M17x DPC Latency

i clean installed win7 using your method. spikes are there and the situation is the same if not worse (i may get some 16000 spikes when using wireless). I installed even win7 home premium instead of ultimate

 

I did see that.


ok. You have a03 bios and do you havedell drivers installed? If so I would suggest 9.12 hotfix...

and you don't have the smu installed right?

 

The fact is, when you fresh install win7 you have a lot of not recognized devices, if you would install the chipset drivers for last (not suggested), you would have only 1 left unidentified device the coprocessor, to install the driver for this device you have to point to the SM bus folder (not SMU), after doing that you wont have any unidentified device, you can install the SMU driver using the NVIDIA chipset driver installer, but i dont know what thats supposed to add to the system or what device's driver it upgrades.

Anyway only after the coprocessor driver (SM bus) you would see features like Powermizer (actually for this feature you need also updates video card driver or you need to force the powermizer with a registry fix).

 

aO3 bios installed
dell drivers installed.
9.12 ATI driver installed over dell driver for R2 if this is the 9.12 hotfix?

smu not installed. i used the have disk method for coprocessor nvidia nforce pci controller as you proposed with nvidia 15.51 driver
the wireless driver is the one that should be fixed in my opinion. i have seen a big difference between the win7 default driver and the broadcom one.

thus why does my system starts with fans at full speed and remains like this while other times the fans dont work at full speed unless i play games?

 

Is the fan at max speed during bios boot up?

Which card is at max speed (cpu/gpu)? and whats the temp?

if the cpu/gpu doesnt downclock itself down the fans will go at max speed pretty fast.

 

the fans reach full speed after bios boot and remain at full speed in windows even when in idle

i can hear all the three fans at full speed...!

this happens when it wants. i cant explain it! it happens when it wants and after i swapped to ATIs but not always so it doesnt seem to me like a normal process....

 

Not sure if this is too relevant since you guys are talking about the 4870's, but with 280's and powermizer off, my fans hit max speed after only about 3 minutes of idling.... Even with powermizer off I have still gotten spikes of over a million, it's just ridiculous.

I really hope that Dell/AW/NV announce something real soon - whether it be a fix (which I honestly doubt will resolve the issue) or just them saying we can exchange for R2 or something else since the R2's apparently have issues of their own (flickering with the 920's).

 

i had this problem also. but it was my slave card and i called dell to get it replaced. when the tech was on the way i pull apart my machine and found out that the plug
aris
for the slave gpu wasn't all the way in but in your case what i would do is reflash your system bios with whatever you have installed and see what happens.

swg
can we see a screenshot of hwmoniter....

 

I have posted some few steps that got rid of all the latency problem i had with my M17x R1. But i have dual 280m not ATIs. i have no issues at all with latency or stuttering anymore. But one of those steps includes disabling powermizer with Nvidia cards.

 

so it was only one fan of the slave gpu that was working at full speed right? for me all the three fans work like crazy. like its trying to fly.lool

you want a screenshot of the hwmonitor when the fans work like crazy or when they dont?

hwmonitor doesnt detect ATIs temps. gpuz is the only one i found working with ATIs temps.

my friend your guide could be only with one step. just install dox drivers with powermizer off. powermizer off=no latency.

 

both to see what's up with your temps. you and swg....

also try the bios flash and see what happens.

 

powermizer off works - but hot/loud M17x is the result.

for some people that's deal breaker

 

Well for me powermaizer off helps but not completely. After a while (a couple hours) without restart, even if I haven't been doing anything intensive to make it hot I start to get stutters - usually around 60k when idle/listening to music or whatever, but when gaming those get over a million sometimes, usually around 900k.

I don't have a screenshot right now, but temps aren't too bad w/o powermizer, but like lewdvig said my M17x is very loud at all times. Idle temps usually in the 50's, gaming gets them up to high 70's or sometimes low 80's (only when playing really demanding games) and then after exiting a game they cool pretty quickly back to around the 50's.

Most of my testing has been with Mass Effect 2 and after hours of playing my max temps are usually around 78C. Sometimes I start getting those huge spikes though, and after restarting my computer they are gone for a few hours again.

 

For the time being this never happened again. i hope it will stay like that. otherwise i will re-flash the bios

 

guys i have the impression that the red spikes of 4000μs or less appear just when i resize windows or when i just open firefox (even if i open blank page) rather than data transferrred through the internet.
do you have the same dondadah88??

 

I'm in church so I don't have internet to post this but I resized the windows and I am defraging right now and the highest reading I have gotten so far is 994us. I openned up the program for about 3 minutes now.

 

I had my Nvidia 280 cards swapped to ATI 4870s last Friday and after extensive testing running Crysis at high settings, I'm happy to say that the video stutter has been basically eliminated. DPC latency has also been nearly eliminated.

I have, however experienced 1 lock up and 1 bluescreen while running that game for several hours and I've basically been playing it all weekend. Before the swap, I was experiencing bluescreens, lockups and stuttering around every 15-20 minutes or so. I think (fingers crossed) part of the problem is Crysis and it's demands on the system.

 

Hmm... How did you get your cards switched? Did you call CS and ask specifically for it or did the rep offer you that option?

I'm thinking about trying to switch mine but I think I wil just wait for whatever Dell/nv come up with and then call in if that doesn't work. I really want an r2 (even with the flickering issues) for the rgb led screen so I'm hoping they give us thAt exchange option

 

swg, if you are not willing to wait for a fix, then call support and dicuss the issue. Will they replace your cards with ATI? That is up to support. Talk to them and see what they say.

 

man i wished they would tell me if the problem was not fixed they would send an r2

i told them if the atis dint fix the issue totally or if it caused more problems i want an r2 or a refund but they told me no way only a r1 replacement..

 

they told me a tech would be coming with ATIs twice (not including the time they called and I was out of town) - no show yet

 

i get the feeling its going to happen to me too. the tech is suppoed to get here at 1pm and now its 1.30 and no call from anyone at all

 

No trust me on this, Powermizer off alone does not fix the latency problem. You need to NOT install any Nvidia SMU stuff and let windows install the default windows update one. Also i am sure the ACPI service does affect the power management of the 9400 chip, i believe it helps when you disable the service.

 

ok i just got my cards swapped to atis. ran a 3dmark 06, stock score 14k.. thats kinda low? using dell default drivers..

saw some 10k spikes in dpc latency checker on idle but less often..

gona test it out fully for the next few days

 

so far i still have MANY spikes when watching youtube videos and my borderlands performance is really ty.

im just using dell drivers for now but seriously, 19 fps? on my nvidias i get like 80 if im not wrong and yes im on xfire on every other game it looks fine just borderlands for some reason having 19fps and highest 30fps..

 

aside from the DPC issue Ruby, its time to move over to this thread for the performance/driver issues:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=457261

unless you did a fresh install, you are probably going to run into issues. at least thats how gadget worked around it (i believe).

 

well for me just installing dox driver with powermizer off worked when i had GTX280s.

 

ok so far ive done testing for some games, benchmarked with 3dmark 06 and vantage, watched some youtube videos and did some idling.

i was on dell's driver and then the 9.12 with hotfix. fresh install, tried with and without smu driver. crossfire x on with ai set to advanced


oh and the tech almost broke my capacitive touch panel


Heres my report:

i have not yet heard or detected any audio stuttering so for now it is GONE.

dpc latency spikes however are still present but alot LOT less and it is ALOT lower.

this is an ss of the latency when idle,



http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Y97H4Y8A3Og/S2_xs_k9sLI/AAAAAAAAAgY/IwxZWk1VwAU/s1600-h/dpcspikeati.png

youtube,

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Y97H4Y8A3...gw/fQmESwAYWEA/s1600-h/dpcspikeatiyoutube.png


gaming(notice the HUGE DPC SPIKES WHICH IS STILL VERY HIGH)

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Y97H4Y8A3...Ago/H42fYAd_VHQ/s1600-h/dpcspikeatigaming.png
on battery



http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Y97H4Y8A3...gg/p-NrA9OZQOI/s1600-h/dpcspikeatibattery.png


gaming wise, i can say the stutters are ALOT LESS than with the nvidia cards. performance wise on some games the nvidias still perform better.

borderlands in particular, is performing REALLY BAD with these atis going at avg 45 fps.

i took a video of the in game stuttering/sudden fps drop and i am uploading to youtube right now.

the in game stutters STILL EXISTS FOR MOS GAMES just that it is LESS FREQUENT.

video quality difference is also quite visible for certain games like street fighter 4. i think games that were developed together with nvidia would look slightly different. for sf4, the characters looked more detailed with nvidia cards(their muscles and pecs were rendered more detailedly) and the background looked nicer.

similarly games made with amd/ati also looked different, like dirt 2 and stalker call of priyat. these games looked better and more detailed with these ati cards. dirt 2 also had a significant performance increase but i think thats because crossfire was on.

take note again that i am using an almost fresh install with only games and essential stuff like msn+windows live mail client,micrsoft security essentials and a download manager. the only difference between a fresh install and mine is that i installed it yesterday but still did not install any nvidia stuff in it.

so dell, please give me an r2 or give me the ok for the future alienware with i7s and 5870s or a full refund. i think i deserve it for having 2 different 7000 dollar laptops that have defective designs in a row and spending so much time calling tech support

 

while gaming i dont have any red spikes. i have spikes of the 4000μs range when resizing windows or loading webpages (but not always).

i installed nvidia chipset drivers to test if there will be any difference. the spikes are the same. not less not more.

3dmark06 with cpu at 3.12 shows 17000 points.

 

wow 17000 at stock? i only got 15k with cpu at 2.93. 14k when cpu stock. gpu is stock as well. my vantage only got 11k with gpu score 11k as well.

no matter, my latency stuttering is still there so atis dint solve my issue.

some how i kinda expected this since im always so damned unlucky so i just have to be one of the unlucky people who cant be saved by the atis

 

cpu was not at stock mhz-see above. thus i installed modified 9.12 driver for ATIs. i am unlucky as you on the dpc latency topic. i have seen worse but also better latencies with ATIs. do a clean install. it may help you. for me clean install- tricks didnt help. the machine is acceptable now but not on a professional level (meaning audio editing and such stuff especially when using internet at the same time). i may have to tell you that i got a huge red spike of 999000 but it was just once.

 

yea i meant gpu stock not cpu.. it was almost a clean install just that it had msn+email+antivirus. it shouldnt have problems with such a install since even if a totally fresh empty install has no issue, i would eventually install these other apps and if after installing them the issue appears, then its as good as a paperweight.


i dont really agree that mine is acceptable since in most games the stutter still occur just less frequently(from once every 5-10mins to once every 10-15mins). i dont see how on earth someone can play a game and enjoy it if it has frame drops every 15 minutes. i play for hours at one go so having spikes every 15 minutes is hell.

the only thing i noticed gone is the audio stutters but i havent really spent time playing music so i cant confirm

EDIT: any ati users having issues with borderlands as well? i get avg of 40-50fps while on my nvidias they were close to 70-80 fps. all settings maxed out 4xaa. is it me or does borderlands work badly with atis?

 

sadly for you but i dont have fps drops at least for cod mw2 . it may depend on the game. i never overclocked my gpus may it be nvidia or ATIs. from just a search i have made borderlands behaves but with ATIs and a fix is needed. i dont think it has to do with the M17X

http://www.google.com/search?q=bord...&rls=org.mozilla:el:official&client=firefox-a

 

hmm okay.. lucky i dont really play borderlands ahaha.. ive got more dpc screen shots of idle but playing music and though the spikes arent over 10k, they happen REALLY often..

i have also noticed some very very minor audio stutters. the kind you have to be really looking out for it to notice it.

 

i'm listening to music and surfing the web. lets see what happens...

 

the highest red spikes i have got are 5600μs (except the huge spike 999000 that occured once). i never get audio stuttering.

dondadah88 i want to make it clear so please do the following.

1)play winamp online music (this is not obligatory)
2)open dpc latency checker and stretch its length to full width of your screen
3)then open firefox
4)resize firefox windows (from windowed to fullscreen)
5)then load a webpage with many data
6)during loading switch to dpc latency checker windows
7)after 5 sec take a screenshot of dpc latency checker.

i am waiting for your screenshot. thanks

 

this is a video of the stuttering which still exists on the atis in borderlands around 0:55

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYBP-nyfLwU

2nd video is still uploading


i left my computer idle and ran ccleaner"analyize and then clean" then idle and music and guess what?

spikes more often than nvidia cards with a03 bios just that the spikes dont go extremely high.

cool eh?

(first pic is ccleaner 2nd is music)

 

downloading firefox now....

i do have red spikes but it isnt affecting my gameplay or music.
your still having stuttering and choppy music????

 

in game stuttering YES music stutter is barely noticeable but yes its there if you try to notice it. it doesnt last as long as it did with the nvidias but the tiny skip in the music is noticeable. also, its not that often. maybe once every 20 minutes or so

 

thats what i am telling you since i got the ATIs.

i dont have audio stuttering but i get red spikes until 5600μs (usually until 4100 μs). i want to know if this is the same for you? red spikes of the same range when doing those i said above? and if dpc latency checker says that red spikes affect audio then this means that when using professional audio production software like adobe audition or fruity loops those red spikes can still affect audio. so finally it shouldnt have any red spikes under any circustances so as to say it really works flawlessy. actually those small range red spikes may not cause noticeable audio stuttering to a common user but they do on a professional level. it not only gaming i am talking about.

ruby the best way to show the dpc latency-stutter on your video is to leave the dpc latency checker running at the background and show us how it is after you exit the game. so stretch it to width of your screen to have more detected time if you know what i mean. i couldnt understand much from the video.

again while playing cod mw2, pro evolution 2010 i get no red spikes. i dont know for other games. borderlands is not my favourite game to try.

 

i dont even need to open or stretch windows to get the red spikes. idle gives me just as many spikes.

yes they are around 4-6k if you see my screen shots. but those are mostly when idle. the big spikes (around over 10k) are when gaming

 

it was in the post which i showed the screen after gaming. here it is again

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Y97H4Y8A3...Ago/H42fYAd_VHQ/s1600-h/dpcspikeatigaming.png

for some reason there are alot of greens and then BOOM high spikes. looks just like the nvidia cards on idle for some reason -.-

 

yes you really have serious red spikes for the ATIs. re-flash bios and clean install windows (to mainly get rid of all nvidia stuff) should help.

during idle i dont even get yellow spikes. and thats for sure and something interesting for your case.

 

its already a fresh install with no nvidia stuff in it before ever. bios was reflashed from a02 to a03 with the tech guy present and then again from a03 to a03 again after he left after ive seen the spikes.

im so damn unlucky aint i..

 

here it is. i got some very high spikes but not alot...

 

FINALLY same as mine. our machines work the same way. whatever the reason for those red spikes is i am sure its same for us.

hm. you are unlucky then.call them for a motherboard replacement. i cant think of something else. i was unlucky too. my motherboard burnt three moths after i got my machine but this one works ok for now except the certain red spikes under certain circumstances.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqAQqxQMTMY

stutter at start and 0:24

2nd video with a different os (win 7 ulti) which used to have the nvidia drivers.


idle using ccleaner(cleaning)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVXvXxDhS2w

i dont see any difference at all in performance between the fresh install and this. so i must be doing it right. so the issue is still caused by the hardware not because of my oses.

 

now that i am thinking of your benchmark score it may be one of your gpus or the crossfire cable is not connected right.

as for the ATIs did you install dell drivers for r2 first and then modified 9.12?

 

Make sure you install ALL of the drivers, including the alienware software so you can make sure your computer isn't in stealth mode.

 

Ruby, try disconnecting the XF cable altogether and see if that helps. Then reconnect. I had to remove the heatsink on the 2nd card and reseat the cable in order for it to work right...