Poor performance with Age of Empires IV

[SirWinsalot]

I was able to use dual monitors to run Microsoft Teams video chat and play Age of Empires IV on maximum graphics settings up until about a couple months ago. Now I need to significantly reduce the graphics settings in the game in order to not observe a very low frame rate. I am not sure what has changed to cause this performance degradation. I have updated all of the drivers and I still see the issue.

[RamyerM_Intel]

Hello SirWinsalot, 

Thank you for posting in the communities. To further assist you with the poor performance issue, I need to be more familiar with your system configuration. Please share with us your SSU logs. Are there any changes that you have made in your system as well before the issue occurred? I will be waiting for your reply. 

Ramyer M.

Intel Customer Support Technician 

[SirWinsalot]

I have attached the SSU log. The only change I have made was to update the graphics drivers from Intel® Driver & Support Assistant. When I updated the drivers from the Intel site, it had a warning that they may differ from the manufacturer recommended drivers. What are the recommended drivers that I should be using for the Intel NUC12SNKi72?

Also, around the same time that we began observing the poor performance on Age of Empires IV, we also started having persistent screen blinking on our dual monitor setup when using other applications. The issue is occurring even with the latest drivers.

[SirWinsalot]

I also tried taking a different approach and installed all of the latest drivers and latest BIOS for NUC 12 from the ASUS website here: NUC 12 Enthusiast Kit｜NUCs｜ASUS USA

I still see screen flickering after installing all of the latest ASUS NUC12 drivers and BIOS. The flickering seems to stop when I turn off one of the displays. The Age of Empires IV performance is also still very poor with these drivers and BIOS as well.

I have attached the SSU log for this configuration.

[JeanetteC_Intel]

Hello SirWinsalot, 

Thank you for sharing this update. We'll check the logs files and we will post an update once it's available. 

Jeanette C.

Intel Customer Support Technician 

[RamyerM_Intel]

Hello SirWinsalot,

Thank you for patiently waiting. Seeing that you have an NUC12SNKi72, I want to let you know that the technical and warranty Support for Intel’s NUC 7 through NUC 13 Systems has transitioned to ASUS as of January 16, 2024. You may also visit this article for more details: Customer Support Services for Intel® NUC Products Has Transitioned to ASUS as of January 16, 2024

Additionally, I want to inform you that the recommended drivers for this system are those provided on the ASUS website. Since this is an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) product from ASUS, it requires specific customizations and alterations that we may not be fully aware of. However, given that the flickering issue persists with both the generic and OEM drivers, I kindly ask you to follow these steps highlighted in this article :How to Fix a Flickering Screen with Intel® Graphics

Should the issue persists, please share with us a screenshot of your game settings so we can further investigate this for you. I will be waiting for your reply. 

Ramyer M. 

Intel Customer Support Technician 

[SirWinsalot]

After discussing with ASUS support, they believe this is a hardware issue and have had me return the NUC to them for replacement under warranty.

[RamyerM_Intel]

Hello SirWinsalot,

Thank you for letting us know about the diagnosis from ASUS. I am sorry to hear that this has been concluded to be defective. As such, it is indeed best to continue for the replacement with ASUS support. I will now proceed in closing your case. Should you need assistance in the future, feel free to submit a new question as this one will no longer be monitored. 

Ramyer M. 

Intel Customer Support Technician