Low 3DMARK06 with 8600m GT DDR3

I ran 3DMARK06 on my XPS m1530 (factory clocked). This was the result:

3DMARK06: 3725

System Specs:
Intel Core 2 Duo T5450
1 GB RAM
120 GB 5400RPM Hard Drive
256MB 8600m GT DDR3

People here got mid-4000 to low-5000 scores on their machines. Does that mean CPU and RAM have a huge effect on 3D performance?

 

It`s ok, since you have that CPU.
Nobody gets low 5000s with a factory 8600M GT, this is 8700MGT territory.With OCing,you might get that far.

3dmark tests only the cpu and gpu, RAM has no impact.

 

Stock GDDR3 8600m GT scores right around ~3700. That's the score it's supposed to get. The inflated scores are with OCing and whatnot.

 

You are getting scores better than average. Anyone with higher scores is not running the test at standardized 3DMark06 resolution 1280x1024. That or they are overclocking.


On the other hand, with so little ram, I am amazed you get a score that high!

 

Try 2GB RAM and 169.09 drivers and see where you are. Plus if you overclock a bit you can get into the low to mid 4000's. At a minimum though, try running with updated drivers as they make a significant difference in performance.

I have DDR2 400MHz RAM on my 8600m GT and with overclocking to 600MHz GPU / 500 MHz RAM I get about 4200 3DMark06 with 169.09 drivers.

Your CPU shouldn't make much difference. If you look at the overall 3DMark06 score it only comprises a few hundred overall points of the total. So the difference between a 1.7GHz and 2.2GHz CPU will only affect the end score by 100 points max.

 

With DDR2 8600m gt, someone on these very forums got 5400+ for his 3Dmark06 score with overclocking on 1280x800.

I'll post up the link in a sec

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=213328&page=2

-edit: 1280x800 is native, and it's actually 5900+!!

 

Id be afraid of melting my laptop.

 

haha that's actually what I fear, though, he said it is stable and creates little excess heat... but we'll see.

 

That 5900 means nothing. His O/C isn't much more than mine (He has 621 MHz GPU / 500 MHz Mem - I have 600 MHz GPU / 500 MHz Mem). 1280x1024 is the default/standard resolution that all results are compared with, not 1280x800.

Kind of like comparing one car's 0 to 60 mph time with another's 0 to 40 mph time.

 

It's kinda like comparing a car that weighs 10 tons to a car that weighs 5 tons, but both with the same engine. The heavier (higher res) performs lesser because of its extra baggage, while the 5 ton performs better.

-edit: and yes, 5900+ is much higher than 4200.

 

No, it's actually just like htwingnut said, scores at resolutions other than 1280x1024 aren't standard, and comparing them is futile.

I'm sure I could run 3DMark06 at 1x1 and get a 10 billion score with a GM 950.

 

In which case your car would weigh a lb.

I stick by my statement. I could go slightly more in depth, though.

The weight comes from extra comforts, you know, whatever you want, like rims and a stereo system, 10 plasma screen tvs, whatever the hell else is weighing down your massive rig.

That's the price. You get faster fps for less graphics.

That's the comparision between resolutions.

You can't run games in 1x1 so you can't go ahead and say that. You can (sometimes) run games in 1200x800.

 

I get 5673 at 600/1200/900. At 1280x800 though.

 

Let me mention that I was using a screen resolution of 1440x900 for the 3DMARK06 and not the default 1280x1024.

 

So anyway, i just tried out the intimidating Crysis demo on my m1530 (specs mentioned on first post).

The game was practically unplayable beyond 800x600 at low setting, and even then it was choppy. Also loading time took forever, and the crytek2 engine stopped responding several times.

What part of my system responsible for such poor performance ?!

 

Could be the RAM?? Even tough it seems strange. Check this guy thread, his first post is very good: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=209066

Also, I have almost his configuration, but Vostro 1500 (meaning 8600m GT DDR2) and I could get 18-30 in the demo of Crysis using what he used for settings.

 

is your notebook on batteries?

if it is, it lowers the clocks on the gpu

 

My notebook was plugged in on high performance when I played Crysis.

Maybe the cpu is the problem since I heard Crysis is pretty cpu intensive.

 

no i can play the demo with all high settings with medium or low shaders at 1024x768 and get 30 fps averageand i have a 1.5ghz core 2 duo . my 8600m gt is overclocked and im using 169.09 drivers.

 

You only have 1 gb of ram, my friend. Bump it up to 2, at least, especially if you have vista.

 

Wow I would be surprised if an extra gig of ram would make up for my less than stellar performance (although I was planning to upgrade anyway). Should I perhaps upgrade my cpu to a T7500 (if dell lets me).

 

Ok,


How in Sammity F&%$ did you guys OC your laptop, especially the 1530 8600M GT. I have been trying to do some mild OCing and have downloaded the drivers from Laptop2go and all but no luck. What am I doing wrong? I know this has to be operator error sooooooo..... if anyone has OCed a Dell, particularly the Dell 1530 then let me know and hit me up on aim, hell I'll even give some money via paypal. Let me know as I have ask this on 4 other forums and no one has an answer. Thanks

 

AegisBMD,
what do you mean by no luck, the clock sliders just won't stay or your card just doesn't OC very well.

If it is the previous one, then there are some 16x.xx drivers that can't OC, get 169.21 the latest XP WQHL driver or 169.32 for Vista.

 

^^^^


what I'm saying is that I haven't been able to load the drivers with the modified INF file, but when the install wizard begins a message pops up basically telling me that it can not install the drivers cause it can't detect the hardware, but from I read the INF replacement should take care of that. Another message that I get is that the program will not continue with installation because its not Vista 32bit even though I'm running Vista 32 and the drivers I downloaded are for Vista 32bit, I'm not dumb. Anyways hope this clears up a little what i was trying to say. Thanks again.


Anyone with a 1530 OC their 8600M GT yet? If you have let me know.

 

Is OC'ing safe?

 

No, OCing is not safe, there's always the risk of overheating/frying the card. Additionally, OC puts stress on the card, which can cause the equipment to fail prematurely. However, a well tested, and cared for OC machine will still last it's life time, the other parts of your laptop will probably broke down before your GPU reach the end of its life.

 

^^^


Alright, well I knew someone would come along and say that its not safe to OC. I know the risk and I have been OCing for many years now. I have placed artic silver on my 7700 and GPU and planning on lappying the copper heatpipe, not sure though. anyways, all i would like to do is mildly OC. Can someone help?? Thanks

 

Sooooo anyone know if my system spec match my performance?

 

Not on an Dell 15.4''. The card runs about 65C load with stock clocks. The laptop can tolerate the card at 95-100C easily

 

Call of Duty 4
1280x800, highest settings, 0-17 fps

Crysis
800x600, medium settings, 0-16 fps

What am I doing wrong? Need help...

System Specs:
xps m1530
t5450
1gb ram
8600m gt ddr3

 

You may need more RAM, especially if you're using Vista. Also, your CPU seems a bit slow.

 

i would get more ram. i bet half of yours is taken up by vista alone.

 

Get 2 GBs of RAM at the very least.

 

with todays prices - i'd say go for two 2gb sticks!