What tests should I run with a fresh install?

I just got my hands on Win 7 Pro 64-bit and will be installing it tonight.


What would you guys like to see as far as testing goes?


>3DMark: what suite/version should I look for? Is there a free version, I don't feel the need to pay for software that I'll use for maybe a dozen runs.

>FRAPS: I'm thinking about grabbing some game Demos from the Steam Portal.

>Throttle Stop/CPU-ID: I'm thinking of pushing this little beast somewhere near 2.0GHz

>Drivers: best of 3 runs for each set of available drivers for Optimus/BIOS/etc



IDEAS???



My Lil M11x R2 : i5 520UM/8GB CAS 7/90GB SSD/Intel 6200 Advanced-N/BT

 

For graphical performance, 3DMark is always a good one. You'll want to get 3DMark06 and 3DMark Vantage, since those are the two most relevant 3DMark benchmarks out in the past few years. 3DMark11 came out recently, but isn't very relevant yet. It is so new that there isn't a lot of hardware that is benchmarked on it. And, the big benefit of 3DMark11 is support for DirectX11, which is not supported by the nVidia 335M GPU in your laptop.

You can download free versions of the 3DMark benchmarks on the Futuremark website. There is a paid version that allows you to do things like tweak settings and change the number of runs per benhcmark loop. But if you just want to run the benchmark and have it spit out a number, the free version will do just fine.

As for overclocking the CPU - you definitely want Throttlestop, and you want to overclock in the BIOS. Play around with Throttlestop settings, and play around with the different overclocking speeds in the laptop BIOS, to see how much performance you can get. But be aware that there is a limit to BIOS-based overclocking, where the max speed is going to be around 1.86Ghz. That should not pose a problem, as it will be unlikely that you will hit a stable 1.86Ghz overclock anyway.

As for drivers, BIOS, etc... I say, get the latest certified stable drivers/BIOS of each. Get nVidia 335M GPU drivers directly from the nVidia website. Get Intel HD Graphics GPU drivers directly from Intel's website. Get the latest BIOS (A04) directly from Dell's support website. There really isn't a need to benchmark different drivers, since the performance difference is going to be so absolutely miniscule that they might as well be considered within margin of error. Just get the latest drivers, and save yourself hours of work.

If you DO want to squeeze more GPU performance out of your laptop, a better use of your time would be to download MSI Afterburner and overclock the GPU. It is likely that you can get a 10% overclock out of your GPU, which would almost directly translate to 10% higher graphical benchmark scores.