Do my specs line up with my performance?

Intel Core i7-2670QM 2.2GHz
4GB DualCh DDR3 1600MHz 2DIM
2GB GDDR5 AMD HD 6990M (11.10 cata)
640GB Raid 0 (2x 320GB 7,200RPM)

So I'm on my 2nd m17x now... The first one I got was giving me weird locking issues and actually right out of the box on the first bootup gave me a "windows failed to shut down properly" error..

Although this laptop didn't have any of those issues and also smells a lot more like its brand new ^_^mmmmmm... The performance is only slightly better than the 1st one. In battlefield 3 on auto settings I'm getting around 35-45fps (everything on high, lighting turned down a bit) and in starcraft2... well it goes from 60fps to about 30fps just looking at my base at the start.. literaly 8 workers brings this beast of a laptop down to 30fps?!

I'm wondering what I'm missing here.. I know these numbers just can't be right.. I'm far from an expert and to be honest I'm not sure how my specs should be performing but I think it should be maxing these games with frames to spare..

Any help greatly appreciated

 

50 views and not a single response -_-
guys, any insight into this issue would REALLY help me out. When I call tech support they run a benchmark and tell me to reinstall drivers..

Is the 6990m just too new to have any really driver support? Should I send back the laptop for a 3rd try? Should i send back the laptop and get a GeForce card instead??

 

Honestly it sounds about normal to me. On high settings you should see 30-50fps on BF3, which is where you are at. I am not familiar with SC2.

The most common problems with performance are not having the AC adapter plugged in and not having a high performance power profile enabled. If you are already running the 11.10 driver then there is not much else you can do.

Run 3DmarkVantage and compare to stock scores of others. If similar you are good. Run gamebooster (download for free) to make sure the benchmark runs correctly.

 

Why not simply run a standardized benchmark (like Vantage as above) and compare online at 3dmark?

 

Because comparing online puts you up against overclockers and benchers thus his score will seem low even if it isn't. Make a run of 3DMark Vantage and '11 and post the scores here. We'll let you know. Your GPU/CPU combo should score somewhere between 12-14k Vantage and a bit over 3000 in '11.

 

Thanks for the responses guys
I ran 3DMark Vantage. My score was P14299 3DMarks and here is the link it gave me
AMD Radeon HD 6970M / 6990M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-2670QM Processor,Alienware M17xR3 score: P14299 3DMarks

Interesting that it says the graphics driver is not approved.. it also says the driver version is 8.901.2.0 which doesn't make any sense to me.. Perhaps the 11.10 driver is not being used??

Not sure if this makes a difference but on the very last test which was a physics test where the planes fly threw hoops it was beyond chugging.. it looked more like a slideshow.

 

Turning off vsync has improved my performance in StarCraft2. I just tested it out in a custom game and the frame rate holds out around 50 and gets up to around 80 when not much is going on.

 

the approved by Futuremark videodriver is Dell/AW driver, I could be wrong though

and the physics test yes, looks like a slideshow. I can't imagine how much CPU power does it require to run this test at such OPS rate that it would look like 60+ fps..

 

All that is normal. Your GPU score is great. Your CPU score is normal also.

I'd say it is time for you to start gaming and have fun.

 

Everything appears to be in order here
I just loaded up TF2 with everything cranked to max @ 1920x1080... 300fps. Funny enough playing with vsync has different results in a number of games. In League of Legends if I turn vsync off the fps will dip in the 30s. If I turn it on i'll sit at a 60fps solid the whole game.

I hope Dell comes out with an updated driver soon, the one one the site is from months ago. I dont think the 11.10 is really made for the 6990m's in the alienwares and might be causing the weird issues.

 

For what its worth, i installed the 11.10 and went back to 11.9 because the performance was terrible

Stick to the dell driver or 11.9 thats my advice!

 

nope...the 11.10s are perfectly safe. Ive been running them since day 1. No problems at all

 

the amd drivers seem like hit and miss for most people. I did the dell driver, then to 11.9, then to 11.10. It worked fine without bsods or performance errors for me