Did anyone pinpoint the reason as to the m15x lack of performance in Crysis?

In a previous thread there was a post about how the m15x is not performing as well as the sager in Crysis. Has anyone been able to pinpoint the reason to something? Drivers? Vista? We should know before buying whether or not AW underclocked the GPU.

 

Whats sager getting and what is the 15x getting? If I remember right, different resolutions would be the first killer of fps. if they are running the 1920x1200 screen @ 1400x900, it may still be a bit slower than a true 1400x900 screen.

 

Same resolutions in the test + settings. The sager doesn't drop below 20 fps, The m15x does.

Here's a post from Fadetoblack:
eleron911 has a point here. Try and see what your clocks are while gaming. Alienware might downclock the card, who knows...I was thinking of exactly the same thing he did, just he posted first. Alienware could let the card keep it's normal clocks while being in idle mode and downlock while being loaded and they can get away with that because no one will be looking at the clocks at full load. But this might not be true and it can just be a simple faulty driver (which is still Alienware's fault). 3DMark doesn't ring a bell when it comes to real-life performance, try and find other games to compare it to the Sager 5793 (as it has a similar configuration). Maybe some of the Sager owners will give a hand.
Anyway, I see a lot of comments about the Sager results not being real, Vista being the fault and other "reasons".
If you have a problem, try and admit it, not find exuses. Call Alienware, ask them for a newer driver.
The performance sucks for a reason and that ain't Vista. By comparing your results to the ones for the Sager there shouldn't be any difference. Try and understand that. And Vista doesn't slow you down by 30% in games.
__________________

 

Apparently Alienware downclocks the card in full load...

 

i thought it was because the CPU was being under-clocked. no? even though i knew that 20fps was poor, i'm still trying to find out what it should actually be..
anyone knows?

*edited* ignore this post. i had absolutely no idea what i was talking about.. :s exhausted from a paintball tournament. 1st place..

 

Be very careful not to jump to conclusions Fade To Black... so far my issues have not been replicated by anyone else (and have in fact been denied to occur for some)

 

What CPU underclock? I never head of such thing. Read the above posts.
I'm not jumping to any conclusion. Like I said, I could be wrong. It could just be a bad driver or maybe some faulty hardware.

 

GRB - Who with an m15x claimed to not have the problem? I have seen the problem posted by you, and in the video i watched of another owner. I haven't seen anyone come out and state that their computer runs fine in Crysis.

 

I asked newfiejudd to run some tests for me in a couple private messages. He told me that when he would alt-tab out of Crysis his GPU temp would be 88 degrees and without any downclocking (what my computer does, though, is downclock once it hits 85 degrees)

And I'm not trying to be accusatory Fade To Black, I just want people to know that so far, we only know that this happens to me.

 

Yeah, I never saw anyone saying their laptop runs it (of course, no one would admit that their laptop fails to a Sager or that Alienware messed up something).
People, M15x owners, run Crysis then monitor your video card's clocks while running this game. If they go down kill Michael Dell.
PS: GRB, you might be onto something. It's a weird issue.

 

Yea - But that's actually half the reason why it's so scary. You're pretty much the only person reporting on the issue. Not many owners have come out and said how their system performs in full load.

 

Honestly - It's a very scary thing For us. I do not want to keep an order in for a system that downclocks their GPU in games. The system looks great... but what's the point of paying for the premium if the system's GPU is limited in full load

 

...Or know how to look for the clocks while gaming.

 

I'm heading out to dinner - Keep the investigation goin guys. Let's try to get some more M15X owners aware of the issue.

 

which adds to my personal suspicion that it's just me -- there are plenty of knowledgeable m15x owners out there who now have had plenty of time to play around with their computer. If this were a widespread problem, my suspicion would be that we would have plenty of angry customers on these forums.

Anyway, what do I know, all this is still really up in the air as to what's going on

 

hehe im glad I didn't let that original crysis benchmark thread die down. I should be getting my m15x this wednesday with the t9300, 4gig, 8800gtx. I will be running crysis first thing. I really hope that this issue is isolated. However why cant we get more 15x users to benchmark crysis?!? Sager people have been benching like crazy. I know we didn't buy these machines to just pose around with

 

The only reason I would see the GPU unclocking is to save itself from overheating. For the intel CPU's, if I'm not mistaken, if they overheat then it would just automatically shut the computer down to protect itself. Just saying that Alienware underclocks their GPU just doesn't make sense. You guys should try using the nvidia Ntune program (which you can get off their website for free) to monitor the temps and the GPU clock. There's an option in the program that lets you log your temps while playing games and stuff. Run that while playing a game like Crysis and see what comes up.

 

ntune didn't really work for me -- I mean, it gave me my GPU temp, but that was all it did practically.

edit: nvm, just installed it again to check and it is also giving things like speeds

 

Just run the game in a window and place the temp monitor and the clock one somewhere in plain sight , and wait till it reaches 85C. Man, if my GPU ever got there I would **** my pants... :|

 

yep, it's what I did and sent the screenshots in to AW support

 

screw this... im sick of this crysis talk. this is my advice
1. wait for the game to come out on consoles
2. wait till pc's can actually play this game right
3. go to a gaming cafe and pay like 25 bucks to play all day on max settings and be done with it
4. if this laptop cant run my already purchases copy of crysis sexy im putting the game on ebay

 

link me to a cafe that will run crysis on max settings?

 

I'm pretty sure that they will send you some thermal grease (arctic silver 5) to put on the GPU, it should be okay. By the way, the arctic silver 5 is free because you are under warranty.
I had the same problem with my m5550. CPU temps were 65C and GPU 93C. I'm not kidding 93C. So at 85C you are still good.

 

I have Everest, GPU-Z, ntune all running. I fire up a game without using a laptop cooler. I monitor all GPU temps on both GPU-Z and Everest through the G15 keyboard's LCD. I played until the temps reach the 80's and checked all clocks. I play some more and see if temps go higher, highest is 85 or 86.

No downclocking happens. Check ntune logs, nothing unusual.

 

Well, first, they're having me send the laptop to them, so presumably if their suggestion is thermal grease they will do it for me at the repair facility.

The other thing is the fact that this isn't a heat removal problem. 85 degrees IS a reasonable temperature as you pointed out -- the problem is that the GPU overreacts and downclocks at that temperature. If the problem were that the GPU was getting to 100 degrees and downclocked, I would agree with you, but that isn't it. It is the fact that the GPU, for whatever reason, has been set to downclock at 85 degrees (be it a faulty card, or drivers I can't change/BIOS settings, whatever), not that the GPU is getting too hot per se. I shouldn't have to get the GPU to operate at below normal temps to work normally.

Though, you say you have done this before, so if that's what they did to you (for this type of problem) then I guess you're right -- but that'd be a band-aid solution (it would work, but it still avoids the root cause)

 

exactly, this is why I'm 99% sure this is just an issue for me

 

This Thread isn't about Crysis - It's about GPU's Possibly being downclocked when they reach a certain temp. - GRB Do you know what it's being downclocked to on your m15x?

 

I don't quite understand what you're asking, so I'll just repeat my basics again. My GPU will downclock itself when it hits 85 degrees (by the same amount the GPU downclocks if you turn on Stealth mode) and keep itself downclocked until the temperature falls to 75 degrees. Since the card downclocks itself by about a factor of half, the FPS in any game I'm playing also roughly falls by that amount. You can't predict how much time it will take before it happens the first time, but once it does happen, it lasts about a minute and will repeat itself every three to four minutes following that

 

so basically what your saying is you will get a 50% drop in frame rate almost randomly. wow this does not sound good.

 

yeah, but again, this is only for me. Now two m15x owners have said this problem doesn't occur for them.

Just as a general note, if anyone's ordered an m15x or thinking about it I would really not let my experience affect your decision, or at least not at this point. The evidence is continually coming in that this is only a flaw for me, not the entire laptop line (and AW support will fix it when I eventually do send it in in a couple weeks).

 

thank you for clearing that up. since i was too lazy to read your previous posts in detail.

 

You actually answered my question. What I was asking is how much the GPU downclocks - you stated by half. - Thanks for the info! Keep us posted

 

yeah, everything's gotten a little more hectic around this situation so it's harder to follow

 

No problem. You've been a great help and source of information to us all. I hope your luck with the Notebook increases.

 

well I knew if I took the shotgun approach of restating all the details I would have a better chance of asking your question (which I actually misread beforehand, now that I reread it, it makes sense)

edit: and yeah, I would say that I'm still happy with this computer in every other way (plus in the meantime I can still play COD4 and other games just fine), I've just been that unlucky 1 in 5000 defect. It happens. Plus, I don't really know if there's another computer I could've gotten instead, so even if I were mad, I really don't have any other options

 

Knowing my luck i'll be the 2/5001

 

haha, don't jinx it

 

Looking at the video posted by lessaj on filefront - it looks like he gets a constant 18 fps while standing still in crysis. I'll try to contact him on youtube to see if he can post another vid with some temps.

 

Posted by Gophin:

- Has anyone else had problems with games dragging???? I have had problems with both Crysis(All at Medium settings) and also with Call Of Duty 4 Modern Warfare. Quite disapointed so far. After using technical support and reinstalling video drivers they are sending me a new graphics card. I can say that AW support was great. I sure hope that I will get beter performance with the replacement card.

What kind of settings are you all using for Crysis? I have the 2.4 and 4G memory. Thanks in advance guys!



So - It seems GRB is not the only one.

 

maybe not, but I wish they would send ME the card... would make things simpler :S

though I'd like gophin to provide more details

 

I agree - I told him to come here and give more info

 

hey guys my sager plays crysis flawlessly i hope you guys get everything fixed, up and working woth your AW... good luck

ps. this is the performance you should be getting with the 8800m

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=212689

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=206290

 

hmmm - I think comparing most peoples m15x experience to naticus's Sager experience would not be a valid comparison. In his review it says he's using dx9, custom configs, and the natural mod. Many of the people i've seen test their m15x were not using alot of those things. From experience with CS:S a config with some performance boosting commands can give MUCH better FPS. - Naticus can you post your config some where? - Thanks

 

damn i still cant get over how purrrrrtyy crysis is

 

plus remember the fact is the m15x drivers seem to be the driver behind the anomalous Crysis results

 

as long as it works, I don't mind at all.

 

Yea but you would think that alienware's stock driver would compare to sager's stock drivers.

 

Did the Sager driver's come out after the Alienware Driver's?

 

I think they are a new version.

 

I have no probs running it on very high, all settings, except for shadows, and particle effects, in 720p