GeForce Go 7950GTX - High End Card, My Arse!

This is my second rant (first one here) since purchasing the following notebook around 2 months ago:

Dell XPS M1710
C2D 2.16Ghz
2GB Ram
512MB 7950GTX
WUXGA Truelife
120GB 5400RPM
Vista Home Premium 32bit

I paid £1600 odd (inc 3 yr onsite warranty and insurance which, incidentally, was cheaper than any clevo type offering here in the UK) for this machine and frankly, given the price tag, the rave reviews and the general hype surrounding the card on, not only this, but other forums as well (i.e. the billion 7950gtx vs 8700GT threads), I should be forgiven for expecting a little more than the following results:

Bioshock
Though I managed to get this to work initially at 1680x1050 and then later at 1280x800 with a different driver, it's since been unplayable at any resolution and at any quality setting, regardless of driver. Framerates are typically 10-20fps.


GRAW2
Unplayable at any resolution and quality setting. Framrates: 10-15fps.


R6 Vegas
Again unplayable at any resolution and quality setting. Framerates: 10-20fps.


MOH: Airborne
Unplayable even at medium with nil post processing at 1680x1050 and 1920x1200. Framerates: 10-18fps
At 1280x800, medium and nil p/p, framerates fluctuate dramatically between 45fps and 15fps, resulting in a quite nauseating gaming experience. Adjusting to high settings with full p/p gives similar, if not slightly worse results.


Call of Duty 4 Demo
Much like MOH, framerates dip and rise far too often making gameplay difficult. Settings are all at high, no shadows, 4AA and a resolution of 1440x900. Lowering resolution/quality only decreases performance. Framerates fluctuate wildly between 20 and 60fps.

Quake 4
I was expecting to be able to run this on "Ultra Quality" at 1900x1200. However I get about 15-20fps. Lowering to "High Qualty" allows for 50-60fps. Not bad, but reviews suggest a lot better. I've have the game patched to allow dual core support.


Unreal Tournament 3 Demo
With details set to 5, post processing set to "Intense" and a resolution of 1440x900, I get an average fps of about 30. Unfortunately this does not equate to a steady 30fps, as far too often the game drops to around 18fps, again making for a ****ty gaming experience. Lowering the quality and/or resolution only reduces performance further!


Crysis Beta MP Demo 3
I'm apparently contracted to keep quiet, but hey, take a guess!


Clive Barker's Jericho Demo
At 1280x800 and high settings, full motion blur, no AA i get between 20-30fps. Hardly exceptional stuff.


Oblivion
This game will always (any resolution/quality setting) drop to 20fps during fights and then return to 30-60fps during the scenic walkabouts!


Far Cry
High Settings, no AA at 1680x1050 - I get 20-40fps!


Brian Lara Cricket 2007
At 1680x1050, high settings but no AA, i get 20-40fps. Expected a lot better!


Just to clarify, I have tried a variety of drivers (including Dell stock drivers, those found at laptopvideo2go and also the tweakforce drivers) but, in terms of fps, not witnessed any notable advantage of using one over another. Certain drivers did give Bioshock a nice boost (fps > 40) but this was short lived as the game promptly returned to 15fps thereafter:S

List of drivers that I have tried: dell stock, 156.55, 163.44, 163.67, 163.69 and 163.75 (lv2g and tweakforce).

Where possible, I have also patched the games with the official updates.

By "any resolution" I refer to these: 1280x800, 1440x900, 1680x1050 and 1920x200

These results were obtained with the system plugged into the mains whilst on a "High Performance" power mode/setting.

Oddly, I also get the following results with any driver:

Counterstrike: Source
1920x1200, high settings, 2AA - 60+fps.


Battlefield 2
1920x1200, high settings, 4AA - 60+fps


Company of Heroes
1920x1200, high settings, no AA - 40-60fps


Virua Tennis 3
1920x1200, high settings, 4AA - 60+fps


Pro Evolution Soccer 7 Demo
1920X1200, Max settings - 60+fps


Quake Wars
1920x1200, high settings, no AA - locked at 30fps, no slow downs whatsoever.


F.E.A.R
1920X1200, high settings, 2AA - 40-60fps


I feel pretty gutted having splashed out so much on this machine. It's failed to live up to its reputation and, most irritating of all, it seems that quite a few 8600GT owners appear to be getting better performance from their machines at the same resolution. In terms of gaming, I don't see this notebook lasting the 3-4 years that some posters had so confidently touted...


If anyone can help turn this around, I'm all ears...

cheers

 

Yeah, get different drivers, 163.75 or 163.69

 

I have tried both those drivers and have now updated my original post to include a list of the drivers that I have tried so far.

Thanks

 

It's not that the go7950GTX is crappier than the 8600M GT. It's that there seems to be something wrong with your laptop. If you can't get good performance with any drivers while plugged in and everything set to maximum performance (or equivalent), contact dell. But before that, try a fresh install of windows (without all the dell crap that comes with).

 

Well, as you can see from above, some (if somewhat older) games do run very well, which only confuses the matter.

I'll certainly consider contacting Dell, but as a last resort. I'm not too keen on re-installing Windows at this stage. What "dell crap" could be hindering my notebook's performance?

thanks

 

I don't know. What comes with it pre-installed? The things that OEM's install could affect performance quite a bit. I don't know what kinda bloatware comes with a XPS though.

 

there is certainly a problem with your lap...because i can get better or similar fps with my 8600mgt...

 

I see what you mean. When I received the notebook, I found a list of Dell bloatware on this board and I removed them accordingly.

 

Can I ask with which games?

 

Many of the games you listed are quite new (and thus, require more power) and/or are very unoptimized (R6: Vegas, Oblivion, GRAW 2, etc. perform horribly on just about every system).

However, I think there might be something wrong, because some of the games you listed should be running much better than you stated.

Far Cry: 1920x1200, max settings (except no AA) gets me a pretty constant 90 FPS (sometimes dropping to 60 or so with a lot of action).

MOH: Airborne Demo: 1280x800, 0xAA, max settings (except maybe shadows?) got me about 30-40 FPS.

Bioshock: 1280x800, 0xAA, max settings gets me a pretty steady 40 FPS.

Quake 4: I don't have the full game (and Ultra Quality isn't in the demo), but I can run Doom 3 (same engine) at 1920x1200 at Ultra Quality and get a pretty steady 60 FPS.

UT3 Demo: Sounds about right (I play 1280x800, max settings and get around 30 fps). It's a new game, and the Go 7950 GTX is now a pretty old card, technology-wise (based on the G71 architecture (7900-series) that was released in early 2006.)

All of this is with the 163.75 drivers for 32-bit Vista. Your Far Cry results are particularly odd - that's an old game and should be running exorbitantly well.

One thing: make sure that you aren't forcing Vsync or AA via the control panel or something - for some reason the Go 7950 GTX doesn't seem to like AA very much (my old desktop x1800xt handled it much better), and it tends to kill the framerate for me. Fortunately, at 1920x1200 on a 17" screen, AA isn't too necessary.

 

the 7950gtx is definitely higher than a 8600gt, its about 2 steps higher, just with no DX10. Something is causing issues for you.

Heat throttling or driver corruption are my first 2 guesses.

 

I second, or third that notion. With Far Cry and my 8600M GT, I use the same resolution with all settings on max and some AA and AF and I get mid-30s fps constantly. You really should be kicking my ass with fps there.

 

My system is almost identical to yours except I have a 7200RPM HDD and Vista Ultimate.

I can run most of my games (C&C3, Medieval 2 total war, etc...) 1920x1200 with medium to high settings. Also BioShock run well with everything on high, 1280 x 800 with AA on. No OC btw.

I would check to make sure vista defrag is not running in the background, indexing is completed not running, try disabling anti-virus program, and generally make sure the notebook is idle and minimize any unnecessary programs/ services running in the background.

Have you tried/considered reinstall Windows anew and only install the necessary drivers?

 

Cheers for the response

I'm afraid I don't know if defrag is running. I checked the utility and its scheduled to run once a week. As for the indexing, how do I go about checking/changing that?

Not tried reinstalling yet. I have very little experience with Vista and don't want to risk ****ing up the system

 

Thanks Joga, I'll take a look at the control panel now. The difference in Far Cry fps between our systems is rather shocking!

 

Definitely try doing a fresh install.. it may be intimidating, but it is actually quite easy to do and if done right won't take that long. After that, install the drivers suggested by the thread. If you still aren't getting good results, try giving Dell a call. If all else fails, overclock.

 

I think if vista defrag is set to run on schedule and you missed it (i.e. your notebook is off), it'll run when you next turn it on. It can take several hours.

As for indexing, you can find it under Control Panel\System and Maintenance, or just search for Indexing Options under the start menu search. Indexing usually runs for a short while after you install a game to index all those game data.

It's quite easy to tell if either defrag, indexing or anything else are accessing the HDD that might affect the gaming performance. just make sure the HDD light (the one next to the Power LED on the right hinge) isn't flashing like crazy before you start a game.

 

What tha fu** are you guys talking about ?

right now i have UT3 minimized, 3 minutes ago i was playing at 45 FPS, at 1280x1024 WITH Post Processing Intense, Hardware physics ON, screen percentenge 100, screen detail 5, texture detail 5, V-SYNC ON

No OC (standard 575 / 700)

Windows VISTA 64 Bits and 163.71

I will test now with higher resolution...

Post a notebook GPU that can do better then this ?



EDIT (10 minutes Later)


Right now i minimized again, i test the UT @ 1920x1200 Post Processing Intense, Hardware physics ON, screen percentenge 100, screen detail 5, texture detail 5, V-SYNC ON

Amazing 25 to 35 fps (go lower than 25 once when i push that mantra (strange fling machine) to full) I was runnig with OC (620/800) 3 minutes after start some artifacts apear. so i will low i bit the oc maybe 610 / 760

EDIT (25 MINUTES LATER)

I run at 1920x1200 with oc at 610/765 with no Artifacts at a constant 18 to 25 fps...

If this not enougth for you, what is ? (for a 3.95Kg laptop / non Sli)

I am running with a Infinite Cooler Master under my lappie... I cant mesure the temps under 64 bits vista (if anayone can help me with this i appreciate)

 

Welcome to Windows Vista.

I know you want to stick with Vista but just for kicks i'd recommend you to install XP on a 5gig partition by dual booting and try it out just to compare. Oh, and as far as Vista gaming goes, Vista = slow and stuttery, XP = quick and smooth. This is all on my Go 7900 GS. The framerates you get i easily top out in XP with the same settings.

 

Hi, i feel your confusion

I have the exact same system except i'm running on Windows XP. I found this thread through google because I was looking for people with the same problem regarding the UT3 beta demo.

I'm getting +- 40 fps on medium settings ( level 3:world - texture) and res on 1280*800 with regular framedrops to +/-19 fps.

I felt this wasn't really normal so I tried the 163.76 drivers from http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/drivers since dell hasn't updated their drivers since april.
But for one strange reason even the new drivers didn't help at all regarding performance...

I really want to find out what's ****ing up my system because I think my XPS is underperforming. I do have to say I haven't played any other recent games (MOH/ COD/Bioshock/etc..) so I don't know performance in those games . But seriously, this can't be normal, can it?

 

Vista xp gap is shrinking to nill. Especially on newer games designed with vista in mind their are basically no differences in performance.

 

You should check out my mini gaming review of my Sager NP5790 with the 7950GTX. I updated it with a few newer games and I'm pretty happy with the performance.

 

so were you able to play oblivion on max settings? with aa on (or just hdr?)? and at what resolution?

 

I don't have Oblivion anymore (gave it to a friend overseas after finishing the game) so I can't test that out.

 

If I can play new games at 1920x1200 with my old 7800GTX... then the 7950GTX should get 25-35% more performance.

Look at my Oblivion, Crysis Beta, UT3 Demo vids and pics (with RivaTuner OSD to display my FPS and temps).

I wish I had a 7950GTX... it would definitely make the difference between Medium to High/Max Settings in a game for me to play at native 1920x1200.

AA is not that important to my notebook with such a high resolution on a 17" screen size (as compared to a desktop with a 24" LCD thats got 1920x1200.

 

you know thats actually a good point...aa is meant to "smooth" things out no? then with higher resolution there should be no need for aa? anywho, does your oblivion run at max settings on 7800gtx? (everything turned up like tree fade, etc)...with no aa.

 

yup my Oblivion runs at High/Ultra High settings at 1920x1200.

25+ FPS for outdoor
35+ FPS for indoor

 

you should probably do a system restore to see if you can get back the framerates you used to have. If that doesn't work then contact dell for a new laptop

 

Its all about the optimization of the system and the drivers (stock to tweaked).

 

clean install of vista always helps

 

My suggestion:

XP + 169.xx
Works like a charm



The only reason that you should get Vista is DX10. The 7950GTX doesn't support DX10 so why have Vista

BTW all those games that run bad you mentioned are all inefficient and run badly on all systems, including mine (I can testify for GRAW2, and thats with SLi)

 

Thanks for all your suggestions guys (and gals, if any!).

I think I'll do this. Will I have to remove my current vista installation in order to do this?

I'll let you know if I find a solution.

 

Installing XP after Vista gave me quite some headaches. Vista does not like XP (I could not get XP to boot or finish installing). Normally you'd want to install XP first, and then Vista afterwards, which should be no problem. I suggest removing Vista by formatting your hard drive during XP setup. Although there are some guides to help install XP after Vista out there.

 

Hi Guys,

I have stumbled accross this thread after googling "GeForce Go 7950GTX graphics card is W*NK!"...

Basically, I have a Dell XPS M1710, Vista 32bit, 2gb RAM, 120GB 5400rpm, 7950GTX blah blah blah..

I am by no means computer literate, but after reading through this thread i have discovered a number of similarities between a few people on here and myself.

I have just bought MOH:Airbourne, and to say I am disappointed with the gameplay is an understatement, even on the lowest settings there is far too much lag for my liking - even on 1280 x 1024 on all lowest settings its unplayable.

My problem is, I cant decipher through all your chat what to do about the situation!! Does anyone have a link to something i can just click on and download something, and make all my problems go away?

on another note, C&C3 on max res works ok, but still suffers from slowdown in big battles.

yours truly,

Chris

aka "£1600 down with a laptop that wont play new games"

 

It seems you have two option: Either reformat (which is a very good idead) or call dell.

 

reformat is not really an option (I dont have anything to back all my photography/music on) and i have taken off all the crap that Dell put on it with decrapifier. What would re-installing Vista do?

Call Dell? who di i speak to and what could they do? i bought it from a PC shop on Ebay as oppose to buying it straight from Dell - would they offerr the same amount of support?

This is really depressing as i wanna play my new medal of honour game! im gonna start stamping my feet soon...

 

You could partition a piece of your HDD, drag the stuff you want to save there, and then re-install. There might be something somwhere that's limiting your performance. You'll get rid of it. And if it's still not performing up to scratch, you can return it, or change it or something.

 

@2low4u,

Did you install the latest patch for MOH:A?

Mike.

 

how was it a problem? all u gotta do is put the cd in and then boot from it. (vista will already have a partition assigned for itself, and all u'll have to do is install xp on a different one, right?)that's how i did it all my life, i believe.

 

No Mike i havent yet, on the website it says that the latest patch only fixes a few bugs, and not driver related issues, i will do this as soon as i have finished typing this sentence and get back to you guys if its made a difference.

 

Oh Doh, I forgot to ask you what driver you're using?

That would probably make a difference. lol.

 

which driver? for the graphics card? and how do i find out which my current driver is?

I apologise for my computer illiteracy in advance!

thanks for your patience and help.

Chris

 

Vista uses a new kind of boot loader, which is where the problems come in. If you install XP after Vista, it overwrites the new boot loader which won't support Vista. Anyway just google for "install xp after vista" for more information

 

After reading through these posts, I whole heartly agree with Fabratti:either install XP or call Dell. You did in fact state that you paid for a 3 year on-site warranty. Correct? I would take full advantage of that and stop f**king around with different drivers and this and that.

My brother in law has the same laptop, and he faces the same issues in XP as well: I can play Crysis maxed out on my desktop and he has to scale it back and it is still choppy. The 7950GTX is a bad *ss card, but newer games are requiring more and more horsepower. Especially to run it at native resolutions on that high res screen.

 

This world is completly lost...

 

Hello again... i've been busy tweaking UT3 myself and have been quite succesfull at it. I'm running UT3 now in combination with Forceware driver 163.76 with the modified INF from http://www.laptopvideo2go.com. It's the only one for me that actually worked! Every other driver I tried (5 in total...) gave me crashes/spontaneous reboots after installation. The driver does give an error about SLI when you install it but once you restart windows it works fine.

I'm having +/- 80-100 fps on average and it goes to 50 fps at lowest on 1440 *900. Great improvement if I say so myself... . For me personally it's all about performance in UT multiplayer but I guess you can run on some higher settings and still get 50 frames on average.

Here's an example on how it looks with my settings:



If you're interested in my UTengine.ini file, just say so and i'll upload it somewhere for you.

I hope the drivers help!

grtz

 

MOHA works perfectly on my system with a 7950GTX with XP without any patching. I play it at max settings with sound on medium and get around 30-60fps. And of course I am always updating my graphics drivers.

 

You have XP, I have Vista.

Anyone with any more suggestions on how i can get to play this bloody game?

 

I guess if you lower the res. it will perform better and AA isnt too necessary...

And its not a recent card man... 8800M is on the horizon

 

If you lower the res AA is even more necessary.