Dell XPS 1730 with 8700M GT SLI Problem. NOT running in SLI! Low 3DMARK06 Marks!

I just bought the 1730 laptop from Dell, and for a while now have been trying to get the so said amount of "Around 8,000 marks" in 3DMARK06 with my laptop, and cannot even get close. I am currently running the 169.01 drivers, and have been through the 167.26, original drivers that came with the computer, and more, and none even get close to getting me to 8,000. The Highest I have ever gotten is 5,400!!! This leads me to believe my SLI is not working correctly. I go into my NVIDIA control panel and it says SLI is enabled, and I have it in Single-GPU, Single Display performance mode.

I am seriously not satisfied with this =( Everyone's getting higher marks than me, it seems...

This damn thing was expensive, and now I find that Vista has trouble supporting SLI =(

Can someone help me out here? This is a serious problem...

Anyone know drivers that have been released to fix this besides the ones I've already tried? =\

 

bump, please help a little at least... :\

 

Single GPU sounds like you only have 1 card running?

I cound't help much since I don't have the model.

 

Simple definitions below.

Single GPU - uses the first card, when that too busy it uses the second card on the excess.

Alternate Frame - uses one card for one frame and one card for the next

Split Screen - uses one card for the left and one card for the right.

 

That was a nice explanation ... i was curious too. So any word on which is the best setting to use. Do all three basically perform the same, or will one give better results than another option?

 

Single is recommended by Nvidia. Most people tend to use Alternate and I've heard there are compatibility issues with Split. I have tried them all but don't get any real change in any, single gives the best picture at the moment. I guess when the Dell Nvidia drivers are updated this could change.

 

I got 6541 on 3dmark06 with alternate 1 sli.

2.4ghz
2gb
200gb hdd
8700m gt

 

Hey tgchiriga, could you do a comparrison between the different modes? I don't have 3dmark and I am curious.

 

What is this talk then, of the XPS 1730 getting marks over 8,000 in 3DMark06 then? How the HECK are you getting 6541 tgchiriga!???

What drivers, are you using, and what are your nVidia panel setting options on??

 

I just got 8533 in my 3dmark score. Make sure that when you update your driver that you go back and enable sli. The driver installation reset mine to the off setting when I installed the latest drivers. By the way, if any of you are running crysis single player tests, SLI is disabled and will be avail when the game is released through a patch from NVIDIA. Right now I'm getting great peformance running at 1024 on high and good frames at 1280. I'm hoping when SLI is enabled that we will be able to run at 1280 on High settings. So far, the 1730 is performing great with these new 169 drivers.

 

I have the trial so all the settings are locked. it was testing at 1280x1024 no AA. My control panel setting are set to "use application setting"

Im using the 156.xx drivers that came on my computer. Let me try upgrade to the 167.xx and see what happens. Control Panel settings are on "use app settings" SLi is enabled.

 

Are you sure you're in "high performance mode"? If you just got the laptop maybe you didn't select it. Click on the battery meter once and select it. If not, check your nvidia ntune to ensure that the cards are running at their specified speeds and aren't underclocked.

 

The cards are running at spec. I installed the 167.26 drivers and ran the same exact 3dmark06 without chaning anything else and I got 8246.

with my cards clocks changed to 675 and 900 I got 8607

 

that is so strange, cpaek. See, I do always switch it back to SLI mode once i install new drivers, so I know its not that. I suppose when i got home from work ill check my power settings (and see if its not on performance)

I hope to god thats it, because I dont want to figure out one of my gpu's is broken =(

8,500 marks sounds so nice...But I'm only getting 5400 =\ And Crysis barely runs that great even with LOW settings on 1024! Makes no sense...

I have the 167.26 drivers installed right now. I tried out the 192.01 and 192.02, and both of them actually LOWERED my perfomance in crysis and 3dmark06.

(I will report back to see if changing this "performance mode" is what my problem really is. I didnt even think to do that...)

Thank you all so much so far. I know Im not the only one with this problem.

 

Wow. I just uninstalled my newer driver and re-installed the stock one that came on my 1730. Tried running crysis on it, and it was disastrous. I had to click outside of boxes to click them, the resolution was all screwed up, boxes were flickering...just sad. I am seriously getting pissed off, and dell is going to have another customer *****ing at them very soon.

Going to re-install 192.02 now.....

If anyone comes up with a solution to fix this SLI issue, please feel free to tell us!!

 

Don't be pissed @ Dell. The Crysis demo is really badly optimized + many limitations. So no worries really.

 

hey tristamus,

iv got a dell m1730 too. my config is 2.2ghz, 4gb ram, 280gb HDD and the 8700m gt sli. n yea im havin a headache using SLI on vista. crysis runs gud on med settings. i guess, we jus gotta wait till nvidia comes up wit a proper sli solution for vista.

 

This is probably a stupid question but the answer still alludes me. How do you install non Dell graphics drivers on my 1730? I keep getting an error "cannot find compatible hardware" when I try to upgrade.

 

You need to use the modified inf file.
Check the instructions here
http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=9243

 

thanks chelet, I should be able to do this when I get home.

 

hey tristamus... i experienced the same problems when i ran the crysis demo and im running on the drivers tht came wit the machine. i managed to fix it tho...

set up the sli mode to alternate 2 or split frame. and turn vertical sync to force on. it shud fix the prob. i don really remeber the exact setup. ill chek once i get bac home.

 

I got the 169.04 drivers installed, finally.

Tiger woods got a immediate increase in fps and things like grass were corrected.

However it's not all roses. Oblivion has improved in the open spaces but during combat the game chokes to a crawl.

Also, single gpu seems to be the best performer in most of the games.

 

Mr bubbles, when i extract the laptopvid files on my desktop i get like hundreds of files covering the desktop? help......cheers

 

Create a folder first and extract to that folder. then put the modded .inf file in that folder overwriting the original. Hope this helps.

 

Make sure when you install new drivers that you not only uninstall the old ones first, but run a tool like Driver Sweeper or Driver Cleaner Pro (sorry, I don't have the links off the top of my head), to get rid of all traces of the old driver and minimize chance of conflicts.

Other than that, I have no idea what might be going on...I don't own this model myself as it is.

 

Abe2mir, what are your exact settings for ur 8700gt's in control panel?

 

cheers, guys

 

I just downloaded the new WHQL drivers released that supposedly were going to "fix" sli problems with 8700M GT's, and guess what....they don't fix it. =(

 

I just ran the tests with the trial version at default settings and got 8398 with the stock drivers and 8744 with the 167.26 drivers. Had SLI set to Single GPU for both tests.

I am running XP though and that might make a difference.

 

Thats probably why...I am using vista. Although, Microsoft released this "hotfix" a bit ago to solve that problem....but when i go and download it and run it, it says it "Doesnt apply to your system"! Which is total BS, I DO need it.

Man...Im seriously being left outa the loop =( They need to fix this SLI problem with vista....

 

ok... i use the manage 3D settings when SLI is enabled. and ive setup seperate settings for each game/program... here's wht iv setup for crysis...

Anisotropic filtering - 16x
Antialaising Gamma corr - On
Antialaising Mode - Enhance the app setting
Antialaising setting - 16xQ
Antialaising Transparency - Supersampling
Conformant Texture clamp - Use Hardware
Error Reporting - Off
Extension limit - Off
Force Mipmaps - Triliniar
Multi-display/Mixed GPU acceleration - Multiple diplay performance mode
SLI performance mode - Force alternate frame rendering 2
Texture filtering - anisotropic sampling - Off
Texture filtering - Neg LOD - Allow
Texture filtering - Quality - High Quality
Texture filtering - Trilinear opt - Off
Thereaded Opt - On
Triple Buffer - On
Texture filtering - Anisotopic mip - Off
Vertical sync - 3D app setting

hope this fixes ur prob... but still not happy wit the current drivers for Vista. apparently they released a new driver yesterday... it shows up in the windows update, but it doesnt install properly and i cant find it on the nvidia or dell site. let me know if any1 gets their hands on the new driver

cheers

 

well, abe2mir, im going to go home and try those EXACT settings you have their and run a 3dmark06 test. hopefully, its because i didnt have vertical sync on. Can it really make that much of a difference that only 1 of my GPU's would be used? lol, thats insane!

but i digress, i will put all my settings to that exactly and try it out at home within the hour.

BTW, you say new drivers? Whats the number on them? 150.xx or 160.xx or what, you know?

 

i need to say, i think i actually already have the drivers you are talking about that dell / microsoft has released. are they 156.XX drivers? I cant remember exactly, but they were released on the 27th I believe, and they were supposed to fix SLI issues for 8700M gt SLI users...

Anyways, gonna test ur setup now for crysis, and see if it works.

 

bump bump bump

 

okay, still no SLI for me. I have every setting just how you do, and even went and got the 167.26 drivers installed, and i STILL only get 4,400+ in 3DMark06. this ****s pissing me off more by the minute. Any other solutions?

I dont want to downgrade to XP. I want vista for dx 10. =(

 

Why don't you try the 169.04 drivers, it may make a difference.

 

Have you tried to Reformat, reinstall Vista, -> Chipset drivers -> Graphics Drivers -> Sound drivers -> Turn SLI on -> Run 3Dmarks 06. Takes maybe 30 minutes at most.

If your still not getting 8000s, then your card may be throttling down due to overheating (this is very common) or your card may be defective.

If you haven't tried this then don't cry hardware yet. If a fresh install doesn't solve it, then yes, there is hardware going on somewhere.

 

Gah, i have some ( just a few ) things installed right now that are vital and cant lose at the moment. If i reinstall vista etc, i will lose them and that cant happen. I assure you, all ive done is installed games on it so far, and some other programs i need for school...no porn, no downloaded stuff, whatever...

Also, all the chipset drivers etc were installed already when i got the laptop.

Perhaps it is overheating, but when i feel the back of my laptop ( the vents ) while playing crysis, it still remains decently cool. it gets hot ofcourse, but nothing that seems alarming.

 

How does porn 'screw' sli up.

My porn works fine...

 

ROFL....very good Mr Bubbles.

But anyways...i have another question.

When i goto download and install the hotfixes that microsoft put out for vista, they all tell me the same thing...

"This does not apply to your system."

=(

Is there a way around this.

 

bump? yes.

 

forceware 156.69 thts wht im running on... but yea im not happy with the gaming performance in crysis... how do i check the 3d mark? im a noob to all this...

 

another question tristamus... do u have the physx card in ur laptop?

 

yeah...all 1730's have a physx card in them. its a 100M physx card by Agaeia. Thats not whats causing the SLi problems tho.

 

I just looked at Microsoft Update on my vista machine and it says there's a 8700m GT update released on the 30th October.

Which driver is it?

And does it work with SLI?

Any noticable benefits?

 

No, not all have the PhysX card. In Australia it is an optional extra.

 

guys, what drivers are you using? - that work

 

How do you check the drivers you already have on?

 

BAHMAN, yes, microsoft just rleased another driver for the 8700, and guess what....it wont install. It always says "FAILED" after i try to install it. lol. typical. I called dell and spoke with them for 3 hours trying to get my SLI to work. the guy updated my bios, got me new drivers, we did dianostic tests...the works. And nothing. It is one of the most strangest things he has seen, he said. It may be the connecting bridge between the video cards (if there is one) thats causing it not to work. there gonna send a guy out to replace my cards and then we'll see if thats it....

Man...

2 weeks now, with all this ruckus with SLI. What a nightmare.

 

yea... i ordered my XPS witout the physicx car simply cuz i didnt hav enuf cash at tht time.. but dell said i cud install it l8r.
yea i too am having those probs wit the MS update for the nvidia drivers... i told dell bout it and a technician is comin this tues to check it out and replace my cards if neccessary.
does every SLI card hav probs running on vista?