Vortex 17.3 Laptop - Games Loading Very Slowly

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Pepsi_Jamie

Bronze Level Poster
Hi all,

So I've started to notice that video games (no matter how old or new) are starting to take a lot longer to load than what I was used to. The laptop was purchased in September 2015 as well, so it's not like it's ancient. It's starting to irritate me how a laptop designed for "extreme" gaming is suddenly a pain in the ass to use.

Here are the specs:

Vortex Series: 17.3" Matte Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080)

CPU: Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Extreme i7-4940MX (3.10GHz) 8MB
RAM: 32GB HyperX IMPACT 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 (4 x 8GB)
GPU: NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 980M - 8.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 12
Memory: 1TB WD BLUE 2.5" WD10JPVX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 8MB CACHE (5400 rpm)

Any solutions would be greatly appreciated.
 
SpyderTracks

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
You've got a very slow mechanical HDD there which is going to hamper performance over time as it fragments. I would suggest shelling out for an SSD which would make a major improvement generally to performance. You can keep that drive as a data drive.

Any performance machine takes a certain amount of maintenance to stay in shape.

1/. Always regularly monitor temps using speccy or HWMonitor. This is extremely important. Heat is the number one killer of any system and the amount of high performance tech in a build like that lends to heat issues. So make sure the system is running at acceptable temps. If it's looking hotter than usual this can lead to thermal throttling, poor performance and DEATH. A repasting is a good idea when temps are reaching skyward.

2/. Regular cleaning. Any performance machine needs to be taken apart every 6 months or so and cleaned internally to get rid of dust build up in the cooling lanes and fans. Blowing compressed air from outside the chassis will compound the issue, you need to take it apart and clean it properly.

3/. Check the fullness of your drives. You really want at least 10% spare on any drive for caching, otherwise performance will degrade.

4/. Regular virus and malware scans. Whatever antivirus you have, always run malwarebytes manual scans alongside it once a week.
 
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Pepsi_Jamie

Bronze Level Poster
SpyderTracks said:
You've got a very slow mechanical HDD there which is going to hamper performance over time as it fragments. I would suggest shelling out for an SSD which would make a major improvement generally to performance. You can keep that drive as a data drive.

Any performance machine takes a certain amount of maintenance to stay in shape.

1/. Always regularly monitor temps using speccy or HWMonitor. This is extremely important. Heat is the number one killer of any system and the amount of high performance tech in a build like that lends to heat issues. So make sure the system is running at acceptable temps. If it's looking hotter than usual this can lead to thermal throttling, poor performance and DEATH. A repasting is a good idea when temps are reaching skyward.

2/. Regular cleaning. Any performance machine needs to be taken apart every 6 months or so and cleaned internally to get rid of dust build up in the cooling lanes and fans. Blowing compressed air from outside the chassis will compound the issue, you need to take it apart and clean it properly.

3/. Check the fullness of your drives. You really want at least 10% spare on any drive for caching, otherwise performance will degrade.

4/. Regular virus and malware scans. Whatever antivirus you have, always run malwarebytes manual scans alongside it once a week.
Click to expand...
Do you know if it's possible to install an SSD on my laptop? Also, how would one go about applying thermal paste? Unless some tech stores do it for you.
 
SpyderTracks

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
Pepsi_Jamie said:
Do you know if it's possible to install an SSD on my laptop? Also, how would one go about applying thermal paste? Unless some tech stores do it for you.
Click to expand...

Yes, you can install an ssd.

Applying thermal paste wouldn't be done unless you've checked temps and found a component is overheating. If so, you'd return it to PCs under warranty for a repaste.
 
ubuysa

ubuysa

The BSOD Doctor
I agree with SpyderTracks, the HDD is most likely your problem. Whilst an SSD would be the ideal solution you might find that managing your HDD better will give you the results you need.

First off download Ccleaner if you don't have it (from http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner) and run the cleaner function to remove all the garbage that builds up over time. (Don't run the registry cleaner though, registry cleaners often do harm and they really do no good).

Then ensure that your HDD is not more than about 70% full, if it is you need to either permanently delete, or copy off to an external HDD, all those files and folders that you don't use regularly (or at all). The fewer files and folders you have on your HDD the better it's performance will be.

After that you should defragment your disk. Over times files become fragmented - broken up into many parts spread all over the disk. This is a normal part of the Windows file system operation but it does create performance problems. Defragging moves all these file fragments so all files are contiguous (i.e. not fragmented). You can use the built-in Windows defragger to do this.

After that you should notice a marked improvement in the performance of your HDD. If you want to get the absolute best from it you need to consider buying an optimising defragger. There are a few to choose from, none of them are free but they're cheaper than an SSD! What these do is allow you to place your important and active files and folders close to the MFT (the 'directory') on the slightly faster outer tracks and the data you use very rarely out of the way on the slightly slower inner tracks. I've used the Ultimate Defragger from http://disktrix.com very successfully to optimise HDDs in the past and at $29.99 it's not expensive. Their blurb says it runs only on Vista and Windows 7 but I have run it successfully on Windows 8.1 and Windows 10.

If you use Ccleaner regularly (about one a week) keep the volume of data below about 70% and defrag regularly (about one a month) you'll keep your HDD performing at it's best.

BTW. None of the above applies to an SSD because they work in a completely different way.
 
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Pepsi_Jamie

Bronze Level Poster
SpyderTracks said:
Yes, you can install an ssd.

Applying thermal paste wouldn't be done unless you've checked temps and found a component is overheating. If so, you'd return it to PCs under warranty for a repaste.
Click to expand...
Do you know if the Samsung 2.5" EVO would work with my laptop? Sorry to bump the thread.
 
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