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    *OFFICIAL* Alienware M18x Benchmark Thread - Part 2

    Discussion in 'Alienware 18 and M18x' started by BatBoy, Dec 15, 2011.

  1. Mr. Fox

    Mr. Fox BGA Filth-Hating Elitist

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    Why not 100% enabled for everyone, with no latitude for manipulating tessellation?

    Instead of posting a screen shot of the app, post a screen shot of the web results (or both) with the top banner for error messages visible along with the 3DMark score. If it says "Benchmark tessellation load modified by AMD Catalyst driver, result invalid. Check your video driver settings" then it does not get counted for the leader board.
     
  2. Johnksss

    Johnksss .

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    Well, 3dmark no longer takes old 3dmark11 scores and the ones that register only take the ones with tess not turn fully off.

    This is to prove that if the roles we're reversed...Nvidia would win this battle.

    [​IMG]
     
  3. DR650SE

    DR650SE The Whiskey Barracuda

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    So Orb will accept scores with tesselation turned down, but not off?
     
  4. Johnksss

    Johnksss .

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    Not really sure. I don't have amd to test and find out.

    In that score i posted...tessellation was turn off about 60 percent give or take.


    For the time being it's removed. I see this is going to spark to much side debating as to how to make it work.
     
  5. DR650SE

    DR650SE The Whiskey Barracuda

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    I agree with you there.
     
  6. Johnksss

    Johnksss .

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    I have to concur with the vets on this... :)
     
  7. Mr. Fox

    Mr. Fox BGA Filth-Hating Elitist

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    Brother John - can you update the leader board with my latest and greatest?
     

    Attached Files:

    Last edited by a moderator: May 12, 2015
  8. Johnksss

    Johnksss .

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    First page updated.
     
  9. Terrik

    Terrik Notebook Enthusiast

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    I recently bought a new m18x a couple weeks ago.

    I have:

    i7-2670QM
    16GB Dual Channel DDR3 @ 1600MHz
    Dual GTX 580M in SLI
    2X HD 7200RPM in Raid-0

    I've been running benchmark tests and i feel like I've been getting low scores.
    My score in 3Dmark06 for example, was around 18,900.

    I've also been seeing a dip in FPS in games over the past week. I saw Skyrim had 23FPS in Whiterun.

    I called Alienware tech support who assured me nothing is wrong, and my score isn't low, it's simply being compared to overclocked systems. Is this correct? Something seems off.
     
  10. Zero989

    Zero989 Notebook Virtuoso

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    3dmark 06 is based on CPU. use 3dmark 2011/vantage to test gpus properly.
     
  11. Terrik

    Terrik Notebook Enthusiast

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    Well, my 3dMark 11 score was P6123
     
  12. jlyons264

    jlyons264 Notebook Evangelist

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  13. Aikimox

    Aikimox Weihenstephaner!

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    Yep, that's the performance given the specs. You might wanna dig into drivers and some tweaking around but it won't change drastically unless you go for xtreme CPU and start OC'ing.
     
  14. Terrik

    Terrik Notebook Enthusiast

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    Huh, no kidding. Is it my CPU then that's hurting me? Would an upgrade down the line make a big difference?
     
  15. Zero989

    Zero989 Notebook Virtuoso

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    yes an upgrade would help but not a lot. its probably the drivers or your skyrim settings that caused the fps drop.
     
  16. Terrik

    Terrik Notebook Enthusiast

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    Well, what caused a red flag for me was that I had not changed the drivers or the settings and what would previously never drop below 30 was now going into the low 20s. I already updated to the latest Nvidia drivers, but maybe there's an issue with them.
     
  17. Johnksss

    Johnksss .

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    As to skyrim...are you sure you have sli enabled?
     
  18. Mr. Fox

    Mr. Fox BGA Filth-Hating Elitist

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    Moving up on wPrime in leader board rank for 32M (5.497) and holding current rank, but with improved score for 1024M (180.91). Getting closer to having the CPU dialed in, I think.
     

    Attached Files:

  19. Terrik

    Terrik Notebook Enthusiast

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    [​IMG]


    I assume so yes. It's really bothering me. It went down to 19FPS today. I don't get it.
     
  20. jlyons264

    jlyons264 Notebook Evangelist

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  21. Mr. Fox

    Mr. Fox BGA Filth-Hating Elitist

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    Brother Terrik - I think your GPU configuration is hurting you more than your CPU. I upgraded my CPU after my M18x came back from the depot about 10 or 12 days ago. I was getting almost as good Vantage and 3DMark11 scores with my 2760QM CPU as I am with my 2920XM. I think your problem is possibly GPU throttling. http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...-throttle-fix-no-vbios-flashing-required.html < this should help tremendously. If you are on BIOS A03 or earlier, flash A04 or A05 because A03 contributes to throttling issues with the 580M. Also, be sure you have the new Dell vBIOS on your GPUs.

    Also, welcome to NBR Forums. We are glad you are here in the Alienware Community. You've got an awesome laptop... the best, in fact. Don't worry about your CPU right now. Focus on getting the GPU system performing smoothly and I think all of your gaming issues will disappear. The CPU you have is plenty good enough to totally shred any games that you want to play.

    Please click the link in my signature. In particular, please review forum rules and the thread for how to use Google to search the forum. There are a bunch of other links in there, in addition to those two, that you may find interesting.
     
  22. terry702

    terry702 Notebook Enthusiast

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  23. Johnksss

    Johnksss .

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    Looking good. Ill get the first page updated in a bit.
     
  24. terry702

    terry702 Notebook Enthusiast

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    THANKS Bro John^^
     
  25. Terrik

    Terrik Notebook Enthusiast

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    Apparently I already had the latest bios and vbios. I went ahead and set my cards to 725/1450 based on the Throttle fix thread. I ran 3Dmark06 and 3dMark11 again

    3dMark11 gave me P6815
    3dMark06 gave me 18968 and it's still telling me it's low compared to similar systems.

    There was an improvement in the numbers I guess however.

    EDIT: Although now that I set it to 725/1450 I noticed artifacts cropping up.
     
  26. Johnksss

    Johnksss .

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    Hummm, image shack seems to be down for the moment.
     
  27. Mr. Fox

    Mr. Fox BGA Filth-Hating Elitist

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    Brother John... new scores for the leader board: holding second place for 3DMark11 for NVIDIA with a higher score than my previous run and moving up to second place on Vantage. :)

    3DMark11: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M SLI benchmark result - Intel Core i7-2920XM Processor,Alienware M18xR1 score: P8233 3DMarks

    [​IMG]

    Vantage: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M SLI benchmark result - Intel Core i7-2920XM Processor,Alienware M18xR1 score: P31502 3DMarks

    [​IMG]

    Question: Is there no 3DMark11 Overall ranking due to the AMD tessellation disabling? (I just noticed this.)
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Feb 6, 2015
  28. Johnksss

    Johnksss .

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    That would be correct Brother Fox
     
  29. Zero989

    Zero989 Notebook Virtuoso

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    wowwww 850Mhz on the 580s. O_O very nice fox. would love to play BF3 with those clocks.
     
  30. Mr. Fox

    Mr. Fox BGA Filth-Hating Elitist

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    Thanks, bro. I was surprised as well.

    I think we missed this one on the leader board. :)

    [​IMG]


    Brother Terrik - if you are not running at 0.92v then 725/1450 is close to the max you can run stable. You set exactly the same clock speeds for P0 and P1, correct? To go higher than 725/1450 you would need to flash the update (non-factory) vBIOS. If you are primarily interested in game playing, that would be unnecessary. Are your FPS good in games now, or still laggy?
     
    Last edited by a moderator: May 6, 2015
  31. Johnksss

    Johnksss .

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    Front page updated.
     
  32. dr_gin_rain

    dr_gin_rain Notebook Consultant

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    hello, does anyone who has the same specs as me has the same result P6633?

    Mine systems OCed at 840@1100
     
  33. Mr. Fox

    Mr. Fox BGA Filth-Hating Elitist

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  34. mobiousblack

    mobiousblack Notebook Deity

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    How do you manage to keep your GPU's so cool at an overclock like that Mr.Fox?
     
  35. Klihne

    Klihne Notebook Consultant

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    Dry ice perhaps :) lol


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     
  36. Mr. Fox

    Mr. Fox BGA Filth-Hating Elitist

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    Nothing but a cold air conditioning unit in my hotel room. My room is a balmy 62°F. Having the watts increased from 99 to 130 in ThrottleStop also seems to help. The CPU doesn't need to work as hard with the higher wattage. Having the right combination of flex VID and pri plane also helps keep things cool. If you just crank up multipliers and BCLK speeds, it's going to run way too hot and become unstable.

    I am not willing to stress my M18x enough to need something as drastic as dry ice to keep it cool. It's too precious to me to risk damaging it by pushing that hard. It's used primarily for gaming with stock GPU clock speeds and Alienware Level 3 factory overclock settings, which is way more than adequate for normal use. The occasional benching is just for fun.
    Doctor Rain... sorry nobody has responded. I don't think that many M18x owners with the same CPU as what you have are running benchmarks, otherwise somebody would have replied. Your score is by no means a bad one. It is a lot higher than what many people have achieved with a better CPU. Even so, your CPU is going to present a limitation in benchmarking compared to other M18x systems with a more powerful CPU. Are you getting good performance results in games? If so, then I think that would confirm that there is nothing wrong with your M18x. There are probably some additional tweaks you could implement to wrangle a few more points, but really, your P6633 score is decent and you should not worry about a problem. I don't think there is a problem.

    As an example, the M17x R2 with a 720QM and 5870 CF is still way more powerful than the vast majority of gaming laptops you can buy, and your P6633 stomps all over my best ever 3DMark11 score with the M17x R2.

    For comparison, here is a stock run on my first M18x with a 2720QM CPU: http://3dmark.com/3dm11/1850806
     
  37. Johnksss

    Johnksss .

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  38. Mr. Fox

    Mr. Fox BGA Filth-Hating Elitist

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    Thanks Brother John. I owe it all to you and your tips, buddy. This morning's killer benchmarks were the result of your suggestion to use TS to set the watts at 130. :)

    FYI - the rest of my BIOS settings are noted in the Futuremark links. I added the info to the comments section for each benchmark run.
     
  39. Johnksss

    Johnksss .

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    Thanks Sir!

    Wow, So you guys really didn't think TS was holding you back, huh? :D
    A good number is 140W I usually leave it at 200W for both and forget about it. Laptop will only use what it can.

    PS: I thought we talked about the watts in TS?

    Side note:
    So if a Mod Can hit 33k GPU, then so can anyone... :D
     
  40. Mr. Fox

    Mr. Fox BGA Filth-Hating Elitist

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    Only a "special" Mod, LOL. I don't think there are many of us benching at NBR. I think the Alienware forums have a unique performance enthusiast mod group, for sure.

    We did discuss TS a little bit, but that was when we were having issues with Team Viewer and I am sure that I did not absorb everything due to the complications we were having. The point that I missed in that conversation was the fact that you could edit the watts in TS. I thought they were fixed based on what what set in BIOS and never even tried inserting my own values in place of 99. So, I may give 140W or 200W a try tonight or tomorrow to see how that goes.
     
  41. Johnksss

    Johnksss .

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    Even if you guys missed mine, Residualvoltage spoke on this as well..Many times. :D.

    But it's all good. Now we should see some improvements with others as well.

    Reason why i say 140W is because it needs like 5 to 7 watts of play room. So 130W is like max 122W or so.
    In your case, now that you have access to an ac. I would be going a bit higher on over clock... :)
     
  42. 5150Joker

    5150Joker Tech|Inferno

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  43. Terrik

    Terrik Notebook Enthusiast

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    Thanks for your replies. After some fiddling around with drivers and settings I think my FPS issues have (mostly) been resolved. 3Dmark06 still says my score is low, but according to Alienware tech, that's because my system is being compared to overclocked systems. I guess? Does 3Dmark06 not take that into account when comparing systems?

    Skyrim runs full settings nicely--the lowest FPS I've seen is 38-39 at one particular spot in Whiterun, otherwise its 50+FPS. Arkham city seems to run Ok. I hear the game is somewhat poorly optimized. I get an average of 40FPS though some spots have had it dip as low as 20-something FPS (the save catwoman from Two-face in the beginning area in particular). Even in DirectX 9. I just tried Metro 2033 at full settings and I was running about 35-40FPS until I hit the mutants then it averaged about 20-24FPS. Perhaps If I had a faster CPU the FPS would improve still.
     
  44. DanXbix

    DanXbix Notebook Deity

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    Wow guys great scores! I think I better push my 2960xm a lot harder. What vbios voltage are you guys running? Are you using any of the modded vbios?
     
  45. cookinwitdiesel

    cookinwitdiesel Retired Bencher

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    Well guys, after some back and forth with Dell and replacing many parts, my laptop is still giving me issues. It is going to their depot and after looking at it I should be offered a refurbished machine as an exchange (not if I have anything to say! - their refurbished motherboards have failed me twice now....) or a refund. I will be rooting for the refund so I can turn around and order a new M18x with GTX 580m SLI and 2960xm :D

    Need to recapture some of the glory I had before the GTX 580m was out haha
     
  46. DR650SE

    DR650SE The Whiskey Barracuda

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    Scook, Good luck with that. Hope it works out in your favor. Fingers crossed for some cores.
     
  47. Johnksss

    Johnksss .

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    Ok, So the new cards seem to be ok.

    [​IMG]
     
  48. tanderson

    tanderson Notebook Consultant

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    Weird, processor score for the windows experience shows 4.7 for a 2960xm. Any thoughts? Just pulled it out of the box...m18x that is.

    Hmm....3dmark11 shows 6478 for score, not sure what the average is....
     
  49. Terrik

    Terrik Notebook Enthusiast

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  50. Johnksss

    Johnksss .

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    We think it looks like a stock out of the box score. :)

    Maybe a bit low though...
     
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