Dell XPS M1730 Owner's Lounge, *Part 3*

I have a 8GB setup to aid my photoshopping and illustrative needs. To be frank 8GB is still somewhat insufficient for my needs.

Hmm hikkoo, did you voltmod the cards to reach 1035MHz memory? And I believe you may have used thaiphoon burner for your RAM?

 

hikkoo what did you do to your ram? I got two sticks of 2GB DR800 running at only 667, so I believe I can use tighter timings on it, but I would not know how to do that (I'm ready to try anything, as long as it won't damage the motherboard, I don't care if I accidently fry the ram because ram is cheap anyways)

 

Timing are automatically adjusted once it is downclocked from 800MHZ to 667MHz. I believe hikkoo is using Kingston HyperX memory, which gives him an edge.

 

Lol...DDT5 dont tell em me secert

Never used thaipon burner on any of me benchys, only thing ive done to tweak ram is install Lower Latency CAS 4 Kingston HyperX 667 2+2 kit-KHX5300S2LLK2/4G, (ernstig recommended to me).

Never voltmod gpu's . Hmmm.....even if did, that means 3rd party software running in backgroud which leads to lower Futuremark scores. JUst like RM-clock on maximal performance would give me about 80 points less in 3dmark06

SomeFormOFhuman,
before attempting going crazy OCing gpu's , Maybe you need to see what cpu sc your getting in 3dmark06 @ 3.4ghz with gpu's on stock clocks. This is one indication if your going to get best possible score when ocing gpu's.
First aim for cpu sc = 3000 to 3080 @3.4 on 3dmark06
(best ive seen on another m1730 @3.4 = 3131 but OS was XP32 http://www.legitreviews.com/article/743/7/ )

the key to a great futuremark benchy is careful preparation before running it, its a work of art

gpu expert Kade, next time im bad hit me on head with gpu(lol...make sure high end one)

 

Hah, we know it now, fear our benchies, LOL

 

I am closing in on the final stages of maxing out my 1730. A large portion of assistance I have gotten from the good people on this forum. I am not an avid gamer as others and I am at a stage in my life where the priority is my family. I was a computer geek when I was younger and I still like to hold on to a bit as it shaped my IT profession today. Gaming is now something I do at night to pass time. I enjoy the hardware advances and reading what users can do. I really want to thank those that helped me here.

BTW: Is anyone here older than 35 years of age or am I on the brink of a mid-life crisis

 

well I'm a half decade older and still a geek and I just heard about a mid-life-crisis. I keep that for later

 

@SumSum: Nice to know that I am not the youngest You beat me by 3 years.

 

Didn't keep tabs on it, but does DiRT 2 finally have SLI? Or has someone managed to get SLI working with this game by any chance?
Downloaded the Just Cause 2 demo yesterday, but didn't try it yet.
Curious how that big open world game will perform on our beasts!

 

Ha, looks like jou just told MY life (btw, i am 35, 2 kids, married, not much time for gaming( few hrs @ night))

 

:wink:

As far as I know new NVidia drivers should have a SLI support for DIRT 2. I'm thinking about getting it myself, as I have just beaten NFS Shift recently.
Tried Just Cause 2 last night, it's a crazy game. In a good way. Still, feels like they didn't give too much thought to a PC controls, game is clearly designed for a gamepad. Performance-wise it run very smoothly @ 1920x1200 SSAO off, no AA, 2xAF(apparently there is no way of turning it off), and everything else on max. It run between 30-40fps, sometimes dropping to an unplayable frame rate. Didn't play much with the settings tho. Pretty good for a two years old laptop I think. Especially taking in account that this is a DX10 game (I think).

BTW, I've read a lot of good reviews on BF Bad Company 2, and also people here tend to like it. I was wondering how good is a single player part of the game? My Internet is not sufficient enough for a multiplayer atm. However, i a few months that will be fixed So, I'm just wondering if there is much point of me getting it now?

 

I think the single player in Bad Company 2 is awesome though a little too short.

 

For defying me, Hikkoo, I shall expose you. . .

He and Ernstig put int he effort to track down quality low-latency RAM, and believe me, this is a wise move. Proper low-latency 4 GB RAM will likely beat a sloppier 6 GB combination.

BAAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA!

And Magnus, just PM me when you want to discuss further.

 

Thanks for the input. Just ordered a copy from EA store .

 

Whats the exact timings on that kingston ram ?

edit nm: googled it : 4-4-4-12 , too bad they don't have a 2*4GB kit of that memory since i'm seriously thinking of going to 8GB

 

does anyone know if our p965 chipset delivers 16 pci lanes to both videocards or is it one at 16 and one at 8 lanes, or both 8 lanes?

apparently my memory runs at 5-5-5-15 @ 333mhz, but it can also run @ 4-4-4-12 @ 266 mhz
which would be the fastest/best for gaming?

 

Nope!

M1730 has 2@16.

Which is amazing, because the M17x has 2@8. Lawl!

Psyloid, you want the 4-4-4-12 @333Mhz, obviously. That is what Hikkoo's using, and it's great. I would've liked a pair of 4GB myself, but you know, now I got too much crap that I need to sell.

Say, very odd question. Did any of you play the old Marvel Ultimate Alliance video game when it had come out for PC? How did that run on the beast, maxed out? I had to add the SLi profile of alternate frame rendering 1. Even then, it seemed to struggle at maximum settings. On the M17x, it is running fluid 60 FPS. Something ain't right? Is it the DDR3 RAM?

 

Oh man thats awesome ..

 

I putted X9000. On 2.8 or 3.0 GHz fans works like with T9300 but on 3.2 or 3.2GHz it runs on full speed (when system starts too). Is it normal?
Temps after 3DMark 06:

What's the "THM_"? Is it chipset's temperature?

 

yup thats normal, and its adviced to do so as well, it will keep your whole system cooler (mobo, ram, gpu's). I'm not entirely sure but I guess that THM is indeed your chipset / mobo temperature ... I wish I had one of them x9000's

Damn I hate steam, they have so many good offerings lately that I spend way too much money on games ...

 

Hi everyone,

My 8800m's gpus are running quite hot but I have no way of monitoring the fan speed or the temperature, is there a program i can use for that?

The run hotter thans the cpu even when idle.

Thanks

 

U have an example in previous post
I8kFanGUI, HWMonitor, GPU-Z.

 

just google for hwmonitor, its free and registers Temps for your whole system

edit : If you feel your system runs hotter than normal, its time to clean all the vents with some compressed air

 

Hi, thanks for the answers
It is hot but the fans only seem to kick in when it gets really hot.
The present temperature is at 70 celcius and i'm only running firefox, that should not be normal right? (cpu is at 37)
I cleaned the xps yesterday with compressend air.
Maybe it's time to open the machine up for some thorough cleaning though i don't think I'll be able to go much deeper in the gpu.


edit : Hwmonitor shows both gpu temperature around 70 but Everest stability test shows the "gpu diode 1" and "gpu diode 2" both around 58 and 65.
Which one should I believe assuming the 2 gpu diode refer to the gpu core of course

 

always take the highest temp ( besides HWmonitor shows my temps as 54° when idle or browsing) 70° for non 3D is way too hot, make sure powermizer is working ( card downclocking when idle) you can check this with gpu-z
Opening up the beast may be wise, since sometimes the dust forms small carpets (if you smoke near the beast, the nicotine makes them even more sticky) Those are hard to blow out with compressed air, best you can do
is disassemble the gpu cooling, and while you are at it, you can apply some decent TIM on the gpu's like arctic silver.
There's a guide somwhere on this forum about how to disassemble the GPU's but i cant remember the link atm.

 

Thanks,

Seems i caught the pattern.
Even when idle temperature goes up to 73, fans kick in and temp goes down to 57 and goes up again.
Don't see where the powermizer is in gpuz.
Haven't seen any Powermizer option since windows 7.
I tested the powermizer switch tool and it showed off on ac but even after enabling nothing has changed ( i'm using 195.62 drivers).

 

oh, i see in your sig that you have the x9000, why don't you run it at 3.2, the fans will spin constantly and keep your system nice and cool

 

How are the x9000 fans related to the gpu's? they are distant
Would be a shame to overclock just for that.

 

I set my X900 to 3.0 and it shut itself down when I started playing ArmA 2. I didn't have a cooler and I didn't have the back of the laptop propped up. Would doing this keep it from shutting down?

 

And VERY loud.

 

I guess a cooling pad like the zalman 2000 would be good.
Looks like it's impossible to create a downclock profile with ntune, would have helped to make a rule or two ...

 

And VERY alive for much longer.

 

NO. unless ya stuck m1730 in sealed box . could be driver or gpu or advanced settings in power options? . if ya installed any patchs to game, low posiblity baddy patch, uninstall patch. is Arma 2 lagging, stuttering before shut down?

did ya monitor heat? ....if ya like can download hwmonitor 1.15 (new vers has fan speed) http://www.cpuid.com/hwmonitor.php

ANYONE thinking of pulling apart beast, heres Ripfire great Disassembly Guide an dells Service Manual from hell (its all over the place but useful)
Remember if going to handle components in beast be careful: dont be standing on carpet can create static electricity. better barefoot on wood or tile floor to properly be grounded . not good idea to disemble on bed, use like a woodtable. never touch insides of beast with no cleaned fingers, any body oil left on components is baddy. before start touch a metal part back of beast(screws area). make sure to keep grounding ya self by touch the unpainted metal frame of the case before touching sensitive components or were anti-static wrist band. Dont use vacum cleaner to clean dust on sensitive components (outside case e.g keyboard okay)can create static electricity best to use can compressed air.

 

After coming from Modern Warfare 2 single player and then trying 30 minutes of Bad Company 2 single player, I cannot say I am very impressed at the moment.
Running at 1920x1200 with the overal detail setting option at Medium.
Going to High chops the framerate in half... quite crazy!
Visually I cannot spot that much different either to be honest.

 

I think the framerate is pretty good in high settings at 1920x1200, check my youtube videos, user Magnus72 of Bad Company 2 running at 1920x1200 High settings.

Although I have tweaked the game so that´s probably why it runs good on my XPS M1730.

Using right chipset drivers along with correct Nhancer profile and overclocking it does run good.

Though I agree Modern Warfare 2 runs much better but doesn´t look as good as Bad Company 2 high settings.

 

Anyone successfully using some newer drivers than the NVIDIA released 195.62 with their XPS M1730 with 9800m GTX SLi on Win 7 64bit?

 

Well, I'm using 196.75 drivers, that have SLI support for Bad Company 2. Runs very smooth @1920x1200 all maxed out 2xAA, 4xAF, VSync off, HBAO off.
I agree, single player is not as good as in MW 2, but I can't wait to try multiplayer. Also want to note, that I didn't go that far in the game, so in intense scenes performance with these settings might be a bit choppy, but turning off AA should fix that

 

Yeah I saw those coming along on the forum. I'll see what those INI settings will do for me.

The right chipset drivers?
What would those be for Windows 7 64-bit? Do you know?
Sometimes it's confusing to read or you are doing all your gaming and tweaking under XP or Windows 7 heheh!
Are the Nhancer settings also posted a few pages back? Didn't mess around with that yet either.

And I read about the 196.75 drivers here, but weren't those "dangerous" and blow up videocards?
nVidia removed these even, if I am not mistaken.
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/Nvidia-196.75-drivers-over-heating,9802.html

 

Hey Magnus, what drivers are you using?

 

Damn sorry Darkwolf I am running XP and Vista 64. My tweaking I mostly do in XP and I can´t get Bad Company 2 to run as good in Vista 64 as in XP. Runs best for me in XP.

totostar in XP I still use the older Tweakforce 180.84 drivers along with overclocking on the GPU´s.

 

I checked it in W7 x64 and 196.88 version of drivers - I have much less fps than using:
[WindowSettings]
Width=1920
Height=1200
Fullscreen=true
RefreshRate=60.002998
VSync=false
[Sound]
Quality=low
VoipEnable=true
SpeakerCount=0
[Graphics]
Effects=medium
Soldiers=medium
Vehicles=medium
Overgrowth=medium
Undergrowth=medium
StaticObjects=medium
Terrain=medium
Shadows=medium
Bloom=true
HSAO=false
MSAA=0
Water=medium
MainQuality=custom
Texture=high
DxVersion=auto
Aniso=0
Detail=medium
RenderAheadLimit=0
Fov=55

In NVCP I found SLI profile for BC2 but the game doesn't run faster than with 195.62. I have 30fps - sometimes 40 but also it slows down to 20.

 

I've been looking around for my gpu temp issue.
Ntune seems a little busted because I can no longer edit the profile settings, I have to do it directly in the profile text file.
I tried loading a down clocked profile but again the temp just rises up.
Using gpu z, it doesn't display my current gpu config it stays @0.0Mhz, but the red bar just goes max, what does it mean?

 

Try this instead %comspec% /c start "" /high to the shortcut to the exe file.

 

Indeed, they are marked by NVidia as "dangerous". I have been monitoring my temperatures closely with them, and have noticed no difference in temperatures when compared to previous releases. NVidia did mention that not all graphics cards are affected by the fan control flaw in the driver.

 

Hey guys I really need some help

I upgraded my M1730 to Windows 7 and that's probably the start of my problems I have been having extreme graphic issues for a while even b4 I did the upgrade but I have a feeling that Dell wont do anything about it because I have 7 on it. This has been going on for quite a while but being is school havent had a lot of time to fix it been more so dealing with it.

I included a link to the videos where it shows the problem I tired to link it here but the file was too big
http://www.mediafire.com/?hmelnqztykj

Basically Ive tried different drivers for my 8700M card for 7 and nothing currently im on the 190.40 which out of all them ive tired the problem doesn't occur as sudden.

Not sure what to tell Dell I did the diagnostics test on boot up but it says everything is fine when its clearly not.

In need of some advice or suggestions if any more information is need plz let me know

TIA guys

 

It looks like a hardware related issue to me. Could be related to a display connection jack, or to the GPU. Most likely the latter. There is a whole separate thread on this forum that deals with M1730 failing, and has a lot of useful tips on how to deal with Dell support.
My suggestion is, if you still have warranty, contact dell and they will most likely send a technician to replace your cards. If they will start giving you crap about Win 7, just install Vista for the argument sake. Then they will have no choice but to send a technician to replace cards.
I suggest, however, that you consult people on this thread too.

 

GPU does not downclock with the 195.62 drivers for me, the 180.84 seem to do the trick.
Only problem is that they crash on certain games such as Crysis.
By the way I just installed xp on a secondary HD and using the 32 bit 180.84 drivers, I got a steady 40 FPS on Crysis compared to ~21 using 195.62 with win7, that looks awesome ! Now I understand your videos Magnus
This means I still have to look for better drivers for my win 7 x64.

edit : Looks like I have to force the downclock on AC, powermiwer only kicks on battery even when turning powermizer switch on.

 

today i just had my m1730 do something "unexpected."

i didnt really do anything just booted the laptop and suddenly i found out that even though i had an sli setup, it was only recognizing one of the 9800m gt's. rebooted and still only recognized 1 card. in the bios, it also says it only recognizes one of the cards.

so i thought of shutting down and removing battery and ac adapter for 1 min, and suddenly discovered the 2nd card popped out again. bios also started to recognize the card again.

is this something to worry about?

 

I have the same issue, starting a few weeks back with my 8800M. Now I am a little bit confused. Because this started shortly after I moved from Vista32 to Win7 64. I used the latest driver available from NV. For me its fifficult to say if it comes from the OS change. rather doing something wrong the last time, as I applied new thermal paste (arctic silver). Maybe something is broken. I dont know. Anyway the behavior is strange, sometimes just one graphic adapter is shown, the other day both in SLI. Then one week just one and so on.
Anyone a clue ?

 

I just manually added a bunch of profile rules, and one of them downclocks my card to 250/400/700 when no games are launched, is that a good idea?