XPS m1530 buzzing sound and low 3dmark06 score

I just got my lappy and I was really happy untill I found out that when I change my brightness setting I hear buzzing sound coming out from right side where voulme buttons at (maybe speaker?)... I don't want to be picky but this is really annoying and wondering if there is any fix for this? I hear it every brightness setting except for max brightness setting.
Also I'm getting about 3908-4003 for 3dmark06 score is this normal for WSXGA+ screen? I'm using free version though.. any help would be GREAT! Thanks advance..

forgot to mention about my spec: t7250, 3gb, 8600m gt, 250gb (5400rpm)

 

Your score is normal for what you have. Not sure about the buzzing though.

 

I definitely don't have any unusual buzzing when my brightness is max. But, your 3dmark looks fine - mine was around ~3900 after debloat but I installed 174.74 drivers which bumped it up to ~4200.

 

that's probably the lcd inverter........the sound comes from the monitor,not from the speakers

 

4200?? That's a large jump from 3900. What resolution do you use to test and play games? 1280 x 768 or 1024 x 800?

Also, I heard LaptopVideo2Go 174.74 drivers have lots of issue. How about yours?

FYI, I have XPS M1530 with same video card and 4 GB of RAM, plus 7200 RPM HDD.

 

I run 3dmark at the default 1280x768. I haven't had any problems with the 174.74 drivers (so far..).

 

Is that also in real game playing?

I have been having big issue with game performance on 169.09. With 1204 x 768 playing Team Fortress 2 at medium settings (no shadow, no AA, etc.), I am getting...get this... 10-15 fps when there are more than 2 people in one screen. When there are 4-8 people, it drops to 5-10 FPS!

My 3DMARK only scores a dismal 3980 too.

OK, I am downloading 174.74 from laptopvideo2go.com now.

 

OK, just upgraded to 174.74 and I get only 4093. That's very small increase.

What did you do to increase it to 4200? I ran 3DMark06 as follow:
- 1280 x 768
- No AA or AF
- Trilinear
- no AV or background service running

In NVIdia settings:
- V-Sync isOFF
- AA and AF is forced OFF
- PowerMizer off
- SmartDimmer off

 

Make sure you are not on "powersaver" or anything like that.

And your laptop is the same exact configuration as mine. Execpt that I have a 320gb 5400rpm hd (which depending on the size of your 7200 they could be the same speed).

I can't tell you a 3dmark06 score from mine, because I don't have any stock clock ones saved. But I will do one right now, and post the results/link for you. Give me about 20 minutes.

 

I disabled Powermizer (NVIDIA) and for battery, I selected "Always On" and disable "Turn off hard disks".

 

Ok this is with the demo version of 3dmark06, I didn't connect it to my external monitor so I am stuck at running at 1280x800 (my M1530's default resolution). With a fresh install of the 174.93 drivers (I am in the middle of finding the best drivers for my system), and my OS is XP SP3 I just got 4707.

 

And about your TF2 problems. Vavle is screwing up something within the past few patches that has hit alot of peoples systems hard. Our CPU's are the bottlenecks (I know, a freaking T7250 being a bottle neck).

But here is the band-aid most are using. FYI, while you should be stable in game, you might very well have issues if you try to alt-tab or change graphic settings while this is active.

Two things to do are. In Nvidia Control Panel>Manage 3D Settings>Program Settings Tab>Then select Team Fortress 2>Then under Threaded Optimization turn it to On instead of auto.

Then in TF2 open console and type mat_queue_mode 2 (you will need to do this every time, or you can create a autoexec). Now see how your FPS are.

 

Jesus Christ! I just re-ran 3DMark06 and I got 4085. Man.. this is so frustating.. what is wrong with my system??

Let's see, besides the thing I mentiond above, what else would you suggest? Anything in the NVidia settings itself?

I am tweaking the system again, I'll post back soon..

NOTE: I am not running any OC at this point.

PS: Just tested Team Fortress 2 with 174.74 and I still get the same result(??)

 

Are you running vista or XP? I remember when I had vista I would get pretty damn bad 3dmarks. What resolution are you running at? Try it at 1280x800 just to get on par with my system. And I don't have any tweaks other then your standard turning down windows effects.

Try that TF2 tweak I just posted. ALOT of people are having to use it.

 

Thanks for your help, Tusin. I am doing tweaks here and there and re-running 3DMark06 first. I'll let you know the result. TF2 test is next!

 

Cool man! I am curious on how this goes

 

I get 4462 3Dmarks at 1280x800 with M1530 in sig. No OC'ing.
I get 5807 3Dmarks at 1280x800 with M1530 in sig. Oc'd to 615/1230/905

P.S. Using Vista x32

 

Ah yeah, I noticed that Vista 32bit would take a good 300points off.

And I still wish I could get the same OC or even close to it. In 3dmark06 I can OC to 675/900 no problem, but try a game with that settings? Blah hard reset. I have found that gaming I can only get 525/850 stable.
But my highest 3dmark so far is a wee over bit 6100.

 

My system which I just got is still stock. Running 3DMark06 I get:

Score: 4747
SM 2.0 Score: 1891
SM 3.0 Score: 2289

Specs are:

T9300
8600GT
4GB Ram
160GB 7200 RPM HDD
WX+ LED

Running it 1280x800 resolution
Drivers are 174.31

Windows Experience Index = 5.1
CPU: 5.4
Memory: 5.1
Graphics: 5.9
Gaming: 5.5
HDD Transfer Rate: 5.3

 

Agh! I just typed a really long thread and I got "page not found".. so all is lost.

Anyway, those who got more than 4000, are you:
- Running Vista or XP
- Using stock or LaptopVideo2Go driver (which version)
- Overclocking
- Running SpySweeper and Antivirus

But for the last test I did, I re-installed 174.74 driver and still got 3900!! ( head banging on the wall now.

I am trying to re-install the video driver but this time I'll use DriverCleaner. Plu s, I'll remove Visual Studio 2008 and see what happened.

BTW, any specific settings I need to do on NVIDIA Control Panel? I have "Let applications decide" so I can configure in each game (TF2, Company of Heroes, etc.)

 

Oh, quick one: during 3DMark06 testing, at the part where it shows huge brownish colored mountain with some robots, I am only getting ONE (1) FPS. I think this is the SM3.0 testing.

This is BEFORE the "Dragon-flying-out-of-water" test, which I get around 5-7 FPS...

 

Removed driver and then do DriverCleaner.net, reinstall 174.74, removed Visual Studio 2008, score now is 4083

I gave up guys, don't know what else to do. I'll try imaging and <GASP!> reinstalling Windows XP. but seeing how many of you gets more than 4500 running Vista, I am thinking of going back to Vista now....

 

Should just OC your CPU and GPU, get like over 7000

 

My 3Dmark is around 4050 without any overclocking.

Playing TF2 I can get a stable 60fps with low settings but with vsync turned on (this limits me to 60 FPS anyway but I don't like the picture tearing) at 1680 x 1050 resolution. I can play it at medium settings but have to reduce the resolution quite a lot to compensate.

However I have absolutely everything else turned off:

• All vista nice things like indexing, sidebar, transparency, vista aero.
• Anti virus is also shut down when playing.

I'm running the 174.31 driver that I downloaded from Dell, not LaptopVideo2Go. You can't get this on the XPS laptop links but if you search the site it will give the link.

Everything is stable with NO crashes in the 2ish months I've been using them.

P.S. My spec are identical to yours except I'm running vista.

 

how can your 8600 gt be 512mb? stock GPU for 1539 should be 258 you should run GPU-z and check if your card has DDR3 memory

 

My 3dMark06 score is 4625 without OC and 5691 with 600/900 OC.

 

Yeah it sounds like to me you have a setting somewhere messed up. The score I posted is seriously just me installing the driver, rebooting, and then running 3dmark, no tweaks etc.... Also yes the 1fps thing you are talking about is correct. It is the CPU test. That is why the person with the T9300 on this thread scores better.

And yes, you should score higher with XP then Vista. But don't base everything on 3dmark. Try some games etc.... Expect do not try to base anything using TF2 right now. Because of the issues it has. But again try that tweak I suggested.

marchudamn, try using the max_fps command instead of Vsync. Try like max_fps 60 (or maybe even 59 just to make sure). Vsync will take a hit out of your FPS all around. Where max_fps will just not allow you to go over a certain ammount. And that is why you are getting screen tearing. Anything over your monitors refresh (almost always 60hz on a lcd) can cause it.

 

That's interesting... That score is around the same as mine. But others, like Tusin, got over 4500 without overclocking.

Opps, in all the excitement, NVIDIA Control Panel reported that I have 512 MB, which is probably include the Shared RAM. I only have 256 MB DDR3. Confirmed with GPU-Z.

I would, but given I have issue that give such low score (4000~), OC-ing probably give 4200-4500.

Is this with Vista or XP?

Agreed. But after seeing low 3DMark06 score AND low TF2 framerate, I am just worried especially seeing how people got 4500+ score WITHOUT overclocking.

I am going to re-install XP tonight (got a fresh image created with TrueImage) and run 3DMark06 without anything installed.

BTW, what video drive and version do you use again for your XP OS? LaptopVideo2Go or Dell stock?

 

Well I have tried quite a few drivers for XP, from the Dell 174.31 (which seems to do the best on temp), to the latest 175.70 (which gives a huge boost in 3dmark, but might be causing some issues in games, I am going to test that tonight). 174.93 seems to run the hottest, as it would get to 67c at idle and pretty much chill there. Eventually it would start going back down to 54c or so. Where 174.31 and 174.74 would hit around 65c and quickly go back down.

Again, do NOT base ANYTHING on TF2. Like I said, TF2 is pretty much "broke" right now. I mean you can make it playable, but you have to put a tweak in there that will no longer allow you to alt-tab, or change video settings in game. There are countless threads on the Steam forums, about when they first bought the games fps was great, even on somewhat low-end systems. But after the last few patches, it has been going down, down, down. There is even a guy that has a C2D and 8800GTX and gets like 20fps in heavy firefights. It has something to do with TF2 having issues with dual core cpu's. That is why putting that tweak in there that I said earlier, which enables use of both cores gives you a huge increase in fps.

 

Hi Tusin,

So you're using the XP 174.31 drivers from Dell? Where did you get it? Dell site only shows Vista drivers.

 

Shoot I will have to find the link (fyi the 174.31's from dell gave me a much lower 3dmark, about 300 points less).

If I remember right, search drivers for the inspiron line. I think the 1720 is what I searched for. Even if it says 8400m drivers they will still for the the 8600.

 

Hi all,

I reinstalled Windows...well, not really, just re-imaged it back from th baseline Windows install. Anyway, did that and updated th driver to LaptopVideo2Go 174.74. I also ran Windows Update and I have the following running in the background:

- Spy Sweeper
- MagicISO
- Dell Quickset
- Bluetooth

To create real-world situation, I also installed Microsoft Office 2007.

Ran 3DMark06 and I got 4800.No OC. Wohoo!!

So now I am slowly re-installing all the other applications and running 3DMark06 again to see which one cause the slowdown. However, I have a suspicions that it's either of this:

- Avast! Antivirus
- Visual Studio 2008 Standard

Reason being is because these 2 are what I installed in the last 30 days and that's where I noticed the slowdown.

I'll keep everyone updated!

 

I regularly get around 4600 with Dell 174.31 driver (got it from Inpsiron 1520 page). Upgrading to Vista SP1 lost me around 150 points btw.

I also run 3Dmark06 with AVG and Comodo enabled and on balanced power saving. setting to High Performance and shutting down anti-virus and firewall makes no difference to the score.