Low iGPU Usage on Dell XPS 13 9343

Phoenix864

Commendable
Aug 13, 2016
3
0
1,510
Hi all,

While traveling, I decided to try some light gaming on my XPS 13 (9343, i7-5500U, Intel HD 5500). I had previously used it for light gaming, and had gotten decent framerates (50-60) on 720p low/mid. However, lately the framerate hovers around 20-40 at 720p ultra low (using a FPS boost config). Upon firing up MSI Afterburner, I found that the iGPU was not being fully utilized (hovering between 40-60 percent). Windows Power Plan is set to High Performance, with the Intel Graphics Settings being set to Maximum Performance. I have reinstalled the graphics driver, tried different power plans, and tweaked settings in the Intel Graphics control panel to no avail. (Totally unrelated, does anyone know how to directly embed a picture into a post so that it does not use a link?)

Any help is greatly appreciated.
 

Lutfij

Splendid
Moderator
About images, upload the image you want to show on an image hosting site like Imgur and use the link inside image tags, like this [img ][ /img]. * remove the spaces.

Mind sharing what game(s) you were playing? Have you made sure your laptop's BIOS is up to date?
 

Phoenix864

Commendable
Aug 13, 2016
3
0
1,510
Thanks for the info on images. I have tried playing Insurgency, Red Orchestra 2, Dirty Bomb, and Unturned. My BIOS is 1 revision behind the latest (current: A09, latest and only one listed: A12). However, A12's only listed update is the patch for the CVE-2017-5689 / INTEL-SA-00075 vulnerabilities. The 5500U is not vulnerable to the exploits, so updating has not been high on my priority list. I would prefer to not update the BIOS now, as I do not want to risk bricking the only computer I currently have access to.

Thanks for the response.
 

Jie___

Prominent
Jun 9, 2017
2
0
510
Hello,

I also have an XPS 9343 i7 4k infinity display, and I do some gaming on it (league of legends, world of warcraft). I have recently noticed that the laptop is getting hot for no reason, and battery life has gotten much worse than what it used to be. In league of legends I used to get 160+ FPS but now it is locked at 60, despite all the settings being the same.

It was/is (Windows automatically updated again) the new windows 10 creators update that enables Xbox DVR in-game control panel (Windows + G). When I rolled back to the previous windows I got much much better FPS again. Games are honestly unplayable on the 9343 with the new update.

Also, I just contacted dell support about the heat/fan/battery issue and they said to update to the latest BIOS.
I will do when I get home (no AC adapter) and see what happens.

Does anybody know if it's possible to add more than 8 GB ram?

Edit: Task manager says I have an i7-5600U
 

Jie___

Prominent
Jun 9, 2017
2
0
510
currently typing with on screen keyboard because the update broke the keyboard drivers entirely

edit: after upgrading back to the anniversary update with the new BIOS fixed the keyboard and it seems to be performing as it used to - league runs at 160-200 fps, the battery is estimating 4 hours (86%) with 3 chrome tabs, skype and league launcher open, the fan is silent and the heat is almost nothing. I'm happy!

Xbox game DVR still disabled - try that if your frames are capped.