Slowdown Issues on Dell Inspiron N5010

Slowdown Issues on Dell Inspiron N5010

I have a Dell Inspiron N5010 laptop with the following config
Core i3 Processsor
4 GB RAM
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5470 512 MB Graphics Card

Until a few days ago the laptop was able to play most games including FIFA 11 & COD:MW2 on medium to high settings while maintaining a constant Frame rate of 60 (detected using FRAPS).
But now every game slows down and lags a lot and the frame rate drops down to 20-30 while on A/C power. As soon as the power cord is removed and the laptop begins to run on battery power (Dell Inspiron N5010 Battery), Frame rate increases and it runs smoothly again.

Please help. I've searched through this forum but I can't seem to find anyone with a similar problem.


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Answers 1:. Check your power settings to make sure you are running at full performance when plugged in. It sounds like your system is throttling back on power, when it should be the opposite. 

Answers 2: There may be an issue with your PSU (charger). Dell laptops have a little oddity, when the computer detects a non-dell psu, it will throttle back the CPU. This feature has been integrated into dell laptops for quite some time. I have seen some Dell laptops do this when plugged into the factory PSU. Run the Dell Diagnostics at start up. The program should tell you if there is an issue with your power supply.

Answers 3: Check your Catalyst Control Center settings... Do you remember installing any software or receiving any updates about the time your issue started occurring?