New to Alienware: 3dMark06 results

Hi Guys.

Just recently got an M17x with a T9550, 4GB DDR31066, RAID 0 320gb 7,200 and SLI GTX280s with 1920x1200 screen. This is my first truely gaming laptop (I used to think a dell with an 8600GT counted!). I have done quite a bit of benchmarking on the lappy and have a few questions which I would love some help with:

1) In 3DMark 06 using default settings I score a touch over 11000 points using a single GTX280. When I enable SLI this only increases to about 12300 points. I was expecting a bigger jump and thought my scores would be more around the 14-15000 region (I note here some people like mandrake score inexcess of 17000 but I assume this is with a heavy OC - as yet all my gear is running stock). So, my question is "are my results normal or should I be scoring higher?". When I crank up the settings and run 3dmark06 on 1920x1200 with 8xAAx2 and 16xAF I get about a 75% increase in my score, so that at least makes sense. The only justification I can come up with for this is that at default settings it is CPU limited.

2)How do you get the GTX280s to run in SLI when running on battery? I have tried disabling onboard and hybrid in the BIOS and every trick I can think of in Vista yet the second I pull out the power plug or try to boot off battery the system switches to the 9400. Any help here would be much appreciated.

I am currently at work but when I get home I will update this post with a spreadsheet that I have made that shows the 3dmark06 scores at default and max settings for a series of different drivers and shows the difference between single card and SLI with the stock drivers.

Thanks very much for any help

 

Just a few thoughts to consider:

1. 3DMark06 is very CPU dependent.
2. Disabling PhysX can improve 3DMark06 results.
3. As with all benchmark apps, driver version plays a big factor in your resulting score.
4. Disabling non-essential startup items/processes prior to running your benchmark can also help.

 

Thanks for the speedy reply BatBoy.

Have had a play with some of your drivers! Certainly blow the stock ones out of the water so I owe you a thanks

I will give the above measures a shot.

 

that seems to be normal results since you not overclock and you running the stock drivers if you want to get better results get the latest drivers but remember they don't work with hibrid sli god place to found them is laptopvideo2go you can also overclock a bit raising your fsb. in the bios screen

 

I'm not sure this is possible, but I would look into your power profile settings (i.e. AlienFusion or under Power Settings in Control Panel). I believe the system is setup that when you switch to battery power, the 9800M automatically takes over as your Video Card to save power.

 

ummm disable hybrid and integrated in bios then boot then unplug

you will continue to use the cards but they will be downclocked more then half

 

Those scored almost looks like mines overclocked. Q9000 @ 2.44 GHZ dual gtx280

except that i am getting ~13000 instead.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=5212567&postcount=51

i dont know if i should be expecting more from this benchmark considering my cpu. tips anyone?

 

So here are the SDmark06 benchies that I have done. Each driver installation follows the safe mode/drivesweeper/ccleaner path to ensure a nice clean install. Unless otherwise stated these are run using SLI (I only ran the single card for the stock drivers). What do you guys think? Should I be getting better? As you can see the SLI really makes a difference at high res, as do the modified drivers.

Default settings – 1280x1024
Max settings – 1920x1200, 8xAAx2, 16xAF

Driver Default Settings Max Settings

Stock 179.85 – single GTX280
Total 11048 4697
SM2 5237 2065
SM3 5164 1551
CPU 2386 2414

Stock 179.85 – SLI GTX280
Total 12549 7398
SM2 5413 3204
SM3 7089 3000
CPU 2372 2348

Dox 182.05
Total 12479 8293
SM2 5482 4096
SM3 7075 3068
CPU 2309 2337

Batboy 186.24
Total 12661 8168
SM2 5525 3983
SM3 7089 2993
CPU 2392 2405

Nvidia 186.12
Total 12202 8218
SM2 5272 4043
SM3 6721 3048
CPU 2376 2327


(P.S. Sorry for the dodgy formatting but this forum doesn't like spreadsheets being posted into it! I will add this to the OP aswell for future viewers and I have attached the results as a spreadsheet for easier viewing.)

 

As stated above 3DMark06 is very CPU dependent. My M17 with X9100 Processor (No OC) and 3870's in CrossfireX beat all of your scores at stock settings all around (see sig).

You can see my comparison between Q9000 and X9100 in the same machine here (Post 115): http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=393649&page=12

Basically 11,5xx Q9000 to 13,5xx with X9100

Try comparing Vantage instead.

EDIT: Look at your GPU scores single to double though, you'll see the drastic increase you're looking for there, not in the total.

 

I agree, running a vantage test should put your mind to ease