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

Nope,, Took me one overclocked/overvolted dual screen furmark run to give it up. I had to limp my last month on a single 5870 till I made it home. That was no fun.

 

Exactly! Happen to my last system going for a record just using the benchmark for the program.And yes, I was more than annoyed and a bit angry to say the least.

 

I had furmark running a few days ago and the screen went black on me. Fortunately a reboot worked but after that I decided it was best to avoid that program.

Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk

 

guys I need your help on these problems:

1. GPU:

I spent this whole evening trying to update my card to the 12.3 RC driver and failed. Now for reason I could not find, I can only install the Dell stock driver, anything else would BSOD or white screen and the driver will not load. It said "no amd graphics driver is installed or the amd driver is not functioning..." I tried in order: dell driver -> 12.1 WHQL ->12.2 beta -> 12.3 RC. Clean install, driver sweeper did not help .

2. CPU:

I just got myself an OEM 2920XM and the thing runs fine (just found out from other thread that not enough FLEX or pri plane would cause windows to BSOD at start up which occurred multiple times when I tried to raise the BLCK). I just followed widezu69's overclocking guide to the safe 4.0 Ghz zone and my temp is too high (80*C for 4.0 and 90-95*C for 4.3 Ghz). So can I ask what is the normal temp I should expect for 4.0 to 4.3 Ghz on all 4 cores? I do suspect the temp may be because I put a bit too much paste (the line method) but I want to make sure before repasting again.

3. Intel RST: about the option ROM during the POST screen, is there anyway I can update it to a higher version? Or should the app running in windows good enough?

Thanks for taking your time guys

 

4x2GB 1866Mhz @CL9. Unfortunately it is 2T because I'm using 4 dimms. Check AIDA64 result:

 

What driver were you running previously to the 12.3 install failure?

 

EDIT: did a fresh windows install and everything works as they should. I am now on the latest 12.3 RC February 15th driver.

 

So I replaced the thermal compound, a little over a year old, with some fresh Shin Etsu G571, and I applied it using the spread method with a disused plastic card, very evenly I must say, and well its apparent that either I did a poor job the last time or this stuff wears out with time and heat because the problem I had before the repaste with core 0 typically running 10-15 C hotter than the other cores is gone. I didn't even have to fiddle with the screws.

I wish I knew how to take snapshots of everything but I will attempt to convey what my settings and various temps were on this last run:

CPU Idle Temp: 28 C.

CPU Max Temp (per throttlestop, to save resources): 77,78,77,77,77,77,75,75

I also upped the TDP/TDC from 95/85 to 98/88 and will likely go higher as I am not even close to throttling.

I am thinking of upping the GPU clocks from 850/1200 to 900/1200 as well.

So far this is where I am at, a marked improvement over my old score and if anyone has been following the distress I have had with drivers and core 0 overheating will know that I said it felt like 20k and well its pretty close!

19,307

Looking to break 20k. Will try 900/1200 and see if it can handle Crysis 2 at those clocks. Stay tuned.

 

Thanks for moving the thread, my apologies for just putting up any old where willy nilly.

Ok so I tried 900/1200 @ 1.15V at it locked up during a Vantage run, so I reflashed them to 900/1200 1.1V thinking maybe it was a voltage issue, nope it crashed sooner.

I reverted to the old clocks: 850/1200@ 1.1 and in BIOS upped the OC to 3%, added 75 mV, and increased the RAM to 1.6.

As a preliminary test I ran WinPrime 55's 1024 and it made it about 50% of the way with the CPU temps in the low 90's. Couldv'e and maybe should have let the test complete but I wasnt interested in the results.

It made it through Vantage with a 19,472 this time around but the CPU temps were significantly higher and dont justify the marginal score increase. I will be reverting back to 0% BIOS OC and stock voltage.

Temps:

Idle 32 C across the board.

Max CPU: 89, 89, 85, 85, 86, 86, 83, 83 C

 

I can't find the max score in 3dmark06 and 3dmark11 with single 5870m.
Do you know how many points R2 can reach with single gpu?

 

3DMark06 overclocking records @ HWBOT

3DMark11 - Performance overclocking records @ HWBOT

Truthfully though, I could have pushed the scores higher, just never needed to so I didn't bother.

The top scores for 3DMark06 and Vantage in the 2x Crossfire section, as well as the top Vantage score in the single GPU section were submitted with desktop 5870s. I have reported the scores in order to have them removed from the mibility 5870 section.

 

Nice scores for 5870's!

 

(Also posted in another thread, my apologies for cluttering up NBR)

And on to the bad news, which is that "testing" the 875/1200@ 1.1V flash in Crysis 2 resulted in failure pretty rapidly.

I reverted to 850/[email protected] and out of curiosity I tried a 3% BIOS OC @75 mV and that too crashed, but only after like 45 minutes of playing Crysis 2.

So Im back on the most recent stable clocks, which I have played Crysis 2 solidly for over 2 hours on, and with CPU Temps not exceeding 72 C across the board and GPU temps of 68 and 78 C respectively:

850/[email protected] and no BIOS OC, ThrottleStop multiplier settings, 27,27,26,25, TDP/TDC 100/88.

I assume that a few things could be happening with the 3% OC BIOS that resulted in a BSOD in Crysis 2:

1. Intersecting points in time in the game where there is a demand for both 100% available CPU and GPU processing power, which given the existing TDP/TDC settings result in BSOD for lack of available current.

2. Heat, the PSU, although sitting on a concrete floor with ambient air temperature of 55 C is heating up and some of the components are not conveying as much current as they would absolutely cold. I am assuming that for the sake of attaining high 3DMark scores most perform them with a completely cold PSU and rig.

3. A combination of these factors, being mutually inclusive.

I am going through all of the trouble with relating my experiences here as I initially began playing with OC settings relying heavily on what others have reported success with, and so that others interested in overclocking a similarly configured R2 could have more information at their disposal.

So, for the time being, the aforementioned settings are fairly solid and still result in a Vantage score of 19,307, not too shabby for a 5 year old laptop.

I have considered doing another run with reduced TDP/TDC settings, maybe by like 10 W or so each, and increasing the OC BIOS to 3 or even 5%, but I have a feeling that this will be like "robbing peter to pay paul" with no measurable increase in performance and the additional 75 mV resulting roughly in a 10 C increase in max CPU temps (see above).

Again, it already endured a Vantage run with 3% BIOS OC @75 mV (19,470) but then locked up Crysis 2 after ~45 minutes of gameplay.

I am curious as to whether those who attained Vantage scores in the 20-21k range used external monitors to have another 20 W at their disposal. I am pretty close to the ragged edge with these clocks in terms of power availability, heat wise with the repaste I am in no danger, the CPU max temp didnt exceed 72 C across the board during the 19,307 run. But with the additional 75 mV in conjunction with 3% BIOS OC CPU max temp was 89 C. Not worth the marginal score increase, and it also failed to endure more than 45 minutes of Crysis 2.

Im open to any suggestions, I would love to get more out of my rig but I believe I am pretty close to the limits.

 

10 charact

 

Good trick Ha ha ha Pretty damn good for a 2630

 

I had Graphics card at stock settings 715/900

 

finally got the 6990m all good to go so I did a quick stock bench. What you guys think?

 

I think that's in the ballpark for a 2630qm and stock 6990m

plus you're using an old driver...your score will improve with driver 12.2

 

installed the new driver over the old one and still lost the graphics switching functionality. Guess ill uninstall the drivers and try again.

Edit: Got the BSOD when trying to install and it killed my graphics switching again. guess ill stick with the stock dell drivers for now

just found this and though some of you CPU overclocking junkies might be interested. This is what ivy bridge is gonna be for us. Not sure what im really looking at



(photo courtesy of PC-Gamer)

 

Hopefully, there's more to come. The fastest 17 there is roughly equivalent to a 2720QM on a frequency basis. The focus seems to be directed more to improved "Built-In Visuals" (IGP) than to CPU performance. A comparison view from TechPowerUP:



http://www.techpowerup.com/161535/Intel-Confirms-Ivy-Bridge-Core-Processor-Specifications.html

 

I'm only interested in the 3920XM when it comes out.

 

Could be a long time coming, some suggesting Q4, 2012 or Q1, 2013.

 

unless this is BS, you can buy the 3920 right now:

INTEL i7 3920XM 3.8GHz quad QS ,fastest mobile CPU on earth, upgrademonkey only | eBay

question is, will it run on the your laptop?

 

Holy sweet moly!!!!!!

 

Jump right on in there, Slick. We will await your report. Just a $400 premium over OEM for a first-of-its-kind QS chip.

Which laptop(s) use a ..75 Chipset?

 

LOL...sure, its only $1500. I'll just go in my backyard to my moneytree and pull off several hundred dollar bills

 

I presume that is the new Ivy Bridge chipset...?

 

Here's a thread that might interest some of you, in case you've missed it:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/har...s/636978-ivy-bridge-mobile-3920xm-tested.html

 

Yep, the HM75 is the lower end version of the IvyB chipsets; the HM77 is the high end version that would probably be used for notebooks available with the 3920XM. AnandTech - Ivy Bridge Mobile Lineup Overview. Wish the 3920XM would fit in the R3, but it seems unlikely.

 

We are on the QM67 version at the moment right? I'm guessing that the R4 will use the QM77. Shame about the number of PCIe lanes though. Would have loved to see M18x users being able to achieve x16 on both cards at the same time.

So if Dell decides to do with the R3->R4 what they did with R1->R2 as in no structural changes, only motherboard, who knows, maybe we can score a IB mobo from a third party seller on ebay and transplant that into our R3.

 

that would be a fun project

 

The R3 uses the HM67 chipset.

 

Right sorry I meant that. My theory still applies.

 

hit 15k in vantage just messing around, wonder how much higher I can go.

 

well...if you bump your memory up slightly to say 1050 and your GPu to about 840...then install the latest drivers...or at least 11.11c, you're looking at about 16K+, maybe 17K if you get aggressive

I score ~14600 on 100% stock configuration

 

yea ill prob mess with it when I find the time. How do you install the latest drivers? just install over the dell ones?

 

Yup. If it bsod'd on you just restart and install that same driver again.

 

thanks for the info

Edit: Tried a vantage run and the framerate with the new drivers was horrible. Guess ill try 3dmark 11 here in a bit.

Edit 2: nvm had my machine in battery mode so the cpu was downclocked

 

2920XM vs 3920XM, not real size but you can see the difference

 

yea looks like the die is smaller. Found this article, and it looks like we are just a bios update away from being able to use ivy bridge processors in our aliens. Take this with a grain of salt though since its from tomshardware.com didn't see a reference to the 3920m in any of the intel slides. Looks like the 2920/2960xm will still be king of the hill for a while.

Reference: Intel Presentation Confirms Ivy Bridge Specifications

latest run, gonna try to hit 17k here soon

 

Your CPU will not allow you to hit 17K but P16.5K is already great.

 

yea i think thats the max im gonna get for the time being. Not gonna overvolt or anything because I have no warranty on this card, and I'd rather not kill it.

 

You can push the BLCK on your cpu a bit and 850/855 on 3dmark 11 for better score

 

850 saw a bit of artifacting and then it froze during the second gpu test. Ill try it again and see if it freezes later.

 

have you tried to set fan to max via hw info?

To everyone with a 2920XM (ES or QS or OEM), I'm setting mine to 40/39/37/37 following widezu and geocake. I havent got the chance to test it out in normal condition so yesterday I did with RAGE for about 20-30 minutes and it got as high as 94*C (mostly 89-90*C) without setting HWinfo fan to max obviously.

I think thats not normal but I want to check in with you guys to make sure and also to ask your temp and the multiplier you use for daily tasks

 

My gaming temps at them exact multis usually max out at 80ish, that's using the stock fan control and laptop propped up at the back. And that's on GTA4, probably the most CPU intensive game ever. On Syndicate it didn't even get to 70, just high 60s.

PriPlane is at default which is 97A and turbo boost settings all maxed (99w short and long @ 56 seconds). I'd say you're running way too hot considering you're just playing a game!

Whilst rendering for long periods it can get up to low 90s with maxed out fans.

 

PHP:

Looking much better BigT !!

 

Guys.. I need abit of your time to tell me whats wrong with my new system.. I believe the GPU is not performing up to top notch.. my vantage score is 14420 with GPU score13412/CPU 18615.. what is wrong w my GPU or do I have to overclock it.. I guessing its running on 0.80V and sometimes 0.87V based on the GPU-Z readings.

 

There is nothing wrong with your system at all. I assume those scores are stock and those scores are fine. The GPU downclocks when idling. It is fine. That Vantage score is in fact pretty good for a non-OC'd system.

 

That's in the ballpark for a stock system with 580m and 2860.

My 2820 and 6990m scores 14500-14600 stock

But now, who knows what i'll get