Is this correct?

Is there a way to test if Optimus is actually working and switching between the cards?

I've been running some benchmarks (3DMark Vantage and 3DMark11) and both state that I'm running on the Intel 3000 card...

I'm running on stock settings but have updated the graphics driver to the newest one found on the Dell website.

3DMark Vantage: 14420
3DMark11: 3141

Are the scores above somewhere near the expected numbers?

 

the 3d mark 11 should be a bit higher....

Also try the 3dmark 06 just to see if at least that's normal.
You should (Theoretically be performing better) than the 6970's at least.

Check this thread to compare your scores.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...alienware-m17x-benchmark-thread-part-4-a.html

Optimus sucks. That's all I can really say T_T

edit; btw, are the bsods gone?

 

Yep! I have had no BSOD since the first day...although I don't know why they stopped; I didn't do anything until today (I updated the 580m's driver). Not complaining though!

Thanks for you help concerning that! +rep to you!

Why would my 3DMark11 be low? Looking at the page with the scores it states that my "Graphics driver is not approved," would this cause problems with the score?

 

Now that I think about it, the 580m is relatively new, so a lot of programs and sites don't have support for 580m yet. Don't worry too much about it.

As long as you can run all games on 30fps+, you should be fine.

Try Crysis 2 w/ the Dx11 + High Res patch if you can. People have videos online with them playing it max settings, 30 fps, and with pretty much no fps loss.

 

Alright then, thank you so much for all the help!

Considering that I do not have Crysis 2, it'll be hard for me to see if things are alright...I'll just test games that I do have and hope that they run smoothly instead!

 

Np, have fun with your 580m ( I be jealous D:

 

your 3d mark 11 score is a few hundred short of what it should be, but your vantage score seems about right for stock.