*OFFICIAL* Alienware M18x Benchmark Thread

So what is the verdict on these modded BIOSes I read about?

Additionally, John, ran Vantage with 870/1150 and crashed at end of GPU 2 when you look at the jet head on (normal crash point for me it seems). Thoughts? I have some additional air cooling going on currently but nothing sub-ambient. Shaden and his mutants are driving me crazy haha

My interview presentation went well so now I have time again (and hopefully an offer soon)

 

Hey Scook, generally to run at 870 core I need to have the Fans running on max via Hwinfo ... the mem clocks look like you should still have some room.

But yea I usually only hit the 870 core clock with fans on full and usually in my AC room at that.

But the fact that it made it that far indicates you can probably run that clock ... just need some cooling I would guess. OR you could just keep running and seeing if you pass it. I would suggest dropping to 860 or even 865 and upping your mem clocks a bit ... I can pretty much always run an 865 1180 no matter the ambient or what room I am in ... ... give that a go ... or an 860 1170.

 

Oh and the verdict on the bioses is that the unlocked one can totally help you out since you have the xtreme cpu ... should allow you to clock higher ... but for me ... no real help.

 

I was able to do a run at 860, will try 865

I am also not able to do better than 103 bclk.....something I do not know here?

 

what bios vers are you running ? I have heard other people saying their system defaults back down to 103 as well

 

Might also be as simple as this (this was an issue earlier) when you set your bclk rate above 103 hit, apply immediately, then do it again and hit apply permanently ...

dunno, that used to be an issue where if you only did one or the other it would reset itself.

 

although you are also rockin the 2920 ... so ... ?>>>? lol I am OCing my 2630

 

i dont even over clock for regular use or gaming for that matter..

lower the mem to pass test 2. then start working your way back up.
hope you get the job!

this will help in cpu driven test for sure, but it depends on which modded bios your talking about as well.

 

Was able to finish a run at 865/1150

This is getting fun hehe

Need to figure out my blck issue though......that is keeping me CPU from beating you and possibly limiting the GPUs as well although you definitely have some clock advantage going on. Using DICE John or just huge chunks of copper and AC still? lol

My cooling setup is....primitive lol

And Shaden, my bclk issue is not that they are resetting, it is that the laptop freezes during windows boot and I have to hard shut down. Lowering the bclk alleviates the problem.

 

WHOA that cooling system is ... CRAZED ...

I can't tell from the picture but do you have it raised up off the desk as well ? That is essential.

 

hold on I will run a quick Vantage at those clocks and you will see just how much your CPU makes a difference on vantage runs .... its crazy. I don't even break 23K total score.

 

I have it on a Cryo with the front of the cryo raised so the top is level. Gives more air to the fans on Cryo and also keeps the laptop from sliding since the bottom cover with the grips is not on right now.

John, does 1.1.0 of Vantage make the CPU tests painfully stuttery graphically? (scores and numbers still come out as expected)

 

ugh CPU only at 2.7GHz that run ... but ... see what I mean ...

AMD Radeon HD 6970M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-2630QM Processor,Alienware M18xR1 score: P22545 3DMarks

at your clocks, 865 1150.

Crazy how much difference the CPU makes on Vantage.

GPU score didn't even break 25K. Ugly.

 

It's not just the CPU, Scook is a cheater, lol. No offence, j/king

 

Shaden,

Give my clocks a go.

850Mhz Core clock and 1210Mhz Mem Clock settings. For Vantage.
All on stock cooling sitting on my desk. This beast is amazing and runs half as quiet when running benches compared to the R2. That thing sounds like a JET engine.

My scores and picture were posted a few pages back if you need a comparison pic.

You too scook! See you you can try my clocks out?
I know Johno can easily whip my clocks LOL!

I might try setting the mem lower and shooting for high core clocks if I can get some extra cooling going.

Do you guys know if the core clock makes more of a difference compared to the mem clocks? For 3d mark 11 and Vantage?

Cheers.

 

In Vantage GPU Test 1 (Jane Nash) us all about the core, GPU Test 2 (New Calico) is all about the memory

I have found that GPU2 will often be your limiting factor for both though as far as stability is concerned.

I am also blown away at the thermals on these cards.....with the fans cranked I cannot break 60c.....

I also feel I should add.....we are scoring better than a pair of stock desktop 5870s with 1600 cores @850 MHz each and 1200 MHz 256-bit GDDR5 (although we sadly have twice the ram, 5870s are 1 GB haha)

The architectural improvements in BlackComb are sweet

 

For kicks I tried taking the cooling up a notch but it does not seem to matter, that CPU is intent on hitting 90c under load It would probably cool better if I had direct contact to the die but I am not about to chip the die on a $1k CPU.....

 

If you get the heatsink flat on the die, it shouldn't chip. Though I don't think I'd want to put too much pressure on it. Nice setup

 

I would need to bolt it down to make it effective/minimize needed paste. I could probably improvise some system that utilizes the existing threaded holes to bolt down but it would be a challenge. And if the heatsink rocks just once while being installed that could be the end of that cpu.....I learned that lesson with much cheaper laptop CPUs (un)fortunately....

It is a shame too....that is literally one of the best CPU air coolers on the market. I have it lapped to a mirror finish and have 2 VERY high end fans on it (they are like $25 each right now and in HUGE demand online - I hoarded 9 of them over the last year and refuse to sell )

 

Haha, yea I had the same concerns with my dice pot. One of the reasons I just leveled the laptop and didn't bolt it down. Plus I don't think it would fit bolted. Though I did apply pressure to it during tests like wPrime and Vantage. Not too much just steady even pressure to keep the temps down. At idle just sitting on the CPU worked fine for me.

But better to learn it with a cheaper CPU than a $1K CPU

 

Agreed. This will be my 3rd extreme cpu but the first that I have paid full price for (albeit also my first covered under a warranty haha)....gonna be playing it skittish

 

yep.. just skips along. i thought that was a bad thing at first, but it's not. not sure why it does it though.

yeah, your going to need some type of pressure on the heat sink else it wont give good results....

 

That is what I had figured John, just sitting the TRUE on top of the heatsink is not doing squat right now, tried with and without thermal pads in between

And think I forgot to mention, had a good vantage run last night (only ran 3 times though haha)

http://3dmark.com/3dmv/3437447

I have the screenshot on laptop at home

 

nice!. moving on up now. im still playing with this a00 bios at the moment and it seems to act just like the a03, when it comes to the 6990m. did a bench (3dmark11) at 860/1200 off the table with some cold air, but it didn't net any gains over 850/1200 so ill have to see what was going on in the background.

 

What are your reasons for using A00? Just to compare them all?

 

apparently a00 may or may not had throttling for the 580m. im just checking to see if it had any effects on the 6990m.

what are the core settings for the 2630qm?

 

Not sure if it was my driver or bios, but I switched both and went from A00 to A02 and in doing so gained like 700 points in 3DMark11

So I assumed some compatibility/optimization for the 6990m's was added.

 

700 points where?
i did an 8833 gpu off the desk with a00 - still at stock cpu
side note:
can you bench 850/1200 vantage now?

 

Have not tried higher than 1200 mem at all yet. I am not optimistic though haha.

It is very possible that my drivers were the problem and not the bios

Went from this to this. It made me very happy Since up to that point I thought I may have had bogus 6990s haha

 

same here, but it was a driver issue for that.
i was feeling the same way with my 7600 gpu score.. scratching my head.
now im scratching my head because now im doing the same numbers as running on dice...but then...that dice was only sitting on top. so it wasn't forcing negative 70C temps on anything. hopefully this time around...ill be able to better my numbers.

 

What sort of temps do you see when using DICE? I still need to make that jump

 

sense i was bs'n...temps were like 35C or so. on cpu i did press the issue a bit and it didn't see past 0 on wprime 1024

just ran a quick test on vantage off the table and can do 860/1200 - level 3 over clock...i'll have to pick that up a bit later to see how much more it can do.

 

When I used Dice I saw temps fully loaded for an extended period would top out in the mid 40*C in wPrime 1024. It was odd though, two cores topped out at something like 8*C, and the other two toped out at 45*C. The delta between the two sets of cores was crazy

 

I am not worried about my GPU temps, they do not even exceed 60c but rather the CPU which refuses to be tamed haha

 

A nice sized delta between two cores on a quadcore chip isn't rare, but a 37C delta is pretty huge! One thing to consider is that the DTS sensors in the chip are only calibrated for the thermal trip point and get less and less reliable the bigger the delta is from that (100C), so at a low temp like that they may have been reporting wildly inaccurate temperatures.

 

The Q9550 in my HTPC shows a dramatic separation in temperature between cores as well. I just ignore it lol

 

That was the CPU that I was talking about if your refering to me. The cores on the CPU had a 25-30* delta between them. Odd I thought. GPU temps also stayed in the 40's I think, but I didn't have a dice pot on them, just dice on the heatsinks. I also applied pressure to the dice on the heatsinks to try and maintain lowest temps possible.

 

What do you use to handle the DICE?

 

Just some old winter gloves I had laying around. My hands if Im only touching it for a quick sec.

 

a nice thick glove is my guess

 

I use my lips, I just pick em up with my mouth, Phffaaaa Gloves... Wimps.

 

Would something like silicone oven mits work well?

 

Yea scook but they are usually awkward, and you might need some precision for picking up/moving/placing the DICE where you want it...

 

Yea, or even some doubled up socks would do, or a rag on the dice block.

 

got the same results without going insane just desk runs no fan profiles

 

What 'bout these bad boys.....just imagine them sausages are DICE no need to EVER burn your lips again Shaden

 

Latest bench
When Wired


When wireless with N6300

 

ok ... Benching is about to commence ... lol. Will drop some unimpressive (due to my unmanly CPU) Vantages shortly

 

third vantage run with full speed fans AMD Radeon HD 6970M video card benchmark result - Genuine Intel(R) CPU 0 @ 2.40GHz,Alienware M18xR1 score: P28455 3DMarks

you have to trow a $280 es cpu to those 6990's man they deserve that

 

I can complete vantage graphic tests 870-1100 but hwinfo lock up my system I guess we need another program to max out the fans