'm 100% sure I've never played at 60 FPS before, it feels so smooth!

I also tested V-Sync enabled and disabled ingame and in NVIDIA Control panel. The results were almost equal:

Resolution 2560 x 1440
> Bench ~1114
> FPS 30

Resolution 1920 x 1080
> Bench ~1122
> FPS 30

Resolution 844 x 475
> Bench ~1185
> FPS 39


Conclusion from these tests:
- V-Sync does not affect this pc's performance
- NVIDIA Settings are to be checked
- The cable or the monitor itself is not the problem (correct, right?)

Note:
%- Zoom does affect benchmark results. I did not realize this before, when zoomed in, score is higher.

Edit: Its better now early game with the 60 FPS! About lategame there is still some improvement to maken

Thanks for the latest support

AkeNo SouFire AllPingsConsidered Semisky n0brain​

 

[Vikingo]

@Vikingo did you make it work? I got a i5 7 gen 8gb ram and gtx950 2 gb and the game works fine, i use 1600 x 900 resolution, and i get 1025 on the benchmark, the game runs fine but i had to stop streaming becose it was bad, without streaming is fine even with 1920 x 1080 it was fine.. so i think it should work with your pc

It is better now, early game, still not good lategame though!

Can you send me your NVIDIA Control Panel settings?

Thanks in advance

 

[NoGaRd]

It is better now, early game, still not good lategame though!

Can you send me your NVIDIA Control Panel settings?

Thanks in advance

Hi guys,

I bought a new laptop just to play some good old Age of Empires II.

Specs:
DELL XPS 9560
i7-7700HQ @ 2.8 Ghz
16Gb RAM
GTX1080 4Gb
Intel(R) HD Graphics 630 4Gb
477 Gb SSD

I'm playing on a 2nd monitor, connected by USB-C

My opponents are often complaining about lagg. The clock next to my name is often yellow.

Benchmark at low settings: 1114.8
FPS:

Hi all,

I changed settings at NVIDIA Control Panel. I forgot to save the old settings
See below ss for current settings:

View attachment 191008
When playing a 1v1 multiplayer the game starts smooth at 60 FPS. After 20 (AoE) minutes the FPS drops to around 35 FPS, no yellow clock though. I'm 100% sure I've never played at 60 FPS before, it feels so smooth!

I also tested V-Sync enabled and disabled ingame and in NVIDIA Control panel. The results were almost equal:

Resolution 2560 x 1440
> Bench ~1114
> FPS 30

Resolution 1920 x 1080
> Bench ~1122
> FPS 30

Resolution 844 x 475
> Bench ~1185
> FPS 39


Conclusion from these tests:
- V-Sync does not affect this pc's performance
- NVIDIA Settings are to be checked
- The cable or the monitor itself is not the problem (correct, right?)

Note:
%- Zoom does affect benchmark results. I did not realize this before, when zoomed in, score is higher.

Edit: Its better now early game with the 60 FPS! About lategame there is still some improvement to maken

Hi Vikingo, I had a very equal FPS Problem. I also have a second Monitor (4K with max 60hz) benchmark score was around 1150 and IT didnt make a huge difference with which resolution i tested. The hole game was running at 30fps. I checken it at a singleplayer game with F11.
My solution was: i ran age at my Laptop and also checked the fps in SP with f11. Result Was around 80-90 fps. So i knew the Problem has to be something with the second screen.Well, my second has only 1hdmi slot which supports the 60hz. As i changed the slot, i checked age again and now it worked well. SP ran with exactly 60fps.

Hope i can help you with my experience.

 

[Catiaphract]

It is better now, early game, still not good lategame though!

Can you send me your NVIDIA Control Panel settings?

Thanks in advance

Well i dont remember if i did touch anything in the control panel except for puting AoE2 DE work always with nvidia and not with integrated graphic card, still idk how many fps i have, i just feel the game is good enough, but sometimes stuck badly, but i think that's a DE thing.. still i think 30 fps would be fine for me, so idk if you are are too exigent, or your pc really lags bad on late game.

 

[AllPingsConsidered]

to me the nvidia settings look fine.

also now that you say it starts with 60 fps and then goes down I assume it is indeed a problem with deteriorating performace over time.

maybe the biggest difference is not the raw cpu performance but the suboptimal cooling (yours is not a gaming laptop, it's too thin for good cooling - cooling might just be the biggest difference between ofelia's and your laptop). 85°C could be the limit from which the CPU starts throttling performance.

if this is the case then it's not going to be so easy to improve performance (desktop PCs you can just install better fans etc, not an option for laptops) .. you could buy a cooling pad specifically for laptops (I have no experience if this actually does much). or you could start gaming outside in winter

 

[Vikingo]

Hi Vikingo, I had a very equal FPS Problem. I also have a second Monitor (4K with max 60hz) benchmark score was around 1150 and IT didnt make a huge difference with which resolution i tested. The hole game was running at 30fps. I checken it at a singleplayer game with F11.
My solution was: i ran age at my Laptop and also checked the fps in SP with f11. Result Was around 80-90 fps. So i knew the Problem has to be something with the second screen.Well, my second has only 1hdmi slot which supports the 60hz. As i changed the slot, i checked age again and now it worked well. SP ran with exactly 60fps.

Hope i can help you with my experience.

Hi Nogard, thanks for sharing! What do you mean by checking it by F11?
I have 60 fps now with second monitor, but after 20 minutes in a 1v1 mp game the fps drops to around 35 FPS

 

[Vikingo]

Well i dont remember if i did touch anything in the control panel except for puting AoE2 DE work always with nvidia and not with integrated graphic card, still idk how many fps i have, i just feel the game is good enough, but sometimes stuck badly, but i think that's a DE thing.. still i think 30 fps would be fine for me, so idk if you are are too exigent, or your pc really lags bad on late game. View attachment 191013View attachment 191014

Thanks Ofelia ,
Could you scroll down a bit in the second screen u posted and make another screenshot? Thanks in advance!

 

[Vikingo]

to me the nvidia settings look fine.

also now that you say it starts with 60 fps and then goes down I assume it is indeed a problem with deteriorating performace over time.

maybe the biggest difference is not the raw cpu performance but the suboptimal cooling (yours is not a gaming laptop, it's too thin for good cooling - cooling might just be the biggest difference between ofelia's and your laptop). 85°C could be the limit from which the CPU starts throttling performance.

if this is the case then it's not going to be so easy to improve performance (desktop PCs you can just install better fans etc, not an option for laptops) .. you could buy a cooling pad specifically for laptops (I have no experience if this actually does much). or you could start gaming outside in winter

Haha thanks for your insight. Installing theottlestop might also be a solution then, right ?

 

[Chainsaw]

Hi Nogard, thanks for sharing! What do you mean by checking it by F11?

I think if you press F11 in game it will show the framerate as white numbers on the top of the screen.

 

[NoGaRd]

I think if you press F11 in game it will show the framerate as white numbers on the top of the screen.

Yes indeed

 

[AllPingsConsidered]

Haha thanks for your insight. Installing theottlestop might also be a solution then, right ?

I think throttlestop allows you to override throttling based on power-consumption, but not override throttling the system does because of high temperature - even if it did allow this I don't hink that is a good idea. From 95°C onwards you can expect your cpu to take permanent damage.

what you could do just for testing purposes (to find out if temperature is the actual issue) is just take a household ice pack from the freezer and have your laptop sit on it... and then test if performance stays stable during the next multiplayer game ... (please note most people and google say this is a pretty bad idea since it creates condensation/moisture around the laptop - so do this at your own risk and if at all only do it once to find out if temperature is the issue).

 

[Catiaphract]

Thanks Ofelia ,
Could you scroll down a bit in the second screen u posted and make another screenshot? Thanks in advance!

np

 

[Vikingo]

You can always download synthetic benchmarks like cinebench or even cpu-z to check your single core and multi core score.

Hey SaouFire, I ran the cinebench test, here are the results:

 

[AllPingsConsidered]

I think throttlestop allows you to override throttling based on power-consumption, but not override throttling the system does because of high temperature

okay, have to correct myself somewhat here.

the main idea with throttlestop is not to stop the computer from throttling when reaching a certain temperature - the idea (as adam7777 pointed out earlier) is to configure the computer to produce less heat for same performance (the way to achieve this is undervolting).

 

[Vikingo]

okay, have to correct myself somewhat here.

the main idea with throttlestop is not to stop the computer from throttling when reaching a certain temperature - the idea (as adam7777 pointed out earlier) is to configure the computer to produce less heat for same performance (the way to achieve this is undervolting).

Hi @AllPingsConsidered thanks for the reply.
I have undervolted earlier on my old laptop. I tried it with this new one but because of a safety update Microsoft does not allow undervolting anymore.

 

[SouFire]

Hey SaouFire, I ran the cinebench test, here are the results:


View attachment 191025

View attachment 191026

Your cpu is fine the score is close to the other laptop cpu's even compared to newer i7 models, there is nothing wrong with it, so whatever is causing you low or capped fps has to do with the graphic settings.

 

[AllPingsConsidered]

I have undervolted earlier on my old laptop. I tried it with this new one but because of a safety update Microsoft does not allow undervolting anymore.

oh wow I'm learning so many new recent developments with regards to cpu performance because of this thread :D

indeed it seems intel fixed some security issues by not allowing access to voltage control anymore (recent BIOS updates). now there is some person with pretty much the same laptop you have (XPS 9570) that apparently got access to voltage controls by resetting their BIOS to factory defaults ( see here : https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/...throttlestop-or-intel-xtu.266724/post-4477903 ) ... I'm not sure this is a road you want to go down but may be possible

also this thread is becoming very technical for an aoe2 forum

 

[Vikingo]

also this thread is becoming very technical for an aoe2 forum

You are right... Thing is, AoE is not a normal game you can just play with any pc apparently :P.

I'll summarize this case here and leave it at that for now I guess

Initial problem

• Opponents complain I'm lagging (directly when game starts and also mid or late game)
• Often yellow clock (early, mid and late game)
• FPS around 30

Setup
Laptop

• DELL XPS 9560
• i7-7700HQ @ 2.8 Ghz
• 16Gb RAM
• GTX1080 4Gb
• Intel(R) HD Graphics 630 4Gb
• 477 Gb SSD

Monitor

• Lenovo ThinkVision 60Hz
• USB-C cable to laptop

Probably not root cause

1. USB-C cable or 2nd monitor
   1. By testing without 2nd monitor, same Benchmark results and FPS
2. Graphics setting ingame. I tested on 4k and all the lower resolutions
   1. FPS at Benchmark always under 40. Mostly around 30 at playable resolution
   2. Benchmark between 1100 and 1180
3. VSync
   1. With or w/o VSync no significant difference in FPS or Benchmark score
4. Programs running on background
   1. During all tests no other programs were running at background other than Fraps or MSI Afterburner
5. Thermal throtteling
   1. When FPS drops to 30, CPU still running at 3.5 Ghz during game
   2. Same goes for the benchmarks

No solution

1. Sensei (https://github.com/gregstein/SenseiDE)

What made it better

1. Set max FPS in NVIDIA Control Panel to 60 Hz
   1. I don't know what the setting was before I made this change, but now I have no problems early game (played 10 1v1's online so far) FPS drops after 20 to 40 (AoE) minutes down to 35 FPS and won't get up anymore. Even after pausing for a few minutes it stays low.

What would probably solve the problem

1. CPU with higher (4Ghz) clock speed
   1. However there are different statements made, its said that AoE uses only one thread and does not benefits from multithreading
   2. AoE uses only one core?
2. Play on desktop for better cooling

I will keep on trying and testing. If something really improves the performance it will be posted here.

Thanks again y'all for the help. Learned a lot!

 

[Vikingo]

Hey guys, just an update here.

Tired of trying to play AoE on this laptop, cant get it better.

Planning to buy this desktop:

Intel Core i7-10700
16 GB RAM
512 GB SSD
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Super

Part number manufacturer: 9S6-B92661-1065

Cya!