Re: Heavily degraded gaming performance during video playback.

ChrisAllard · ‎01-05-2025

On the Asus ZenBook 14 UX3405MA running the core ultra 7 155h, when playing a game, GPU performance tanks during any video playback at any resolution. All drivers are up to date. using the most up to date version of windows and chrome. The issue is not one of performance as the integrated GPU is more than capable of performing both tasks.

Note: When disabling GPU acceleration in the browser the issue disappears.

Does anyone have any explanations or solutions? Is this simply an arc driver thing?

JedG_Intel · ‎01-08-2025

Hi ChrisAllard,

Thank you for posting on Intel Community Forum.

I understand that you are having performance issues during any video playback. Please share the below information so I could have a better approach with this issue.

1. Are you experiencing the issue when playing a specific game?

2. Have you checked for any overheating?

3. Have you tried using other browser?

4. Please attach a short video clip of the issue.

Additionally, to have a better understanding of your system configuration and components please generate System Support Utility (SSU) report. Please follow instructions here and send the report - How to get the Intel® System Support Utility Logs on Windows*

I look forward to your response.

Best regards,

Jed G.

Intel Customer Support Technician

ChrisAllard · ‎01-08-2025

Hello JedG_Intel,

Thank you for reaching out. I would be happy to give you as much information as you would like. To be more specific when playing back a video in chrome (youtube, twitch, etc). The Frame Times in select games get significantly worse with much more hitches and inconsistency. GPU usage & clock speeds don't seem to change when inducing the issue. Pausing the video or minimizing the window immediately alleviates the problem as does closing the browser. Resuming the video immediately resumes the problem. Very binary and very consistent. Can recreate without fail.

*thing to note is the video can be played so long as it's minimized or you have switched to another tab. This will not induce the issue.

*This is also irrespective of the resolution. There is no trend between load of the video and the amount of performance lost.

*This issue continues whether the game is full screen or windowed on another monitor or covering the video as it's playing.

*screen recording using windows snipping tools built in recording feature also causes the same perf issues during the recording

1. The issue is most prevalent when playing Minecraft: Bedrock Edition on windows which should be using
The game's "render dragon" engine which uses DX12. I did notice similar issues in Valheim when using vulkin but to a lesser extent and it did not show up when using DirectX 11. No other games were tested as these are the only ones I have installed.

2. While this laptop is a thin and light form factor machine and doesn't run the coolest. I have replaced the thermal paste with liquid metal and used thermal pads to assist in cooling the chip. The temperature of the gpu does not correlate with the issue at all and is independent of it.

3. Using Chrome the issue is 100% recreatable but when using edge (also chromium based) the issue doesn't seem to exist at all.

*A clean driver installation was done as well when troubleshooting. Various settings in the graphics menus were tested too (eg. turning off low latency mode)

*Since screen recording itself causes the issue I decided to just show the choppiness I was experiencing. The effect in the video is indicative of what it is like during regular video playback

steggles · ‎01-09-2025

I have a similar problem, A750 latest drivers and Chrome. Two monitors. Chrome can't play 2 videos simultaneously, one freezes. An ad video will stop YouTube playing.

This started with the "battlemage branch", no idea what the version number was, whatever the version was when then the old Arc app was replaced with the Intel Graphics app.

JedG_Intel · ‎01-12-2025

Hi ChrisAllard,

I appreciate you for sharing additional information,

For further troubleshooting, please try to follow the steps for further isolation.

1. Try the drivers from your OEM here

2. Try to use another web browser aside from Edge to further check if the issue is with Chrome only.

3. Gather CapFrame data.

CapFrameX installation instructions:

Go to https://www.capframex.com/download and download the latest version of CapframeX.
Go to https://www.guru3d.com/files-details/rtss-rivatuner-statistics-server-download.html and download the latest version of RTSS.
Unzip both installers and install them.
Launch CapFrameX, and then close it. This is why it creates the user configuration folder.
Download and unzip the file OverlayEntryConfiguration_0.json (attached in this post) with the recommended RTSS configuration.
Paste this file to %userprofile%\Documents\CapFrameX\Configuration.
In the Capture tab, set the "Capture time" to 0. This is to remove the preset limit on capture time.
In the Overlay tab, uncheck "Auto-Disable OSD" and click the save icon.

Capturing the Performance Data:

Open CapframeX and do not minimise or close it.
Open the game and go to the part of the game where you need to reproduce the issue. You should see the RTSS overlay in the top left corner of your screen, with the status "<game name> ready to capture...".
Press F11 to start capturing data and reproducing the issue. The status in the overlay will change to "Recording frametimes XX s".
Once you have reproduced the issue, press F11 to finish the data capture. The status in the overlay will change to "Processing data.".
Back to CapFrameX, you can find all the data captures in the left panel of the Analysis tab. Clicking on any one of these captures will display the results on the right.
To export the captured data as a JSON file, right-click the capture and click on "Copy/paste recording file(s)".

If you encounter any difficulties in finding the %userprofile%\Documents\CapFrameX\Configuration directory, you may create a new folder named 'Configuration' within the CapFrameX folder.

For reference: Need help? Reporting a bug or issue with Arc GPU? - PLEASE READ THIS FIRST!

Best regards,

Jed G.

Intel Customer Support Technician

JedG_Intel · ‎01-16-2025

Hi ChrisAllard,

I'm following up to see if you were able to try the recommendations I posted. Please let me know at your earlier convenience so we can determine the best course of action to resolve this matter.

Best regards,

Jed G.

Intel Customer Support Technician

ChrisAllard · ‎01-16-2025

Hello, sorry for the late response.

As mentioned earlier when using the edge browser the issue does not occur, only on chrome.

Here is the CapFrameX data. 1 file was taken at a cap of 120fps by setting the refresh rate of the display to 120hz. The other file was taken at a capped frame rate of 60. As you can see in both configurations there is a clear valley in the framerate and a spike in the frame times during the run. This was directly caused when i would play and pause the video.

The OEM driver is from 2022 and, as such especially for arc, is hilariously out of date at this point. I did not test with that driver.

JedG_Intel · ‎01-19-2025

Hello ChrisAllard,

Thank you for your effort and cooperation.

I will start investigating this matter internally and I'll give you an update as soon as possible.

Best regards,

Jed G.

Intel Customer Support Technician

JedG_Intel · ‎01-23-2025

Hi ChrisAllard,

I would just like to inform you that we're still investigating this matter. I'll give you another update as soon as I have one.

Best regards,

Jed G.

Intel Customer Support Technician

JedG_Intel · ‎01-26-2025

Hello ChrisAllard,

I would like you to try disabling the hardware acceleration on Google Chrome. Please see the steps below:

1. Click the three dots in the top-right corner.

2. Select “Settings” from the drop-down menu.

3. Scroll down and click on “System” in the left sidebar.

4. Find the option “Use hardware acceleration when available” and toggle it off.

5. Restart Chrome to apply changes.

Should you encounter the same issue, please let me know.

Best regards,

Jed G.

Intel Customer Support Technician

ChrisAllard · ‎01-26-2025

As noted in the original post, disabling hardware acceleration gets rid of the problem

JedG_Intel · ‎01-26-2025

Hi ChrisAllard,

I just doubled checked and thank you for your confirming. We'll try to look for other aspects that might be causing this issue. I'll give you another update as soon as possible.

Best regards,

Jed G.

Intel Customer Support Technician

JedG_Intel · ‎01-29-2025

Hi ChrisAllard,

I am writing to provide you with an update following our investigation. We recommend that you try using the OEM driver. The latest graphics driver, version V32.0.101.5972, was released on September 13, 2024. This step is intended to further isolate the issue. Additionally, we suggest using this driver as your computer manufacturer may have modified features, incorporated customizations, or made other changes.

For reference: Where to Obtain an Intel® Graphics Driver for an OEM Product?

If the issue persists, please inform me.

Best regards,

Jed G.

Intel Customer Support Technician

ChrisAllard · ‎01-30-2025

After testing with that driver the issue of reduced performance due to video playback seemed to be gone but it was replaced with a different performance issue.

Using the OEM driver framerates in Minecraft were inconsistent independent of any causes, it was just like that all the time. The game would jump repeatedly from maxing out a 60fps to hitting a snag and dropping to about 5fps. This bursts of poor performance were only a few seconds apart and lasted about as long. it went on indefinitely for the duration of the play session. switching back to the newer intel driver immediately caused the behavior to return to what has been mentioned up until this point regarding reduced performance during video playback in chrome and when screen recording.

DhannielM_Intel · ‎02-03-2025

Hello ChrisAllard,

Thank you for installing the OEM driver. Since the video playback performance issue has been resolved, could you please play Minecraft for at least 30 minutes and record the frame data using CapFrameX? Additionally, did you perform a clean installation when you installed the OEM driver?

Best regards,

Dhanniel M.

Intel Customer Support Technician

JedG_Intel · ‎02-06-2025

Hi ChrisAllard,

I'm following up to check if you were able to see the questions from my colleague? Please share this information as soon as you're able to so we can further investigate.

Best regards,

Jed G.

Intel Customer Support Technician

JedG_Intel · ‎02-11-2025

Hi ChrisAllard

I am following up regarding your ongoing concern. You mentioned that the issue persists while using the OEM graphics driver and is isolated to Chrome. Could you please confirm whether hardware acceleration is enabled or disabled in Edge? Additionally, was this functionality working correctly before, and if so, when did the issue first begin to manifest?

Here are the steps to check hardware acceleration in Edge:

1. Open Microsoft Edge and select the three horizontal dots, located on the far-right side of the search bar.

2. In the drop-down menu that appears, select Settings.

3. On the left side of the window, under the Settings section, click the System selector.

4. Under System, locate Use hardware acceleration when available. Toggle the respective dial on or off to enable or disable hardware acceleration, respectively.

5. When you've made your selection, click the Relaunch button

I hope to hear from you soon!

Best regards,

Jed G.

Intel Customer Support Technician

JedG_Intel · ‎02-17-2025

Hello ChrisAllard,

I have not heard back from you so I will close this inquiry now. If you need further assistance, please submit a new question as this thread will no longer be monitored.

Best regards,

Jed G.

Intel Customer Support Technician