New M17xR3 Lower than average Benchmarks

Hey guys,

I received my brand new M17xR3 yesterday and attempted to run some benches and they didn't work. Now, they started to work on their own all of a sudden today and I'm getting some pretty low scores.

I've kept everything stock and here are my specs.

i7 2720QM | 580M | 4gb RAM | 320GB HDD | 1920x1080 120Hz 3D

3dmark11 - P3067
3dmark Vantage - P14208
Unigine Heaven - 41.0 FPS at 1280x1024

I noticed that other people with the same specs and stock voltages have scores that are 200-400 above mine. Is there something wrong with my machine? I don't have too much understanding about laptops, I just want to make sure I'm getting my money's worth here. I also noticed that although the memory i ordered was supposed to be 1333hz both modules are 667hz, is that right?

Here are some screenshots of my benchmark results

3dmark11 - Image - TinyPic - Free Image Hosting, Photo Sharing & Video Hosting
3dmark Vantage - Image - TinyPic - Free Image Hosting, Photo Sharing & Video Hosting

Thanks for all your help, if there is any additional info you need to help determine if theres a problem, Id be happy to provide it for you.

 

Your scores seem pretty normal to me. Some are getting higher scores compared to you coz they have a higher clock cpu.

 

The reason you have low scores is because you have 3D enabled. It is a little unknown fact. With 3D enabled even if the benchmark app is runnign in none 3D mode, the scores will be much lower and thus performance in 2D apps will be lower as well. About %18 lower acording to my calculations.

Uncheck the checkbox in Nvidia control panel "Enable Strereoscopic 3D" in Stereoscopic 3D section. Apply changes. Reboot. Run your benchmarks again.

It is driver issue I guess. 3D drivers are not optimized/screwed for 2D use.

 

My 3D is disabled.

My benches seem low compared to the stock benchmark runs of everyone I've seen so far. Most people hit about 3300-3400 on 3Dmark11 and 14400 on vantage.

3dmark11:
3428 (3160) - james_2k - Stock - 2720
3413 (3150) - mrm2x - Stock - 2720
3400 (3157) - Lanscaper - Stock - 2620

Vantage:
14425 (13265) - mrm2x - Stock - 2720

 

Try updating the driver.

 

It's probably the driver, but you shouldn't update to the latest driver from Nvidia. Use the latest Dell Driver for 3d or else you're going to screw up your 3d

 

^ that's not true. 3D works fine with the latest driver on the internal panel. It's attempting to use 3DTV mode that is broken

 

I think the people who posted their benchmarks were using the dell driver, ill try to find and install the latest dell driver, I just assumed it would be installed since i just received my laptop yesterday.

Hopefully that will fix it.

 

My benchmark was using the latest beta dell driver avail. at that time. 280 something. I don't have the 3d screen so it wasn't something I had to consider when choosing a driver.

 

I downloaded the latest dell driver and installed it, but in the device manager it still shows some weird driver. Trying to do a factory reset right now, but I cant find the right option after F12 during start up

 

I can't help ya there Jack First thing I did was clean install windows on the SSD I bought for it. I am under the impression that you are meant to make backup disks for the respawn but I just don't know ;S


For what it's worth the version does look wierd in Device Manager. I am currently using the latest nvidia driver 280.26 and in device manager it shows up as "Driver Version 8.17.12.8026"

And a quick note on my last post.. I said I was using the latest beta dell driver. It was the latest nvidia beta driver which had been modified by nvidia for dell comps like the m17xr3

 

Thanks lanscaper, thats close to what I am seeing in the device manager. When you run your 3dmark benchmarks does it normally say that the driver is not recognized? or something like FN approved? not sure about the N but it was F something

 

I will run 3dmark 11 now and let ya know since i don't recall any such information. Just give me a few minutes and I'll edit this post with results.

RESULTS: http://3dmark.com/3dm11/1715086;jsessionid=116bikhjooe82?show_ads=true&page=%2F3dm11%2F1715086%3Fkey%3Dcn0WmbM42JrjLVEnrtHQCyhnAdUtDd
P3411 (graphics score 3170)

I didn't receive any messages at all. No driver recognition or FN approved.. nothing.

I ran this benchmark with basically nothing running. I just use the laptop for gaming mainly and don't have an anti virus or anything else that might affect it negatively. Just for your reference.

hrm, ok it's almost 4AM I apologize. I see in the web page with all the results I got a thing that says "Not FM Approved"

 

Okay thanks, I guess that's normal then, but my graphics score is like 2800 and overall 3dmark11 score is P3067.

Almost 350 points off. Ugh, what's wrong with this machine. I cant even do a factory reset now.

 

You might want to wait for a few other ppl to make some suggestions as I just enjoy playing around with comps but def. have alot of holes in my knowledge. The most obvious difference yours and my computer may have is that you are working from the factory installation (i think) and I did a clean install. Seems like a pretty fair sized difference in results that this shouldn't really be causing it but if you are interested you could try a clean install with your Windows 7 disk that came with the laptop.

I followed this guide http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware/556721-how-clean-windows-7-install-driver-install-order-guide-alienware-systems.html

But ya, definetly get a bit more feedback as I might be going a bit overboard with the clean install idea. I believe dell partions or does something special with how they setup the HDD and this would be lost if ya took my advice I reckon.