I'm pretty new to PC gaming and there are definitely things I love about it and definitely things I hate about it. I'm used to consoles so my understanding of specs is admittedly basic. Anyway I have been trying to play different games from different eras with different specs to see what all works well and what doesn't. I have been disappointed because I am having trouble running games smoothly when I think they should run fairly well.

I am using a Laptop that I bought OEM without the intent of using it for gaming, but as it stands this is what I'm using. The specs are as follows:

Processor: AMD A10-5750M APU with Radeon HD Graphics (quad-core)
Video Card: AMD Radeon HD 8650G
Memory: 8 GB
I'm currently using Windows 8.1 64-bit.

I can list more specific details, just let me know.

Some game that I have played and had problems include: NekroVision, Just Cause 2, The Witcher: Enhanced Edition, and even Tower of Guns (horrible slowdown). I rarely get decent FPS regardless of what I play. Even though I was fairly certain I could run most of these, I still referred to the "can you run this" website and usually far exceeded even the recommended specs.

I'm asking for some of you veterans here to help me out. Any ideas on what the cause is or advice on what needs to be upgraded or avoided when I build a gaming desktop in the future. I'm frustrated because I feel like I'm spending more time troubleshooting or configuring than I am actually playing games. Thanks in advance.

How many cores does your CPU have?

And i'll have to ask if you've run the dxdiag program for your directX. I mostly ask since i wonder if the video card supports over DX9, if that's the case it doesn't and a number of effects are not working, i wonder if it might be pushing them as software mode.

Regardless, as a gaming laptop, i'd turn everything on lowest settings, then turn on a few settings/levels at a time until it runs decently while not looking like crap. With that in mind, no AA, no physX, or extra particles if you can handle it. Have the earlier version of DirectX that you can safely run on the hardware (SPAZ for example includes options for different versions of DirectX and DX9 is recommended for lower spec systems or if you're having issues). This also goes for resolution, might start fairly low, like 1024x768 (or if it's wide, maybe it's 1280x720..)

edit: Another thought coming to mind is program priority... To make it easy, once you have the game opened, access task manager and give the game 'above average' then background programs will give your game higher priority and it might not stutter so much, especially if you have only 1-2 cores...

Well that's what's confusing me, I have four cores. I don't even try to push anything, even on relatively low settings with no frills turned on, I still have issues.

I have DirectX 11.

It sounds as if maybe your computer is not using the discreet graphics card but is instead using the integrated Intel HD graphics - which is part of the CPU.

Someone whose brain is not fried at the moment will have to walk you through how to check that, though.

Cheers!

Welcome. Your problem is that you're using a laptop. Laptops are designed to look like they have formidable specs compared to their desktop counterparts, but they're underclocked (that's computer lingo for "their processing power is slower") and they have poor cooling.

What's happening is that when you run anything intensive (for example, games) then your computer starts heating up. In a laptop, when it overheats it starts throttling. This means: as more processing (processor, graphics) power is used then it starts to use more power/energy. This causes more heat which needs to be dissipated. And when it reaches a threshold, it slows down this processing to create less energy (ergo for less heat), which means your games also start slowing down or having problems with you wondering why.

So yes, there's no upgrading this or fixing this problem. If you want to game comfortably you're going to need to get a gaming capable computer. Not a $400 laptop. You'd need one that sacrifices specs in exchange for decent cooling to get one in that kind of budget.

Some older games are not optimized for newer APUs. The games that you mentioned, you should try to lower the resolution and run on medium graphics. This worked for me.

I recommend you use something like MSI Afterburner, that way you can graph the GPU load and temperatures so you have some form of measurement.
If while playing your system is fully loaded and you get bad performance in the game you need to lower detailsettings and perhaps sacrifice resolution.
Also check if you have any performance draining programs running that can be closed while gaming.

I can suggest two things you can try.

1) Check you power savings options.

Laptops are often configured to go into power saving mode when there is little power left in the battery. That means that the CPU and also the GPU are working slower than they could to conserve power so you can use the computer longer.

In theory when a game demands more CPU and GPU power and there is enough power left in the battery the laptop should step up accordingly but sometimes the laptop simply fails to realize that it is supposed to go into high performance mode and stays in power saving mode. Or perhaps it is configured to always stay in power saving mode. Or perhaps there really is only little power left in the battery at the moment.

Try the following: Switch off all power saving options in Windows and operate the laptop while being plugged into a power outlet. That should rule out power saving as the problem. If that alone does not help also try the next suggestion.

2) Does your laptop have a built in GPU next to the Radeon? Computers nowadays (and laptops are no exception) often have a low-cost low-performance GPU (mostly Intel chipset) directly on the motherboard. It is good enough for the desktop and is usually used in parallel with a high-performance or mid-range chipset (usually NVidia or AMD) which is used for GPU heavy applications and games.

If it does make sure the computer is configured to use only the AMD chipset. This is usually done in the BIOS. Because the auto switching between these two also has a tendency to fail or be unreliable. And you don't want to play games on a low-performance Intel chipset. Trust me on that. :-)

Having said all that: Don't expect any miracles. Your AMD chipset is (at least for high-performance chipsets) very slow. It's probably not even a high-end chipset but rather a mid-range or even low-end chipset.

To give you a comparison: My graphics card has a NVidia 560 Ti chipset. This chipset was considered the bottom end of the high-end chipsets and the best contender in the price/performance sector four years ago. Granted, I can play most high-end games with it even today as long as I don't set all graphics options to ultra high quality. Most AAA games still run fine with it as long as I tune down the graphics options one or two notches. Indie games like Tower of Guns run great at max quality with high frame rates.

However, according to the benchmark from Passmark (see videocardbenchmark.net) my chipset has a score almost four times higher than your chipset. Todays high-end cards have a score 2-3 times higher than the score my chipset has. No, this isn't a 'My chipset is bigger than yours.' post. What I am trying to say is my card just passes for today's requirements for high spec games.

I know that synthetic benchmarks aren't the best way to measure performance but they can give you a general idea about how good a chipset is in comparison to others. And if your chipset only gets 1/4th of the points of a four year old chipset that just passes for today's requirements that should make you think. Perhaps your laptop simply can't handle what you are trying to throw at it.

Laptop gaming can be more than capable and a match for pc gaming - the geforce 980m is something like 75% as powerful as a full desktop 980 (and not just on paper, gaming tests show this is accurate and can even be more than that at times). You can even get 2x 980m sli in a laptop. And modern high performance laptop gaming chassis can take full desktop processors and even overclock them at least a reasonable amount.

Even if you dont go that route, the most powerful laptop processors are up there with desktop cards - you just cant overclock those much which is the only real difference.

Going into the mid range, these laptops can be very capable when you need or prefer the portable advatages, and many do, and are a decent option for gaming - there is not a game a decent mid range laptop cannot run comfortably at medium settings right now and for a couple of years.

Of course you pay a high price for the portability and size, and you obviously cant compete with a 3x Titan sli, water cooled extreme overclocked pc - but if you can afford it laptop gaming can very good. Im using an old laptop at the moment, despite my graphics being about 2 years older than the one in your laptop it is equal in benchmarks. I can play new games reasonable well, I can play gta5 on a mix of settings on 720 resolution and it is fast and stable.

The difference is your processor, it is about half as powerful on all benchmarks I can see (I have the i7 2670qm) and this might be the bottleneck stopping you from getting decent framerates.

If you are not already doing, you could try dropping all games down to 720 resolution. Also make sure you are using the latest drivers from amd not the laptop manufacturer. If I use dell drivers my graphics are barely any better than the on board intel hd3000.
If there is an option in game always use directx 9 it will boost performance for you, keep settings on low (and only increase bit by bit if that works well), and lower or disable shadows whenever possible (even if it requires extra work, such as editing a file, as shadows are one of the biggest killers certainly on my current old hardware).

I am hoping to get something better soon, but things keep getting in the way.

Just as a warning, there are some games that demand all your CPU and GPU power, even if they don't need it. (The La Mulana remake is one example I have encountered.) If you notice your laptop getting unreasonably hot or your entire computer (not just the game) malfunctioning, you might need to change the setting back to power saving mode for that one game.

Thanks for the input. It does appear that it's my processor. That's what I was trying to find out. Being new to the more technical aspects of PC specs I really have a hard time knowing what is and isn't considered "good".

How do I change to 720 resolution? I have directx 11 installed, is there a way to retrograde and would that even make sense? Would I need drivers specific to my processor/video card or can I just download the latest from the AMD website? Thanks again.

Your CPU is too weak for those games. Your CPU is like a Intel Core i3 3110M. Your laptop doesn't have decent specs. But I could be wrong and maybe your CPU is just throttling to reduce heat every time you play a game. There are a lot of laptops that can easily handle most games nowadays. You just have to spend over $600 to get one of these laptops. So the problem is not him using a laptop. The problem is, he is using a cheap laptop.

Changing resolution will be in the game options. In display options or similar, under resolution. There should be a list of resolutions such as 1280x720 - too low it will look like crap though. Just try some lower than the default it puts you at, if it is already lowered then there is nothing more that can be done here (most games dont do it themselves though).

Changing directx version is only available in a few games, if it is in the options then change it. No need to install or uninstall anything. I use WoW with direct9 instead of 11 as it jumps my frame rate up about 15fps. But it is only an option in a few games, so it was just a suggestion if you happen to have one.

As for drivers go to here http://support.amd.com/en-us/download - and you can download software to try and detect the dirver.

I am pretty sure it is this one for you, but it is up to you if you want to try it -http://www2.ati.com/drivers/amd-catalyst-15.7.1-with-dotnet45-win8.1-64bit.exe

Nothing can be damaged (it shouldnt install if it is wrong), but you should have the original driver from your laptop manufactureres website just in case you need it.

In the end you might have to give up on some games if after all this you cant get a decent framerate. But it is worth trying just so you know what can and cant be run for you.

Posting the PMs I sent the OP just in case other people have a similar problem.

"It is starting to look like your CPU is throttling. Your CPU is weak but it should be able to handle Necrovision. Have you tried to disable the PowerNow feature in BIOS to prevent throttling? Basically throttling = your CPU slowing down every time it gets too hot. And it also done to save energy. Turning off the PowerNow feature could be bad for you though because then your CPU could get too hot and become ruined.

For smoother gameplay, you can also use a frame limiter like Dxtory. http://exkode.com/dxtory-features-en.html If you limit your fps to 30, games will run smoother for you. And limiting your fps will keep your laptop more cool and prevent throttling maybe.

If you don't want to risk your CPU, then try the frame limiter. It might stop your CPU from throttling and you should use it anyway to extend the life of your laptop. :) Here is a Youtube video that will tell you exactly how to do that with Dxtory. https://youtube.com/watch?v=K2BwaVVM7Lg"

PS
Limiting your fps to 30 is also a good idea because keeping your laptop cooler = longer life for your laptop.

I wanted to thank everyone for sharing. There is a lot of good information here.