m17xR3 with 6870

m17xR3 with intel HD3000 running



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doesnt seem to be able to switch automatically between the IGP and the 6870. you have to change it the provided software.

added all 3Dmark benches

3Dmark06 - Intel 3000 HD
4669 3Dmark



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Result

3Dmark06 - 6870 (stock)
14396 3DMarks



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Result

3Dmark11 - 6870 (stock)
P2164 3DMarks



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Result

3Dmark Vantage - 6870 (stock)
P9182 3DMarks



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Result

3dmark06 - 860/1120
16415 3DMarks

OC gpu to 860/1120



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3dmarkvantage - 860/1120
P10575



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all benches done in AC room @ 24 degrees.

battery test

both battery life estimate done with screen @ 50% brightness, alienFX on, high performance power option.

screen shot of 6870 battery life



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screen shot of IGP battery life



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started movie test at 88% battery life,
screen brightness at 50%, 4th bar on OSD display,
graphics set to Intel 3000 HD
alienFX OFF,
touchpad off,
wifi on,
power option set to balance,
volume set to 100%,
VLC player used,
VLC volume set to 100%
watched avatar 1080P, 2hr 41 min. file saved on HDD.

battery left after movie: 7%, 18mins remaining

prime95 temp test.

5 mins into run


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difference in current and max speed is due to me inserting 2 tic-tac boxes under the laptop to improve air flow.

15mins into run


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closed hwinfo32 by accident, so max temps are different.

 

m17x R3 with amd 6870 running



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with the 6870 running, battery life is at 1hr at 50% batt
while with the IGP, it was at 2hrs 15min at 54%

batt life estimations were gotten with screen on full brightness and alienFX on. so im guessing that with screen to lowest settings, and alien FX off, it might be able to hit 6 hours.

 

WOW that's more than double battery life !
I will definitely get 6970m/switchable graphics now

Can you please tell us how exactly do you switch cards? what software? does it require laptop reset? because R3 can not switch graphic with the GTX460+3D version.

2hours 15min with half charged battery, full brightness/alienFX on is amazing

 

GTX 460M+3D gets 3.5 hours at full. So seems like it only adds 30 minutes. Not worth it.

 

Hard to say not worth it, I mean the 460+3d is quite a premium add on, as you're pretty much required to perhaps get a Blu Ray PLayer for the 3d films, the special Monitor and the Added GPU. All in all that's easily like 500 dollars added which I'm sure many people can't afford or are not willing to cough up for. I only picked it up for myself because of the Promotional Sale, I WOULD HAVE NEVER bought it originally for myself.

 

3hours 10min on powersave which lowers brightness/cpu/etc

 

With lowered brightness it should reach 5 hours easily. Nice!

More like 90 minutes extra

 

Not exactly, using Dell 3D bundle here Alienware M17x Laptop Details | Dell

You are actually paying Less for more getting the 3D version

3D M17x r3 1699$
Basic M17x R3 1649$ (Only upgrading the screen to 1080p)

For 50$ you get 3D 120mhz screen,GTX460m upgrade (Cost more than 50$ to upgrade) and Nvidia glasses bundle (180$ worth)

There is no 500$ difference

 

^ if you add the bluray upgrade that he mentioned, it gets close to $500

 

50$+150$ = 500$?

 

Could likely connect an external blue-ray player too.

Anyone know of an objective program to test battery life?

I will run it later today if you provide a link.

 

Best test you can do is to leave it play a movie via the optical drive, that way we can easily compare it to other laptops with real world scenario tests.

 

graphics switched using CCC.

97% charge on 6870 with screen on full brightness and alienFX gets 2hr and 47min



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from standard
$75(upgrade to gtx)+$350(nvidia 3d bundle)+$150(bluray) = $575

I think this is what he meant, thats why he said it can easily reached $500

anyway this is OT..

@usshellfire can you try to lower the brightness and turn off the alienFX and see how much improvement on battery life that you get on integrated?

 

He was wrong and so was your correction, read previous reply to see how it works instead of repeating false info

 

It can not be any easier than this... i thought you used special software or something, looks like I'll switch from nvidia to ati once 6970m get released i'll buy m17x r3, thank you !

Just question though are you getting 2hours 47m on powersave mode or high performance?

 

Can we take the bickerfest about the upgrading prices elsewhere? I don't care to read it and that's not what this thread is about.

That said..

this is fantastic news usshellfire, your setup is exactly the one I configured before deciding to wait for the 6970. How is it treating you so far?

 

its was on high performance.

current batt at 83%, estimate is at 4hr 25 min with screen brightness to lowest, alienFX off, and on high performance.

based on that, at 100% it should give around 5 hrs 15 mins or more. quite close to the promised 6 hours. to get 6 hours, i might need to turn off touch pad, set to power saving. and maybe turn off every other option as well. LOL.

i'll try the movie test later on when i have some spare time to watch a few shows.

 

Might just be me but that is the first thing I have seen ANYWHERE concerning switchable graphics with ATI.....

 

Shell: Tell me your exact set up when you do a movie test later, ie. high performance, alienfx on, screen max brightness, Lawrence of Arabia DVD and what your battery time remaining reads unplugged at 50% battery left. Unless you have a better way just tell me.

 

It does exist in the wild, it just isn't as touted as Optimus. Look to AMD to introduce its own version of Optimus later this year when Fusion debuts.

 

But Fusion is only good with AMD cpus....which are considerably weaker than Intel ones

 

Just reporting what I've read. Also, never know, they could release it with intel support too.

I'm just happy that the switchable option has been found. I'm sure those with nVidia GPUs will get it working, but this kind of option is what I was looking for.

 

look at post #13. switchable graphics is done in CCC

 

just ran 3Dmark06 for the IGP.
only 4669 3Dmark. not as powerful as i was hoping for.



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What's your room temp?

 

Thank you for taking the time to contribute to the forums

 

I guess not much more would be expected from IGP but it's not bad.

 

Not impressive but the idea that it's faster than 320m or 9600GS from the previous generation is kinda amazing Will be useful during playing 1080p videos to save battery or stream HD etc

 

Yeah I think it's quite good and will help in watching movies when everything is turned off.

 

just ran 3Dmark06 for AMD 6870
was hoping for slightly better performance. will try overclocking soon.
what programe should i use for OCing?
and room temp for both runs were at 23-24 degrees. AC was on




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Result

3Dmark06 for the IGP.
only 4669 3Dmark.



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Result

 

3Dmark06 is very CPU dependent it would be good to start benching this with 3Dmark11.

 

Your score is a little bit better than GTX460 scores but overall GTX460=6870 performance wise.

man you rock lot of useful information in this thread

 

That's not too bad, about on par with the 460m. Now we'll see in the next little while which card has a higher overclock potential. As far as OCing programs you can try ATI Clock Tool if it supports the 6870, you could also try EVGA Precision or MSI Afterburner.

 

That's still pretty good. You can up the core/shader clocks just a bit and match the 5870 speed

For OC you could use MSI afterburner, Rivatuner

Guide if you're interested

 

thanks. i will do some runs for 3dmark11 before trying some OC. but its taking forever to DL..

 

Sounds good man, look forward to the results.

 

oh, and what do you guys think of my temps? are they on the high side or are they normal? my desktop temps are much lower.

 

Yeah it's a big download but the benchmark will be so appreciated you will be king of this forum for a few minutes...

 

His CPU is different than mine, which likely accounts for the difference.

 

thanks for the link, that was quite useful

 

Why did you cut my quote? and not let me finish the entire Quote? Or at least post the whole phrase? My Last Sentance pretty much negated or Summed up your entire post....

 

Laptops GPU going above 100C is not considered rare, lot of asus owners had laptops with 105C or so

From the screen you posted maximum temperature were 67C so you should be fine however i don't understand the fan results, it never went above 30% for you?

 

^^It's not reporting the fan speeds correctly.

As for the temps, they are fine but we need more info - gaming, Prime95, Furmark, etc.

 

ah, the things i do for attention. LOL
got an hour more to pass before it downloads finish.

 

i think you're right... its currently at 52 degrees, and its reporting GPU fan at 0RPM. but at 30% fan speed.

as for gaming, temps were the same after an hour of Black ops at max settings.

 

You could run Prime95+Furmark to see if the cooling has enough reserves, but be careful, stop the test if you see a 95C+.

 

Heat wont be an issue for you, the same heatsink/fan design suppose to handle 6970m which have much higher temperature than 6870m

My current laptop 86-90C under full load (gaming max settings) GTX260m, you can run prime95 to be sure

 

I wonder if manual CCC switching will work for the Clevo...

 

I doubt it, seems Clevo didn't implement the necessary hardware/bios support from what I read.