7000 3dmark with 8600m gt challenge thread!

Is it possible to reach 7000 3dmarks with the 8600m gt ddr3? I believe so. So far we had results in the low 6000 range. But we can go beyond that! Post your scores and keep track of how close people are getting to the goal.

If we do reach 7000 i will submit a letter to guiness's world records for the craziest hardware performance tweak!

But since thats very very hard to do, I thought we could have goals of other tier

tier 1 goal: 7000
tier 2 goal: 6750
tier 3 goal: 6500

Stated conditions:
Room temperature, standard 3dMark settings: 1280x1024 no AA no AS, no forced nvidia control panel settings, choose let application decide performance

Laptop Coolers are allowed, any additional cooling beyond must be specifically described and confirmed as legitimate.

Any rules change suggestions welcome!
Also Trying to get official sponsor for this thread so prizes could be given to breaking any of the goals.

 

I thought brainer was going to give away his Alienware for the 1st that reach 7000! Heheh... Kidding!

Anyway, you still need to state the condition like: Normal Room Temperature, Is laptop cooler allowed (should be), 3dmark06 setting... etc

 

what's the prize?

 

Well, we could ask NBR admins, maybe they'll have a prize for it?
Even a small prize like a Logitech VX Nano mouse would be nice

 

I have doubts that you can push it past 6500, but props to those who can. I don't think I can compete, since I've only got a DDR2 8600M GT, but I'm pretty happy with the stock 3800 that I have.

 

IMO only the 3DMark settings itself should be locked. Room temps, cooling systems, etc. should be left up to the user's discretion.

Because we already know that a 8600m GT under 'normal conditions' cannot manage 7k+ scores.

 

Prize is a Darwin award for bricking your $2k laptop.

 

you shouls mention what the resolution has to be

 

I concur. Unless you have some serious cooling.

 

Default 3dMark 06 only, i.e 1280*1024

Otherwise results cannot be compared and folks will cheat I can get 7000+ in 3dMark 06 at stock! 320*240..........

So if you have a 1440*900 or 1280*800 panel, connect an external monitor to run 3d Mark

 

I think you would need to boost the voltage on that card to go higher than ~700 on the core. The desktop G84 (8600GT/S), with the 8600GTs default voltage can only reach ~650mhz (XFX GT XXX is running @GTS voltage) and the GTS ~780mhz. I know a voltmodded 8600GTS was stable at 1000mhz on water cooling so the core itself can widstand a lot

 

Lol you guys are all ready to give up your laptops?

 

It's a nice challenge for those people who don't mind risking a laptop (i'm not in the game hehe), but definitively, these should be, IMO, default settings for 3dmark, and cooling allowed. driver mods allowed. everything left to the user discretion. THe only mandatory law: default settings on 3dmark.

Anything goes. As long as it breaks (proof people, proof) the 7k barrier with defaults settings.

All this IMHO, of course =] nice challenge btw

 

You have a 8400M GT, it is virtually impossible to get 7000. unless your processor is the one doing all the work...like OC it to 3.5ghz lol

 

Hmm, that brings an interesting point. If one could somehow connect this to a desktop PC with an average quad core desktop proc, and the requisite cooling, it likely wouldn't be too difficult to break 7k. Hell, with just the desktop processor it would be easier. Someone got a C90S with the GDDR3 8600GT and want to test this out?

 

Actually, I'll make it simpler for you:

If someone could somehow connect this to a desktop PC with an 8800 GTX and sorta, kinda ignore their laptop, it likely wouldn't be too difficult to break 7k.

 

The Penryns (T9xxx) are as good as the first gen C2D so(at least in 3dmark)... I think the record on the C90S is ~5.4k

 

This is true, but considering the point of the thread was to break 7000 on an 8600M GT, your method doesn't quite work, since it kinda circumvents the whole 8600M GT bit entirely...While we're at it, we can get a couple of HD 3870 X2s together and break 20k.

@JCMS, I was thinking more along the lines of E8500/Q9450 type, or even an E6800 or Q6600 with a bit of OC. The new Penryn's are good, but they aren't quad-core good.

5.4k seems really low for the C90s, especially if people are breaking 6k on other systems. Or is that 5.4k with the DDR2? Cause I was talking the GDDR3 8600M GT.

 

The C90S only supports up to 1066FSB and no support for X6800/Quad. With the heat this laptop produces, overclock is quite a challenge. I don't think the GDDR3 one had been overclocked a lot. I'm only hitting 550/1450/520 stable. (Which is probably due to heat because the shader is almost overclocked to its maximum)

 

i sure hope the prize is decent for transforming u laptop into a paperweight that u can grill steaks on though im not in the competition!

 

I know hehe, I never said I'll try that, neither would I even if I had a 8600GT DDR3 machine =P, but anyways, I keep on thinking it's a nice challenge, I hope somebody goes for it!

 

I can do it.. Where is the LIQUID NITROGEN?.. LOL

 

if NBR does give a prize, as you asked, some one is just gona take their laptop apart, and stick it in a freezer or nitro cool it to get there.....

 

I will be willing to throw in a box of tissues and some antidepressants for the winner of this contest.

 

Lul!



.

 

What is your laptop's native screen resolution? 3dmark will only run at the correct 1280x1024 resolution on a panel that has a native resolution equal to or greater than that.

Just double checking because so many people on here with WXGA/WXGA+ screens are posting dramatically high 3dmark scores, only because 3dmark is defaulting to a lower than standard 1280x800.

 

Anyway, on the thread topic, I think what you're suggesting is impossible. I think the highest genuine 3dmark06 scores on the M1530 have been posted by the user halkyon on here and myself. These are in the region of 6100 @ 1280x1024 (on WSXGA+ / WUXGA displays).

We are both running the T9500 2.6ghz processor, and have the 8600GT's core and memory clocked in the region of 685 and 1000mhz respectively. They are running stably at these clocks (my memory is at 1010 at the moment) both during 3dmark and after heavy gaming sessions.

I have removed my heatsink assembly, lapped and polished the contacting surfaces, and replaced stock transfer compound with AS5. Idle temp is 58-62, under full load after a few hours of gaming, it maxes out at 79. I'm in Australia so our climate is a little hot also.

Going further than that in terms of clock speeds seem to result in issues that are not heat related, rather just artifacts due to missed calculations. Getting further in terms of 3dmark scores will involve overclocking the CPU, and to my knowledge, this is not yet possible on this laptop - or I'm yet to see evidence. I posted a thread here on this topic which I'd be keen to see people pursue, as I do believe that at 6100 3dmarks, the CPU is starting to become the bottleneck again (which is a great thing to see) at least in some games, and in 3dmark also.

I'm greatly interested in exploring the limits of this (very capable) machine, but we need to be realistic.

 

I think I'm winning so far xD 6087 at 720/900

T9300! link is in my sig

 

don't forget to raise the FSB as well.

 

Wow, this is insane. I always assumed that my overclocked 7900gs was faster than any 8600gt. Guess I was wrong .

 

well.. the 7000 breaking mark has yet to be achieved.. but the 8600m gt can easily get up over 6000 with the right configs. But even then i dont think that breaks 7900 gs oc scores does it?

Lets get to 6250 first, im getting my 50$ cooler 2morrow and will crank OC speeds all the way up, i think the reduce heat will yield better performance @ the same clocks.

 

the cpu is the bottle neck and so is the driver it self. usually the driver gives out before the heat kicks in. my heat sink is still stock and im using as5 and haven't touch the gpu and i clocked in at 11,230 for the 8800m gts. and tried to go beyond, but the driver fails and the temps for the card are just approaching 70c. the chip is an x9000 ran at 3.0. this is just to say that the driver will long since give out before the card will. so you would really need an unlocked driver for over clockers. not sure nvidia is just gonna let people run free with something like that. they are just barely starting to really open up the drivers. now after this next step in the ladder (physx) who knows.....

as for 7k.. you just need an x9000 clocked at 3.0 and a base score of 2900/2800/2750 2.0/3.0/cpu to clear 7k and an x9000 comes in at a steady [email protected] and of course there is the fsb program if you can get it to work...you could over clock the t9300 or t9500 to get the same or better results out of the cpu score (speculation of course) i have faith...and it can be done...a few years ago...no, but now...yep.

 

Can you guys cheat using CUDA (to boost cpu score?)

 

Uhh, do any of the notebooks with an 8600M GT even support the X9000? Only specialized notebooks (all of them 17" gaming notebooks) can use it due to the increased power consumption and thermal load.

@lunateck: that takes all the fun out of it.

 

no way jose, legit 3dmark06 scores only.

 

I always use 3dmark06 demo, as you cannot change any setting, so everybody is judged the same!

I run`s at a default 1280x1024, but i only have an 1440x900 monitor, does this affect the results.

Or does it make no difference, as the result is based on what is run on the graphics card, and not what is shown on the screen.

thanks

 

I bailed out of my challenge because people will definatly be using improved cooling, i cant gurantee that the screens posted by the guy who is OCing are right or wrong.

 

I think it's already a blooming miracle that people are able to hit 6k with it. There is a limit to how far you can push it.

 

CUDA is already making that with Vantage.. some guys saw a 2k score leap over at tweakforce.com

 

You would definitely need to raise the voltage to achieve it, as you're pretty much at the limit of the best G84m chip at standart voltage with around 700Mhz. Which leads us to 2 new problems:
1. finding a way to mod the 8600 to higher voltage (which may be not so difficult for experts with a desktop card, but the 8600m has quite a different layout)
2. your power-supply will reach it's limit - most supplys are only 90W, if you raise both voltage and clock your power consumption will raise drastically!

(Currently still struggling to reach the 6k with my Asus G1s....I'm close ;D)

 

Just be a little bit careful. There is a limit to how far you can push these things before your hardware will start to fail on you.

 

yeah. its not just about heat watching.

 

anybody have an answer for my question?

 

Yes and the answer is yes there is a difference. 1440*900 has 1,296,000 pixels. 1280*1024 has 1310720 pixels.

It's simple really. Just plug your lappy into an external monitor. Any monitor like 17" (afaik) or bigger supports 1280*1024 res

 

the difference is minimal really.

 

It's still a couple hundred points different and goes against the rules of this (impossible) challenge.

But i do concede in real-life gaming there's hardly any difference.

 

First, 1280x1024 benchmarking can't be done by everyone, because many ppl have a notebook with a lower screen rez.

Second, I would not advise anyone to attempt reaching such high numbers, due to the risks involved in stressing the hardware that much.

Finally, even if you did reach those numbers, for a very very short while, this would be worthless since you could obviously not USE the crazy OC values for anything other than a short benchmark session. Otherwise, you'd fry the GPU.

So, in theory, the challenge is a fun idea, but in reality, attempting such a thing can cause more problems than it can solve.

 

driver will give out before your mobile gpu will....

 

strange, my monitor is saying it`s running at 1280x1024 when i press the menu button and it shows the setting, I did this while running 3dmark06demo.

But the NVidia control panel says my max resolution is 1440x900

what gives?

 

No driver issues john, the hardware tops out at about 685 core / 1000 memory. If you take the memory beyond that (1010 is okay on mine, but any further...) textures start swapping. If you take the core beyond that, pixels start flying. It's very interesting to see the hardware limits of them individually like that, and the resultant effects, but basically that's the hardware limit. Nothing to do with the driver.

I posted this on page three I think (though no one read it) but those are pretty much the stable limits if you actually want to game on the system, and that's pretty much the point of overclocking. So no one will be hitting 7000 marks unless someone finds the PLL for the motherboard so we can figure out a way to change the FSB. The 8600GT won't really go any further, it's up to the CPU from here onwards.

As a sidenote, while the 177.35 driver gives an extra ~100 marks, I've found it to be poor in actual gaming performance. In Q3A, there was an annoying issue where the refresh rate didn't seem high enough (felt like low FPS even though the FPS counter was high)... and in NFS Underground 2 the FPS was a good 10 lower than it should have been. I've switched back to 174.31, less in 3dmark, but better gaming performance. Again, it's what counts.