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    *OFFICIAL* Alienware M18x Benchmark Thread

    Discussion in 'Alienware 18 and M18x' started by BatBoy, Apr 30, 2011.

  1. Shaden

    Shaden Notebook Deity

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    Ugh horrid scores .... its running the benches fully but the cpu is sucking with 45x and 950 pri and 0 flex ... on vantage i get like 26 ops ... we had it up near 40 .... Will post pics of my settings when i get home .... out and about on the phone atm ....
     
    Shaden, Nov 4, 2011
    #3051
  2. Johnksss

    Johnksss .

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    ok mr sexy samsung galaxy s2 phone guy... lol
     
    Johnksss, Nov 4, 2011
    #3052
  3. Shaden

    Shaden Notebook Deity

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    Hahaha ..... on the way home atm .... :)
     
    Shaden, Nov 5, 2011
    #3053
  4. Johnksss

    Johnksss .

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    aight...im getting mine setup as well.
     
    Johnksss, Nov 5, 2011
    #3054
  5. Shaden

    Shaden Notebook Deity

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    Shaden, Nov 5, 2011
    #3055
  6. Johnksss

    Johnksss .

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    you need flex voltage...like 15 flex to start with
     
    Johnksss, Nov 5, 2011
    #3056
  7. Shaden

    Shaden Notebook Deity

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    Shaden, Nov 5, 2011
    #3057
  8. Johnksss

    Johnksss .

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    teamviewer
     
    Johnksss, Nov 5, 2011
    #3058
  9. Red Line

    Red Line Notebook Deity

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    Shaden, yeah you probably have to increase flex a little. But for starters i'd recommend you to run prime95 for at least 30min to see if your CPU OC is table enough. If any of the workers stops during the test run that means your settings are not suitable for the OC. You see, you may not notice this, but if the CPU needs more vcore, which you don't add, after first munites of Vantage 1-2 out of 4 cores may just deactivate and you pass your test with like 2-3 cores...

    Try to use the settings shown on the screenies above but make it 40x multi and run prime95 for 30min, if there were no errors, try 41x multi for 30 min and so on... I used this tool to check my 2500k OC back in February. It's really handy)
     
    Red Line, Nov 5, 2011
    #3059
  10. Johnksss

    Johnksss .

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    no need to run prime95.
    that's not the problem. and doing benchmarks where the cpu only needs to be stable for the bench. not a life long thing since he isn't going to be running a super high over clock 24/7. :)
     
    Johnksss, Nov 5, 2011
    #3060
  11. Red Line

    Red Line Notebook Deity

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    sure) but i wouldn't mind leaving the CPU stable at 4.0Ghz on all 4 cores 24/7!
     
    Red Line, Nov 5, 2011
    #3061
  12. Shaden

    Shaden Notebook Deity

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    Will Teamviewer it up John ... not sure when though, Wife has some stuff planned for us to do today .. maybe later tonight or tomorrow if you are free, will drop you a line.
     
    Shaden, Nov 5, 2011
    #3062
  13. TheMatrixHacker

    TheMatrixHacker Notebook Evangelist

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    Im starting to OC on the 460m. Anyone have any experience doing this on that particular model ?
     
    TheMatrixHacker, Nov 5, 2011
    #3063
  14. Johnksss

    Johnksss .

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    true... you may not mind...but the cpu might. and so might the room temp conditions as well. :) certainly do able though.


    if im not out with the girlfriend to night, sure.
     
    Johnksss, Nov 5, 2011
    #3064
  15. Johnksss

    Johnksss .

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    seems that 3dmark11 has a new update for the amd tessellation bug.
    can some one test it out? thanks.
     
    Johnksss, Nov 11, 2011
    #3065
  16. Aikimox

    Aikimox Weihenstephaner!

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    ^^ Do you have a link to the update or is it included with the latest ver?
     
    Aikimox, Nov 11, 2011
    #3066
  17. Shaden

    Shaden Notebook Deity

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    Shaden, Nov 11, 2011
    #3067
  18. Shaden

    Shaden Notebook Deity

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    Shaden, Nov 12, 2011
    #3068
  19. Johnksss

    Johnksss .

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    Your result has the following problem(s) and will not be shown for example on leaderboards:
    Benchmark tessellation load modified by AMD Catalyst driver, result invalid. Check your video driver settings. (What is this?)
    Processor is not recognized (What is this?)

    tessellation needs to be left as application only.

    but those scores look nice!
     
    Johnksss, Nov 12, 2011
    #3069
  20. Shaden

    Shaden Notebook Deity

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    I thought u want me to try with tess off still .... Tomorrow :)
     
    Shaden, Nov 12, 2011
    #3070
  21. Johnksss

    Johnksss .

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    exactly how did you turn it off?
    and the bench runs with tessellation on, but ccc can turn it off. that's why futuremark made the change. now im trying to see if it works.
    everyone (including me at one time) thought amd was king of this bench...but it looks like that is not the case after all. i wish i had an extra set of 6990's laying around to test.

    no worries.
     
    Johnksss, Nov 12, 2011
    #3071
  22. Shaden

    Shaden Notebook Deity

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    Turned off in ccc

    the bench still runs fine witb tess off.... you just get that error message up top during results .... will see how it performs with tess on tomorrow ....
     
    Shaden, Nov 12, 2011
    #3072
  23. Johnksss

    Johnksss .

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    sounds good shaden. will talk tomorrow.
     
    Johnksss, Nov 12, 2011
    #3073
  24. DR650SE

    DR650SE The Whiskey Barracuda

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    Does turning tesselation off still give a p result? I have bencher in a while. Sisnt even know futuremark did an update
     
    DR650SE, Nov 12, 2011
    #3074
  25. Shaden

    Shaden Notebook Deity

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    Yup still gives a result DR ... just says at the top that Tess was off and so the result is "invalid" ... but it still gives it .... so I am comfortable with that :p
     
    Shaden, Nov 12, 2011
    #3075
  26. DR650SE

    DR650SE The Whiskey Barracuda

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    Eh, was nice to have that advantage, but doubt i bench these cards anymore so i guess Im not too bummed. Does the link say its invalid or just some pop up?
     
    DR650SE, Nov 12, 2011
    #3076
  27. Shaden

    Shaden Notebook Deity

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    Shaden, Nov 12, 2011
    #3077
  28. Johnksss

    Johnksss .

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    the reason for me having people retest this with ccc tessellation set to application was to get the amd's real score. and if done correctly..you wont have a tess error showing at the top of the score. that's what i was looking for. which should put the scores for gpu in the 8400 to 8600 catagory. others a tad bit lower.
     
    Johnksss, Nov 12, 2011
    #3078
  29. Mr. Fox

    Mr. Fox BGA Filth-Hating Elitist®

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    John - thanks for clearing up why the error shows at the top of the benchmark score. It was never descriptive enough to identify the reason. I always had tess turned off and did not associate that as the reason. +1 Rep for enlightening us.

    [Edit: in 24 hours, that is - too much rep handed out in the last 24, LOL.]
     
    Mr. Fox, Nov 12, 2011
    #3079
  30. Johnksss

    Johnksss .

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    Johnksss, Nov 12, 2011
    #3080
  31. Mr. Fox

    Mr. Fox BGA Filth-Hating Elitist®

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    I don't have a record of trying it with tess turned on. Here was a sample of everything stock on my system except for tess disabled:

    AMD Radeon HD 6970M / 6990M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-2720QM Processor,Alienware M18xR1 score: P5774 3DMarks

    This demonstrates what you are talking about... score drops like a rock with tess turned on, and improves substantially turned off, with AMD 6970/6990M CrossFire.

    I see that Futuremark has updated the error message so it is now useful. It used to only say that the driver was "not approved" or something of that nature. It wasn't helpful at all before.

     
    Mr. Fox, Nov 12, 2011
    #3081
  32. Johnksss

    Johnksss .

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    they have a few...
    driver not approved
    unknown processor
    tessellation error

    i think i got about 6400 on gpu with tess set to application controled.
     
    Johnksss, Nov 12, 2011
    #3082
  33. FredFlint_

    FredFlint_ Notebook Consultant

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    Hi all,
    This is my heavan score:

    [​IMG]
     
    FredFlint_, Nov 13, 2011
    #3083
  34. Mr. Fox

    Mr. Fox BGA Filth-Hating Elitist®

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    OK - here are some stock benchmark results with the GTX 580M SLI

    NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-2760QM Processor,Alienware M18xR1 score: P22844 3DMarks
    [​IMG]

    NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-2760QM Processor,Alienware M18xR1 score: P6180 3DMarks
    [​IMG]

    Results were very consistent with the same benchmarks last night. Below is a side-by-side view.
    [​IMG]

    So far, there is not a huge difference in benchmark scores between the AMD 6990M CrossFire and GTX 580M SLI with stock settings. The results are very close. Most of us already knew that. I've merely confirmed it for myself. Having tessellation turned on with AMD, the gap widens a bit in favor of NVIDIA. ( See my post above.)

    Where the greater differences between AMD and NVIDIA can be seen is in visual quality. I see things in 3DMark11 and Vantage I never even knew existed running an M18x with CrossFire. For example, in Vantage, Jane Nash has lighting reflections from the water on the walls inside the cave and fish swimming in the water. I noticed those things for the first time ever last night. (If they were there with AMD, the appearance was muted enough that I never noticed.) In 3DMark11, there is a little more depth and brightness, smoother corners on hard objects and vegetation looks a little nicer. I am expecting the visual differences in 3DMark06 to be similar, and I anticipate the difference with Heaven benchmark may be even more impressive.

    I will get more immersed in gaming after work over the next two days and into the weekend. I did play Crysis for several hours Tuesday night and the experience was flawless. No flickering and extremely smooth with everything set to "Very High" settings.

    At the original price difference, (not the current $150 USD,) had I seen these visual improvements, would I have paid the difference in price? Probably not unless I had plenty of spare cash. At the current price difference? Absolutely.
     
    Mr. Fox, Nov 17, 2011
    #3084
  35. Mr. Fox

    Mr. Fox BGA Filth-Hating Elitist®

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    @FredFlint_ - I'll run a Heaven bench for you and post the results in the next 24 hours or so.
     
    Mr. Fox, Nov 17, 2011
    #3085
  36. skygunner27

    skygunner27 A Genuine Child of Zion

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    If you're on stock Dell vBIOS you will not beat his Heaven score or most 6990M CF benches by much because of the switching between P0 & P1 states. But you can see that the benches and almost every piece of software looks better visually....especially Heaven. I couldn't agree with you more about seeing things on Nvidia hardware that could not be seen with AMD.
     
    skygunner27, Nov 17, 2011
    #3086
  37. Mr. Fox

    Mr. Fox BGA Filth-Hating Elitist®

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    Yes, I am on stock Dell vBIOS. Everything is stock except for my OS installation and latest NVIDIA Verde beta drivers. Seems to be working well with Dell's vBIOS. I have been too busy with work to read up on the new and improved vBIOS being talked about on the threads. Maybe someone that's totally up to speed on that can send me a PM with links and a crash course to spare me the reading time.
     
    Mr. Fox, Nov 17, 2011
    #3087
  38. skygunner27

    skygunner27 A Genuine Child of Zion

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    Louis said that the modded vbios with 620mhz P0 & P1 states may not be optimal for every 580M card. But it seems most users here are reporting success. I also would like a crash course or a "Guide for Dummies". The method posted before was not clear enough for me....once I get over this cold and catch up on some snow shoveling maybe I'll give it a go again. I can see the slight throtting in Saints Row: The Third during very heavy gun fights, but even with throttling the FPS remain in the 50 to 60 range.
     
    skygunner27, Nov 17, 2011
    #3088
  39. Mr. Fox

    Mr. Fox BGA Filth-Hating Elitist®

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    Your Heaven score is similar to what my M18x with 6990M CrossFire and 2760 CPU produced.

    As usual, you're correct. The first image thumbnail is my Heaven score with everything on the M18x with 580 stock except the beta Verde drivers. The second thumbnail is my previous M18x with 69 70M CrossFire and 2720 CPU and everything running at stock speeds compared side-by-side to the current Heaven benchmark with 580M SLI. So, indeed, there seems to be some throttling taking place, although the overall performance is good and visual quality is stunning. Notwithstanding the NVIDIA throttling, the Heaven benchmark score are not far apart.

    [​IMG] [​IMG]

    It will be interesting to see for myself what happens with throttling removed. Waiting for that simple tutorial as well to be posted as well, rather than trying to piece information together from multiple posts. (If it is already posted, I have not noticed it yet.)
     
    Last edited by a moderator: May 6, 2015
    Mr. Fox, Nov 17, 2011
    #3089
  40. steviejones133

    steviejones133 Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    When you say stock Dell vbios Fox, are you meaning the vbios that the cards shipped with or the latest vbios from Dell drivers/downloads? - I was told that anyone geting a new 580m would not have it flashed to the latest Dell vbios from the factory and that the user would have to do the flash themselves upon arrival.

    Maybe I am missing something here as I havent closely follwed Nvidia stuff of late but "modded vbios" and "Dell's latest offering for vbios".....are they not one in the same?
    - or is there ANOTHER vbios floating out there in cyberspace that I have missed!

    'scuse my ignorance on the subject of Nvidia vbios folks...
     
    steviejones133, Nov 17, 2011
    #3090
  41. Mr. Fox

    Mr. Fox BGA Filth-Hating Elitist®

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    Stevie - I'm with you buddy as far as being behind on the NVIDIA information. Yes, I am running what was shipped to me. I don't know and have not yet had any spare time to investigate what vBIOS I have now versus the vBIOS posted on Dell's support page. If the one posted is newer than what I have, I'll install it. There is a tweaked vBIOS out there that removes throttling completely. It's not from Dell.
     
    Mr. Fox, Nov 17, 2011
    #3091
  42. skygunner27

    skygunner27 A Genuine Child of Zion

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    Yes, the new 580M cards should have the lastest "Dell vBIOS". My 580M's came with the latest vBIOS. There are several modded vBIOS out that up the votage and keep the clocks speed at 620mhz.
     
    skygunner27, Nov 17, 2011
    #3092
  43. steviejones133

    steviejones133 Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    Gotcha. I think the Dell latest one is 5th Oct. release......and beta NV drivers dated 31st Oct.
     
    steviejones133, Nov 17, 2011
    #3093
  44. steviejones133

    steviejones133 Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    Which one are you on bud?
     
    steviejones133, Nov 17, 2011
    #3094
  45. skygunner27

    skygunner27 A Genuine Child of Zion

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    I'm on the latest Dell vBIOS and 285.79b Verde driver. Until I see a M18x 580M vBIOS mod guide for dummies, I'm going to hold off on it. I saw the guide for the M17x but for me is was confusing. Johnksss says it's easy to do and can be done in Windows.
     
    skygunner27, Nov 17, 2011
    #3095
  46. Mr. Fox

    Mr. Fox BGA Filth-Hating Elitist®

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    Maybe vginside or johnksss can put something together for us. I just don't have the time to stop and figure things out right now. In the meanwhile, no real complaints with the 580M. Too much stuff to do for work. Speaking of which, lunch break is over now. Later guys!
     
    Mr. Fox, Nov 17, 2011
    #3096
  47. FredFlint_

    FredFlint_ Notebook Consultant

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    Looks like you now have a solid m18. Good to see Dell got it sorted.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: May 6, 2015
    FredFlint_, Nov 17, 2011
    #3097
  48. steviejones133

    steviejones133 Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    I'm with you on that one gunner, they are expensive cards to "break" if you gotta pay out for replacements 'cos of "user error"....

    Btw, were you referring to this thread regarding modded vbios?

    http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...throtting-fix-no-need-modify-system-bios.html
     
    steviejones133, Nov 17, 2011
    #3098
  49. skygunner27

    skygunner27 A Genuine Child of Zion

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    Yup, that's the thread. I'm not sure if I use the "Fix for non-3D Optimus users" because I couldn't get the other one to work. Got any ideas?

     
    skygunner27, Nov 17, 2011
    #3099
  50. steviejones133

    steviejones133 Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    I think we as M18x owners without 3d should be looking at the fix widezu posted below....the second part below the bit you are trying. This bit:

    Dont quote me on it but I imagine thats the methodology to apply it to the Sli 580m's - the other method I imagine was aimed at M17x R3 owners with 3d tech/optimus and a single gpu capable of on the fly switching (which we now know isnt possible with a dual gpu system thanks to Louis' comments on the team red call)

    Still, I would get confirmation from Johnksss or even Widezu as i dont wanna brick your cards buddy!
     
    steviejones133, Nov 17, 2011
    #3100
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