x32 vs x34 vs x36 - share your results here

I have been using x34 from the day I received my m15x and never bothered to test the latency. Lately I came across the extremely high latency thread and thought to give it a shot and found my latency to be extremely high 12-13k

So I moved back to x32 and the latency drop down to 200-300 which was way better. After a week of happy me today AW announced x36 BIOS which was supposed to be better. To certain extend it is OK... the average latency stays below 500 which is acceptable but as soon as you started using your system and put more load to it it can jump upto 45k... I have seen that on my system

System Temperature has a bug and it stuck to 80c and never even fluctuate.
System Fans run at irritating high speed even if the system is idle for 30mins.

Here is a snapshot of what I captured with x36 BIOS, notice that these values are after a fresh reboot and active session of just 15 minutes. crysis was just started and not played for even a minute



After experiencing this I decided to again move back to x32 and things are better now... as good as before. My ears were at peace as soon as I rebooted after x32 BIOS update, as the fans come to dead silence.

Here is the snapshot of x32 after a session of crysis for 15-20 minutes




Now the choice is yours which BIOS you want to have, you can download all three recent BIOS here

BIOS UPDATE x32 - highly recommended
BIOS UPDATE x34 - not recommended
BIOS UPDATE x36 - worth giving a shot, if you have some problem which AW claims that they are fixed


Please leave your comments and results of testing here

 

Why does it show the CPU temperature is 80 while it no even close to 80? And I doubt the fan is spinning at 5000rpm because it doesn't sound like it.

 

That appear to me a bug in BIOS.

 

Nice. What drivers are you using for everything findvikas? I'm running the x32 BIOS and my latency is pretty steady around 1000.


-Brandon

 

178.15 from laptopvideo2go.com (vista x64)
latest realtek.com official sound drivers (R206)

I think thats what matter most for latency...

 

Wow, CPU temperatures are extremely low. CPU Fan is on all the time though...Overall the X36 BIOS is doing good. I guess it is the best option for me because I have the Extreme CPU and I don't want the Audio popping sound.

 

I CAN PLEASE GET BETTER DRIVERS!??!?!

I mean can we please get some better drivers!?!?!? I dont understand what is the big problem with this laptop !!! I just want it to work ! I have a 2.8ghz proc on a $4000 dollar laptop and its hindered by poor driver supports !!!! x36 is so so because I now have a fan that never stops spinning !!!! Also we need newer updated official drivers for the video and audio cards PLEASE!!!

I dont know why its taking so long for alienware to fix this simple problems? We spend enough on their laptop, I expect results. OR why would I pay for this when I can buy from another company that has better driver support?

Comeon my touchcontrols are always going haywire, the bluetooth comes on randomly at times for 20 - 50 times within a period of 5 minutes, than locks itself on and locks the other touch buttons on to whatever position they were before the bluetooth came on. I have to restart just to fix it?!?!? WHAT GIVES?!?!?!

My bad for ranting but I am frustrated with this laptop, plus Im always scared that its gona fall apart... being that its so fragile and prone to hindges breaking !!!

Seriously next time I buy an Alienware I am going to do some research and thankfully they are now being sold at bestbuy so I can check them out before I buy. - sorry for rant

Also I too get the bug with the thermo fan locked at 80c adn the fans locked at 5500 + rpm, I am going to go back to x32 until these problems get fixed =\

 

Why not use the forceware display drivers from laptopvideo2go.com? You're not still using the stock drivers, are you?

 

Wow that IS cool, mines always around the 50 mark. Lucky you

Tom

 

dude, stop whining, just help yourself. the audio drivers are available from realtek, and the video drivers from laptopvideo2go.

 

Unfortunately the latest video drivers (at least for me) caused quite high latency.

I'm going to try findvikas 178.15 drivers and see if I can get my latency as low as he did... However I am running vista x32 so maybe thats the difference in why his latency is so low?!

 

What's latency? How does it affect your system perfomance and where can I check mine?

Mnay thanks

 

Read more about it here and download the tool to find your system's latency

 

Cool. Thanks

 

Sorry to hijack the thread. Can anyone tell me where I can find the latest realtek audio drivers for m15x on realtek.com? I can't find them anywhere!

Thanks again

 

I am gonna call the cops or you better forget about hijacking
Here you go - http://www.realtek.com/downloads/downloadsView.aspx?Langid=1&PFid=24&Level=4&Conn=3&DownTypeID=3

 

Great. Thanks.

 

I am using alienware's nvidia 175.80 beta drivers. I cant get official nvidia drivers to work so I am sticking with that. I have never used laptopvideo2go before? And I am sort of apprehensive at adopting them.

Sorry for the whine/rant. I am just frustrated with MY alienware. I dont have time to find and test out every driver on the internets. I have downloaded the realtek drivers, but not for laptopvideo2og. If official nvidia drivers worked I would not be complaining and I would just be using those but as of now they dont for some reason. Im sure you guys spent a boat load of money on your laptop as well? Shouldnt we be complaining if our laptop still has issues after these crappy driver updates? OR lack thereof in some cases, for example official video drivers and sketchy touch / keyboard controls.

Sorry for changing subjects on this thread. I dont still dont like the x36 drivers.

 

Andy, I'm not going to test your argument about your right to complain (I mean, you do have every right to complain), but this forum has a vast amount of resources and information that you could look through to troubleshoot your issues. All it takes is a simple search in the google search bar on the top right part of the screen.

The reason why some of the drivers do not work is because they were originally made for the desktop. They are not officially verified for laptop use (even though it works fine on a laptop). That's why your computer refuses to install the drivers you download from laptopvideo2go. Downloading the modified INF file should remedy that and bypass this issue.

In any case, follow these instructions to install a more recent version of the GPU drivers:

NOTE: If you plan on using the 179.13 drivers, make sure you follow these sets of instructions (scroll down to dwend's last post on that page). The procedure is slightly different.

Hope that helps.

 

I've been testing this new X36 BIOS...here are some impressions.

-System temp in Thermo fan utility stays at a constant 80C. I downloaded HW monitor to make sure that this isn't just a bug in Thermofan and I see that the same temp says 80C for the ACPI temp in HW monitor. The CPU core temps are hovering around 28C. SO, it's definitely not a bug in the Thermofan temp. I even uninstalled and reinstalled the Thermofan utility with same results.

-The CPU seems to blowing on most of the time.

-The latency is not much better than the X32 bios latency testings.

-OS runs more sluggish??? Maybe it's just me, but anybody else? I'm using Vista Home Premium 32 bit.

-Nothing wrong with the GPU temps.

I switched back to X32 BIOS. Now the fans are much quieter.

 

dhoang417,

I am going to switch back to x32 as well. By the way is x32rc1 the latest x32 bios. I burn so many x32 that I am not sure which one is the "good" x32.

 

Yeah, thanks for the lenghty reply. I will give these a whirl when I get home. I am just frustrated in this 2.8ghz laptop because of all these latency problems. Cuz I acutually experience some lag while just browsing online. Even just opening a few tabs causes some noticable slowdowns. This is all done with stealth off and in high performance mind you. I dont know what to do with this laptop.... My old amd-fx57 single core runs internet explorer faster than my dual core 2.8ghz intel proc. =\

I think im going to give your drivers a try and see if that helps lower the latency issues and maybe speed things up. Also I tried to use nvidias 8800m gtx drivers made specifically for laptop 8800 gtx mobile gpus not the desktop ones. And they always say they cannot find my GPU unit. Laptop is of course switched to the 8800m gtx while I do this of course.

 

Wow, this thread got hijacked fast. Was hoping to see some more comparison test results of the different BIOSs. I guess the temp reading bug is pretty confirmed even though there's not that many reports yet.