Alienware 17 - 4700MQ - 3DMarks11 Physics test mystery

Hey all

I just got a new Alienware 17 with a 4700MQ, 16GB of RAM, 80GB msata SSD used to cache a 1TB hard-drive and a 880M GTX.


I installed 3DMarks Vantage and 3DMarks11. 3DMarks Vantage gives me top marks for both GPU and CPU and in the graph I can see I am in the very top of similiar systems comparisons.

In 3DMarks11 it's a completely different story... GPU tests work flawlessly and I get a score of ~8900 if I remember correctly.
However the physics test are a disaster... I get a score of 2500 on both physics and combined test with a max fps of 7.5 in the physics test (in the graph, similar systems get upwards of 30fps).

Here are some additional details that I hope will allow the "gurus" here to assist me with this problem.

- 3DMarks11 detailed results when comparing with other systems who had normal physics results, show a single difference: Maximum Turbo Clock Speed as 800Mhz on my system (which I believe is the idle state of the CPU), while it is 3400Mhz for the other systems.

- Bios: Speedstep is disabled. Turbo mode is enabled. I also started by pressing F9 to load default/optimal settings, prior to disabling speedstep.

- CPUZ show the core speed as 798Mhz and Bus speed of 98.1Mhz (798 / 8)

- RealTemp show a max temp under load (during the physics test for example) of 50 degrees which I believe is well below critical temps. Just for additional info, the GPU temp are fine as well, giving me a max of 65 degrees under load.

- Power options are set to high performance.

- Power supply is 240 watts.

- General performance of my laptop is great, boot speed is fast, I tried playing one game so far, Tomb Raider on Ultimate settings and got some great results. The benchmark test of that game show similar results to the ones I read in reviews of the 880m.

I know I should get a score upwards of 8000 as in the graph in 3dMarks11 I can see my system as one of 2. AT THE BOTTOM of the rankings.... 99% of similar systems score above 8000....
I searched everywhere without any success...

Can someone please help me with this mystery?

Cheers!


P.S: Just found this on Guru3D:

"hmm it appears setting the ram to proper 1600mhz improved the physics score slightly. Thanks.
But it's still around 6600ish.

UPDATE: It looks like my rams were running single channel mode. Changed it so it runs at dual channel mode and now with 4.4ghz I get physics score of 8237. So..can we call it problem solved?"

I am at work so will try this tonight. Can someone just let me know if this could be my problem? And how can I check if my Ram is at 1600Mhz and working in dual channel mode? I don't remember seeing this in the Bios...

 

I get 8447for physics on my alienware m17

 

Yep, this is the score I should be getting as well. Any idea as to what might be causing the problem?

 

I do have the 4910mq tho and why did you play with bios I would of looked at all your power saving items before diving into bios. I have been overclocking for a long time and some of the settings in there are odd

 

Didn't touch any setting in the Bios except for Speedstep (didn't affect my score anyway). Turbo mode was enabled by default.
I only set all settings back to default to check if there was any problem there. All options without exceptions were already on their default setting, aside from Speedstep.

Do you know by any chance the answer to my questions regarding RAM? How can I set the frequency (to 1600) and dual channel mode in case either of these aren't correct?

 

A little update on the situation:

Still at work but I tried running CPUZ on my work laptop to check something. My CPU is an i7 3630MQ.
I can see a core speed that varies in real time between 3000 and 3200Mhz and a multiplier of 32...

In comparison the Alienware as I mentioned above, display a core speed of 798Mhz and a multiplier of 8........

Is it stuck in eco mode?

I really hope it's not a hardware issue. In any case I am going to install tomorrow a Samsung 840 Evo as a primary drive, do a clean install of Windows 8.1, and try running CPUZ again...

 

if your doing a clean install just do that then check how it runs your score at 8237 sound pretty normal I think

 

I am not getting 8237. Where did you read this? I am getting a total score of 50xx (5030 I think), due to my terrible scores in physics and combined (both below 2500) .

 

UPDATE: It looks like my rams were running single channel mode. Changed it so it runs at dual channel mode and now with 4.4ghz I get physics score of 8237. So..can we call it problem solved?"

I am at work so will try this tonight. Can someone just let me know if this could be my problem? And how can I check if my Ram is at 1600Mhz and working in dual channel mode? I don't remember seeing this in the Bios...

That's from your post up top of page

 

Hmmm, how are you hitting 8237 in physics? I have an i7 4712MQ and my score isn't matching or going beyond what you've achieved here - Score

Edit: my bad, didn't see that you have 16GB's of RAM.

 

what do you get nightdex

 

Hey guys

Maybe it wasn't clear but that score was from an excerpt from a post on Guru3D. A guy was facing a similar problem and solved it by fixing an issue with his RAM.

Anyway problem solved! Don't ask me why but disabling Speed Step was the issue... I installed HWInfo and it showed that Turbo Boost was disabled. So I went back to the BIOS and the only thing I could think of was to just enable SpeedStep again... This solved the problem.

I now get a score of 8200 (Graphis 8336, Physics 8341 , Combined 7123)

 

now all we have to do I get the gtx 880m to work like it should and all I good

 

Here you go

Graphics Score 8569
Physics Score 8136
Combined Score 7030

Edit: I just checked out my stock scores without any over clock or vbios mod. I get 8372 on Physics. I forgot that Slv's vbios ramps the 880m up to 993mhz at all times. That's what was pulling a couple hundred from my physics.

 

Hey nightdex

What do you think could lead to the difference in scores we get on our 880m GTX? Is it because of Slv's vbios? Is my score normal for stock speeds?

 

Yeah that's normal for stock speeds. Flash Slv's vbios and you'll notice a dramatic improvement.

 

Do i lose my warranty if I do so? And is it easy to revert back to stock vBios?

 

No you won't. Just revert back to your stock vbios the same way as you flash the unlocked vbios. Just be sure to back your stock vbios, as you'll need to flash it back if you need to RMA or need to get your gpu or cpu replaced.

 

nightdex I get ghraphics score of 8454 without mods will it worth going to sl7 mod bios

 

Not really. It's only worth doing if your either chasing numbers or needing to smooth gameplay out.