Dell XPS M1730 Owner's Lounge, Take 2

When the X9000 is oveclocked to 3.2 the fans kick in full blast and thus keeps everything cool.

 

Chief Barker - you get 10 points!

No seriously. People with X9000 or X7900 CPUs should probably run 'em at max and enjoy the full-blast fan treatment. Keep the system cool.

Others should, by default, keep the system raised by -at least- an inch. This should help you guys, a lot!

 

Sounds really good Chief Barker

 

hikkoo that Vantage score is with PhysX enabled I assume?

I get P10893 with PhysX enabled

GPU Score: 9410

CPU Score: 20666

By the way your overclock on those 9800m GTX have you overvolted them in nibitor? Have you run ATI Tool stress test to look for deltas? Would be interesting to see if the 9800m GTX can be overclocked higher than the 8800m GTX. I can overclock higher than 625/1550/950 but since I get deltas at higher clocks I stick away from that.

 

I've just finished a 1 1/2 hour multiplayer session (all at Max + 2x AA) of COD4 and the gfx cards are at 54c, it's a bit of luck that I use headphones to play as the noise of the fans would drive me mad.

So i retract the bit i said about gaming at 52 c

I have'nt tried crysis but i'm sure I will get higher temps.

 

No problem chief barker you have very good GPU temps anyway

Hikkoo I have tweaked Vista 64 a bit. Without PhysX enabled I get today:

P7092

GPU: 9413

CPU: 4077

 

temporary good news i hope.
today i completely reinstalled vista but now the 64bit, its seems the problem with the colours and the green screen is gone, i use the 186.81 drivers.
3dmark 06 @3.0ghz: 12.960
would it be a software issue or is it hardware that sometimes fail,.....strange things those computers

 

grrr first game call of duty world at war,.............artifacts, reflections of water is all over the screen.

 

I tried that out of curiosity once, the fan noise is too much, its way too loud and it would drive me round the bend if it was on for any length of time. I guess its each to their own.

 

Congratulations, Bpat.

I've got the same problem with my 'replacement system' at the moment. I tested it a while back to see some other stuff, and well, not only did it run very poorly, but the bloody thing's colour-palette's developed a radioactive-green tinge.

I'll try your approach, but uh, those cards suck. I even get artifacts, and they don't overclock whatsoever. Crash here, crash there - it's a mess.

Edit:
Oh, just read your second post. Try reinstalling COD WaW. I used to get the same problem. But if it persists, then I guess the card has issues.

To The Stig:
Dude, I just want people to have GPUs that last longer than a milk bottle. M1730 has terrible threshold for thermal readings, so fans help. On the other hand, if the noise bothers you, then raise your machine by 1 inch-minimum, and make sure you're using something small like rubber stubs, so that you don't block any part of the fan grills are the bottom. This approach should ideally keep your temps within a good range, and hopefully, never exceeding 81-83 degrees in the most intense, overclocked, Crysis scenarios. I've tested this with hours of playing the aforementioned game.

Now check out the attachment. These are my 'peak' temps for Crysis, using Magnus' configuration, which is known to push the GPU, and with overclocking at his level and beyond.

I won't share how I got these amazing results, just yet. There's a reason why, and I don't want to spark a redundant debate until I am done with my research on the topic.

 

Did you use applications to control fans or change graphic card speed? It's strange - in my XPS fans on GF are idle when temps <75°C.
Try furmark - http://www.ozone3d.net/benchmarks/fur/

 

same here, i tryed everything from A to Z ,.... pffff frustrating

 

Dude, it's the X9000. When overclocked to 3.2 GHz and above, all fans run at full-max-ultimate-blast.

 

Wasn't everest about to come out with something that can control the fans? or somebody else, I remember reading about it some time ago...

 

72hundred learnt that Everest was fully detecting the speed of the third fan. This can mean that someday--perhaps sooner than later--the same programme can also gain full control of said fan.

Chief Barker, I have to ask, are you raising the laptop by any margin? Or is it sitting flat on a typical table?

 

Hi mate,

I have the laptop sitting on some 'Bluelounge coolfeet', clear sticky pads stick to the bottom and you just suction cup the feet to them.

I bought them when I first recieved my first 1730.

http://www.purelygadgets.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=26533&wysiwyg=10

 

That's cool. Now that's along the lines of what I did, with that added mystery component, and right now, my machine's idle at 42 degrees. And as you can see from the testing, even at high overclocks with over and hour-and-a-half of consistent Crysis, it never went over 70. Damn, I wish I had an X9000.

 

Well well more tweaking to Crysis, managed to squeeze out more fps now, while still managing to keep visual quality. Now the average is 38.12 fps at 1920x1200

 

That's looks stunning magnus, enjoy.

For anybody that has downloaded the demo for Batman; Arkham asylum there is a patch from nvidia that gives a nice little boost for us with Sli.

http://www.nvidia.com/object/nvidia_multigpu_SLI_profile_update_v2.html

It says you need the 190** driver for it to work but i've tried it with mine and it works. I've gained a few more fps.

Beautiful looking game btw, I have Physx disabled because it gave me too much of a framerate hit.

 

Is MediaDirect worth installing ? With me only having my M1730 for a month i didn`t even realise i had it in my back up discs until i had just re-installed vista.

Ive just noticed that it said on the disc that you need to install it before installing windows lol..... woops

Anyway, is it worth putting on or not ? If so can it be done with vista already installed, i tried the disc when my OS was already installed and it said Intallation Errors.

 

Not worth it in my opinion Stig and it can only be done prior to installing windows. MD 3.5 was quite buggy to begin with. As long as you have another app to watch movies (even Windows Media Player - yikes!), you are good to go. You can use Windows Media Center for the same tasks Dell Media Direct can handle.

Without Media Direct installed, as long as you have Quickset installed you can remap the Dell MediaDirect button (one with the little house). See my tutorial for that. When I had my M1730 I had the MediaDirect button remapped to turn off the LCD when pressed.

 

Thanks Bat, i won`t bother with it. I`ll use the MediaDirect disc as a coffee coaster instead to put my cup on

 

Nice tweaking Magnus,below is my BenchMark results:
Completed All Tests

<><><><><><><><><><><><><>>--SUMMARY--<<><><><><><><><><><><><><>

9/6/2009 8:50:20 AM - Vista 64

Run #1- DX9 1900x1200 AA=No AA, 64 bit test, Quality: Custom ~~ Overall Average FPS: 47.36
Completed All Tests

<><><><><><><><><><><><><>>--SUMMARY--<<><><><><><><><><><><><><>

9/6/2009 9:08:29 AM - Vista 64

Run #1- DX10 1900x1200 AA=No AA, 64 bit test, Quality: Custom ~~ Overall Average FPS: 50.76

 

Woah! Gadgetboi, those are -amazing- benchmarks! You're ahead of all of us with over 10 FPS! And you're doing even better with DX10, which usually lags and stutters behind DX9.

How on Earth did you pull those off? I know your CPU is overclocked, which will give you a small edge. But clearly, there's some GPU magic going on; share your settings, please.

 

Right now everything is firing on all cylinders. CPU @3.4 and GPUs @ 652 925 and 1550 other than that I haven't got a clue, just replaced the .cfg with the updated one and ran the BM. I will continue testing and make some screens caps while playing.

 

Nice! And thanks.

I overclocked around your level and got 42 average in DX9. Don't even ask about DX10 because it was a complete disaster. If I ever get another laptop, I am so going Vista 64.

What are your thermal readings for these tests? Peak temperatures and what not else would be cool to know.

Anyway, I like this configuration, but I'm upping the 'r_beams' to 3, and reapplying 'r_useedgeaa 2' and of course, motionblur to 1. Now my average is 38.1, but I've overclocked pretty high.

 

Running anything at that high of a resolution will heat up the GPUs greatly. I game on an external 19" CRT monitor at 1280x960@75Hz with the fans on full and my temps dropped by 20c from playing on the laptop at 1920x1200.

I also don't see the point of that resolution on a 17" screen.

 

Sorry to ask Kade but what is the difference with going to 64 bit Vista, I ask as i've just come from XP 32 bit?.

Thanks mate.

 

Here are my temps and some screens @1900x1200.

 

It says 190.62, are you guys using that driver now? I'm still on 190.40...

 

If you download the SLI Profile update and find reduced performance with your current driver (190.40), the best way to remove the update will be to uninstall your display driver completely and then reinstall the 190.40 driver. The SLI Profile is written @ time of driver install.

 

I don't know for sure, but it takes better advantage of the CPU, since we have 64-bit CPUs. Larger execution room, and utilises more of the RAM, which can't be a bad thing.

But it's all a mystery to me as of the moment. However, look at Gadgetboi's result. 50 FPS average in DX10, at 1920x1200. Man, that's amazing!

And Gadgetboi, thanks for the information.
Our temperature readings are very similar. Mine peaked at 67, this time, and I ran the benchmark a few times over using the clocks 666-core/1040-memory.

 

Yes very nice benchmark scores GadgeBoi. I will give the config a try in Vista 64 and see what it benchmarks there. But definitely having the CPU at 3.4 unleashes more power of the 8800m GTX SLI. For now it feel my 2.4GHz Core2Duo is holding them back a bit.

Gadgetboi when I look at those screens are you sure you aren´t running with Medium shaders? The screens looks like the shaders isn´t set at Very High. I know you are using my config but Crysis looks better on my notebook than on those four screens especially the shading. Just curious.

 

Magnus, are you using the CCC ToD modification?

 

Kade I have used it but not for a very long time. So no currently I am not using it.

 

hi,
my xps is connected with a dvi cable to my samsung syncmaster 2493hm.
would i see any diffrence if i use a goldplated dvi to hdmi cable?
grtz

 

Magnus,
I took a look, here are my settings, most everything is custom. I have the .cfg in the crysis folder. I will have a look further at it. I have applied other custom cfg in the past maybe somethings not right.

 

Even if your shaders are on medium, that is the 'q_shaderxxx' command, the config will show a 'custom' result because the shader cvar contains more information than just the quality settings. Naturally, if even one piece of that information is different from the stock setting, the Crysis menu will identify the setting as 'custom'.

Regardless, you might want to look into what Magnus brought up in more detail. I personally liked the look, but the shaders did look a bit off. Even I'll try to lower the shader quality down to 1 (medium) and give the game a test-run.

 

I am going to have to see if remnants from another config are interfering; the shaders are set to this:
q_ShaderGeneral = 3
q_ShaderMetal = 3
q_ShaderGlass = 3
q_ShaderVegetation = 3
q_ShaderIce = 3
q_ShaderTerrain = 3
q_ShaderShadow = 3
q_ShaderFX = 3
q_ShaderHDR = 3
q_ShaderSky = 3

Wonder if the CVar might have been changed in a previous config setup

 

Sounds about right GadgeBoi, that should put the shaders to Very High. Though if you have any custom CVAR´s those might interfere with the config making the shaders look like medium. I was a little curious since you had that high average FPS and a 3.4GHz CPU should not make up for 10+ fps average in Crysis with same GPU´s. However I might be wrong of course.

I will set all options to 2 that´s High quality in Crysis and see what I get in average fps. Not that I don´t trust you or anything regardless that is very high average and good FPS and kudos to you GadgeBoi. I definitely want a X9000 myself.

 

Yeah, I did my test. Even taking shaders down to 1 shouldn't give that much of an FPS boost. Until and unless post-processing and HDR are also removed.

To be honest, I can see HDR in the first image, and it's also pretty clear from the crisp detail of the foliage and the bloom on foliage from the last shot that the shaders for the vegetation and terrain are indeed very high.

I don't know, man. I'm stumped.

Hikkoo, why don't you run this config through your rig. Set the CPU to 3.4 GHz, and then fire up the same DX10 and DX9 GPU benchmarks.

I'd ask Erntsig to do this test as well, seeing as his machine is an almost identical fit to Gadgetboi's, but he doesn't seem to be on these days.

 

let us know how you end up, I also pulled this from the CVars maybe you can see if it is the same or not. I am thinking something is different. I have tried many custom cfgs and I would not doubt that one if not more changed CVars. I am most suspect of HOC benchmark. I may uninstall and re-install the game to see what results I get.

 

By the way GadgeBoi you with an X9000 can you run the Resident Evil 5 Benchmark in DX10 and post your average fps? I want to compare to mine and see what kind of boost 3.4GHz gives compared to my 2.4GHz.

 

I took down the shaders to 2 that gave me an average fps of 40 now, only 2 fps average increase. I will give the medium settings a try and see what I get.

 

Magnus, with his drivers, I don't think Gadgetboi will get the right kind of results from the RE5 benchmark.

I've used EVGA's patch, and even renamed RE5 to lostplanetdx10.exe, but the results aren't as good as having the 190.40 driver. Usually when I enter the second scene, the performance drops, drastically.

 

I'll give it a run later, Kade is right, it always starts high and then drops, gives a bad ave FPS.

 

I bet you will not see those artifacts when you use your laptop screen. I have the same artifact issue when i use my wfp2407. From what i have read this is an issue with the design of the card, there is no fix for it.

 

I want to try your config file, but I am getting ready to temporarily shut down my internet connection to move to another county, I am getting ready to shut down and pack this and all my PC's right now. When I complete my move and re establish my internet connection I will give it a try. I start moving tomorrow morning.

 

All the best, Jesse6749.

 

Since English it's not my first language i'm going to have to struggle here to respond to such an articulate post wich really doesn't disproof anything i have said.=)

First off we are not paying thousands of dollars for something to last long but we are paying for the ultimate in laptop technology.
Should we expect that something that costs thousands of dollars should last long? OF COURSE but in reality we all know that's not always the case and we would be fools to believe that.
Sometimes cheap things last longer then expensive things.

"Put it this way: The 'more I use, the more it breaks'. So, how much life does my machine really have, and how much of that would constitute the 'standard' and then the 'more' and then the 'less'? Give me specifics; parametres - years - months - hours - something of that sort. If other electronic devices with a hefty price tag can last long enough, then so should this baby. By the way, once again, my Toshiba is -still- working - never had to use warranty."

lol this is like asking me how long i am going to live , i have no clue and i like it that way because uncertainties keep things interesting.

All i can tell you is if we both have 2 similiar machines with no defects from the day of purchase and you use your machiens 24/7 and i use it 4 hours a day chances are you are going to run into trouble before i do... Of course you have to consider how i keep my machine , maybe i don't take care for it as well has you do etc....But if everything is the exact same you will have problems before i do.

""On the note of gaming - 24/7 - 8 hours - 2 hours. It doesn't matter to me because we're now digressing into another technical territory. And quite frankly, I don't care much about what you consider 'ideal gaming time' and likewise, you shouldn't care about mine; it's a subjective cocncept. What matters is that we as consumers didn't sign some release statement in which we agreed that wanton gaming will kill the machine and so we take full responsibility.""

I'm sorry but i don't understand the point here?
If i have a Ferrari and drive it at 300kmh few times a week and you have the same car and drive it at 300kmh all day long what do you think it's going to happen in the long run?
I'm not telling you to play games for 4 hours a day or 1 hour a day i honestly don't care how much gaming you do
I was just pointing out that on laptop that already produces so much heat, to game 8 hours a day non stop i think it's crazy and i wouldn't stress my 1730 that much in order to prolong the life of it.
Do you really think when dell produced the M1730 they just sit there and test this machines to the fullest for stability?
I don't think so they have us , the guinea pigs, to do that.




"I just want what I 'paid' for, which is stability"

You didn't pay for stability you payed for an overpriced laptop from dell to play the latest and greatest games.
I know BMW 335i owners that had theyr fuel pump replaced 3 times in 6 months time on a car that costs over 70K.
Stability is an illusion.