Vostro 1500 w/ 8600m gt overclocking

For those interested in how the vostro 1500 w/ only the video card upgraded to the 8600m gt 256mb from the base model preforms in 3dmark and how much can overclock the GPU in this laptop then continue reading. I made this post because I do not see much information out there on this. Ok so here are the results.


The following score where gotten with the system running windows xp pro w/ sp2 and nvidia 101.28 WHQL drivers installed from Dell's website.
T5470 CPU
8600m gt 256mb
120gb sata HDD
2x512mb 667mhz ram dual-channel




1280x800

1280x1024


From running 3dmark06 at 1280x1024 instead of 1280x800 we see about a 13% drop in overall score, 14.2% in SM2.0 and 16.4% in SM3.0. That is a large drop for a resolution but thats 28,6720 (or 28% more pixels) per frame more it must draw.


I overclocked both the GPU and VRAM using ATITOOL 0.26.
GPU: 475MHZ OCED TO 600mhz = 26.32% OC
RAM: 400MHZ OCED TO 445mhz = 11.25% OC

Remember overclocking does void warranty's and there is a chance that by doing any overclocking you could mess up you computer but the chances are less then 1% in most cases.
Also note that ATItool does not currently work on vista you can try rivatuner but not sure if that works.

I ran the 3 benchmarks again with the overclocking settings applied and this is what i got.



1280x800

1280x1024


3dmark06 at 1280x1024 OC just beats running 3dmark06 at 1280x800 at normal clock.

We get about 15% increase on just about every graphic test in performance when overclocking the video card. This is my first time doing overclocking with a laptop and was surprised by how much it would let me push the hardware. The GPU only ran about 1c to 2c more then running at the stock speeds. Seems sable at these speeds but they can very from card to card. Hope this information was useful.

 

nice one mate,

being an oc nut, i have a xeon 3210 quad core water cooled at just shy of 3.6ghz i will be looking for ways to clock my laptop lol.

 

Just wondering...
How much cooler will the gpu run if you underclock it to the minimum available level?

This could be useful to reduce heat and increase battery life, during normal operation (i.e. reading, browsing...)

How far down can you push the GPU clock and the RAM clock without compromising stability?

 

Useful info, thanks!

 

no fair i get 2800 3dmark06 on 158.36 drivers!

 

You probably underclock it quite a way, but in vista you would take a hit on the screen performance. The nvidia and ati cards run at slower speeds when on desktop. Then ramp them selves up when running 3d.

 

He is using XP....I would bet you are using Vista?

 

Im gunna be gaming so should I update the drivers to the nvidia 101.28 WHQL? Is there any risk, I mean I dont really know these things.

 

What resolution are you using for 3dmark06? 1280 by 1024 or 1280 by 800?

 

Thanks! very useful for me.

 

There should be no risk if your downloading the drivers from dell.com for your model AND OS but I recommend running the latest drivers. There are a few cases that older drivers do run faster but most the the time new ones are faster.

I left all setting default and it set 3dmark06 to 1280x800 which its kind of cheating because the are less pixels. I'll rerun the test with a external monitor at 1280x1024 so the numbers can be compared better to other computers. Thanks for pointing that out.

 

Updated beginning of thread to include 1280x1024 on 3dmark06. Use those numbers when comparing to other computers. If other laptops state much higher scores make sure they are running 3dmark06 at 1280x1024. Thanks for pointing that out Osserpse.

ATITOOL .26 shows the video card runs at the follows speeds:
3d max: GPU: 475mhz RAM: 400mhz
3d low: GPU: 275mhz RAM: 200mhz
2d : GPU: 170mhz RAM: 100mhz

2d may go a bit lower but would most likly only save 0.5watts or less and could make windows choppy. Because i'm running xp i do not know what vista will do but xp can run very choppy if you would run the gpu at lets say 25mhz.

Where you running 3dmark06 at 1280x1024? I just added what i get running at that res and it's only 2941 which works out. Plus are you running vista?

 

Hello, I also have a vostro 1500. Did you have any problems with the nvidia drivers and holding an overclock speed? I could only get my vostro to hold a designated speed with the dell nvidia drivers! I tried several nvidia versions, including 158 series and used driver cleaner, but to no avail. I am currently clocked at 610 core/445 ram.

My question is have you gone further on yours or was the the top end you could get, (600/445). My temps barely budged so I am wondering how much more headroom there is no this thing!

Cheers

Vorin

 

Can the 1280x800 screen run 3dmark at 1280x1024? How is that possible?

 

I haven't tried any other drivers. Just the one I listed. My video card should be able to go a bit faster but I wanted to make sure the speed is stable. To really go at or above GPU:620 VRAM:460 you will need to put more voltage into the ram and GPU. That can only be done by physical modification to the card. A pencil mod should be possible on the card but you would have to know exactly which resistors to draw on. Because the temp is not to high on the GPU even under load adding voltage to overclock more would be beneficial and should not overheat as long has the room temp is cooler.

Yes, my screen is 1280x800 MAX and you can't set it to do 1280x1024 but I used an external monitor and turned off the laptop lcd so I make 3dmark06 run at 1280x1024.

 

ok thanks for the info!

 

Just to let people know, the .27 beta version of ATItool does work for vista.

 

I ran 3dmark06 in 1280 x 800 (laptop, will test on external monitor later) overclocked to 555 & 455. My score was 3620. Vista. Specs in sig.

 

What driver did u use kewlguy?

 

I'm glad you posted this because it proves how silly overclocking video cards is.

That 15% increase doesn't help anything. If you're suffering at 20fps, a increase of 15% to 23fps isn't going to make a game more playable.

Anything less than 25% really isn't worth doing. At least 25% would go from 20fps to 25fps, which might make a game tolerable to some people.

 

My 8600m gt automatically underclocks when I am not running 3d apps.

 

I overclocked my 1520 8600m GT to 600/500. Got the following:

3dMark05: 7546
3dMark06: 3930

I had to turn on vertical-sync because the display couldn't keep up.