*OFFICIAL* Alienware M18x Benchmark Thread

Nice! 400+ pt gain is nothing to snub at. +1

 

Holy beejeezzzus. I took your advice as well DR650SE and shut off tessalation. My bone stock system scored about 5600 in 3dmark11 (with tessalation on) right out of the box. With the 11.6 drivers, no OC at all and tessalation off, I just scored 6311. With my 24/7 OC of 800/1100 I scored 7273!! First time breaking 7k!

 

Way to go man! If you turn Aero off , close both some resource-hungry programs loaded in memory and a few demanding Windows services, together with a slightly higher OC I'm sure will score even higher than that. Give it a try.

 

Rafix is right. I have a 40gb ssds dedicated for benching. The os is bone bare and only things installed benching utilities. Maximizing system resources for benching helps. But congrats guys. Throwing down some impressive numbers You guys are killin it!

 

one more thing. once your tessellation is off. you can go ahead and increase your gpu core clock more. like to 850.

 

Exactly. Your stressing them less. I was able to take my 5870s from 700mhz to 1010mhz. Of course that was on dice as well

 

That sounds like a very neat idea actually, good thinking

I didn't know that, sounds like a useful tip. thanks for sharing

 

Yea. Intel 40GB x25-v. Nothing special. Cheaper though.helps me from killing my gaming/os ssd. I killed my benching drive once and the ssd died and Intel replaced it. Glad i didn't lose everything.

 

Yes, SSD's are fast but quite sensitive/fragile drives that don't like benchies and defrags. Using a separate drive dedicated for benching is also good for not losing precious data, I definitely agree.

 

Yea. Lets just say Tjats the drive logged about 70 hrs and recorded about 1000+ unsafe shut downs. According to crystal disk info. It was something crazy like that. Lots of benching. Otherwise ssds are less prone to failure vs hdds due to the lack of moving parts. At least from a physical impact.

 

Definitely, that's why I opted for an ssd, which is indeed faster and more reliable. Over the years, I have had my share of hdds that failed mechanically. However, ssds wear out, as flash memory can be written on and erased so many times. I can live with that though; win, a few programs and games on the ssd and storage and everything else on a hdd a side. This is my first ssd and I wouldn't go back to hdd as a boot disk - ssd's better performance is simply evident.

 

For kicks I ran the Crysis Benchmark with AA MAXED out....it didn't effect frames at all!

Still had 58 fps with 16xQ AA, 1920x1080, All settings Very High

That is pretty sweet....

 

Scook for President

 

One thing is for shure, when I finally get my new system, most of the benchmark pioneering will allready be done.

 

I have actually barely benchmarked mine...still need to decommission the desktop and switch to the M18x as my primary machine

 

Wow that's a good performance bro!

 

Very cool Scook I get 40fps same settings that 2920 you have is awesome

 

How are you managing such high frames when everyone else is getting a good amount less?

 

Probably 'cos he has a very powerful system - also Crysis is quite a cpu intensive game/bench so having a 2920xm will reap better results than non-xm systems....

 

I want to see more 7k+ 3dmark11 scores

 

^I agree, actually I'd like to see more M18x benchmarks generally... where are thy? There's only talking here

 

This is the best that I can do without a cooling pad or re-pasting my 6970s.

3dmark11: 7335 Result

That is with everything in CCC turned down, 810/1150, BCLK at 10420 w/ multiplier at 45, and using windows classic aero. I always freeze at Graphic Test 4 when I set my 6970s to 830/1150. Probably due to heat. I ran furmark with the usual settings as dictated by the gpu temps thread and managed 83° C on both after 5 minutes. I assume that means I need to re-paste but at least both GPUs run at exactly the same temp.

 

thats probably not heat, its most likely the limit of your GPUs


also 3dmark 2011 1.0.2 is out now

 

I was actually wondering why my scores were so high....maybe it has to do with using the Steam install of Crysis vs a disk install? Verified that the AA should definitely be happening though.....

Maybe it helps that I have the level 3 OC as well as high speed ram?

 

Man.....I am trying to run 3DMark11 with just 800 Core 1050 ram and it is crashing....this is damned depressing

 

How is it crashing? One of the tests takes obnoxiously long to load. Appears frozen. The combined test if my memory serves me well.

 

Either way the top scores from what I've seen are as followed:

1. GreaseMonkey90 8008
2. Zero989 7870
3. Rafix73 7564
4. Ray 7335

Either way its kind of depressing seeing someone with a 2720qm manages to overclock his 6970s so far. Guess we have to take whatever dell gives us in terms of GPUs.

What I've also noticed is how little the CPU overclock affects the scores. Grease is at 4.0hz, Zero is at 3.2ghz(2720qm), Rafix is at 4.5ghz and I'm at 3.6ghz. This is very interesting seeing these numbers and from all intents and purposes, 3dmark11 doesn't give a care about your cpu. Though I'd like to figure out how to get my 2920xm to 4.5ghz.

 

So it seems Ray, it's all about GPUs. I think that both you and I could reach an even bigger score if we squeeze our 6970s a bit more, although I don't feel like pushing my cards further. Personally, I ran the benchmark just to make sure my xfire was performing well enough to guarantee a smooth gaming experience with maxed out settings -- when a game is very demanding I OC to achieve that. I'm sure that's what we all want in the end.

 

I can't go higher than 810 core. I can get it to run at 830 or 840 but it simply crashes and black screens as soon as that gargoyle appears in graphics test 4. I swear I want to destroy that gargoyle. From what I've seen lowering the memory doesn't prevent from cards from crashing at anything above 810. The joy of hitting a wall.

 

Don't get too frustrated about it man. If your games run well that's all it really counts. Yes, pushing the cards to their limits and squeeze a higher score it's sweet, but a successful 6970 OC depends on the vram the cards have installed -- some people got luckier than others. Don't forget that even Greasy didn't get that score in one attempt. He pushed every time a bit more through increasing the clocks little by little -- it takes lots of patience and commitment. Dr650se uses a different ssd loaded with the minimum essential to perform better in 3dmark. I don't remember if you already posted it earlier, but are you using a cooling pad with your MX?

 

I do not make it past the first seconds of the first test. I get either a BSOD or a black screen and locked up system

Got 6537 though with all stock and no tweaks except for turning off tesselation

 

Is there a noticable difference in graphics with tessellation turned off in 3dmark11?

 

I wasn't looking

 

anyone with 2920xm vantage numbers? stock and max oc'ed if possible.
thanks ahead of times.

 

I can't seem to go over 840 core. My highest run that has completed 3dmark11 is 840/1125. Temps were hittin 82C on the cores. I swear my cryo does nothing to help temps. Anyways, tessolation was off as was aero. 7487 3d mark11 score. Im deployed and cant get my laptop online or I'd show the score that way.

 

The highest i can go with mine was 825 core that's why i lost interest in overclocking on my desktop i can push to 900 core with 1050v and i can still push the voltages a lot more

 

its true, the lack of being able to change the voltage makes overclocking these 6900s boring. i could careless too. i run mine at 825/1180 for 24/7.

 

Wish mine would run at 825.....

 

3dmark Vantage: 24569

 

Here you go. This was my stock Vantage run score. Nothing OC'd on the GPU or in Bios. Havent done any OC'd runs but will post some figures as and when. Maybe someone else will post up their 2920xm OC'd runs before I get the chance to....I think Rays above ^^^^^ must be OC'd but dont know to what extent.

Stock Vantage 21287

My figs are with 11.6 drivers & 11.6 CAP1 installed. Also, havent installed the hyperx or ssd (in my signature below) just yet so still running on the 4gb dell 1333 ram and a 750 hdd that my system shipped with.

 

Does anybody know if 16gb of hyperX 1866 will work with the m18x? Because I don't want it not working or breaking the laptop when I install it.

 

itll work fine

 

Thanks! I'll Deffinetly order it then

 

Mine works like a charm. But I had to take em off to return the beast ;(

 

Got some good figures too by turning off tesselation and using windows basic theme. Got 6242 with the stock 4gb 1333 ram and 750hdd that my system shipped with (had to laugh as FutureMark said my score was low compared to others!)....i havent got around to installing the hyperx or ssd yet - im too lazy but it IS on my "to do" list very soon.....

No cpu or gpu OC at all.....I wonder if this would get up close to yours, Scook, when I get off my butt and install my SSD and RAM ! (I presume as a noob to OC that those two factors would be the main difference between our scores here as you are running a SSD and 8gb 1866, right?)

 

hyperx 1866 vs. 1333mhz should gain maybe 50-90 points more in 3dmark 2011. im thinking of ordering some, itll let me break 7.9k.

 

and SSD's? - I take it that they play a part too.....right?

 

nope. SSDs have no part in 3dmark 2011.

 

Ok...im just trying to get a handle on what things do affect scores and what things dont. I probably have a bunch of processes running that I could slim down, right? - a/v etc....like I say, Im a noob to the world of OC so before I start fiddling with gpu core/mem clocks etc, I wanna fully understand it all! - any advice/info welcomed via PM if you like!

 

just exit any current program, any other processes running won't really affect your score. after disabling windows aero and exiting programs theres nothing you can really do to gain any more points. it used to do something back 10 years ago, not now.