*OFFICIAL* Alienware 17 and M17x Benchmark Thread - Part 4

Welcome to the next installment of the Alienware M17x Benchmark thread here on NBR. Here you can discuss benchmark results, tips, settings and of course post your results for the community to see... M17xR1, R2 and R3 are all welcome here.

To date, we have enjoyed three previous threads. Previous threads can be found here:

M17x Benchmark Thread - Part 1
M17x Benchmark Thread - Part 2
http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m17x/455435-official-m17x-benchmark-thread-part-3-a.html

There are several apps which can be used to benchmark your system. Following is a short list of some which are typically used. There are others and the core benchmarking members will have plenty of suggestions - so ask away.

FutureMark Benchmark Apps

• PCMark Vantage
• 3DMark 11 - Basic Edition
• 3DMark Vantage
• 3DMark 06

Component Benchmark Tools

• POVRay v3.7 (multi-threaded version)
• Fritz 9 Chess Benchmark - standalone
• SuperPi Mod v1.5
• HDTune
• Everest Ultimate - Trial Version
• HWiNFO32
• MaxxPI²

Game Benchmark Tools & Others - also see: this link

• S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat benchmark
• Resident Evil 5 Benchmark
• Unigine Heaven
• Crysis Benchmark Tool v1.05
• Alien vs. Predator DX11 Benchmark

A word of caution concerning benchmarking...

While benchmarking / number chasing can be quite a bit of fun, please be aware that benchmarking your system is pushing your system to its limits. It can and will stress your components. Do so at your own risk - nobody is responsible for this but you.


Finally, as with all threads here on NBR, please remember the forum rules when posting. Any images over 500x500 must be resized. Images embedded within posts which are over 500x500 will be removed. Repeat offenders will receive infractions. There is no reason you cannot take a moment to resize or use thumbnail previews. Thanks for your understanding and cooperation with this.


Have fun folks and lets see how far you can push the M17x!

 

Welcome to the M17X Benchmark Thread
Last updated on: 16 March 2012​

----------------------------------------------------​

NOTE: When posting your benchmarks, you must include a screenshot of your final score, along with CPU-Z and GPU-Z in your screenshot alongside your score. This is to verify your information. Without screenshots with the information, scores will not be included in the top 5. If you need an example please reference benchmark links in my sig. If you have questions how to get the screenshots, please PM me and I will explain it. This is not the case with gaming benchmarks that have in game benchmark tools. Please refrain from attaching large photos (greater then 500x500) causing slow load times and excessive scrolling. You can use links to your photos from sites such as imageshack.us. If you have qualified into the top scores, please PM me with a link to your post so that I may link your score in this post. I will try my best to update this post on at least a weekly basis. Please PM me if you wish to add something to the list and we can discuss it. Now let's have fun and push the system!

NOTE: Any images posted must be 500x500 or less. If larger, they will be removed by a moderator (see forum rules). For information on using thumbnail previews for large images, see here.

Please PM me your scores if you would like them added to the top 5.


Top 5 M17x "All Powerful" - Vantage

• DR650SE - M17x R2 - P 25399
• kenny27 - M17x R2 - P 25076
• ahmadmud- M17x R2 - P 25012
• CptXabaras - M17x R2 - P 24911
• stamatisx - M17x R2 - P 20437

Top 5 M17x "All Powerful" - 3DMark06

• worldedit - M17x R3 - 28375
• The Revelator - M17x R3 - 28007
• DR650SE - M17x R2 - 23720
• 5150Joker - M17x R2 - 23679
• stamatisx - M17x R2 - 23483
  
  

----------------------------------------------------

M17x R1

Vantage

• Dannyboy2609 - QX9300 / ATI 5870XF - P 17013
• scook9 - QX9300 / ATI 4870XF - P 14959
• ttnuagmada - QX9200 / ATI 4870XF - P 14105
• Mandrake - QX9300 / ATI 4870XF - P 14020
• Rengsey R. H. Jr. - QX9300 / ATI 4870XF - P 13666

3DMark11

• Dannyboy2609 - QX9300 / ATI 5870XF - P 5246
• N/A
• N/A
• N/A
• N/A

3DMark06

• scook9 - QX9300 / ATI 4870XF - 22140
• Rengsey R. H. Jr. - QX9300 / ATI4870XF - 18540
• Mandrake - QX9300 / ATI4870XF - 18428
• DR650SE - QX9300 / ATI 4870XF - 18051
• rubyboy79 - QX9300 / ATI 4870XF - 18045

----------------------------------------------------

M17x R2

Vantage

• DR650SE - i7-940XM / ATI 6990XF - P 25399
• kenny27 - i7-920XM / ATI 6990XF - P 25076
• ahmadmud- i7-920XM / ATI 6990XF - P 25012
• CptXabaras - i7-920XM / ATI 6970XF - P 24911
• stamatisx - i7-940XM / ATI 5870XF - P 20437
  

3DMark11

• DR650SE - i7 940XM / ATI 6990XF - P 7939
• kenny27 - i7 920XM / ATI 6990XF - P 7818
• CptXabaras - i7 920XM / ATI 6970XF - P 7546
• ichime - i7 920XM / ATI 6970XF - P 7287
• aarpcard - i7 820M / ATI 6970XF - P 6336
  
  
  

3DMark06

• DR650SE - i7-920XM / ATI 5870XF - 23720
• 5150Joker - i7-940XM / ATI 5870XF - 23679
• stamatisx - i7-940XM / ATI 5870XF - 23483
• kenny27 - i7-920XM / ATI 6990XF - 23286
• reborn2003 - i7-920XM / ATI 5870XF - 22833

----------------------------------------------------

M17x R3

Vantage

• widezu69 - i7 2920XM / Nvidia 580M - P 20226
• The Revelator - i7 2920 / Nvidia 580M - P 20048
• Lacey - i7 2920 / Nvidia 580M - P 19343
• worldedit - i7 2920 / Nvidia 580M - P 19249
• GeoCake - i7 2920 / ATI 6990 - P 18141
  
  
  
  

3DMark11

• The Revelator - i7 2920 / Nvidia 580M - P 4895
• widezu69 - i7 2920XM / Nvidia 580M - P 4888
• Lacey - i7 2920 / Nvidia 580M - P 4776
• long2905- i7 2920 / ATI 6990- P 4706
  
  
  
  

3DMark06

• worldedit - i7 2920 / Nvidia 580M - 28375
• The Revelator - i7 2920 / Nvidia 580M - 28007
• DaneGRClose - i7 2820 / ATI 6970 - 22534
• Basilownzyou - i7 2820 / ATI 6970 - 22462
  

Side Note: I'll try and update the score's weekly if not more often. If I end up missing your scores, please PM me right away.

 

My personal benchmarks for the system thus far. Many need to be rerun when I get some time, as there is still room to push further on many of them.

I think my favorite benchmark of all of them is the PCMark Vantage benchmark as it is a system assesment of the entire notebook, and simulates a lot of real work senarios. I also need to run 3DMark11 when I get some time.

DR650SE's Alienware M17x R2 Benchmarks.

GPU Benchmarks

5870M Dual GPU
3DMark11: P 6385
3DMark Vantage: P 21724Marks
3DMark06: 23720 Marks
3DMark05: 31672 Marks
3DMark03: 80002 Marks
3DMark2001 SE: 50975 Marks
Unigine Heaven DX9: 1459.12 Marks
Unigine Heaven DX11: 927 Marks
AquaMark: 168065 Marks
----

5870M Single GPU

3DMark Vantage: P11163 Marks
3DMark06: 18040 Marks
3DMark05: 27381 Marks
3DMark03: 50893 Marks
3DMark2001 SE: 52426 Marks
Unigine Heaven DX9: 1295.37 Marks
Unigine Heaven DX11: 466.95 Marks
AquaMark: 191609 Marks
----

CPU Benchmarks

i7 940XM:
CPU-Z: 4261.03MHz
Pifast: 21.72sec
SuperPi 1M: 10.311sec
SuperPi 32M: 9Min 47.669sec
wPrime1024: 4Min 59.305sec
wPrime32: 6.958sec

i7 920XM
CPU-Z: 4248.15MHz
Pifast: 21.33sec
SuperPi 1M: 10.223sec
SuperPi 32M: 9Min 40.636sec
wPrime1024: 3Min 44.858sec
wPrime32: 6.599sec

i7 Q720M
CPU-Z: 3406.38MHz
Pifast: 26.16sec
SuperPi 1M: 12.449sec
SuperPi 32M: 11Min 17.821sec
wPrime1024: 6Min 39.918sec
wPrime32: 12.870sec

i5 540M
CPU-Z: 4102.03MHz
Pifast: 23.03sec
SuperPi 1M: 11.404sec
SuperPi 32M: 10Min 36.138sec
wPrime1024: 7Min 3.307sec
wPrime32: 13.221sec

i5 520M
CPU-Z: 3850.45MHz
Pifast: 24.98sec
SuperPi 1M: 12.448sec
SuperPi 32M: 11Min 26.697sec
wPrime1024: 8Min 18.406sec
wPrime32: 15.691sec
---

Referance Clock Benchmark for M17x R2
178.35MHz on FSB of i5 540M

Full System Benches

PCMark04: 11364 Marks
PCMark05: 18577 Marks
PC Mark Vantage: 18181 Marks

 

Woot, part 4!

And I retain my r1 top spots

 

Yup I may add in some other catagories as well, such as top vantage GPU/CPU, but I need to think about it since it takes so much work. I also need to change up the R2 standings, as Mazdaspeed should be in 2nd in Vantage, and edit my top score. But Igotta consider how much work to put in.

 

Maybe also put a space between the different sections and bold the headings? It is kind of hard to read right now

 

yea I'm going to format it soon. I just wanted to make sure the scores were post two. I'm an orgianizational freak, so I want to be able to access the scores, rather then clicking through links. But I plan to reorgainize it, and then add in all the appropriate links. Should be pretty spiffy.

 

Here's a couple of my most recent benches with my R3, not too bad for the base CPU and a 460m IMO:

3DMark Vantage: P10,276
GPU: 9,012
CPU: 17,744


3DMark 06: 16,348
SM2.0: 6,691.0
SM3.0: 7,061.0
CPU: 5,118.0


More to come later!

 

My best run so far: score is 14,740



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

 

Ok, I did a full vantage run with the 6970M using 11.4 drivers and using Mumak's HWinfo Beta 1187 build. Needless to say, this card is a beast:

Result

That makes it faster than a stock GTX 485M. Specs: M17x-R2 with single AMD Radeon 6970M and i7 920XM with Turbo boost @ 3 ghz

Also, the temperatures were pretty decent. Topped out at around 81 degrees for the core, 86 for the memory and 84 for the shader. I'm sure in a better environment and with better thermal gear (I didn't heat up my IC diamond 7 before applying it and the thermal pads I'm using are too thick and starting to wear out.

Gonna give Crysis 2 demo MP a run and report the fraps.

Edit: Crysis 2 runs pretty smoothly at 1920x1200 Advanced Settings (around 35-50fps during fights) and on Hardcore, levels off to around 30fps. For comparison, my Dual Mobility 5870s get around 25-30 fps for the latter config.

Also, did another vantage run with the card overclocked via VBIOS editing to 775mhz Core and 1000mhz Memory (desktop 6850 speeds).

Result

Temps hit about 85 degrees for the core and Memory hit 90 degrees.

Might go all out for a 15000 GPU score on a single card, but not tonight

Edit 2: Tested some games; Got around 150 fps average in Team Fortress 2 with all settings maxxed out, 60 fps average in Bad Company 2 (1920x1200 high, 4xAA), around 30fps in Crysis 2 MP maxxed out (1920x1200 Hardcore), around 75-90 fps in BlackOps (1920x1200 4xAA).

Aside from the fan issues, the other problem is when I put the computer to sleep or shut it down; it freezes or hangs, which is what happened with the 5870s before the VBIOS update from dell.

I changed it out and am using my dual 5870s currently until maybe BIOS support comes.

 

Here is my R1 Vantage score. I think that puts me at #2, but I have a feeling that list is outdated.

 

AFAIK the list for the R1 is pretty current, just not a lot of people benching it anymore

 

Ichime, I just want to say that I really appreciate the testing that you're doing with the 6970M. Do you by any chance own a Kill-A-Watt? If you do, have you checked how many watts that sucker pulls so we can dispel all of the rumors? Also, where did you buy the card, and do they sell a CrossFire cable for them? I need a project. + rep man!

 

I cannot install catalyst drivers. Anyone had success with it?

 

Hi guys, I just downloaded 3dmark11 basic and ran the benchmark

I have a 740qm with 5% OC via A10 bios mod and CF 5870's running 11.4
preview OC'ed to 840/1100.

I got a score of p4717, im not sure if that is decent,

the strange thing is when i scroll down to see my clocks, its stated as 100/150

and when i open gpuz to check my gpu's, only one is clocked to 840/1100 and the other is permanently at 100/150, gaming performance is about the same.

Did not have this problem with older drivers, had it with 11.2 too though,

any idea on what is going on? Or should I just ignore this problem

any input is appreciated thanks

edit : heres a link of the score if it works http://3dmark.com/3dm11/824643

 

Those are the low power clocks. If you were running at those clocks you wouldn't be hitting 4,700. You can ignore it.

 

I didn't check it when I did the Vantage benches (I should have), but with furmark running, it maxxed at 160w. I'll try it again when my new thermal materials come in when running benchmarks stock and overclocked.

I got the cards from MXM-upgrade.com (they're enginnering samples) but Eurocom also sells them if you call them direct and ask for it. The card will be branded as Eurocom but there shouldn't be any difference otherwise (so you should be able to flash the card with a Dell VBIOS with no problem). Eurocom also sells the CF cable with it I think, but the Dell CF cables for the 4870 and 5870 fits the 6970M's connectors.

 

Check out this goodness

i7 940XM (ES) @ 4359.06MHz

CPU-Z Validator 3.1

i7 940XM (ES) wPrime32 6.457 sec


Also, this week I will try and make time to update and reformat the scores on post two. Sorry for the delay, been job hunting and had a good interview today so fingers crossed.

 

Good, because benching is an expensive hobby! (and about 10 people in the world get paid to do it.....)

lol

 

Here my first overclock R3 with HD6970 100mhz over the stock

 

Speedy, what happened to your X7200? That thing was a monster! Did you trade it for the R3? Also nice GPU score. I'm diggin those cards!

 

I sold the X7200 to get some cash and i charge the R3 on my DPA because i need the money for something else

 

Speedy, try the 11.4 beta drivers. Massive gains. I got 14k GPU score overclocked at those speeds (775mhz core, 1000mhz memory).

 

Really ? you have a screen shoot ?

 

Dang speedy, I'd have loved to have bought that from you with that 980

 

Glad you didn't the R2 don't support the 980X

 

No screenshot because I just submitted it directly. Links are in this post:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/7246030-post10.html

 

I would have been tempted to sell the R2 for the X7200. Did you have an R2? Of so how sis they compare? I know that 980 was a monster. How was the cooling on that thing? could you run throttle stop on it?

 

Hey mang,

How do you go about OC'ing the 6970? I thought it didnt work with any of the programs available in the wild (Rivatuner, MSI afterburner, ATI Tool, etc)?

 

Tools needed:
A bootable USB stick http://thepcspy.com/read/bootable_usb_flash_drive/
ATIFlash Download ATIFlash 3.84 | techPowerUp
RBE (Raedon BIOS Editor) RBE - Radeon BIOS editor
GPU-Z GPU-Z Video card GPU Information Utility

1) Get a copy of your current BIOS and make an additional copy of it and store it somewhere besides your M17x. Do this by placing a copy of atiflash on your boot stick. Turn your M17x on and get into the system BIOS. You need to change the boot order of your system to look at the usb stick first. Then save, exit and boot off the stick. At the command prompt type atiflash -i. When you do this it should report back to you information on your 6970. Now to get a copy of the bios type atiflash -s 0 bios.rom. This will take a copy of the bios call it bios.rom. Like I said before keep an additional copy of the bios files in a separate location. If you want to go back to stock eventually it's best to load the original copies.

2) Use RBE to change the clocks in the bios file. I normally just take my copy of the bios and drag and drop them right on RBE in Windows Explorer. That will open up RBE with the BIOS file loaded. You'll get a warning about the GPU not having ATI overdrive capabilities. Click OK to it. Click on the button on top called Clock Settings. Here is where you'll set your different clocks and voltage to save to the bios file. There is also a little wizard button you can use that will simply ask you how you want the over-clock settings to look like and your under-clock settings. You can use this wizard if you are a beginner. Once you change your clock and/or voltage settings save your bios. In this example I will call it nbios.rom Put a copy of that file on your boot stick.

3) Flash your card with the new settings. Reboot your system and boot off the usb stick once again. Here is another step to do out of paranoia. Verify that the checksum for your original bios file and new bios file are exactly the same. If they are not it has become corrupted somewhere along the process. Type atiflash -cf bios.rom (this is the original file) then atiflash -cf nbios.rom (this is the new file). The output should be exactly the same. Once you are comfortable everything is OK flash the new bios by typing atiflash -p 0 nbios.rom. It will tell you it's successful (hopefully) and to reboot your system Once that is successful pull your usb stick out and reboot. Once you're back into Windows use GPU-z to verify your clock settings.

If you can't flash the card for the first time type atiflash -unlockrom 0 this will unlock the card to be flashed for the first time Credit goes to Mandrake he create this guide for the 5870's

 

So how much of a diff have you been able to produce by OCing?

 

From 25 FPS on crysis very high to 30 FPS is the first time i see a card gain so much performance from overclocking and i guess is because this is a real downclocked Desktop GPU

 

That's quite an improvement. 5 FPS on crysis is huge. How hot was the card running though? Could you use that speed permanently?

 

Just got mine today and ran a benchmark with PC MarkVantage.

Got 16085 PC Marks.

No Real Clue if that is good or bad.

This is from the M17x R3d, 2820Q/NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460M/256GB SSD/8 GB Ram/Intel 6300/Blu Ray

And no switchable graphics like I was promised by the sales people, gonna chat with their tech support to see whats up or if I was misled. I think this machine is tops, its much better then my XPS 1530, but if I had to choose 3d or switchable graphics, I think I would want to be able to use the widi. I tried a few games out on 3d, Shogun 2, which actually works well, and Civ V, which is pretty cool, also downloaded a few 3d demos from Nvidia, and they are also sweet, the photo display they do for you is nice. However 3d is secondary to one of my main demands which is being able to put images and video up on my tv. Now I could probably get one of those little usb to tv things they sell and broadcast that way, but I paid extra money for the 6300 to use widi and wireless hd.

However, the build quality is great, runs really quiet except when booting up, and boots quick on the SSD. I was expecting faster write/read speeds with the Samsung SSD.

I should probably end this now and write up some more in first impressions thread. Oh and the screen is amazing to me, its vivid and bright and crisp.

 

I am confused with your benchmark. Most people with the 460M had a score around 10,000. Your score is way out there.

Remember that scores on the forum are don't count unless you have GPU-Z and CPU-Z screenshot with it to check your settings and frequencies.

 

He's running PC Mark Vantage, not 3DMark Vantage.

 

Oh yeah, how did I miss that... What a relief and what a noob I am...

 

Here is a comparison of that PCMark Vantage run and my PCMark run. Sandybridge is definately a capable CPU

Result

 

78c max temp on furmark and crysis , yes i am running those clocks all the time

Update ! max temp on furmark is 74c with ICDiamond thermal paste on the GPU

 

here is my first oc'ed r3 run. those are some sexy numbers, had alot of background stuff running at the time, so it could of been better.

 

Thank you for posting yours to compare to, your machine is extremely impressive. I don't fully understand it all, but seeing the numbers side by side gives me an idea of what I got.

 

Amazing! Inap you noticed the R2 get bigger numbers with the same clocks we run on the R3 ?

 

yeah i did noticed that, but 6970 is still new, maybe a new vbios will improve performance. but i'm already amazed at this beast of a card. hoping for some oc tools to start working so i can fine tune this card.

i must say the temps are pretty good on this card too.

 

yep temps are amazing too ant the fans don't even make noise
ImageShack® - Online Photo and Video Hosting

 

Yeah, that's very odd, and I noticed that it's with Catalyst 11.4.

1) Was turbo-boost enabled during those runs and

2) Did you use drive sweeper before installing the 11.4 drivers?

Also, since these cards have the same voltage as a desktop 6850, it should have a overclocking max of about 850mhz core and 1140 mhz memory (limited by overdrive). Anyone care to try those clocks?

 

Im sure iNap will be happy to burn a hole in his card very soon .

Those scores and temps are amazing though .

 

I am having a slight issue OCing my Hyper X RAM.

I have chosen 1600 in the BIOS and XMP Profile 1. Once I go to windows and check the RAM frequency it's back to 1,333 MHZ yet in the BIOS it is 1600. Also, when I choose XMP Profile 1 I notice my Vantage score goes down about 800 points.

 

Less ram speed will drop the PhysX test scores alot dropping the CPU and therefore overall score. See if you can get a hold of Mandrake as he had the XMP stuff working properly on his R3 I believe

 

Ok, I'll check with him.

 

i just pick the second XMP profile but i don't choose the ram speed because the XMP profile automatic runs at 1600mhz 9-9-9 and the first XMP profile is 1333mhz 7-7-7
and check with Winfo32 for the ram speed