Alienware M17x R3 performance

Hello!

I am new to this forum and to the Alienware owners club as well since july this year. I bought mine because I wanted to, not that I needed to. My original idea was to go with a Dell XPS and use it as a workstation. It had to run heavy enterprise applications on interconnected VMs just for educational purposes. But then I saw the prices of the Alienware M17x R3 with i7 SandyBridge, 8GB RAM and HD6970m and thought that it will be better option for me because it was more powerfull (graphics at least) and I didn't mind that it is a bit heavier.

So I ended with the M17x R3 and I used it for runing VMs. It was doing just great I was amazed with the performance I got of the single 750GB HDD. Probably in the future I will go with SSDs in RAID 0. Anyway, one night I was with a friend and he gave me his StarCraft 2 DVD and since I am a big fan of the original game I immediately installed it. I waited for all updates to install and started the game. The first thing I did was to raise the graphic detail to the max and by that I mean that I went through *EVERY* option in the graphics section and set its value to the *HIGHEST* available setting. Then I started playing the campaign and I noticed that the visuals were not that fluid, the framerate was insufficient to be labeled as enjoyable. I did the hover thing with the mouse cursor over the menu to check the framerate. And the numbers were not great at all, showing around 30 fps. I've read a lot reviews on this particular Alienware M17x R3 configuration and I knew that it should be capable of at least 40 FPS all maxed out.

I updated the drivers - still doing 30's. I tested the same settings on a moderate AMD based desktop with two 5770 in crossfire and it was doing more than 50 FPS for sure. I know that it is a desktop and a crossfire but still... I am very dissapointed and I am searching for any clues why this is happening.

So..does anyone know what can be the cause of my problem?

To sum it up:
CPU: i7 2630QM
RAM: 8GB DDR3
GPU: AMD HD6970M 2GB DDR5
HDD: 750GB SATA 7200 rpm
OS: WIN 7 Home Premium 64-bit
DRIVERS: from Dell website, July updates

Results in SC2: ~30 FPS
RESOLUTION: 1920x1080 @ 60 Hz
COLOR: 32-bit
SETTINGS: ULTRA
That is on the first couple of campaign levels of the game.

Regards,
Ivan

 

I can get 50-60fps average on campaign with graphic settings set to extreme. But i have the 6990m and 2720 processor. Do you have the latest gpu driver?

 

Well first things first...and it sounds like you know what you are doing...but is the dumb thing in stealth mode? (Heck if R3's even have that...idk)

And I am assuming you have your power setting set to high proformance and that you are not trying to play the dang game on just battery power?

Again, I am pretty sure that you already know all this...but this stuff always gets mentioned first.

When you say you updated the driver...are we talking the dell one from the dell/AW site or the actual AMD driver? I was just told that as long as you install the new reference AMD driver over top of an old Dell driver everything is supposed to be fine...so if you havent done that, I would.

I also know that on the R2 this game was trouble some at first...maybe the r3's have a similar issue? I dont know...

 

Yep, I updated the drivers from Dell website. I installed the latest ones for my model and the situation did not change. Then I downloaded the AMD driver and installed on top of Dell. No change again, only lost my brightness controls when using the HD6970M (no problems with the IGP).

I test only when connected to power supply. Stealth mode is something that I didn't know about. I will have to doublecheck when I go home.

Do you think that my processor can be the potential cause for this?

 

From what I hear AMD drivers installation is a nightmare at times. The process seems to usually be "Remove, driver sweep, install, rinse and repeat every new version..."

You wouldn't happen to have Vsync on, would you? I remember when I had a 460m(Not as good as the 6970 i might add), I was floating 45-55 fps in campaign and 1v1/2v2 matches on ultra settings. That and Reduce Mouse lag would reduce ur fps by quite a bit.

 

Ok, I will have to check that. The list just got bigger:

I will have to:
1. Try to upgrade/fix driver issues
2. BIOS upgrade
3. Stealth mode
4. Powerplay options
5. Vsync / Reduce mouse lag options

Its good that at least I *know* that I have problems with performance. I could have been still playing with those 30 FPS and thinking of how great it was doing while actually it's not...

 

I do get to 10 fps on the last mission though when im super overwhelmed and I use the energy nova. Which is around 29 minutes of the mission on brutal.

 

You should run 3dmark and unigine heaven to see if your system is running at pace with similar systems. Sometimes when I read complaints like yours it seems to me you may just be really sensitive to your number of FPS. The benchmarks will give you a difinitive answer as to there being something actually wrong.

 

Hmmm..."sensitive to FPS" will mean that I still get to see 50-60 FPS in the game from time to time which I don't. So I am pretty sure that there is something wrong. I will keep you updated on that.

Regards,
Ivan

 

What???

I have the 460m a little OC'd (not that much) and I can play SC2 at 50-60 fps.... only dips down to 30 in big battles............. And I'm pretty sure the 6970m squashes the 460m.

I'm playing 1920 x 1080
and ultra...! :O

 

I have the same issue. I get 42fps average at highest settings in battlefield bad company 2, in SC2 I get so much lag it is unplayable in high. I am playing 1v1 in medium which is no better than the integrated graphics. I am downloading the new drivers and will report back. For reference I have:

320gb hdd
8gb ram
6990m
2630qm

 

Lazy8s you are running off the 6990, not the integrated, correct?

 

I sure am. I tried both to compare. In SC2 they behave the same. In bfbc2 I get slightly better performance with the 6990. I even downloaded the AMD monitor to be sure the card was working. I'm at the dog park now, I will have some results this afternoon hopefully.

 

Well with the graphics driver update I get:
BFBC2
min-39
max-72
avg-52

So basically 10FPS, or about 25%!

SC2 I played in Ultra 4v4 and I was getting 40-50 FPS the entire time even with maxed army!! Woohoo driver updates!!

Edit: the more I think about this the more it irritated me, actually. There is a ridiculous price premium for alienware. How can they ship knowing there are drivers out that give this kind of performance increase. (Yes, these drivers came out before my order was even placed)

 

Great!

I will check to see if my problem is caused by driver problems as well.
Only 4 days left to get near my R3, can't wait!

 

Aside from the latest drivers, also update all game patches. You might get another nice boost in fps

 

tbh mine worked fine out of the box, although i had to turn powerplay off n on in ccc after that i got full fps on whatever game i trow at it

u sure it wasnt just the powerplay bug ?

 

Ok, updates!

I've reinstalled the drivers and also BIOS flash was in place. Now I get to see 30 fps in the Cantina/Bridge menu and around 120 fps in game without much going on. That is on full Ultra specs without the @Reduce mouse lag@ and the @Vertical Sync@ options.

I will now check the performance in other games/tools.
I've used the Dell drivers A02 from 9th of August 2011 for the HD6970M. I've also reinstalled the OSD application so now I can even change my brightness with the provided keyboard controls.

Cheers,
Ivan

 

Hello,

To begin here is my config:

CPU: i7 2630QM
RAM: 8GB DDR3
GPU: Nvidia 580m
HDD: 750GB SATA 7200 rpm
OS: WIN 7 Home Premium 64-bit
DRIVERS: Dell July updates

I am new to Alienware but from what I know my laptop is running in performance mode and everything is updated to dell standards. Most games run well but for some reason I am getting inconsistent starcraft 2 performance. Maybe I was expecting too much but on ultra its plain unplayable - fps as low as 15 and all over the place - as in random drops in fps. I noticed that the drivers from nvidia are much newer (I have 269.03 they are offering 280.26) but I cant seem to install them.

Do any of you have any suggestion? I tried reinstalls of everything (game, drivers, and even windows). I even called Alienware and although they were helpful they were unable to solve this and also would not install nvidia site drivers for me.

Do any of you have this configuration or anything comparable? Are you also having the same issue? And finally is there any way to install non dell drivers and if so what are possible repercussions?

Thank You,

timurStas

 

timurStas, you have to make sure that you are installing the mobile drivers and not the desktop ones.

Get them here:

NVIDIA DRIVERS 280.26 WHQL

 

These are slightly better, plus you don't need a custom version to work on our GPUs:
NVIDIA DRIVERS 285.27 BETA
Slightly better performance too.

 

I've seen this problem with the default game that comes with Alienware (portal or something, I am not much of a gamer). But I do have a lot of software programs/products running parallel and so far its been an enjoyable experience....

 

Hello,

I finally got the new drivers installed and also did the nvidia bios update thats listed as urgent on dell support. To be honest I did not have much time to test it out - only ran one game - and it seemed a bit better.

 

Hi all!

New here as well. I seem to have the same problem as timurStas. Am on a 2 week old R3 with GTX 580m with 269.03 drivers.

So should i update to 280.26 whql or the beta? I have tried the beta 285 one from nvidia and it installed fine. But upon restart the aero peek cannot seem to work and when i launch firefox, it does not allow me to "right" click.

I have since used system restore to go back to 269.03

Thing is, did i install it correctly? Do i need to uninstall the 269.03 after installing new drivers? Or is 280.26 more stable?

NBA2k12 played nicely around 60fps though and i could not run PES2012 at all as it does not detect my graphics card.

Thanks for reading all!

 

News around my Alienware - it died 5 minutes ago.

More info here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m17x/626014-my-new-m17x-r3-just-died.html#post8088419

 

Ok,

Now that the Alienware is back to life we're also back to square one in terms of performance. I tried to reinstall the drivers of the motherboard, graphics and also flashed the BIOS of the motherboard. But I still get low FPS in Star Craft 2. I noticed that the CPU is always running @ 800 MHz. I downloaded the ThrottleStop tool and that was able to unlock the multiplier to the original 20 of the CPU. Tested the games again and got some appropriate results but still not top notch. How can I fix the CPU problem without using 3rd party tools?

Cheers!

 

That's not Portal. You download portal from Steam.. The ones that came preinstalled is EVE Online.

 

The products that come pre-installed are a matter of choice at ordering. You can choose Steam (which brings with it a free copy of Portal), or Eve, or WoW and so on and so on. Eve is by no means standard on Alienware notebooks. Steam however is a default choice when walking through the build sheets online.

 

If your CPU is truly locked at 800Mhz, then Intel SpeedStep (EIST) might be disabled in the BIOS (under Advanced menu) or elsewhere.

 

VanVan, you might not have an issue at all. Even CPu bound games like SC2 are often waiting for the GPU. how are you recording your CPU speeds while you are gaming?

If you like, download furmark 1.9 and run the burn in test so that we can compare fps scores

 

On my M17x w/580, Furmark set to 1920x1080, my fps alternates between 22 and 17 as the clocks bounce between 620 and 475. Temps are at about 65C (back lifted, stock paste). My machine has Dell's latest vbios.

Is this what is expected from stock?

 

Yep, that's about what I see too. Over an extended session, I get 21-24 fps at 1920x1080 with no AA, but with 8x AA, it drops to 13-14 fps. I'm using the modified vbios, so clocks stay at 620Mhz. Using the 1080 benchmark, it does 20fps with temps at 67C (.92v vbios)

 

No, it's not disabled.

I can always run games in windowed mode, I can also try some encoding programs, I even tried a CPU test with AIDA64. Task Manager continuously reports that the CPU speed is 800 MHz when doing all of the above. Then I ran the ThrottleStop app and voila - it unlocked the SpeedStep and I was able to see speeds going up and down.

I will upload some testing results later when I have more time.

Cheers!

 

Hmm...

I've downloaded Trixx and overclocked the 6970 to 800/1000 and this is the result, this time in Vantage:
AMD Radeon HD 6970M / 6990M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-2630QM Processor,Alienware M17xR3 score: P13879 3DMarks

I compared it to others and it's close to theirs, but if you still have any advices coming from your experience with this type of machine, please, share those with me cuz I feel frustrated (maybe because I expected more).

 

You have the base CPU and you are getting vantage scores beyond some of others with a similar spec. I think you're either being too picky or you bought the wrong spec.

 

I had the exact same problem as you with me M17x R3 playing Starcraft 2. Turned out it was a faulty motherboard connection issue.

Let me ask you: Do you get a message during Windows boot up saying: The battery could not be found, you may not be able to run on highest performance or something to that effect?

If so, that is the key.

 

Nope, I don't get strange messages like that and the battery works very well.

 

reading all the above i believe OP solution is purchasing an m18x or a modded fully loaded R2..

 

Yeah, probably you're right, but I bought the R3 when there wasn't M18X available for purchase.

Also the thing I hate about my R3 now is the CPU underclocking. This wasn't the case before it was serviced (dead GPU and motherboard replaced). Now that I have the machine working, the CPU only runs at 800 MHz. I have to use ThrottleStop to fix the issue, but this is not good. I will try with another CPU...

 

Van Van...there is one thing that you can try. Install the unlocked A08 bios. It just seems weird that you are going through this. Lets take the bios out of play. The unlocked A08 is just what the A08 should have been. With all options available.

ALIENWARE 17XR3 UNLOCKED A08 BIOS.rar

 

Thanks, but I already tried that with no luck.

I guess I'm gonna stick with ThrottleStop for now and wait for upgrades because honestly I don't want to deal with DELL support again...

 

Van

What's your 3d mark scores? 06 11 and vantage

have you tried putting the dell 6990m driver on the 6970m?

 

Its in the results now in my signature. I think I've managed to fix the problem...

 

So how did you fix it?!

 

Sorry for late reply, I dunno how i missed to answer the last question, mdw211.

I flashed my BIOS with the A08 unlocked and turned-off an option there. You can read more about that in the following post:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...alienware-m17x-r3-a08-bios-2.html#post8150425