GPU load drop and low FPS

hi all,

i bought a low budget laptop, (i3-3217u, geforce gt 740m and 4 gb ram) just for ffxiv and playing it with low graphic settings.

well i have this issue:
despite the good benchmark results of the game (3500 laptop high / 6100 laptop standard) in moderate crowded area (mor doha, uldah market or during FATEs) the gpu load drops badly to 30-40% and i get like 10 fps.

in other areas i have 60-70 fps and full gpu load, the game goes very smooth.

i wonder why the game is unplayable with those settings, i have LS mates that play very well with laptops worse than mine (i.e. i5 with mobility radeon 5450.) is there any kind of bottleneck on my laptop?

i had the same issue on a i5-2410, geforce gt 540m and 4 gb ram (borrowed from a friend)

is there anyone experiencing that?

thanks in advance.

so.. nobody plays the game with a similar laptop? i just want to know if there's a problem on the computer or if it just sucks :(

i3-3217u

The processor lists as having Intel HD Graphics onboard--make sure that your system is set to run the game on the nVidia card.

It's also on the lower end of the scale for an i-Series CPU (1.8GHz, dual core), so you may be running up against some CPU limitations when trying to manage highly congested areas. Scored 2273 and ranked 664 on the Passmark lists... beaten by a 6 year old C2D E8500 at it's stock speeds.
http://www.passmark.com/cpubenchmark...1.80GHz&id=764

So, you may need to tweak out your settings a bit--reduce physics for others and such. Shadows may need to be lowered or even shut off as well. There's a lot that has to be managed by the CPU when in the big crowds--it's not just the GPU performance index you have to worry about with this game. But, you may want to go in and make sure your card's settings are all on either Performance settings or on Application Control. Once you get things tweaked out for the best frame rate, then go back in and increase the quality items if you have enough headroom in your FPS.

thanks a lot, i return the laptop to the shop. i'll buy a new one, probably with a i5 or i7 cpu. unfortunately that shop deals just with low-mid range budget laptops and the gt740m is the best video card he has.