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

Guys, I don't rely on the WEI score for the most part--at least as a benchmark--but I have a question about SATA drive performance. Is it typical for 7200 RPM SATA drives to have such a low index? I complained about this and Alienware replaced both of my HDD's, but it did not change a thing. Tests run on both drives indicate they are normal and healthy. I've already set the properties in Device Manager for performance. So, is 5.9 about where SATA drives top out on the WEI?

 

yes 5.9 is about average for that kind of drive.

 

Thanks for the quick reply. +1 rep.

Another quick question... considering the bottle neck with my 720QM, do you think I would get more bang for the buck with a 920XM/ES CPU or a SSD drive?

I'm thinking CPU because gaming and benching probably relies way more heavily on the CPU than drive access speeds, but I've not used SSD in a system yet. Both would be nice, but that will break my piggy bank.

 

it really depends on your usage. i really doubt that your cpu is the bottle neck. i recommend getting the ssd first, trust me it will completely change how your system feels, everything will be much more snappier and responsive. once you try and ssd, you'll never want to go back to a regular hdd ever again.

 

Totally agree on that. Everything feels so much better n faster!!

 

You guys are making me jealous I don't have an SSD atm. D:

*Edited. Thank you MrH

 

you mean SSD right? Just save for 1-2 months and order it!

BTW, are there any larger SSD? Like 512GB, or more? Coz I could not find anything on ebay, amazon.

 

Yes I do, haha.

 

Hey there buddy,

5.9 for the WEI rating for our stock 7200RPM hdds seems to be the max score we can achieve. (Even when they are setup to run in RAID0)
To increase the score an SSD would have be utilised in this case. I'm eyeing the OCZ Vertex Agility 3 myself. It will give me a little future proofing as the R2 won't be able to utilise the drives max potential I don't think.

Yep it depends on your usage and what you hope to improve in terms of performance. If you want that bit more umph in games then the CPU upgrade + OC will give it a nice boost. + of course it will boost benchmark results if you like benching

For example back when Crysis2 was released I was only able to play it on maxed out settings while my 920XM was OC at 5% in the bios. When I ran it back on stock clocks Crysis 2 ran okay but a little sluggish. It certainly wasn't as well as when it was OC. ATM though a while after and a couple of AMD GPU updates down the track I am able to run the game pretty well with or without CPU OC.

SSDs are pretty awesome though. I used to run a couple of Gskilled ones in RAID0 in my XPS M1730 when they 1st came out a couple of years ago. Top notch stuffs. However the current gen of SSDs would be phenominal. Coupled with a Extreme CPU your gonna luv it!

So yeh depending on what you want to improve in terms of performance you can decide what to get 1st.

Certain games will benefit from a bit more CPU power and a SSD will just keep you clicking and multitasking super fast. Great feeling when using SSDs. That snappier feeling when moving around on the PC through opening things just feels great eheheheh. I miss that feeling.

I would also recommend you try out the R2 modded bios which will unlock you 720QM CPU so you can OC it an extra 5% in the system bios. If you haven't already done so.

Cheers.

 

inap, thanks for sharing your thoughts and advice.

I am very surprised to hear you think my CPU is not a bottle neck. Perhaps you are only referring to the HDD WEI score because I was a bit vague in my questioning. I also shifted gears on you a little bit in my second post without it being all that obvious.

I would think a 920 or 940 CPU would bench and game a whole lot better than my 720. Notice my high GPU scores and low CPU score in my benchmarks. (There are links in my signature.) Although, I have no issues whatsoever running Crysis, Crysis2, LFD2, FarCry, FarCry2, STALKER CS/Chernobyl, AVP, Section 8, etc. on high to maximum settings even with the 720QM and HD 5870 CFX, it would seem to me that having a 920 or 940 CPU would really produce killer results.

I have heard from many people that the snappy feel (OS loading, launching apps, etc.) provided by an SSD is incredible and, as you said, "never want to go back" to a regular HDD. MrHappyyy and you are reinforcing what everyone else is saying, but I did not think that an SSD would actually improve my gaming experience and benchmarks scores to a significant degree. Based on your experience you think an SSD would produce better results in this scenario than the CPU upgrade?

Cash is what has been holding me back on the SSD... If I buy an an affordable SSD I also have to buy a larger slave HDD. I cannot see installing a 60 to 80GB SSD as being a good option. A 300GB or larger SSD is insanely expensive and I will end up not having enough storage space on my second 320GB with something smaller. If I drop down to say 100-120GB for a $200 SSD, I would need to spend another $60-90 for a 500-750GB slave for storage or dump all of my ripped DVD, HD/BD movies and music (about 100GB worth) onto an external drive. I have around 120GB in used HDD space occupied by games alone.

Hey bud, thanks for your advice also! I actually have installed the modded BIOS from the Wiz, running a 5% OC (2.8GHz turbo in single thread). I have also modded the BIOS on my 5870 cards to allow a 800/1200 OC. I am fairly happy with the results on both. Performance improvements were noticeable and measurable with both of those changes. Thus far, I have pushed everything as far as I can without causing instability or having to deal with dangerously high temps. I do enjoy benching, but I don't have extra discretionary funds to replace fried components. So, I do so very conservatively to avoid disaster. I am running AMD 11.5b CCC and drivers and they are also working great for me.

I am actually able to run all games, including Crysis2, with high to maximum settings, so I should probably just be quiet and content with what I have. However, there's really no such thing as too much horsepower or too fast when it comes to computers, cars or motorcycles. It's hard to be content with the status quo.

I guess I am going to have to figure out a way to buy an XM CPU and an SSD, and a larger secondary HDD. If I extend my premium warranty another 2 years when I am near expiration (08/12) that's probably going to cost a few hundred bucks as well. I suppose to do all this I will probably be out another $1200 to $1500 by the time all is said and done.

I'd rather have an M18x, but dropping another $4k plus on a laptop would cause a marital meltdown. I spec'd out an M18x the way I wanted it and it was nearly $5k. I think my wife still hasn't totally forgiven me for spending that much the last time. I also started out with an XPS M1730 for $4k (what a disappointing experience that was) and ended up with this awesome R2 as a replacement.

As far as RAID0 is concerned, I found zero benefit to that on my M1730 and my R2. In my testing, the HDD read/write access times were only marginally improved and it did not really "feel" any snappier to me. It also did not improve my gaming experience or benchmark scores, so I ended up going the easy route and skipping RAID0 altogether. To me, having RAID0 seemed like not enough of a performance enhancement to offset the extra risk of data loss. (My WEI HDD score in RAID0 was also 5.9... same as in ordinary AHCI mode.)

 

Go for a Extreme 920XM CPU if and when you can. I bought mine for $375 off ebay. Amazing 2 day shipping from Timbuktu to down under. I was literally amazed lol. Now if only my M11x was that fast to arrive.

I would say the 920XM CPU's price would have dropped down even more by now. Perhaps close to $300 odd wing wangs. Definitely a good investment if you do intend to keep the R2 for a while yet. When you OC the 920XM and if you use trottlestop the 920XM is absolute killer. I haven't really benched as much as I would have liked since getting the new XM CPU a few months ago. My highest score to date is like 19 773 in 3d mark 06. I do intend to hit the 20k mark one day LOL!

I too would like a M18x however it is way too much $$$$ Perhaps if it ever drops down to 2k odd like the M17x used too be when it dropped down I may consider it in the future.

I'm trying to venture into the more portable market atm with the M11x.

What was your highest 3d mark 06 score? Mine back in the day when I was rocking the 740QM CPU scored a 17k score. (17 005) That was the best I could push it with my max CPU OC using setfsb. I have never OC the GPUs to date. Been quite too lazy too.

Cheers.

 

haha i totally missed the whole gaming and benching line in your question. yeah a gaming and benching would greatly benefit from the cpu upgrade. although most games are gpu dependent there are still a hand full of games that heavily rely on the cpu.

an ssd is great but does not help with gaming performance other then load times. i still recommend getting one down the line.

@mrhappy
yes there are bigger capacity ssd out there, but be prepared to spend alot of money.

 

Aren't 600gb SSDs like 1kUSD +? Ugh.

 

@basil - Yes, as I mentioned, insanely expensive. Otherwise, I would already have one.

Intel 320 Series 2.5" 600GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) - OEM
Return Policy: Limited Replacement Only Return Policy
$1,119.99 + $5.99 Shipping

The one below is not too bad, but the drive capacity is small and I'll need to spend another $60 to $90 for a larger slave drive to make up for lost storage space. I feel almost like a high school kid again, building a street rod one piece at a time.

Crucial RealSSD C300 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
Return Policy: Limited Replacement Only Return Policy
$234.99 - Free Shipping :yes:

@inap and reborn - So far 14269... and I believe 3DMark06 is more CPU dependent than Vantage. This was in mid-April and I have been on the road so much I cannot recall if this was before or after installing the modded system BIOS from Wiz and modding my AMD BIOS. I'll give it another run and post if it is any higher.

Thanks for all the input guys. You have confirmed my thoughts and I appreciate it. Have a great day.

 

OK, I just ran 3DMark06 again. Using TS in Game mode my CPU temp peaked at 88C and GPU 79C. My score was just a tad better (14336), but too close to say it was a meaningful improvement. The last benching in April must have been right after the BIOS and VBIOS mods. I am pretty sure the 720QM CPU is what is keeping me from hitting the 20k+ score or better in 3DMark06. I believe my OC'd 5870 CFX setup would totally shred that benchmark with a 920XM or 940XM CPU.

Just for kicks, I also ran a 3DMark2001SE and a Crysis64 benchmark. (The first run in Crysis64 always seems to suck and pulls down the overall average for some reason.)

 

Hey Foxy,

Yep the 720QM is holding you back in the 3d mark 06 benchmark for sure.
As you said earlier 3d mark 06 is very heavily dependent on the CPU power.

I reckon you should be able to hit at least 15k with your setup. I managed to get 17 005 last time when I was running the R2 with a 740QM. It was the best I managed. I only OC the CPU using setfsb. Using setfsb allowed me to OC the CPU a little bit more than what the modded bios does. My GPUs were also running on stock clocks. + I was running the bench in pretty cold conditions.

Every little bit counts!

You will def be hitting the 19k + and close to 20k easily with a 920XM CPU in the R2 rig thats for sure!


Cheers.

 

Decent score Fox but like everyone's saying, a better CPU will do wonders for the 06 score and help slightly with other benches as well.

 

Here is my M15x 06 score with a 940xm and a single 5850 for reference.

 

Haha, ballin' m15x score!

 

OK guys, thanks for all the info. Now I'm thoroughly convinced and bent on getting a 920 or 940 XM/ES CPU.

 

Oles Fox!

A few links to check out!

Intel Core I7-920XM Extreme Edition 3.2GHz 8M Q3B8 | eBay

New Intel Mobile Core i7-920XM Extreme 8M Turbo 3.2GHz | eBay

New Intel Core i7-920XM (QS) 8M 3.2GHz 1333 PM55 HM55 | eBay (I bought from this guy a few months ago. You can send him a message to get a lower price).
+ super fast shipping. Took like 2 days to reach me down under LOL!

Intel Mobile CPU Core i7-920XM 2GHz - 3.2GHz 8M Cache | eBay

New Intel Mobile Core? i7-920XM Extreme 8M Turbo 3.2GHz | eBay

Cheers

The score for you to beat when you get your XM CPU Mr. Fox eheheh lol! Just a little incentive and friendly rivalry lol!

 

Thanks for the links, reborn. I'm gonna start scraping up some cash.

 

If silence is not a priority then go for it.
I tried the 920xm for 3 days, I sent it back and replaced it with a 840.
The performance in game is the exactly the same but the heat and noise is too much with a 920 compared to a 840 (or 820).
Just look at the TDP and you'll see.

It all depends on what you want to do with your laptop:
If you want to bench then sell your R2 and go for a M18x or x7200, obviously.
If you want to play all games go for a 820/840.
If you want to set a pointless R2 record then buy an extreme CPU.

Honestly I don't see the point of getting a 920 for a R2.
The 940 is just a joke.

 

M17x R2 with i7 920XM + two Radeon 6970Ms in Crossfire:



Official link:

Result

 

well down ichime!!! Awesome is everything (fans etc, xfire) working ok?

 

Cygoris,

Silence is not important to me, at least to the extent we are talking about with computer fan noise. If it made loud shrieking sounds or some crap like that, then I'd not be very pleased. I already listen to my R2 fans running high most of the time in game, so I don't really see that is being an issue.

Had you read a few of my previous posts, you'd see that I do want an M18x but cannot afford to drop $5,000 to buy one spec'd the way I want it. If I cannot buy it how I want it, then there's no point in buying it. I'm really very happy with my R2 also, so there's no real pressure to buy something new.

I'll do some research to see if your statements are supported by data, but I find it difficult to believe the 820 and 840 perform exactly the same as the 920 and 940 Extreme. I want the Extreme CPU so that full turbo clock speeds can be reached with all 4 cores. Non-Extreme procs only hit full turbo clocks on single threaded applications. My 720 is OC'd and hits 2.8GHz under load with single-threaded apps, so my concern would be that the 820/840 would not be able to provide that extra "umph" I'm looking for.

You're the only person I have ever heard call an Extreme CPU a joke, so my supposition is we are looking for something slightly different. Thanks for weighing in with your thoughts. I do appreciate it, and I will research the performance of the 820/840 compared to the 920/940. If you can, please post your benchmark scores so I can see how they compare to mine and the results of those friends here on NBR forum with a 920 or 940 in their R2.

 

Yep. Fans work, sleep/shutdown/unplugging doesn't crash the system anymore. Temps are great too as well as the power consumption (kill-a-watt read a max of 247 watts with turbo mode enabled on the CPU). Only thing is that audio over HDMI doesn't work, probably because it's a Clevo VBIOS (which is a small price to pay, though I might look into fixing that).

 

iChime, definately interested in this. Where did you get the cards and at what cost? Also, what did you need to do in order to get the fans working? I may pick up a set and put them in my system. Are they operating as if stock or did you have to find some sort of work around? Definately interested in benching these. I wonder if the voltage can be moded on the GPU vbios...

Feel free to PM me if you have any info you'd like to share. This made my day. R2 may remain king

 

On the subject of SSD, I found a link to this article in my email today and thought it might be useful for anyone shopping for an SSD.

 

I got it from pkhetan (member here) who gets them directly from Clevo. His prices are really good (you'll have to PM him for that), which is why I got two. As far as fans go, it was pretty much plug-and-play, which surprised me giving my first stint with 6970Ms, but they work and spool up according to temperature. Only thing is that if you get the p150hm cards (which I did), you'll have to flash the cards to X7200 type cards, which I'll document in the tutorial.

The only thing that doesn't work is audio over HDMI and I had (and still have) to do some physical modifications to get the heatsink and the Crossfire cable to fit properly. I'm going to work more on the Crossfire cable issue tomorrow and the heatsink mod is basically the retention clip mod but using the screws provided by Clevo because the R2's heatsink screws are too fat for the heatsink brackets already mounted on the 6970Ms. Aside from those issues, everything else feels stock.

 

Spoiler

I knew you were cooking something like this the moment I saw you were looking for the vBIOSes
Congrats, buddy, I may be interested +1 rep

 

Wow dude, that's very cool. Nice job!

Are you planning to update the bench scores anytime soon?

 

Nice work ichime! The heatsinks will leave you wanting though compared to the beefy ones in the M18x - at least that is my prediction. You are down one heatpipe and at about 50% of the fin surface area with the M17x R1/R2 heatsinks

 

Yeah, but I also used the retention mod to improve thermals (had to because the screws on the original heatsink won't fit on heatsink brackets on the clevo 6970Ms). I thought about doing a heatsink mod but I think i'm at a good place as far as thermals go. I'll test how well it handles overclocking and such and get back to you guys.

Edit:

3dmark 11 run:

 

The retention mod only makes it fit the way it should have originally lol

Note the lack of improvement on cooling with the retention mod for the 4870s

Post us some temps! (FurMark and the like)

Also, how is that PSU holding up?

 

Nice job bro

 

Cards overclocked to 750/1000



Other tidbits:

I edited the VBIOS to increase the overdrive OC limits (another benefit of using the Clevo VBIOS)

Ambient temperature was 81 degrees F

PSU never tripped and Kill-a-Watt read a max of 251 watts

PSU seems fine with the tests I've done so far. Once the basement is free, I'll do some furmark runs and such.

 

wow nice even has overdrive, sweet cards, congrats ichime.

 

wow 6970m xfire in the R2, id want that just to have the RGB!!

 

Mark my word, Tommorrow. Working three jobs and planning my wedding (5.5 weeks away ) has taken too much time Tomorrow I have the day off so I'll sort the last 30+ pages out of this thread and update.

 

ichime, can you edit the voltage to 1.15v in the GPU vbios? If so I'm definately getting them, already contacted pkhetan.

 

from his other post, he stated that it was the same as the dell cards, going 1.15v cause the drivers to crash.

 

Hmmm that's a bummer. Now Im wondering if its worth investing in.

 

yeah it kinda sucks for benching but still a great gaming card though.

 

Oh alright dude, fair enough. I understand that it gets busy and irl>online. If you need a hand looking for scores through the pages let me know.

 

Yep, like inap said, 1.15v causes crashes. Hopefully the following results will encourage you to make the purchase:

Vantage and 3d11 runs at 820/1050 with temps and stuff





Furmark runs (for scook9). First one is a stock run for 20 minutes, second one is a 5 min run @ 820/1050





Also, @ 820/1050, Kill-a-Watt read a max of 278 watts, furmark stock hovered around 260 watts, 820/1050 furmark run hovered around 272 watts. In all these runs, the CPU (920XM) has turbo mode on with no bclk or throttlestop-type overclocking.

@ DR650SE: If you plan to do some serious overclocking if you do decide to get these cards, consider the following: The Clevo/Eurocom designed 6970Ms (the one I'm using) use Samsung memory modules while the AMD Reference model 6970Ms (the ones Dell/Alienware uses) use Hynix modules. The Hynix modules seem to overclock better than the Samsung modules (which is why you see AW cards hitting 1100mhz @ memory easily in their systems). However, it seems that the Clevo/Eurocom designed cards hit slightly higher core frequencies as seen in some X7200s equipped with 6970Ms.

EDIT:
System tripped @ 850/1100mhz. So I'm gonna need that 330w PSU for more extreme levels of testing.

 

I think i May get the 6970s. I think with the xm cpus so unlocked, my R2 with xfire 6970s would make ot a dream system. I think it would top an 18x

 

Very nice scores chime. I wish I could have cf 6970s in my r3 with my 3.6ghz cpu, would have some serious vantage, 11 and 06 scores haha. Too bad it's impossible! Have hope for the R2 though.

 

The performance in game is the same, if you actually read my post I was asking about the purpose of getting an extreme CPU.
That's kind of important to be honest, if you use your laptop to play (as most of us do, including me) then an extreme CPU is useless and I can tell you that without any doubt, I tried it.

I called the 940 a joke as it is a very expensive, over clocked 920, it's the same CPU in every way, but overpriced.

Anyway with an extreme CPU you won't gain anything but a lot of heat and noise.
If you want to bench then you just have the wrong computer, again that's a simple fact, it's like having the fastest Hyundai in the neighborhood.

It's just basic common sense really, look at the frequencies and the TDPs of both CPUs (840 and 920) and you'll see for yourself.
Now check the price of both CPUs and.. Voila, epiphany.
If you understand french I can give you links of a french forum where R2 owners try to exchange their extreme CPUs with 840s.

 

There are probably a lot of folks that would consider your facts to be a matter of opinion, but I do respect your opinion. It's too early at this point for me to accept those opinions as fact. You have given me something to research and come to my own conclusions, so kudos for that. I'll be all the wiser in the end, even if I reach a different conclusion. I did read your post carefully because I value receiving input and opinions from a variety of sources. My purposes for getting an Extreme CPU may be slightly different than yours and you cannot really pigeonhole each person into another person's experience.

In case you haven't seen the bench results on this thread and others, there are quite a few folks benching with an R2 and getting results that are phenomenal. With the right mods, it appears the M17x R2 will do about as well as the M18x without having to shell out $5,000. Getting to keep the R2's 1200p RGB LED is an added bonus. (By the way, nice work, ichime.) So, the Hyundai analogy really doesn't strike a chord with me.

After I finish doing my own research on the performance capabilities of the 920 versus the 820, I will not spend extra money on the 920 if the 820 truly performs exactly the same in benchmark results, and is capable of hitting full turbo clock speeds on all 4 cores. To the best of my knowledge at this point, the non-extreme CPUs only achieve full clock speed on a single core, but I haven't started my own research into that yet. As an observation, I don't see folks like DR650SE running non-Extreme CPUs in their R2.

Thanks again for sharing your thoughts.

I'm not French and I live in the America. If you can find a bunch of Americans or Canadians trying to exchange their Extreme CPUs for 840s, please do post the links. Maybe I can buy an 840 and trade it for one of their 920 or 940 CPUs to save a few bucks.