M1530 PERFORMANCE TEST - 7 Games with ingame pics

Yes as you can see in the screenshot i Use 1280*800. I use a clean install version of Windows vista with all the updated drivers and 169.28. Do you have the same specs as me? 2.2ghz, 2gb ram, 7200rpm etc?

 

r u using the mod inf. for the 169.28 driver from laptop2go?

 

Yes. What are your comp specs?

 

yes same specs as u (see sig), i did use the modded .inf and also should mention that im running vista home premium. i ran 3dmark on its default res which is higher than 1280*800, i cant remember off the top of my head wat it is

all i need to kno is if 3954 is the excpected 3dmark score for my specs

also how did u manage to run 3dmark at a lower res lindstroem

 

After a week of gaming on a new M1530, I'm very happy with the performance. All orange Box games, Call of Duty 4, etc. play great. I'm still struggling with getting the right settings for Crysis though. It's a little choppy and the sound even skips a bit. And if the resolution isn't set for something with widescreen dimensions, the mouse hotspots on the menus are WAY off and really hard to click. I know it's a machine killer. But I need to get some advice and do some searching here on the best video driver.

 

When you play games does the fan run continuously and the vents get hot?

 

@lindstroem:
I was reading that you overclocked your card, would you mind posting your thoughts about how well the overclocking results are? Namely what is the boost you have found when playing some of the games you have reviewed. I think that would be very informative.

Thanks.

 

I have a question...

you guys out there with WSXGA+ screens (1650), who play at lower resolutions, does the game look good even though it is not being played at native resolution?

Cuz i am thinking of getting an XPS1530 with the highest resolution but if this really affects gaming quality i might think of getting a lower resolution...

thanks in advance!

 

games look fine even if ther not at ther native resoloution jus a bit less sharper ive got the 1650*1050 and games still look perfect at a lower res

 

I received my xps m1530 a few days ago and I've been running a few tests myself. I installed fraps and the first games I tried were The Orange box and CS:Source. I maxed out all settings for both at 1440x900 (Vsync On; 4xAA). Somehow, my fps is limited at 60(on any resolution or settings), it just won't go higher. How did you (lindstroem) or anyone else get it to 90-300?! I'd really appreciate any help fixing this issue.

 

Just disable vsync....

 

oo thx, actually i was disabling vsync in game and saw no changes. Just realized I had to disbale it from the nVidia control panel.

By the way, I just tested out a demo of
Crysis: 1024x768 resolution; Everything on medium
Running FRAPS : 13-35 fps. Everytime I would encounter an enemy, my fps would drop. But, turning shadows to low and leaving everything else to medium made it a lot smoother (22-40). Honestly, at these settings, the game looks pretty horrible. The gameplay is decent, yet, the graphics is what makes the game so damn good and the 8600m GT DDR3 doesn't even come close to what it takes to play this game. I even doubt overclocking the vid card would get you that much better performance. But then again, crysis is a poorly modded game which needs lots of fixing and vista isn't helping either.

On the other hand, this lappy performed extremely well with these games:
Running FRAPS
Call Of Duty 4: 1280x800; 2xAA; All HIGH --- 30-60 fps
I was actually expecting worse from the m1530 for this game, yet it looked great and lagged a few times only in huge war scenes (helicopters exploding, rockets tanks bullets and smoke everywhere)

Team Fortress 2: 1440x900; 4xAA; All HIGH; VSync ON -- 35-60++fps!!! Looks fu**ing amazing and veeeerryy smooth

F.E.A.R: 1440x900; ALL HIGH -- 25-50 fps with a bit of lag
Wow, this is weird. This game was released in 2005, while COD4 was released in 2007. Yet, COD4 runs a lot smoother.

 

I just downloaded and installed RivaTuner 2.06 and I keep getting this error when I launch the application:
"Warning! Riva Tuner has not been tested with the currently installed display driver. It is strongly recommended to upgrade RivaTuner to a newer version, otherwise it may not work properly because the driver is not officially supported."
Anyone else getting this?
I uninstalled my nividia drivers and did a clean install of the forceware 163.75 for vista 32bit with the modded inf from laptopvideo2go. Somehow, when I go to device manager, it says I have the 156.69 even though i just updated the driver and restarted my laptop several times... WTH!! I've been trying to fix this for hours now, I'm in desperate need of help.

By the way, i have the 8600m GT DDR3.

 

So basically, I should be using the 169.04 drivers? I'm planning on doing a clean install of Vista and just deciding on which video drivers to install.

 

hey guys, are these numbers normal for an xps m1530(No programs running, just woke up and opened rivatuner) :

Core Clock \ ROP domain, MHz : 182.25
Core Clock \ shader domain, MHz : 364.50
Memory Clock, MHz : 601.71
Core Temperature : 70

The first 3 numbers seem kinda low, no? And why is the temp so high??

EDIT:
Just realized they go up when you play a game. woops I'm a noob. But, still, i'm not overclocking at all and I'm getting temperatures ranging from 70 to 80 while gaming.. is this normal?

 

Rivatuna has a setting for low performance, for when you're not doing anything graphically intensive. My numbers are the same when I'm just word processing or whatever. Try running a game, it'll adjust to much higher speeds. However, my temperature is usually 60 degrees idle, up to 70 degrees after a few hours gaming. I've overclocked to 615/1230/860

 

Yeah I just ran Team Fortress 2 for about an hour and when I quit and went back to desktop, my numbers were significantly higher (550/1024/700). But I'm still concerned about my temperature while gaming. It can go up to 80-82 with stock clocks (nothing over clocked) and it gets back to 65 idle. Are you using a cooler?

BTW, I have the same specs as you. And what about your overclock numbers, are they stable? How much of a peformance boost in games do you get? And if I may add, what games?

 

here's a screen shot I took of rivatuner results while idle.. temperature = 69! w.o.w

Edit : Actually, I have the 7200 RPM hard drive, could this be the reason? It can even jump to 73C just by surfing on the internet. To me, this is abnormal. If my hard drive isn't the reason, then Dell designed my m1530 wrong.

 

Yes, these temps are what to expect from the computer seing as the GPU is quite demanding and generates quite alot of heat in a limited space with limited airflow. Just raising your computer where the air intake is about 1cm does indeed help with the cooling and might get your computer 1-2 degrees cooler. The GPU is built to withstand alot of heat (up to 120C according to Nvidia, so 80-85 degrees is nothing to worry about).

73 C when just surfing is however quite hot, try disabling Vista Aero and see if there is any difference. I have it disabled and my temp varies from 54-64 C (rollercoaster when the fan sets in motion)

 

Thx for the reply! I tried disabling aero but didn't seem to notice that much difference. While idle, my clocks are 182/364/601. What about yours? I'm suspecting my memory clock (601) is what's bringing up the heat. But even though temps can rise to 80-83 while gaming, they tend to maintain these exact temps even when overclocking. I just overclocked (for the first time) my m1530 to 600/1200/800 and after 2 hours of crysis and tf2, it hasn't even gone 1 degree over 83. Seems like this notebook is very capable of handling heat during gaming. And 120C seems a bit high no? Thought it was 90 or something.
Edit:
I also run my m1530 on high performance all day since I practically plug it to the charger the whole time.
And I called dell technical support on friday. While asking about the risks of overclocking, they immediately answered that it would void my warranty and that I'd only end up damaging it... :*( So my question is, how the hell will they know i overclocked it if I underclock it back to stock clocks before sending it to them? lol

 

I installed and played CnC 3 tiberium wars demo version
and it couldn't even reach 20 fps.
Why is it so? I have the same specs as lindstroem except for processor. Mine is T2500. Driver 169.28.

 

I think you answered your own question. RTS games are generally much more dependent on CPU power than FPS games.

 

wow is that so? but really, below 20 fps in CnC 3 makes everything slow down.

 

Below 20FPS in anything, not just CNC3, makes for lag - LOL. Try lowering your gfx settings in the game. This will relieve some of the pressure on your gfx card and you'll gain some frames. Otherwise you might think about a CPU upgrade to get better performance on RTS games. You may also want to try this?

http://www.gamehourz.com/Tweaking-Command-Conquer-solving-lag-ftopict148406.html

 

Yes I agree with Thund3rball on the CPU-question. FPS games and RTS games differ quite alot regarding the creation of bottlenecks.

Bandic00t: I've heard from other XPS owners that the GPU-heat is different from system to system. Although Nvidia says that it will be able to withstand heat up to 120 C, I would not recommend it because of stability and life-expectancy reasons. If it goes past 90, you should start making adjustments. (I think that the G1S creates heat up to 110? But thats far from recommendable)

If you trash your GPU, you will probably not be able to access anything in the computer and therefor would be unable to reinstall old drivers? Other than that, clock away =)

EDIT: If you have a max temp of 83 C, you are fine. I've lifted my computer of the ground (about 1cm) and have my GPU clocked at 582/880 (dont know why I stopped there but when surpassing it, the 3dmark scores only change slightly) and when playing demanding games, the GPU temp goes up to a max of 78 C.

 

Hi there! I've got strange issue with my XPS 1530, I've tried to play old Unreal Tournament, but it goes like in slow motion and max res. I can get is ONLY 854x400...(?) Uber Soldier runs normally, but also here I get only 1024x760 res. Any ideas? ( WXGA, 1GB Ram->3GBsoon, 169.09 soft for nvidia)

 

lindstroem, I actually got to lower my temps down 3-4 degrees by putting something under it to raise it (read your nc-2000 review, pretty helpful). And in games, I monitored a maximum of 80C now. Gotta say this laptop has been giving me goosebumps today. I just played COD4 on 1440x900 res, everything maxed out with 4XAA and it's so freakin smooth it's unbelievable. Even Crysis has been playing nicely on 1024x768 all medium (AA off)!!

 

hey, is it normal that my memory clock runs at 600 MHz on idle?? On rivatuner, it's set to 100 MHz on standard 2d and to 300 on low power 3d. I'm only word processing right now, why is it on 600? help
(I'm using the 169.04 driver btw)

Vinylman, are you using vista? Cauz 1 gb ram seems a bit too low to play games with vista. Vista uses almost 1 gb of my ram on start up without anything else running :S I'd also recommend to downgrade to the 169.04 driver. I had lots of problems with the 169.09 driver where I would get the blue screen of death everytime I ran crysis. Also, the 169.04 driver gives you a lot more resolution options.

 

Vinylman, Try to see the difference when you have more than 1gb ram because i think that can be quite the bottleneck for your system.

bandic00t, Glad it helped =) Windows Vista has the ability to hand over all graphicsrelated operations to the GPU (XP didnt really like GPUs and just handed all the work to the CPU) and this makes the GPU work more than usual even if you are not using any demanding programs. XP for an example never needs to use the fan (according to other people who have tested) and this is because the GPU dont work as much and therefor, dont generate as much heat.

I think that you shouldnt worry about it, but if you find a optimal clock speed for standard 2d and low power 3d, let me know. =)

 

Lindstroem, how can you achieve 20-30 fps for The Witcher with factory speeds? I'm overclocked to 630/850, 3Dmark of 5300, and I can only play it on medium settings, 1280x800 resolution in order for a relatively smooth framerate. And I still get some stutter in areas dense in grass/people. Have you tried both 169.04 and 169.28? I'm using the former right now.

 

lindstroem, what's your memory clock while idle (standard 2d) ? Also, can you adjust your fan settings wih rivatuner to make it run at a certain percentage while playing games and lower it on idle? The only thing I did when I installed Rivatuner was overclock it...Anything else worth configuring?
Attached pic : Check out my temps on idle... scary
Edit: Holy ****, my left hand is actually sweating from the laptop's heat. I just monitored a maximum of 85C after 1 hour of COD4 while overclocking to 550/775.

 

RyanCA, I've changed the settings from MAX to HIGH instead but the screen shot is misleading seeing as all the options are on high. I've choosen a mode between Normal/Max to get it to run smoothly so it takes som experimenting. Sorry for the misleading pic =)

bandic00t, I use the standard clock on standard 2d but if you find a mode thats better, do let me know. Rivatuner does unfort. not support the XPS M1530 so you cant change fan speeds with that program. You'll have to use 18kfanGUI for this, but I've never used it.

Yeah the temps are real high.. Have you talked to support about it? Always good to check

 

Hmm, I was planning on getting an M1530 soon, but now I may wait until summer. Hopefully by then it will have a 9600GT and the next-gen Intel CPUs. The performance in C&C3 and World in Conflict isn't much better than my HP nc8430 with a Radeon X1600

 

Well if you've already got a decent laptop, don't upgrade.

 

Thing is that my current laptop is owned by my employer and I'm quitting in three months. I'm just getting anxious because I want to play World in Conflict with better graphics than I'm getting right now (it looks pretty bad IMO at 1280x800 Medium). I figured the 8600GT would blow away the X1600 but apparently not in the games I'm interested in.

 

lindstroem, I called dell technical support an hour ago and they told me to send it back. They're gonna change my cooling system(or whatever they call it). What do you think? Should I trust them with my laptop? Will they know I've been overclocking it lately if I switch back to stock clocks?
And if they see I'm not using a Dell driver, it'll void my warranty for sure right?

 

For £570, I'm dead chuffed to get the performance noted in this thread. I mean I could have 3 x m1530 for the only other viable option which is the m15x. Plus this looks a hell of alot better.

I was running a non dual core AMD and an x800gto2 and was seeing C&C3 running really well, so expecting that to be great on the lappie.

Hoping hooking up via HDMI and running on an HDTV is good too. Espesh since it should upscale what goes on to 1080p, even running at lower res.

Quick question: what settings would you say 360 games are running at on PC? You can quite clearly have Obv running above and beyond what the 360/PS3 can do.... so it'd be intriguing to set the likes of Bioshock to 360 settings and see how that plays.

 

What sort of fps might one expect with settings turned to low/med in TF2 + COD4 respectively?

 

WOW ! I've got this bigger RAM (3GB), and nothing's changed!
I've been runnig UT at max settings, 1280x800, then I got 800x600 and fraps were ALLWAYS 60(still moving like in slow motion):confused2:


After that, I tried to go with Uber Soldier at max sets, 1024x760, and I got here 30-106 fraps....

Isn't it strange???( run vista at the moment, time to get with XP...)

 

bandic00t, you should indeed let them replace the cooling system but send it back? XPS supports home service so they should come to you.

Vinylman, I have not tried UT on the computer myself so I cant say anything else than: upgrade all drivers and if it still does not work well, then I dont know =) Try XP and see if there is any difference.. weird though..

ccfcman, Not sure but in Cod4 with 1440*900 in low, perhaps 60-70fps

 

I'm actually giving back my m1530 for good. Technical support pissed me off so much, I just said **** it I don't even want it anymore. I live in Canada and I don't think they have that home service support here. I may be considering the m15x or something. And if I can't find a decent price for a gaming laptop, i'll just build a pc and live with that. And thx btw for your help with my issues lindstroem.

 

Ah sorry to hear that.. Good luck with your future computer =)

 

Guys which is the best resolution on a m1530 for gaming??

 

1200 x 800.
It won't perform as well on higher resolutions.

 

ronak_1078, totaly depends on what game you are running and with what texture settings. I usually prefer to run the games at 1440*900 and will accept lower texture settings compared to 1280*800.

 

Yeah. I'm getting the 1440x900 and I'll run everything in 1280x800 so I get a nice framerate

 

j4ck, you can run games like cod4 on high res with 1440*900 with a nice framrate =) It all depends on what games you play and what texture settings you have

 

Oh cool! Thanks man.

 

Hey guys,

Any way to get the performance difference between t5450,t7250,t7500 processors offered along with 1530

Also any advantage of having an UltraSharp display (1680*1050)

I am trying to finalize my config....in real need of help on these

 

With games, it's the GPU that's the bottleneck.
You won't really notice the difference in CPU, especially between the 7250 and 7500, unless you're doing a CPU-intensive task.