How limiting is the CPU on an R1?

Over the last few days, I've been having nothing but headaches trying to get Optimus to work properly on my M11x R2. The 260.99 drivers work well for most games, but Punkbuster is broken. Updating to the 265.xx drivers fixes Punkbuster but breaks other, older games I have installed. With the newer drivers, the NVIDIA control panel will disappear when I exit out of a game, which is yet another annoyance.

The thing is, I absolutely adore the M11x's form factor. There's nothing in this size and price class that even comes close to it for performance. And when things work, they work really well. But I don't want to have to be stuck with changing drivers whenever I want to play a different game.

That's where the title of this thread comes in. The R1, at least in theory, would have none of the problems associated with Optimus. I could use the integrated GPU when I want to surf or play something not very intense. When I want something a bit more modern, I could easily fire up the NVIDIA GPU. My only concern is the limitations of the Core2 CPU.

I'm not interested in playing all my games at native resolution, max anti-aliasing, and 60 fps. I'm also not looking to have to put settings to 800x600 and lowest details in order to get playable framerates (~30 fps). I don't play GTA IV or Starcraft 2, so the Core2 CPU wouldn't be a factor there. I'm talking about Half-Life 2, Portal, Mirror's Edge, and a little bit of Crysis.

Would the R1 work for what I'm looking to do?

 

Is your Optimus issue that the Nvidia GPU isn't being used in these games?

 

Yes. Whitelisting doesn't work, and right-clicking on the executable and selecting the NVIDIA GPU doesn't work either.

 

Hmm haven't had a problem with my r2 with Whitelisting and right clicking the exe works perfect.

I would uninstall the drivers with a driver uninstaller and reinstall them again.

Me i would just restore from the dell image back too factory if you didn't yet because that's seems too fix alot of issues i was having, Even my battery is lasting longer which is showing 5 too 7hours than before it was showing 3 too 4hours..

Not sure what was going on there but it seems like dell didn't restore my system which is a refurbish before they sent it too me. Heck i wasn't even thinking about reinstalling but last night windows 7 wouldn't boot up anymore after i restarted windows so i had no choice too reinstall but glad i did.


How long did you have you m11x for?

 

i got my R1 2 months ago, did not update any drivers, and i have played HL2 start to finish, Crysis, Mass Effect, Batman: Arkham Asylum, TF2, Oblivion, Fallout 3, and now BFBC2 this week. some of the older games run maxed out, and everything except for BFBC2 will run smoothly on high settings. Crysis runs better on high than on medium, for me at least (~25-30fps, dipping down to ~18fps in really intense scenes), and BFBC2 runs at about 30fps on low/medium settings (still looks good).

obviously if you're doing CPU-intensive tasks like encoding videos or something, the i5/i7 will be noticeably faster than the core2duo, but i resigned myself to that fact when i paid less and accept the M11x for what it is in the first place, which is a portable gaming rig, not a maxed out pimped out rig.

 

Depends on what drivers you're using. The ones from Dell (257.30, IIRC) as well as the 260.99 set from NVIDIA work great, unless you want to play online with a Punkbuster-enabled game (ie Battlefield Bad Company 2). The latest drivers from NVIDIA (26x.xx) fix Punkbuster, but whitelisting the games that worked properly with the Dell and 260.99 drivers fails to do so.

Been there, done that, got a t-shirt.

I did a fresh install of Windows 7 with SP1 as soon as I took the machine out of the box so there's no chance of other software conflicting.

I still have it. It's less than a week old. I called Dell, and they'll let me return it without a restocking fee. I might try one or two more driver sets this afternoon, but if I can't get it to go, I'm going to throw in the towel and either buy an R1 or a 13-14" laptop without switchable graphics.

This is exactly the kind of feedback I'm looking for. I assume you're playing these games at native resolution? Does performance improve any by lowering it to 1280x720?

 

Even the new drivers i didn't have any problems with white listing before i reinstall windows 7, Right now im running the stock drivers because they seem too give really good battery life 5 too 7hours compare too 3 too 4:30min with the new drivers.

Ya i would rather have what the r1 has with out the auto switch for the graphics than i know what mode its really on like when i just browsing the net on batter i want the intel too stay on always But seems like its working fine when i reinstalled. But i picked the r2 for the cpu power which i do run high CPU-intensive tasks like games that needs a beefy cpu and when i run the games on my tv on it at 1920x1200

The r1 is also a great machine which i almost bought instead of the r2 but i figure why not go all out on it and found it cheep on outlet for 819$ shipped.

I would try other driver sets like you said and see if those fix it because im not sure why its not working right for you because it working fine on my r2 when i had the new drivers.

 

(1) If you're asking about the performance difference between M11x R1 vs M11x R2, then this has been addressed a few times before in this forum. Read Anandtech's review of the M11x R2 (called "A Legend Reborn"). He runs several benchmarks. On non-CPU bound games, you can expect a 0% - 10% difference in framerates between M11x R1 vs M11x R2.


(2) What symptoms do you have that indicate that Optimus isn't working properly?
* Have you used the Optimus State Viewer utility to see whether your nVidia GPU has been properly activated when you run a game?
* What games are you running where Optimus isn't working?
* And what EXE's are you trying to whitelist?

I have personally never had a problem with Optimus before, even with manually whitelisting applications.

 

I just saw that piece about an hour ago, and there is a difference.

It's mainly the original Half-Life and its expansions (Opposing Force and Blue Shift). The games are listed in the NVIDIA profile manager already, but they default to the integrated GPU on driver sets 26x.xx and higher, and you can't change it. Right-clicking on the hl.exe file allows me to select the NVIDIA GPU, but the GPU activity monitor doesn't list the program when it's running.

It's OK, though. I just ordered a Lenovo Y460p with Sandy Bridge and a Radeon 6550 for $899. A slightly larger form factor, yes, but this will be my primary machine. It should travel just as well.

 

NOBODY expects DavyGT or Some Guy.......

waiting.....


waiting......


Still waiting.....


The Spanish inquisition was faster than these two guys.

Anyway they'll tell you why the M11xR1 is so fab.

Me, well the only thing that slows me down is Video conversion.

I have Apache, Java, Perl, MySQL (tables with 80,000 records), PHP, XSL, XML, THREE virtual PCs and the list goes on.

Mostly connected to two U2410 1920x1200 monitors.

The M11xR1 will always be a second system for me and needs to be under 12" wide, so it's the mobility and functionality I'm after.

That said, as previously stated Crysis plays fine with GPU over-clocking and DX9 mode.

As stated the M11xR2 will give you a ~10% boost on CPU and this translates into higher FPS in some games.

I'm fine with the M11xR1 and haven't had a problem with it. AND I really mean that. I haven't had a problem. Over a year now and I'm still on the original hinges. (Touch plastic)

AND you get a VGA port.

 

for a person who owns a R1 and has a brother with a R2 (i5) there will be a difference in source engine games, the source engine is kindof CPU demanding in compairison to other engines.

however... you said you dont "need" 60 FPS @ highest settings. so with that in mind i would say you would be fine with the R1. the difference is not going to be huge. but the will be a difference between the 2.

when i play HL2 and Portal i can paly at max settings with little FPS drop and it pretty much stays locked at 60(vsync on)

now TF2 is a little harder on the CPU, and the more players on a map the more your FPS drop. but the game still stays abouve the 30FPS mark 80% of the time on 24man servers. id say avg. is around 40 FPS. it can drop down to say the low teens whe you got a bunch of Demos and soldiers blowing crap up all at once. but it doesnt happen often enough for me to suffer because of it.

now after my pin mod(if you care) id say my avg is around 50 FPS with only a few dips below the 30s now and then.

the R1 is awesome and to be honest i wouldnt trade my R1 for a R2 if someone asked. i love the battery life and the CPU is rarely a issue for me in gaming.

 

I appreciate all the advise. However...