6990M performance issue

I installed Battlefield BC2 on my Alienware M17x but I was surprised to see that I was getting around 38-42 FPS with ultra high settings. I used to get the same FPS with my earlier rig which had a 5770 and an Athlon X4!

So is the 6990m close to 5770 in performance or is something wrong? I did the 3DMark Vantage Benchmark and I got a score of P13878 3DMarks: AMD Radeon HD 6970M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-2630QM Processor,Alienware M17xR3 score: P13878 3DMarks

Also, it states my GPU as a 6970M. How do I confirm whether or not I have a 6990M?

 

pretty simple pal the 6990 has 1120 shaders and the clocks are higher ie 715/900.. dw u have the 6990m's

 

Are the scores also normal? and the fps?

 

Some help would be appreciated guys

 

6990m should be like a desktop 6870 ish so its performance should exceed that of the 5770.

the score on 3d mark seems about right for stock settings.

what drivers are u running, i was getting 60 odd maybe a wee bit higher on ultra settings on bfbc2.

 

as it was stated above, you have a 6990m based on your 1120 shader count and 715/900 mhz speeds.

I have the same computer as you. I will run a vantage run and post my score tonight for you. I think you are in the ballpark though for your machine

 

You can also download 3dmark11.

I scored mid 3800's using the 11.9 RC1 driver and default config in CCC

 

also when i got my r3 my performance was terrible aswell, read somewhere to turn power play off and then on again and my performance went to normal.

 

My driver version is : 8.851.2.0
And what is power play? How do I turn it off?

 

go into your graphics control panel.

right click desktop and graphic properties or catalyst control panel
then under power u will see powerplay.

untick enable and apply then tick it again and apply make sure that plugged in is set to maximize performance.

maybe the 11.10 beta drivers will boost performance for bfbc2 aswell or just get the 11.9 drivers if u prefer non beta.

 

BC2 is a CPU heavy game - the 2630 is a bottleneck for that GPU.

My old old desktop was a q6600 9800GT - got about 30 fps with everything ultra on BC2, upgraded to GTX285, got about 40 fps with everything ultra on BC2, got an i7 870 with the same card - got about 80 fps with everything on ultra.

Now that same CPU is under water @ 4.1g, with a 6950 flashed to 6970, and I get about 70 fps on BF3 beta with everything on high - and low 100's with everything ultra on BC2

 

Mephistopheles, here are my vantage scores:

 

got over 120 fps on my q9550 @ 3.5ghz air cooled and crossfire 5770 @ 1080p ultra settings ;p

my 2730 never goes past 40% load on bf3 regardless of settings, but the beta isnt very well sorted yet as ive seen fast amd phenom @ 4ghz quads still struggle with the beta.

but the frostbite engine is fairly heavy on the cpu, what sorta load are u gettin running bc2 on your cpu. This be actualy playing not loading a map.

 

I highly doubt that my CPU is a bottleneck for my GPU. My CPU was around 28-32% max while my GPU was under 100% load!

Maybe I could try upgrading my drivers, could someone give me a link to the latest stable driver?

 

Just ran Vantage and got 13754 stock clocks. No way that 15K+ result above is stock clock 6990m. Fess up Slick...


Edit: Just re-ran Vantage OC GPU to 800/1000 and got 14956.

Curiously my max temp on the gpu #3 shader sensor was 86.5 at stock clocks but only 83 OC'ed using Hwinfo. Other GPU temps 79 each time.

 

Yep, with a Vantage GPU score of 14,802, SlickDude80's 6990M is heavily overclocked. But your 2820/6990M seems a bit light. I have the same setup, and get around P14,650 at stock settings with the 11.9 drivers, but with a GPU score of only 13,279. Something is holding you back a little.

 

Thanks Rev. I am using dell drivers and have antivirus, network monitor, hwinfo etc running in the background as well.

What do you make of the lower temps oc'ed?

 

Yeah, the Dell drivers probably slow you down some. I have no idea why the shader temps are lower, I'm not even sure where the shader reading comes from or what exactly it's measuring.

 

I don't think there is a performance issue. That is fairly close to my score:
AMD Radeon HD 6970M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-2630QM Processor,Alienware M17xR3 score: P13878 3DMarks

I am stock everything (except undervolt on my 6990m) and i have a 2630qm, not a 2820.

the reason why the 6990m is recognized as a 6970m is because they both have the same hardware ids.

 

download the 11.9 official drivers here:

ATI Catalyst? Mobility Display Driver

 

Dude, i never said i was @ stock...

15418 was at 800/1080

 

The OP was looking to see if his card was running normally and his was at stock clocks. You posted your scores for comparison but did not state that you were not at stock clocks.

Most everyone presumes that scores are at stock clocks unless you say otherwise, fyi.

No worries.

What are your temps during Vantage?

 

ya i see the confusion. I'll post a stock (715/900) run later today for you to compare with

My temps? At 800/1080?

 

Stock temps or both if you can. with hwinfo64

 

I have a 2760 with a 6990, running the bf3 preview drivers (11.10)

P14673

with 13425 for graphics
and 20350 for CPU

Edit:
Stock clocks.

CPU maxed at 80C GPU at 73.5C I have not repasted either.

Also of note... this was run under the "balanced" power mode. Also, this was run off my regular HD not the SSD.

Edit again:
For amusement, I ran Vantage on my old laptop (core2 duo T7250 with 8600gt)
P1167
974 graphics
2872 processor

Edit:
With an OC of 809/1099 and running in performance mode rather than balanced, I now get
P16247
15076 Graphics
21182 CPU
Temps maxed at 78 CPU and 76 GPU using HWinfo to max the fans.

Edit:
I also ran Vantage on the intel integrated for the sake of curiosity
P2126
1638 graphics
20236 CPU

 

Those are great scores, I wonder how much difference the drivers make with both scores and temps.

 

there was a boost in 3dmark scores with 11.9. I saw a pretty significant surge in 3dmark11

 

Dr J...here is my stock 715/900 run as promised earlier...I7 2630qm. The driver is 11.9

temps maxed at 69 CPU and 67 GPU (repasted with ICD-7)

 

Its giving me an error. It says "AMD Catalyst Mobility cannot be downloaded due to incompatible hardware/software on your computer. The version of your graphics adapter is not supported."

 

Try these: http://www2.ati.com/Drivers/mobile/11-9_mobility_vista_win7_64_dd_ccc_ocl.exe

 

That gave me a BSOD at first, I tried it again and it seems fine now.
My Vantage score now : AMD Radeon HD 6970M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-2630QM Processor,Alienware M17xR3 score: P14036 3DMarks

 

Thanks slick.

13174 gpu score is significantly higher than mine, each at stock clocks.

I will eventually update my drivers to 11.9 and see if that makes the difference.

It will take a lot more for me to attempt to repaste my GPU for fear of screwing something up.

 

yes, update to 11.9 because i guarantee you will see an increase.

Don't fear a repaste lol...i'm not mechanically inclined but it was a piece of cake. So if i can do it, anyone can. Took me 30 mins to do both CPU and GPU and i was taking my time. The stock paste job is aweful. Mine was practically metal on metal. There was almost no paste on there...plus the stuff they use isn't the best..absolutely shameful

 

I downloaded the driver in rev's link before I left for work and will update the driver later today. Will do a before and after stock clock vantage again and post.

You talked me into trying the paste job. I think there is a youtube link here as well. Where is the best place to order the die paste?

thanks!

 

its really easy to do. Trust me. You can use this guide as a reference for your repasting

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m17x/561599-m17x-r3-cpu-gpu-re-pasting-guide-w-pics.html

if you have any questions just ask. I'll help you.

In my experience, you should get a tube of Artic Silver 5. For a novice, it is easy to work with. Local computer store has it for $7.99 so it may not be worth the hassle of ordering online. Newegg has it, so does Ncix etc.

I used IC diamond 7 but it is really thick and hard to work with. So if this is the first time, get a tube of AS5. It is lightyears more heat conductive than the crappy dell 2w/mk garbage that they put on there. (AS5 is about 9w/mk so 4 times more thermally conductive)

Also go and get yourself a cheap $3 bottle of Isopropyl Rubbing Alcohol from the drug store. You'll need that to clean the existing crap off the CPU and GPUs

 

Thanks slick. I ordered mx-4 from amazon (rev mentioned in another thread) and hope it's here for next weekend. Apparently it's as-5's successor

 

People new to pasting shouldn't use Artic Silver 5 because it's capacitive. If you're sloppy with it and get it on electrical components your could end up with problems.

Get something non-capacitive and non-conductive.

years back, AS5 was the best there was. Since then many new pastes came out that surpass it, and most of them are non-conductive and non-capactive as a bonus.

http://www.arcticsilver.com/as5.htm

 

MX-4 is non-conductive and easy to work with per reviews. $10

 

mx -4 is suppose to be a little better than AS5, but i've never used it but it has a great reputation

 

i seem to lose my catalyst control center everytime I dload 11.9. Any ideas?