Tough to diagnose game buffering/stuttering problem

[Jamastiene]

8. I have two R17s.

Laptop versions of the Alienware R17. One is 3D and one is UHD.

When I have that problem, I can usually trace it back to Dell's latest updates. If I revert to the last updates from Dell, usually, the problem solves itself. The only problem from that point is that when I have to do a reboot, Dell does it again. They update the firmware again and the problem comes back. I remember telling Dell Update to not do that one certain update at some point and it seems to have cleared itself up.

Also, sometimes GeFroce will have an update and not tell you to restart. Or it will have an update, that update will fail, and your video will go crazy. Most of the time, what I do then is reboot first, then check GeForce Experience (you can download it from them) for updates.

Also, there are settings in GeForce Experience where you can check, game by game, to see what would optimize play of that game. Sometimes, something as simple as turning off anti-aliasing can fix framerate issues.

With latency/buffering issues, I'm not sure. That might be game specific from their servers. It might not hurt to go check the specific game's site for info for that. Each one has it's own instructions on how to deal with those kinds of issues.

I had a lot of trouble with Twitch until I changed the latency settings. There is almost always some setting somewhere in a game, a web site, or a browser that will fix the problem. Finding what to tweak is usually the hardest part.

To make it go slightly easier, I would reboot first, then go to GeForce Experience and let it update your drivers for GeForce. After that, use GeForce Experience and let it optimize your games. If it cannot find a game, sometimes you can use the other GeForce control panel (I can't remember what that one is called) to go program by program and find the game there.

I hate it when these are the Cadillacs of the computer world but they have simple problems that mess everything up. Both Alienware laptops I have both have had the same problem with the same USB ports on the left hand side being loose. I got one fixed. I need to fix this one before it runs out of warranty. I think this is the last year I can have the nicer warranty. I need to get on the ball and have that fixed. Or I could just do it for less than a year of warranty costs and have them fix it out of warranty, which might be another option.