*OFFICIAL* Alienware M18x Benchmark Thread

Ok, so changed all the enableulps values to zero. (all three of 'em lol) and decided to up the gpu clocks. Ran 3dmark11 this time with clocks of 825/1150 and it didnt crash out. Completed the bench. Mild Cpu OC and stock Dell drivers yielded a score of 6800. Temps stayed well below 90c for cpu and gpu. I think 85c was the max. Cpu set to 45/42/38/38

Quite pleased considering stock pastes / drivers etc. (and that im new to OC lol)

 

fricken awesome congrats

 

More results. Same drivers (Dell stock issue lol) and same cpu settings. Upped gpu clocks to 850/1200 and ran 3dmark11. No crashes. Ran fine. Temps below 90 for everything. Stock Pastes. 7k.

Result

From what Ive read and seen, I dont know how much further I could push these cards....850/1200 seems pretty extreme.....at least they run and complete the test so I am happy that they dont crap out and seem pretty good cards for overclocking.

I know there is room for improvement in the cpu department and also by using AMD drivers. Havent adjusted the bclk yet, thats still at 99.80 and maybe I can tweak them multipliers a bit more......who knows! (im feelin' this as I go along with it.....)

 

upgrade your drivers, you shuold get a crazy boost

 

Yup. Next on the agenda Dont think I could realistically increase gpu clocks much more...heck, the sliders dont go much further to the right anyways I think the max is 1000/1300 but ths probably just asking for trouble.....

 

I ran a series of benchmarks troubleshooting the Aero bug.
Screen shots, more details on the benchmark results and what
seems to be a fix for Aero are posted here: LINK

SUMMARY:
3DMark01: 49014
3DMark06: 21472
3DMark11: 6325
Vantage : P21333

This was running Dell drivers, TrottleStop set on "Turbo" and "Performance" and Sapphire Trixx with 800/1100 clock settings. I am going to stay on Dell drivers for a week or so, just to confirm the Aero bug is better. After that, I may update to newer AMD drivers and hope that does not break something.

 

Awesome score Stevie!

Continue to push and strive for excellence 7k is sooooo close!!!
7500 should be within reach with updated 11.7 drivers when then come out hopefully.
Heck just go for 8k lol and 30k + in 3d mark 06!

I hope to be joining you and challenging the TOP 10 3d mark scores in the near future with a couple of 6990Ms.

I need to get my 3d mark 11 install sorted out though. It keeps bringing up an error so I can't even load the program.

Cheers.

 

Thanks bud!

Yeah, 8k and 30k would be very nice. I love 3dmark06!!!! - maybe just 'cos 30k is alot bigger 'eh? lolol - size matters! Looking forward to seeing your results with those babies under the hood mate, should be awesome stuff! - really weird about your '11 issues needs fixing fella so you can get benching !!!

 

My m18x with I7 2920xm & 6990m is due next week, as is my 16gb kingston hyperx ram and 2x Corsair force GT 60gb ssds, which are meant to be the fastest on the market. First thing i'm gunna do is install this shizzle and get benching, cannot wait.

 

OK, best run so far. Upgraded drivers to 11.5b hotfix as I had heard they are better than the very latest set. Did install the latest CAP2 11.6 though....

Pretty close to 8k on 3dMark'11.

I noticed that the last two tests were not as they should be displayed...quite a bit of distortion....maybe my gpu OC was a bit high at 850/1200 but she didnt blue screen or lock up on me LOL

I think there is more I can do on the Cpu side (even though it aint that cpu intensive) but I havent touched bclk yet, just the multipliers to 45/42/38/38

Also, no services stopped, just let it run out.....was on Aero theme too.....

 

You can change the multipliers all to 45 and up the BCLK to 10420 for up to a 100 point boost.

 

Great score Steve

I've been trying to score higher myself, and I did improve my former score to some extent: link. Unfortunately, when I set the core at 850 3dmark 11 freezes during the 2nd or 3rd graphic test.

I'll give a try rolling back to Dell drivers to see if there's any change.

 

Thanks!

Ive been messing about tonight. My gpu clocks were at 850/1200 so I dunno if they can go much higher, saying that, i did do antoher run and it was visually perfect at those clocks.....no distortions at all.....although there is room on the cpu for more, from your result above, it seems that cpu oc really doesnt do much for the overall score....you were at 4.6ghz+ and not much improvement on our previous scores.....

 

Yes, it seems so. With all the tinkering and CPU OC I could go from 7824 to the current 7883, which is a real small gain. GPU OC is what can really make a difference, but it looks like I'm stuck with my clocks.

EDIT: I tried again and I could finally break the wall of 7900.

 

Hmmm....when I try this and restart, windows wont boot.

 

Yeah, mine won't even get through post. Maybe he meant 10420?

 

I tried going from 99.80 to 104.20 but wouldnt post.....i got it to boot at 104.00 but windows froze shortly after the desktop loaded.....

(I have XMP set to lvl2, obviously adjusting bclk will oc everything inc ram (which is already oc'd via xmp) so would it be possible that this is causing this? )

 

I got better results from Dell drivers in benchmarks. Never thought I would be saying that, but it's true.

 

Maybe I should join in on all this benchmarking fun...............

 

Yes you should as will I again soon.

 

I'd also join but not on a single piped HS, lol. Hitting 90C in some games even without OC

 

whoa just from teh CPU spreading heat ???

or is that your CPU temp ?

What are you GPU temps like Aiki ?

 

Aiki, at your latitude, you have very good cooling though

 

Seriously just open the window in Fall/winter/spring ... maybe run a hose to the outside and into the airintake of a Laptop cooler and you should be able to OC 100%

 

mm, I just tried again with OC lev 3, 45x and bclk at 104 (103.99) and scored 7923. If i try anything higher won't post as well. I think it's time to follow Fox suggestion and roll back to stock Dell to see what happens.

 

Don't know if its been asked but is it possible to OC the other CPUs, 2630. 2720 2820 ???

 

@ Fox: Tried rolling back to Dell and couldn't score higher than 7000. I will try the 11.6b and cap to see if there's some difference.

 

What bench did you score 7000 on, rafix? I don't every recommend rolling back with AMD Catalyst... ever. Uninstall all AMD/ATI software in Control Panel, then use the Driver Sweeper/CCleaner method. That's what I did on my M18x. It's no wonder you did not see good performance if you "rolled back" in the way I am thinking of "rolling back" using Windows. You will get a mixture of files and corrupted registry entries that will cause issues in many cases. To truly give it a fair shake, you'll need to do a clean driver installation.

I not only got better benchmark results on Dell drivers, but I also had worse issues with AMD reference drivers. Aero glitched out more using 11.6 before I found the Intel update, and the "dead space" on my display was a much larger section of the screen. I think all this will get sorted and AMD reference drivers will outperform Dell's drivers before long, but I think the newness of the combination of hardware needs to mature. (This is my opinion... by all means, please have fun testing and let us know how it goes.)

 

Yes, it wasn't very clear on my end sorry about that. I'm not an English native speaker and I can make such mistakes. When I said rolling back I actually meant going through the whole uninstalling process that we AMD owners know too well, made of driver sweeper in safe mode, ccleaner etc, and afterward installed the Dell stock drivers. But, I have to say that Dell stock performed poorly in 3dmark 11, where I scored 7035. I went through the whole thing again, installed the 11.6 and got again a score of 7923.

I believe that each 6970 is different and some tolerates better OC than others, and in the same fashion each one may perform differently while using the same driver. In other words, mine has always performed poorly with Dell stock if compared to later drivers, while others enjoy a more stable, and better performing system when using them.

I also hope AMD will come up with more stable and better performing drivers soon.

 

rafix, I think you're correct about some performing differently than others. I think one of the issues is the factory OS install on my system. It will be at least a week, maybe two, but I am going to wipe out my entire system, create new partitions and reinstall Windows from a retail media source rather than my Alienware-branded OS disc or Respawn. There are a number of issues I am finding that suggest my factory OS installation is not as it should be. At that point I am going to reinstall the Intel update and AMD reference drivers, and my guess is that I will see an improvement in performance.

I might get good results with 11.6 now that I have applied the Intel update. The problems I had with 11.6 were with the Alienware version of the IGP driver installed. However, my system is very stable right now and Aero is behaving as it should, so I am going to wait for the clean installation rather than experiment now. I still believe the newness of this hardware configuration needs to mature and I think we will all be getting better performance results as it does and newer versions of drivers are released by AMD and Intel.

 

Im gonna play around a bit later on. Ceratinly could not get my system to post with x45 and bclk 105.00........might try just selecting lvl 1 OC and adjust the multipliers from there....being new to OC, maybe factory presets increase other areas too, im not sure.

Dell Drivers are far inferior to AMD 11.5b Hotfix when it comes to 3dmark11....I lose almost 1000 points from overall score when using them. They also dont perform as well in 3dmark06 afaik.

I may try and eek a little bit more from my cards but I dont wanna do any damage. They have done a few runs at 850/1200 so I may bump 'em up by 5mhz increments and see how she goes....

 

TO THOSE BENCHING 3DMARK 11

If you want to gain an easy 400pts, follow these instructions. Go into Catalyst Control Center>Gaming>3DApplication Settings, and turn everything off. Move all the sliders left. That should net you an easy 400pts.

Your Welcome

 

DR - thanks for the tip. I am going to give that a shot today. +1 rep.

 

I just know the 18x is much more capable then the R2, and this is what I've got so far.

I havnb't been able to reallly overclock because the PSU is limiting me. I've seen it draw 285w+ And when it gets up near 265w-270w area it throttles. Temps are great, that I can control, but this PSU...

3DMark11: 6783. No CPU OC

 

WOW awesome score man!

It really does seem that 3d mark 11 doesn't rely on the CPU at all. Which is good in a way. However I need more GPU grunt then

I'm still working on it! Push Push PUSH!

Thanks for the tip about CCC performance settings.
I seem to have hit a brick wall and need some setting tweaking to get more into the top 5 leader boards.


Cheers.

 

It's because of the single piped heatsink that came with the 2630QM. 2920XM comes with a better one with 2 pipes.

My GPU's are under 80C at all times including the shaders/memory/dispI/O. Played Crysis2 dx11 yesterday and never got past 76C. Room is 28C.

Yeah, but we have a malfunctioning central heating - 26-30C ambient, lol

 

Mine were already all to the left except for Catalyst A.I., but I moved it to the left. I also checked "Disable AMD CrossFireX power settings" to keep my cards in full power state. We'll see how that works out. No reason to give a second thought to saving power or battery life on the M18x with the switchable graphics.

Edit: and the results are slightly improved. This is using Dell drivers.
Vantage: P21571 - 3DMark11: P6396 (Not a 400 pt gain, but all of my sliders except one were already set all the way to the left)

 

Yes, when I tried Dell driver I lost 1k as well. Since we've established that 3Dmark11 relies more on GPUs than than other factors, and considering that
you can bench and run games with those high clocks, I'd suggest you push them a bit more. That way I'm sure you'll pass the 8k ;-)

My cards don't like a core clock of 850, or higher; the bench crashes during the second or third test freezing the machine. I think that I've reached my cards limits.

 

Results with AMD 11.6 drivers and the latest Intel IGP driver update...

Vantage: P22197 (626 pt gain) - 3DMark11: P6691 (295 pt gain)



To install the AMD drivers, I did not run an installer. I merely browsed to the extracted 11.6 drivers folder from Device Manager and manually told Windows what we were going to install. Turned out good with a total of 864 pt increase in Vantage and and 366 pt increase in 3DMark11 from where I started out on 07.14.11. Even with slightly more OC than yesterday, my temps have stayed below 80°C during benchmarks.

In the process of troubleshooting the aero bug, I think that I discovered an Alienware driver tweak. Notice the option present under Catalyst A.I. using the Alienware driver that is missing with the AMD 11.6 driver. (Because the drivers were manually installed in Device Manager, there is no change in CCC.) It's too bad the same power tweak is not present with the AMD driver. I think it was cool that the Alienware driver includes that feature.

 

I have tried pushing the core gpu clock but it doesnt like it either...850 seems to be the most I can push. I dont know if I can push the memory clocks further or wether or not that would make a significant difference. I dont know about being able to game on those clocks (850/1200) but I think they are at the very highest I can set them as mark 11 starts to distort and tear occasionally on the last gpu test and on the subsequent combined test.

 

Guys, could you do me a favor? I need someone with the 2920XM (stock clocks) to run Crysis2 at max settings + dx11 for a few minutes and post the max CPU temps, along with the room temp, no elevation and no coolerpad, please. It's important for me to know how big is the difference in temps between the single-piped and 2-piped heat sinks. Based on that info we will decide how to improve the heat sink. We may be able to make it with up to 4 pipes and add more copper, but I need to see some statistics first to create a proper model. Please, be honest, I need the real numbers during load, not shortly after (CPUID HWmonitor is a good tool for that). I'm not asking you to run Prime95 since it's too extreme, we need a real gaming test.


Thanks in advance.

 

last couple of days my gpu temps have decreased dramatically compare to first few days. idle when i first started using it was 62c, now its dropped to mid 40's idle and never goes above late 60's playing games like witcher2 and crysis with dx11 patch and high res mod. is this due to run in.

 

Hi everyone, I joined the m18x club couple of weeks ago, this is what I've been able to score in benchies:

Fist of all the relevant items in my setup:
2630qm, 4gb 1333mhz, 6970CFx

I'm planning on upgrading the cpu/ram myself, since buying all the upgrades in my country from dell itself was insanely expensive. I'm still running on the basic ram too. I'm a bit worried now as I didn't know that the 2920xm version comes with a different heatsink for the cpu, so I'm not sure if doing the upgrade with my current heatsink from the 2630qm version will be able to handle the heat...
If anyone has a solution or has tried it, feel free to share.

Anyway, here are my scores and how I got them:
- cards clocked at 840/1175 (crashes at anything higher than that)
- drivers 11.6 (work fine for me)
- bclk standard clock

3DMark Vantage: P21477
3DMark11: P6802

Can anyone tell me why I'm unable to change the bclk in bios?
I've tried reapplying the default settings, but I still can't increment it, not even by a single point. When I change it, go to a different tab in the bios and return, it's back to default. When I change it and immediately press F10 to save and reboot, it's still at default. Is this because of the 2630qm? Or because I'm still on the stock 1333mhz ram? I tried everything but don't know why I can't.

 

It won't be able to handle the heat. Even at stock clocks it will be in high 80c under load. That's why I'm looking for a way to make a custom HS with more pipes. Hopefully, 2920xm owners can provide some info on their temps.

BTW, Welcome aboard!

 

Thx

Anybody has a pic where you can see the HS from the 2920xm?
I'd like to see the difference...

 

There is a pic up somewhere Peentje ... i think you can search this thread and its posted...

 

Yeah, I saw it somewhere in this or the landfall thread. In addition, if you check the part number list, there's a different number for the HS that comes with the xtreme CPU. And last but not least, I have a single piped HS and after installing a 2920xm, load temps are too high for even a slightest OC'.

 

Yeah indeed, found it in landfall thread.
The easy thing would be to buy the HS seperately, but I'm pretty sure that will be impossible where I live (Belgium).

 

Everything is possible
You can have someone buy it for you in the US and send it to you.

 

I may try that
First I'm gonna try and call Dell here and see if it's possible to get it.

Anyone can tell me why I can't change the bclk in bios? I explained it couple post up...