All Alienware Laptop Gaming Videos Thread

Yup, couldn't stand it Brother 'ghosts... should have known better than to watch your COD:AW video... I'm calling your fault, dude.

Ah well, what's a $46 once a year anyhow? I got COD:AW and Watch Dogs from cdkeyvast.com for about the same total price as COD:AW alone through Steam. Guess I shouldn't complain too much.



Edit: Just finished downloading it... 12:28 AM now... need to go bed, but now I won't be able to sleep, LOL.

Not sure what the deal is with Ubisoft... servers must be down. Started Watch Dogs download a long time ago, quickly shot up to 30% but now stuck a good while at 0.00 Mbps.

 

LOL from watching TotalBiscuit's video, the game doesn't support SLI.

i am also using the 344.11 drivers over the 344.48 drivers so I'll update to the latest and see if there's any appreciable difference.

 

Using default settings at first game launch attempt, SLI is broken and there is a lot of weird flashing and flickering. After changing one setting in the video options the flashing and flickering instantly stopped. However, setting AFR2 helps a bunch and SLI does work that way. GPU utilization will increase with driver optimization, but overall COD:AW is playing great using AFR2. Getting over 40 FPS with graphics setting on Extra (max), 2560x1440 with no OC on GPU, using up all of my 4GB of vRAM, LOL. At 1080p, steady 60+ FPS with Extra settings, still gobbling up tons of vRAM with all the settings maxed out, yet still really smooth.

Watch Dogs is doing fantastic, too. First attempt to launch the game caused a BSOD with no DMP file to look at. Second launch was without any glitch or error... not sure what the deal is there, but whatever it was it seems to have healed itself.

Both games look amazing with maxed out settings. Watch Dogs is not quite as smooth as COD:AW, but still very good. From all of the whining and moaning I have read, either my system handles Watch Dogs a whole lot better than most or the cry babies are really exaggerating. Maybe their systems are not strong enough? At any rate, I see nothing at all that deserves to be griped about with Watch Dogs running it on my M18xR2.

Only criticism I have is long cut scenes on COD:AW (a normal thing for COD franchise), although they do have some entertainment value. And, I don't care for the delays in action for hacking and puzzle-solving in Watch Dogs. It hasn't turned me off entirely, still pretty fun, but it's more "puzzle" stuff and less non-stop combat action than I prefer to see. The car driving controls feel a bit wonky, but I am sure I will get used to it. Overall, I am pleased with both titles.

I recorded the first chapter of COD:AW using Shadowplay @ 2560x1440 with Extra settings for you guys to have a peek. Once NVIDIA release a better optimized driver it should be even better than it already is. I am rendering the video upscaled from 1440p to 4K resolution, 60 FPS, so it is going to take a long time for the rendering to complete. Will post it once it is finished. Should be interesting to see how long it takes for YouTube to process this massive file. It might choke on it, LOL. Probably won't be available for viewing for several hours.

I'll probably dial back the quality settings on both games a bit because I generally never notice any difference in visual quality between max and one notch lower and I prefer to see more than 60 FPS on average.

 

They certainly did something in the recent patch to kill some performance in Watchdogs. It used to be able to easily run at 60fps with all max settings and a lower AA.
I haven't fiddled around with it in a while. You may be interested to know there is a mod by TheWorst which contains a Maldo mod in it too. Definitely worth a play around.

 

when i try to play WD at 60fps my 780M temps would shoot into the 80 deg C...even if i run at stock clocks, 30fps was no better but stayed within the 70s deg C.

not sure if repasting would fix it but it only seems to be the case with just WD.

 

This is the first chapter, "Extra" graphics settings, 2560x1440. I will be turning it down a notch and dropping back to 1080p for higher FPS, but I think this is really good at these settings... very smooth and decent framerate. I am going to take a guess I will see more than 75 FPS average at 1080p (1440p is 78% more pixels being pushed).

It is going to take a while for YouTube to quit choking on this 6GB video. Processing should be done in at least 3 more hours (hopefully). I will be back when I wake up in the morning to see if YouTube ruined it, LOL. Hopefully, YouTube won't screw it up really bad. I upscaled it to 4K @ 60 FPS, 20K bit rate. It definitely looks beautiful sitting on my SSD before uploading. Enjoy...

*deleted*

Edit: YouTube choked on it and cannot finish processing. I will have to drop it down to 30 FPS recording and reupload, which will take probably 5 hours or so, given the size and quality of the original video.

Watch Dogs is also uploading right now. I will post that tomorrow.

 

I might have to do some gameplay videos once I get the new cards (I have a couple of spare CPU cores most of the time anyway).

 

NVIDIA DRIVERS GeForce Game Ready Driver WHQL

new nvidia 344.60 driver for COD:AW....shame since I just finished the SP!

EDIT: I found some sections of the later missions to stutter like mad.

 

A F1 2014 video. Unfortunately I was getting a glitch with Shadowplay at 1440p where it would only record 30fps. So I just made a 1080p video to get the full 60fps.
Good game but F1 2013 is miles better.

 

i noticed that in COD:AW the opening intro vid with the company logos will stutter if you have adaptive vsync enabled.

 

I had to totally redo the COD:AW video. I tried three times and the upload completes but processing fails every time. I think the settings are so insanely high that YouTube simply cannot handle the processing. Even lowering the bit rate from 60K to 20K wasn't enough to keep it from choking. Will embed the video when it finishes this time, if it does.

FXAA seems to work a lot better for me. I cannot see a difference in visual improvement using SMAA Tx2, just a lower frame rate. Still very playable, but my preference is higher framerate. If there is no quality difference, no point in lowering the framerate. I will post a video showing 1440p and 1080p using each anti-aliasing method to show the difference.

I installed the new driver and now SLI works on AFR1 instead of AFR2. I have not experienced any kind of stuttering yet. I don't like vsync. I never use it if I don't have a reason to, and at this point I do not need to.

---

Anyhow, here is the Watch Dogs video. I am still adjusting to the wonky camera angles and controls. It's obvious that I haven't played it enough to not suck yet, but the game looks great. For some goofy reason I keep forgetting that "V" takes the character out of cover mode, so he meanders around like a hunchback, darting from cover to cover, LOL. Not sure why I can't remember what key to hit to fix that. My spastic noob car driving on this is also laughable. I think I need to lower my high mouse sensitivity for third-person mode. I am used to having DPI and cursor speed cranked way up for first-person gaming.

<iframe width='1280' height="720" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/Tec7-b0MO-Q?rel=0" frameborder='0' allowfullscreen=""></iframe>

 

OK, YouTube FINALLY finished processing the first video. Below are two videos for your viewing pleasure. The first really long video is with 344.48 WHQL and the shorter video comparing SMAA Tx2 with FXAA is the new 344.60 driver.

Alienware M18xR2 - "Extra" graphics quality settings, SMAA Tx2, 2560x1440 resolution, no GPU overclock. Awesome game... I always enjoy COD single player campaign, and this newest one has them all beat. Side Note: Comments are being moderated. The opinions of COD haters and trolls don't count here.

<iframe width='1280' height="720" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/eo9BhhevJbw?rel=0" frameborder='0' allowfullscreen=""></iframe>

I thought it would be good to explore the impact on framerate running SMAA Tx2 versus FXAA at 1440p and 1080p. In this video I use the same game map, same checkpoint, a total four times to get a fair comparison of 1440p and 1080p with AA settings both ways. All of the other graphics settings are shown at the start of each clip.

So, crank up the YouTube resolution to the max, go full screen and keep your eyes on the framerate in the upper left corner.

As I see it, SMAA Tx2 doesn't appear to add anything amazing in terms of visual quality. Some say it doesn't work with SLI. Maybe not, but it certainly seems to do something here with SLI enabled. It definitely affects framerate, so maybe they "fixed" that.

My eyes cannot detect a remarkable difference in quality between these two anti-aliasing options. If your eyes tell you that one looks better than the other, go with whatever floats your boat. For the record, my eyes tell me SMAA Tx2 is just a tiny bit better, but not enough better for the moderate hit on framerate to be viewed as an acceptable trade-off. Overall, I think FXAA is the better way to fly.

<iframe width='1280' height="720" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/dTrTiKYln0k?rel=0" frameborder='0' allowfullscreen=""></iframe>

To skip the opening video, jump forward to about 1:50 to dive right into the comparison.

 

Doh Brother Fox. COD Copyright violation. YouTube really does not like you ATM

Activision requested take-down???? What! This makes no sense to me after release...

 

Activision doesn't like "comparison" videos.

They take them down as they like, whenever they like... such hatred

 

That's just outrageous banning gamers from showing their results.

Do they do this silly stuff over in Twitch do you know?

 

Nah, no big deal. All I had to do is click the "Got It" button to acknowledge third-party content. It is not the video copyright, but some no-name artist that does the background music, LOL. Both videos should play fine now.

 

Still getting 'Activision Publishing has blocked on copyright grounds .

 

bah! had to bump down COD:AW to 1600x900 to get a more consistent 60fps.

<iframe width='1280' height="720" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/hywEY40exEs?rel=0" frameborder='0' allowfullscreen=""></iframe>

 

@theghost - what settings are you using for AA? Do you have the map caching disabled? Still looks good at 900p.

Try again. Works fine for me, but I just now updated the embed link. It appears to have changed.

 

Nah, must be cached for me somewhere? I'll check tomorrow. Theghost's post is fine

 

I even checked using Internet Explorer (not signed in to YouTube) and I can view both videos anonymously as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTrTiKYln0k

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eo9BhhevJbw

I agree... I think his video looks good, too.

 

Nope, weird. The links take me to the same message inside youtube - maybe it's me that is having a 'youtube day'?

 

Same here...

 

using FXAA atm. i think i disabled all sun map / sun spot caching. i still have shader caching enabled.

i dropped the number of dynamic lights down from 8 to 6 and i can't even tell the difference.

 

OK, it's blocked for me now also. I think someone made a simple mistake or used poor judgment. I filed a dispute under provisions of the Fair Use Act, as I am doing nothing that violates their copyright. I am sharing a personal experience and demonstrating a technique using a product that I legally purchased a licensed to use.

Wonder if they will do the same thing to 'ghosts for his video? How retarded is that? I have more than 100 video in my YouTube channel and these two COD:AW videos are the only two that this has happened to. Activision did not flag my COD:Ghosts videos. If they are going to make an issue of this, they should should take the same position with all of the users on Twitch as well. Sharing a personal gameplay experience is not unethical or an infringement.

 

OK, both of Fox's COD:AW vids are working now....do you have a colour blind filter on cos your gun's holo sights are pinkish and not red?

 

Yes, I think so. I believe that is enabled. I wasn't sure what that feature was for. I am partially color blind, but I haven't tried it both ways to see if there is a difference to how it looks for me.

Glad they are available now. That didn't take long. I wonder if they dismissed it or simply filing the dispute made them available? I've never had to deal with this before.

 

I assume you're Red-Green based on the holo sight colour.

i've had a few copyright notices on some of my BF3 vids years ago but they're still there so can't complain.

 

Yes, usually I acknowledge it and that's all there is to it. Never "blocked globally" or any nonsense like that before. That's just crazy.

I will have to flip the colorblind filter and see if I can tell any difference. That is the most common form of color deficiency for men, so probably so. I usually struggle with dark colors. Maroons, midnight blue and very dark green colors look black to me except in very bright light. Otherwise, they all look the same.

 

I just got a patch for COD:AW. not sure what it does.

 

Hmm... I hope it's a good one and not like the patch for Watch Dogs TBoneSan mentioned. (WD is working fine for me, but apparently it was better before the patch, which came out before I bought it.)

Edit: I see it, too.

 

@theghosts - If you are seeing a bit of stuttering during cut-scene videos, turn off Shader Preload During Cinematics. With it turned on I see a little bit of that. It preloads the game in the background lets you start the exit the cinematic to start the game before the cut-scene video it is done playing. Turned off you, watch the entire cut-scene start to finish nice and smooth without any choppy spots, with a short pause after the cinematic for the game to finish loading. I guess it depends on whether or not you want to start the gameplay sooner or watch a full-length smooth cinematic. See screen shot for the setting to turn on or off.

So far no complaints with the patch. Game still runs great. Not sure what the patch does, but it seems transparent to me.

 

i have that option disabled, so they don't stutter but at times they can go out of sync.

MP keeps randomly crashing...that needs to be fixed big time!

 

Oh, out of sync. I encounter the audio out of sync with the video in cinematics if I alt-tab out to do something and come back to the cinematic, but have not seen that otherwise. I will have to tinker a bit with MP a little bit to see if it is horrible for me like others are experiencing.

That video you posted at 900p... is that 60 FPS with vsync enabled? Here is the same clip at 1080p for me with vsync off on my R2.

<iframe width='1280' height="720" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/wdoNxAXRqFY?rel=0" frameborder='0' allowfullscreen=""></iframe>

 

all clips to date have been with adaptive vsync on. i have tried the in-game vsync but for some reason it doesn't cap to 60fps.

 

anyone getting Far Cry 4? i might get it to see how it fares on the 780m.

 

Not till it's $10. Screw Ubisoft console shills and their intentional gimping.

 

OK, I got around to seeing what all the chirping is about with MP being borked. To be honest, I'm not seeing a problem... but, I only played about 10 minutes.

 

How's your SLI scaling?

 

About half what it should be, but with 80+ FPS average, it's not like I am missing much, LOL. I'd like it to be in the 80-95% range, as good as SP campaign, but the online gameplay was really good. Looked great and really smooth. The only bad part was my noobish inexperience with it.

 

Hmm I may finally have some incentive to upgrade to X99 when this gets released.

 

Yep. It really makes me want more cores. Without shadowplay on its close to 60 most of the time but still wants more horsepower. If.. and it's a big if.. DX12 is any good and the game gets a few more optimizations it might get the job done. But right now it's making me want at least a 6 core.
The saddest part is no matter how good my GPU's might be.. a true beast game like this needs a CPU that can walk the walk.

 

That's not sad in my opinion. If more games were like that Intel wouldn't be able to get away with screwing their customers with low-TDP BGA filth because too many people would not be able to play demanding PC games.

 

i'll most likely grab FC4 just to see how it plays on my single 780M.

 

no one getting dragon age 3: inquisition? i'd love to see how it performs.

 

got my Far Cry 4 key and preloading it now

 

WOW! FC4 is making my GPU temps go into the 80s....should that be of a concern even though it is OC'd?

 

The 80's is low for most of the soldered thin laptops :laugh: I don't think 80s is inherently bad though. I personally don't like to go there for extended periods of time. But plenty of people are perfectly comfortable with those temps.

 

i'm still trying to find the required screws so i can do a repaste.

 

Not that it's a game changer for GPU's but have you considered trying Liquid Ultra ?