Dell XPS 1730 - best nVidia control panel settings

Hello, just registered on this site because I need some help.
Just installed 3dMark06 and Fear2. When I ran 3dMark06 i got ~11.800 points, after reading on several sites and comparing the scores it seemed pretty average/ even good.
I then tried Fear2, I maxed out the setting 1920x1200 / High / 0x AA /4xAF, it ran pretty smooth but then the trouble started.
It began every 5 or 6 seconds to stutter, the game would stop responding and the screen would freeze for a second.
Thinking it was the settings I put it down to 1280 and medium, no difference in fps and the stuttering was still there.
I tried Counter-strike, Prototype, Fallout 3 and a couple of other games, still the stutter in every single game.
In the nVidia contol panel I have disengaged the V-sync.
My speccs are 8800GTX SLI, T9300, 4gb Ram and Windows 32 bit Vista. I have updated all the drivers to the latest drivers and I have also made sure that PhysX is disabled.
The machine just came out of the factory so all the Dell software is still installed.

How can I manage to fix the stuttering problem?

I am also thinking about going over to Windows 7 seeing that it is free and supports 64-bit.

My english isn't the best, being Swedish and all that.
//greGer

 

A big factor will be your driver version. Which driver are you currently using? Is it the stock Dell driver? If so, try running the latest from NVIDIA.

http://www.nvidia.com/object/geforce_notebook_winvista_186.03_whql.html

If you feel confident on installing using a modified INF file (driver setup file), you can also try my version of the 186.18 desktop driver. See this post for more info:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=4985641#post4985641

Your 3DMark06 score is outstanding - I have the same CPU and GPU as you and I was only able to take it to 11752 - this was obtained by overclocking the GPUs (which I dont endorse)

 

I haven't had any stuttering problems but what I did is as soon as I got the Laptop, I reformat the drive and then start from scratch. This way I know i'm not going to install or add anything I don't need or want. Then I'll update everything, then play programs and games. I've use this same setup on all my PC's and I haven't had any trouble with all my PC's. Maybe after you install win 7 it might help? I might try win7 someday!

The last thing is try running them under DX9 and not DX10 if that helps.

 

I am using 167.55. How do you change from dx10 to dx9?
Also one thing I am wondering, the two disks (2x160 gb in Raid0), if I want to go with Windows7,l is it smart to have a raid setup (i know the searchtime gets a bit lower) and how do I install it?
Do I just burn out the dvd enter bios and set the cdrom to be the first driver to start? Can it also work if I use an external hdd?
Also the drivers for everything will disappear? Which drivers do I need?

Hope that you can help me, because I am so lost and my computer skills are modest at best.

 

Is there also a 64bit Windows 7 version out? Where can i download it?

 

Windows 7 x64: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/download.aspx

On Vista with Windows 7 you have an upgrade option. You will not lose drivers, nothing will change. No need to set up RAID0 again or anything like that.

RAID0 is much faster than not having RAID at all. It allows almost double the write/readspeed, which is very useful. Searching is still fast, I dunno who told you it was slower but I've never had an issue.

And as for your external HDD question, I don't understand. If you mean installing Windows 7 from an external HDD, I wouldn't recommend it. Burn it to a DVD. If you mean installing Windows 7 onto an external HDD, then no, it won't work.

 

3D Mark score is great, but the shuttering may be caused by drivers. Try the latest nVidia drivers - 186.03. They are available on the nVidia website.

 

Thanks for all the replies.
I really want to re-install the entire computer from scratch, no dell drivers, no dell anything.
How do I do that? That burn out Windows 7 64-bit to a dvd edit the startup sequence? Or will all the programs and drivers still remain?

 

Win7 finds your drivers by default via internet. I believe the wifi drivers are in the install. As you near the end of your setup it'll ask for your wifi info and then it'll go grab whatever it needs to get everything up and running.

 

When you boot to disk it'll have an upgrade or advanced install option. The advanced/custom option will do a clean install.

 

Ok, thank you all again for the information!
Now I just need a DVD and Iam ready to roll. Just wondering how I should do to uninstall some drivers (nVidia) if I am to run the Forceware 185.85?