Returning player met with 17 FPS

Hey all, it’s been a very long time since I’ve played Overwatch but the hype for Overwatch 2 has brought me back!

Upon re-installing the game, I was met with an fps that usually lingers around 17-20. I’m on the “low” graphics settings & the correct GPU is being listed on the video settings page in the game. Changing from windowed --> fullscreen has had no effect either.

I’m not entirely sure what info about my laptop would be useful so I’ll put what I can guess you could use here. If y’all want any more info, I’d be happy to oblige! Thanks!

Intel i7-6700HQ @ 2.60GHz, 4 Cores, 8 Processors
12gb RAM
GTX 965M
Windows 10

Edit 1: Removed the point that the game was taking all of my CPU. It stopped doing that. Why? I don’t know, but I’m not complaining.

Edit 2: When I use MSI Afterburner to see if I’m being limited, it is showing a constant “no load”, don’t know if that’s helpful.

Even though the GPU is listed, I’m wondering if the driver is having an issue. Let’s check your DxDiag first, and work from there.

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pastebin link code is prvcjvNz

Device Name: Razer BlackWidow Chroma V2
Attached: 1

You may be affected by this issue:

So I didn’t even have Razer Synapse installed when I posted but I downloaded it & turned on the Chroma effects for Overwatch. It didn’t fix the fps issue though.

Hey VoidWalker,

It sounds like the hardware is not being utilized fully which could explain the low FPS. Lets see if we can gather more info in order to figure this out.

  • Download and run HWmonitor before starting Overwatch, then play the game for about 10-15 minutes. Screenshot the HWmonitor (break it into multiple screenshots if needed) and then post links to the images here. Feel free to use a site like imgur.com or any image hosting site of your choosing.

  • Grab a few screenshots of the Network Graph (in-game hit Ctrl+Shift+N) when the FPS is low. The screenshots are saved here:
    C:\Users\(name)\Documents\Overwatch\Screenshots

Hash code for the imgur is S6UKUtb

The fps ranged from 14-27 the entire time. However in loading screens, I got a solid 60 fps.

Looks like I’m not able to view the images. Are they set to private by chance?

Try pasting the full link using the </> preformatted text option or just put spaces in between the link when posting it.

https: //imgur .com /gallery/S6UKUtb Maybe try that?

That works, thanks!

Looking at the HWmonitor and network graph screenshots it does appear that your CPU is overheating and probably throttling itself. Your Intel i7 6700HQ hit a max temperature of 90 C which is throttling range for most Intel CPUs. It also looks like the core clocks are only hitting 3.2Ghz while that CPU should hit 3.5 Ghz max. Laptops do tend to run hotter than desktops, but when it gets that high it automatically throttles performance which means lower FPS.

If you look closely at the network graph what we want to focus on here is the SIM value which stands for Simulation. Generally if all of your hardware is working perfectly you will see a very low SIM value (the lower the better) and the white SIM line will be perfectly straight with no spikes. In your case it looks like SIM is constantly fluctuating, most likely due to the throttling.

We have a few steps on our Checking for Overheating article with tips on how to prevent it. For a laptop you would just want to blow out the vents and fans with compressed air, make sure that all the fans are working properly and that its sitting on a flat hard surface. Beyond that you may want to look into a cooling pad for additional cooling, or contact the system manufacturer if it’s still covered under warranty to see what else they can recommend for overheating.

If you can get those CPU temps below the 75-80 C range that should improve the FPS. :slight_smile:

Alright, I’ll give that a try to improve the throttling. But this issue also occurs when my laptop has been idle for quite some time. I’ll check HWmonitor for my CPU temp & it’ll be at >55 C when I start the game. However, the game still gives me that low fps, so I don’t think I’m getting temperature throttled there.

VoidWalker,

We see you hitting 90 celsius in your imgur gallery in the max column. Your laptop should never be getting that hot. The onboard cooling should be sufficient to keep it below 80C in most cases.

Most likely what’s happening is you’re being constantly throttled to prevent things from getting entirely out of hand, but it’s not enough to keep your CPU from overheating. You’ll want to have your laptop manufacturer or a PC tech check out why it’s not working correctly, clean the vents, check the fans and thermal paste, etc. Depending on the environment you play in, you may also need to invest in a laptop cooling pad. As a former laptop gamer, this was one of the better investments I made for my performance.

If you get to a point where you’re having issues and you’ve gotten the overheating situation with the laptop handled, we can give it another look, but until that point there’s nothing else we can recommend this.