*OFFICIAL* Alienware M18x Benchmark Thread

Actually don't install CAP 2, install CAP 3. the CAP 2 was beta.

 

Unless I am mistaken the CAPs (all of them) are only needed for the very latest games right? Older game/program profiles are already in the 11.5b driver?

 

I downloaded the 11.5b and Cap2 files but they will not run on my fresh windows install. It says they do not match the system and to check for 32 or 64 bit. Could someone post a fresh link to the files please?

I went to AMD site but they list it as 11.5 not 11.5b.

 

https://a248.e.akamai.net/f/674/203...atalyst_11.5a_hotfix_8.85.6rc5_win7_may25.exe

 

I ment a nice game, for example crysi2

 

Not even installed yet, and Crysis 2 is hardly proof of a systems performance

People need to realize that it is a console port and playable by MUCH less than an M18x.....Crysis 2 is nothing like Crysis 1 in terms of graphics and system demand

 

Thanks Zero989. This is a link to 11.5a file. Is this different from file for 11.5b?

 

nope, same driver

 

Now Metro 2033 on the other hand......BIG system tester right there.....maybe more so than the original Crysis. If a system can run this title to good effect, you have one heck of a laptop! - probably one of the reasons I bought the game in the first place was to use it for testing!

 

I was thinking of getting Metro2033 for benching as well haha

Does it have a built-in benchmark tool?

 

Yup, sure does mate. located in steamapps/common/metro once installed or something like that from recollection (havent reinstalled it yet!)

Tell ya...it really does put these systems to the test. I know my R2 had an 840qm so no xm by far but the best I could get the in game bench to run at (with as much maxed as poss) was just shy of 20fps.....as soon as DOF was enabled, forget about it....BUT, im sure I saw notebookcheck bench the m18x using metro and on ultra, got a respectable result......

 

Hmmm, now it just needs to go on sale on steam haha

 

Get yourself on flea-bay fella.....they are cheap as chips on there.....

 

$8 on amazon, that is good enough for me

 

Hahaha, $8.....BARGAIN!:yes:

 

scook show us yer 3dmark scores.

 

I do not have anything overclocked yet. Somewhere earlier in here I have my stock stuff

 

my cfx just went crazy. auto disables after booting up. i have to restart the system and re enable it.

 

Hey my m18x arrived tuesday and tomorrow evening I'll be home to do benches... Any tips or suggestions I plan on doing benches in this order:
Stock, amd drivers, bclk oc then gpu oc... I'll probably do the 3Dmark benches any other requests... My system is all stock except CF 6970s so now everyone will be able to see the 2630qm's performance too

 

dont bother with the dell drivers, go right to the amd 11.5b!!

 

I have gotten a good fresh install of windows to my M18x original HDD. When I put my OCZ Agility 2 SSD in the other bay, I can use it normally. It is recognized in the Bios and OS correctly. However, when I pull the original drive and put the SSD in the primary bay and try to do a fresh install to the SSD, the Windows DVD cannot find any drive. I have quick formatted SSD and that did not help. I have even tried Ghost 10 but it will not find the SSD either.

Anyone have an idea of what I can do to get Windows to install to the Agility 2? If I have messed up this SSD, can I just buy a OCZ Vertex 3, put it in the primary bay and then install windows? Or do I have to "prep" the Vertex 3 first?

 

keep the HDD in the 2nd drive bay. Not sure if its a BIOS/hardware issue...

 

So having the SSD in the primary bay and putting the HDD in the secondary bay will allow the Windows DVD to recognize and install to the SSD?

 

That is correct. Then you may wanna check BIOS to see if the machine does recognize both physical hard drives. And the SSD should be appeared as primary hard drive.

Edit: other than that, there should be a hardware issue

 

I flashed my cards to 1.2v. Windows boots but the cards don't go past 100Mhz on the core etc... It's a no go.

 

Crystal Disk 3.01 Crucial M4 128gb

Read Write
Seq 392.7 185.1

512k 329.2 188.6

4k 24.40 53.36

4k 251.7 170.4
QD32



3DMARK11 stock: 5817

 

Did a ton of benchmarks today for the review I'm writing and wow this system just continues to impress me. It's quite a bit faster than the M17x-R2 with 940xm and 5870m xfire.

 

Yep, I am certain this was the right upgrade from my M17x R1, the R2 just didn't excite me...this does

 

I agree, just wish I still had one. RMA'd mine yesterday. Although I'm not particularly optimistic that June will bring worthwhile updates, I'm waiting til E3 to reorder. Otherwise I may change from red to gunmetal and add HD wireless.

 

These are pretty much the same numbers I had on mine stock.

 

Thanks for confirming that. I'm going to be busy all this weekend but next week I'm going to be running furmark to get some baseline temps. If I remember correctly, high 70s to low 80s after 5 minutes burn in should be decent. If I get satisfactory results, I'll be adjusting the clocks of my gpus and cpu. I'm going to avoid messing with the voltage as someone already figured out how to fry their 6970m. I'm used to benching desktop stuff but laptop stuff is easier to fry and it's not $200 a gpu so I might not go that far.

 

The highest I have gone is 815/1050 with Trixx. My vantage11 score was just above 6900. My temps were in the low to mid 80's. I usually just run the GPU at 800/1000, seems to be fine as I rarely get about 82c when playing games.

 

Actually this is not true. I benched both Crysis 1 and Crysis 2 with a modified config and I get pretty close to the same FPS. Crysis 2 with the advanced config stuff looks better than crysis 1. Smoke, fire and other effects blow crysis 1 out of the water and the detail in the higher polygons is very noticable. I'm sure there are crysis 1 fans out there but I've played both and Crysis 2 when properly configured looks better and can run slower than crysis 1 due to the fact there is more going on in the engine than in 1.

1.8 patch was released as well and gives alot of the more advanced options to the graphics engine so I'd crank it up all the way and you can watch crysis 2 bring the m18x to under 40 fps in crazy settings.

 

Joker- Can't wait for your review. Also, will you be doing a takedown video or pics? I'm sure I speak for all saying we are looking forward to your future postings.

 

That is good to hear then

I actually have a copy of Crysis 2 but have not installed it yet.

 

ok so i just go thome in stalled the latest amd driver (8.850.6.0) and im gonna run 3dmark 11 anything else anyone wanna see?

2630qm/ CF 6790s/ 4gb ram/ 320gb hdd (all stock but gpu)

 

2630qm amd drivers : 5718

Result

103.1 bclk vs stock only increased about 70 points or so...

103.1 bclk + gpu: 800/1100 : 6516

Result

Im sure if i pushed for 850/1150 i could hit 6700 ish and that would be 1000 points over base but im comfortable here at 800/1100

 

Do you have 2.6ghz on all cores + turbo boost?? If so, how high does it go on a single core?

 

I'm aware that the M18x is a nightmare to disassemble in comparison the the M17x. That being said, have the majority of you guys done anything under the hood of your rigs to achieve these clocks or are you running on stock paste? If you're on stock everything, are you experiencing any throttling/heat problems?

 

yeah in cpuz it listed all 4 cores at 2.675...

 

What about load? Does it still have turbo?

 

does it seem a little too low with 6970cf OC'ed and 2630qm, only 6500... while the best we've got is almost 8k. You can hit 7900 with 2720qm. and extra 50mhz on the cores of GPU's. Is it a bottleneck caused by CPU?

 

6.5k is a decent score. The best result for the X7200 (990X+485M SLI OC'ed) was around 6.9k. The difference between the 2630 and 2720 is about 0.5ghz per core - I'd say it's pretty significant.

 

I did my first benchmarking this morning, I can see how this can become addicting!

These are stock + the SSD and memory I've added. No other changes.

3DMark06: 24756
SM2: 9276
SM3: 12431
CPU: 6616

3DMark Vantage:
GPU: 21271
Graphics Score: 20667
CPU: 23316

3DMark11: P6021
Graphics: 5828
Physics: 8772
Combined: 4933

Link to screen shot of above scores: http://i51.tinypic.com/14ujpf4.png

 

Finally, the first time we get 6k 3dmark11 run i suppose... congrats, mate) Are these with stock dell GPU drivers?

 

Thats will Dell Drivers.. I'll try the 11.5b Catalyst ones today.

 

Watching closely Jack as our specs are similar.

 

the physics test loves fast ram so your CPU score and physics should be through the roof

 

The 4Ghz turbo overclock seems to make a significant difference. Are you experiencing any throttling at all?

 

I have not seen any throttling at all yet