*OFFICIAL* Alienware M18x Benchmark Thread

Got to 4GHz on all cores. Again to reduce the confusion, no bclk OC' is present, just set the multi's to 45, Flex 0, all the long/short duration - max. The temps are hitting the ceiling.

Is it worth to try and slowly increment the flex or should I leave it 0?

 

My progress for the night Feels good breaking P29k. I need to put in some time on 06 though - mostly focused on Vantage tonight. I do not see my vantage going up much unless I get some sub-ambient cooling up in here

3DMark Vantage: P29255
CPU: 30494
GPU: 28864

3DMark06: 31919

Screenshots attached.

 

I had to raise current before I had to raise voltage. My flex is only at 15 to get 4.5 GHz on all cores. But my CPU seems odd in the way it wont go past 4.5 GHz no matter what I try

 

Dammmn, you are talking about unlocked BIOS and extra cooling, I need to know what's the best for the stock BIOS and stock cooling (no cooler pad, dice, etc)

 

No current control in standard bios so it will be a little more challenging. Also 80W will limit you to probably around 4.1-4.2 GHz on all cores as the needed current/volts will push you past 80W

I am air cooled. Just sitting on Cryo on desk with fans cranked. All my benches so far have been air cooled

 

So, is the 4.1-4.2 with Bclk or @ stock bus clock? Cuz I never managed to go above 3.7 on the ES.

 

Holy hell, scook those numbers are crazy!

 

that's not why im asking...young grasshopper.

interesting

you should have be able to do numbers like my es did.

what ceiling? don't see any temp readings.

your cpu is fine now...it's the gpu scores.
great scores by the way!

you can get away with only running unlocked bios. then upping the amps a little at a time and you will be passing 45 in no time....but that depends on your temps.

it's all stock bclk and multi over clock only...
not sure why you couldn't get over that (3.7 ghz) more than likely far to much voltage or turbo voltage

 

Ya John, I still have some work to do on the GPUs. Also fussed around with higher multis for 1 and 2 cores but could not get anything past 100 MHz bclk or 45x to boot

I did find a less is more with the vram though, inched it up 10 MHz at a time and ran several runs at each speed to see how it was doing. I have to spend a whole night or 2 on the GPUs just like we did for the CPU. I am thinking they will need to be colder (even though the both stayed completely under 60c after like 10 runs ) to get the core up. That or we need more voltage. It is pretty awesome what we are able to with stock voltage on these GPUs as it is. My core is definitely holding me back though. I think Calico is doing as good as it will, I need to get Jane Nash going faster which requires more core speed.

 

woohoo.. internet benching..holding 3rd place on cpu...i bet i get a 29k vantage run.
you will need to reset your settings back to factory and then bench as high as you can go...then slowly start in on the performance settings. one setting at a time.



we need to get to this type of effiency..
880/1178

 

Whose system was that John? And how the hell are you getting to 880 core?.....870 was a no go for me and 865 is iffy

And I assume you mean CCC settings?

 

that would be yours. who elses.
i used dice on that run.
and yes on ccc settings. allot of time...more performance settings do not translate into better numbers. and that can go for clocks as well.... remember the 41x 5.6 wprime run or the 29.8k cpu vantage run?

 

I meant the one with the 880 clocks, I recognize my own desktop

Point being you did not internet bench that run - I managed that one solo. You certainly helped me get there though the night before

I am getting the itch....the DICE itch....lol

 

hope that clears things up.

dice for the gpus to get them to hold higher core over clocks in vantage. i did an 885, but my score was slower...have to figure out why later though.
and depending on how this slowdown or throttle (like the 580m's but less harsh) is for the 6990m's. even 60C can slow them down or shut them off. along with or completely separate... voltage

 

You think the 6990m's are throttling John? Do we have any GPU core speed logging programs to verify? That would tick me off....

And you did 30212 CPU I believe over the net on my laptop

 

probably more of a slow down than a throttle.
your clocks will still show...but internally the gpu starts to slow down it would seem or a better word.. stutter just enough to drop your score. i need to test that more...
kind of why you run the same clocks a bunch of times to make sure your running optimal for that over clock. who cares if you can over clock 950/1300 if some one with a 850/1000 is smoking you.

 

I bet getting it colder will limit those fluctuations. Makes sense from a physics stand point.....

 

true 10 char

 

Won't keeping them cold reduce the fluxuations, because it reduces heat, heat which in turn creates resistance in the cores?

Theoretically if my thinking is accurate, that should produce much more consistant scores.

 

That is that "physics standpoint" I was referring to

Varying current due to resistance caused by heat will create micro differences in the effective speed of the cores and most likely result in what we are speculating on

 

Gotcha , never had any real physics training beyond high school 10+ years ago, other than whats interested me and sparked research.

On another not totally unrelated note, have you guys tried vbios flashing? Looks liek you all bench from stock clocks. Just wondering if you've tried both approaches, though I'm sure you have. I currently have my 6990s flashed to 800/1050, and thats my jumping point for benching.

Have you also considered unsyncing the cards? Running higher clocks on the slave has had favorable results for me. Even a few MHz higher on one card can help. Not neccesarilly running both cards at the same clocks all the time.

 

you can only go so far with the volts given...even if you run -180C still wont get you past that.

 

I had tried flashing the voltage back when I had 6970s....it was a mess. Have not tried locking in GPU clocks by flashing yet.

And I am a year out of college Electrical engineer....I have had more physics than I care to remember haha

 

After a few hard lockups and a BSOD on my 6970's I was finally able to pull off a full RE-5 benchmark with DX10. According to my L3 Rep, replacement GPUs are still on backorder.

This is with stock 680/900 GPU clock speeds - Average 95.4 FPS "S"

 

back order huh....you can't talk them into an upgrade for a few more dollars + compensation?

 

Actually, they've already offered the upgrade at no cost because of the amount of time I have been putting up with problems, but both the 6990M and 580M video modules are out of stock and have been for over a week. I received heatsinks and gpu cables last week with no cards. So, my Level 3 rep started the order for 580M video cards only to learn there were none of those available. They are projecting the end of the month for new parts to become available and now processing a full system exchange to expedite resolution rather than waiting for replacement stock to come in.

 

AMD Radeon HD 6970M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-2720QM Processor,Alienware M18xR1 score: P23211 3DMarks

Not bad for the clocks and 2720 I am running with FSB OC. The CPU score really limits me at only 20700. I figure a 2920 and even these 6970s would probably yield 2600 due to a much increased CPU score.

 

Quick Question, somebody noted that unless you do a fresh install of windows you won't really be seeing good benches. How true is this? Is there some workaround?

I really don't want to go through the process of trying a fresh install again. Tried it when I first got it but there were too many drivers missing off the resource CD and support site to make it viable. Maybe now things will go smoother, but that's a heck of a process considering everything I've done to it since then.

However, given the unlocked A03 BIOS, vBIOS and verde drivers that are now around I'm wondering if it wouldn't also be more stable to start with those right off a fresh install.

If a fresh install is a good idea, at which point should the BIOS & vBIOS be installed?

 

A fresh install is not needed. You can pretty easily clean up an existing install and it will run just fine. On my M17x R1 I set the world records for a laptop (at the time) in benches using the original factory installation

 

I don't know how you guys get such high clocks. I managed something like 840/1170 (or was it 1070:confused), But not nearly the 880 core that you guys are getting. Maybe I just need to make a bigger clock jump and not just another 2MHz? Dual card benches I need to drop the clocks and balance power. Hard to get through a run at decent clocks without a bit of throttling. I'd love to break 8K in the R2 on 3DMark11. But it will throttle in the combined test which kills the score.

 

Cool, thanks. Finding all the steam saves, ea downloader stuff, bookmarks etc get's really annoying everytime I have to change a drive.

 

your suppose to be just looking for gpu over clocks first...

i concur.

that's a bunch of nonsense.... just drop norton, backup vault and a few other things and your damn near ready to bench.

nice run.

true

tell them to give you the non throttled edition or you'll be sending that back too...

 

Details that I have been provided are very sketchy, but I am under the impression that all shipments of new systems equipped with 580M SLi and replacement 580M video cards may be on hold by engineering. (They may be in stock, but not available for distribution due to the hold... don't know that part.)

So, I am doing the waiting game for the time being. I don't know what I am getting as a fix (cards or system swap) or when at this time. The 6990M video cards are on back order until at least 9-21-11.

If the 580M has issues that are bad enough to be put on hold by engineering, I'm probably better off waiting for 6990M parts. Wish I had more technical details about this 580M situation, but I am not on the "need to know" list at this point.

 

i wish you had more details as well...

 

They're being sort of tight-lipped right now. Guess we'll find out at some point. If I find out anything more I'll gladly share it.

The good news is that I had a phone call with my Level 3 rep and the system exchange is being finalized. They are capturing my system for deeper forensic inspection rather than having it go through the normal return channels back to the depot for refurbishment.

 

This may explain why my dual 6990 m18x order is still "In production"

 

It certainly may.

 

I have a good feeling about this,, perhaps the few threads on Nvidia foirums + some hate emails to them is making them react:

GTX 580m throttling. Can Nvidia explain? - NVIDIA Forums

I'm hoping for a fix soon, perhaps Nvidia is working with Alienware to update whatever it is that's causing the throttling issue before they ship more.

 

They wont fix stuff until there is alot of negative attention online. If you are still seeing no resolution, write endgadget about it. That is what got the DPC fixed in the M17x R1 and I think the stutter due to power draw as well.

 

$1200! For a problem maker,hehehe.

 

Well in all fairness, it isn't a problem at all for non-enthusiasts.... 99% of the people will be extremely happy as they would run these cards stock everything.

And Scook, very good tip, maybe I will write that letter. I was part of the ones that threw fits at the M17x R1 DPC issue at the time.

 

I know my friend I know. I have a desktop with gtx580

 

Have you guys noticed any improvement in driver performance from Catalyst 11.6? I just realized I'm using 11.6 on my benching drive. What is the newest driver version? I know 11.7 and 11.8 are out. What about 11.9? Thought I saw that somewhere. Do these drivers offer improvements as far as benchmarking goes?

 

on my 6970s I find 11.8 to have some issues with games I play (black screen on Heroes of Newerth). 11.9 beta have been reported to be extremely buggy.Right now the best combo for me is 11.7 w/ 11.8 Cap 4.

 

I did notice some gains in jumping to 11.8 Dr ...

 

OK, sounds good, I'll try the differant drivers this weekend. Plan to get a few hours of benching in and I need all the driver help I can get to try and negate the power issues. Squeeze as many points as I can in my small wattage envelope.

 

yea I am wondering what the 7K will do on that system, not sure how much of a power its going to be, if they will increase the shaders etc to take up the same space as the 6990 did but at 28nm. Or even if they did if it would still take less power ...

Could really see a long lasting laptop if they use less power ...

Not sure if the 940 processor would bottleneck them or not.

I even think its awesome you have 6990s in there ... crazy

 

haven't tried the 11.9 yet, but will load them up later.

i concur.

give the new drivers a go my friend...it sure as hell can't hurt...

wouldn't even worry about 7k series till it actually is around with some real numbers....you'll go grey speculating about them...

 

Yes John true, but I am just thinking the m17x R2 might be the greatest laptop purchase ever if the 7Ks go into them and don't have the power supply problem due to lower power consumption.

As it is they might be the best buy ever ... the life of that laptop (due to the ability to upgrade it) has been amazing.

 

You are making the assumption that the M18x wont have a similar life of upgrade potential

Of course, the M17x R2 is easier to get into