Guide: Benchmark + Games testing on your new laptop...

Benchmarks & Games Guide:
how to perform some test to see how well our laptops handle games

First things first, the purpose.
There is a lot of new users coming, or just people browsing the forum, which dont really know how to dermine how fast/good is there new laptop compared to others. It would also best if we could compare our results on the same benchmarks/games in the same settings. I decided to write a small guide which will try to sort this out for everybody. I hope people will find it useful.

I decided to split the whole thing into quick test and more extensive test since not everybody has got a lot of time and bandwitch to waste to download some of the files.
Ive also prepared some guide how to use Fraps and Riva Tuner to get FPS from games.

Index:
[use search to find paragraphs, Ctr+F in IE and type in [-number of paragraph as displayed in index-]

[-1-] Quick Benchmarking
[-2-] Detailed Benchmarking
[-3-] Links
[-4-] Showing FPS in games
[-5-] Thread Updates/History




### [-1-] QUICK BENCHMARKING ###
If You dont want to know how all the bloatware influences Your gaming performance, and You dont really want to spent too much time on test use this guide.

Otherwise, to get better/more detailed results follow the Detailed Benchmarking guide.

Before we start:
!!! Make sure You use PERFORMANCE, NOT Quality setting for Your drivers !!!
[the guide how to do it will be added later, when I get some more time]
!!! Human eye sees things uninterrupted/smooth if it is displayed with at least 23FPS. !!!

Ok, so if You already had done the clean install of Your OS, have all the drivers needed, or dont really care that the bloatware that You get with You lap is slowing Your computer start with downloading files You don't have and need to perform the tests. [Scroll down for Links section]
Install everything.

We will start of with DX9.0 benchmark - 3D Mark 2005. All new graphic cards are DX backwards compatibile so a DX10 card is capable of running DX9 games and so on. Currently at the market there is just a few games being developed/designed for DX10, most of them still use DX9.

The test should be done with settings set up to:
Resolution 1024x768x32bit
Anti Aliasing - None
Texture Filtering - Optimal
Vertex & Pixel Shader Profile - 3.0, unless Your card supports only 2.0
Rest of setting should be turned OFF

For the purpose of this quick benchmark run just the GAME tests. You will be given a score in 3DMarks at the end. Of course higher is better. In detailed results You can se what is the average FPS [frames per second] rate in each game.

Next one is a 3D Mark 2006 capable of testing couple of new features avaiable for DX9 games like HDR lighting.
Use settings:
Resolution 1280x1024
Anti Aliasing - None
Texture Filtering - Optimal
Vertex & Pixel Shader Profile - 3.0
Rest of setting should be set to NO or OFF

Quickest test involves 3 different sets of tests. Graphic test, CPU Test and HDR Test. They will all determine Your 3DMark Score, yet most importnant for You is Graphic Test and HDR Test, as they show if graphic card is capable of playing new games that use DX9 features.

Now some game test.
For the Quick Benchmarking Ive chosen one game using DX9 [F.E.A.R] and one for DX10 [Bioshock]. You can always choose any of the games You want listed in links section, but those two are pretty good indicators for the games that are not yet released, as well as F.E.A.R has got its own built-in benchmark.

Before You start check Fraps Guide & Riva Tuner Guide.

F.E.A.R. & Bioshock Demo
Run the game and use Fraps or Riva Tuner to determine the FPS.
More detailed description will be added later... Sorry.

So You have completed the test and You should know how well does You new toy play current games.



### [-2-] DETAILED BENCHMARKING ###
If You want to know how all the bloatware influences Your gaming performance, and You want to spent more time on test use this guide. Otherwise, to get quicker results follow the Quick Benchmarking guide.


Before we start:
!!! Make sure You use PERFORMANCE, NOT Quality setting for Your drivers !!!
[the guide how to do it will be added later, when I get some more time]
!!! Human eye sees things uninterrupted/smooth if it is displayed with at least 23FPS. !!!

Since You are reading this You want to see what difference does it make for Your lap to have a nice clean OS, without any bloatware.
Well, it does. To see how much You will need to perform two series of benchmarks, first before formating Your HDD (or System Partition) and installing fresh Windows and second after that. Also it is obvious that best results are achieved on tweaked system, without running unnecessary programs, on defragmented HDD and so on.
So to compare how much bloatware affects Your computer follow this guide and than do it again after You have reinstalled Windows and have done all the necessary tweaking.


Of we go then. Get files You need - Links section.

We will start of with DX9.0 benchmark - 3D Mark 2005. All new graphic cards are DX backwards compatibile so a DX10 card is capable of running DX9 games and so on. Currently at the market there is just a few games being developed/designed for DX10, most of them still use DX9.

The test should be done with settings set up to:
Resolution 1024x768x32bit
Anti Aliasing - None
Texture Filtering - Optimal
Vertex & Pixel Shader Profile - 3.0, unless Your card supports only 2.0
Rest of setting should be turned OFF

You CAN, but don't need to run all the test. Running GAME tests will be enough to give You a score, yet running those extra test wont lower/rise Your scores.

You will be given more detailed information though.
You will be given a score in 3DMarks at the end. Of course higher is better. In detailed results You can se what is the average FPS [frames per second] rate in each game.


Next one is a 3D Mark 2006 capable of testing couple of new features avaiable for DX9 games like HDR lighting.
Use settings:
Resolution 1280x1024
Anti Aliasing - None
Texture Filtering - Optimal
Vertex & Pixel Shader Profile - 3.0
Rest of setting should be set to NO or OFF

Same as with earlier version. If You wish run all the tests. Quickest one involves 3 different sets of tests. Graphic test, CPU Test and HDR Test. They will all determine Your 3DMark Score, yet most importnant for You is Graphic Test and HDR Test, as they show if graphic card is capable of playing new games that use DX9 features.

Time for CinemaBench. It is software from company that makes Cinema4D, amazing quality and realistic rendering software. This software will run couple of test, first testing Your CPU [also multi-core performance] and than Your graphic card, or its OpenGL performance. Scores are given in CB points. Higher is better of course


Lets try some games than.
Before You start check Fraps Guide & Riva Tuner Guide.

Demo games from the Links section need Fraps or Riva Tuner to determine the FPS.
Choose couple of games for DX9 and DX10 and see what Your graphic card can do.

If You have access to full version of F.E.A.R. You can do this test as well and skip the Demo:
Run the game, keeping the performance settings for Your graphic card. Set in-game resolution to Your native screen resolution (same as desktop) and minimum quality settings and go to Options, Performance, Test Settings. That will run the test based on settings You have choosen for the game [resolution, detail type, etc]. It will give You minimum, average and maximum FPS rate. Also You will be given a distribution of FPS, it is best to keep the <25 FPS value to minimum for further game playing. For the purpose of this guide and further comparision it is best to run few test to get the best playable quality for Your config. Play around with resolution, quality settings, AA [the higher the resolution the less AA You really need] and Anizo settings in Your graphic card settings to get better quality.

This section of the guide will be developed more when more DX10 demos will be avaiable [like Crysis, Assasin's Creed]


### [-3-] LINKS ###
[bold names of files are suggested/required to perform either Quick or Detailed test]

For latest drivers for Your graphic card check this thread:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=64910
!!! Note!: newest drivers aren't always best! I wont suggest any version or release as this will be changing in time.

3D Mark 2005 v.1.3.0 ~290MB
go to: http://www.futuremark.com/download/3dmark05/ and scroll down, there is plenty of mirrors to choose from

3D Mark 2006 v.1.1.0 ~580MB
go to http://www.futuremark.com/download/3dmark06/ and scroll down, there is plenty of mirrors to choose from

CinemaBench R10 ~60MB
direct link: ftp://ftp.maxon.net/pub/benchmarks/CINEBENCHR10.zip

Fraps 2.9.2 ~1MB
Direct link: http://www.fraps.com/setup.exe

Riva Tuner 2.03 ~2.2MB
go to http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=163 click 'Download Now' and agree to term & conditions.

F.E.A.R. Single Player Demo DX9 ~650MB
go to http://www.gamershell.com/download_10167.shtml select Your mirror and wait 10 sec to start downloading

Bioshock Demo DX10 ~1.85GB
go to http://www.gamershell.com/download_20697.shtml select Your mirror and wait 10 sec to start downloading

Half-Life 2 Demo DX9 ~750MB
go to http://www.gamershell.com/download_7886.shtml select Your mirror and wait 10 sec to start downloading

Half-Life 2: Lost Coast HDR technology demo ~100MB
available to download from Steam
more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half-Life_2:_Lost_Coast [thanks to Envision for that one!]

Command & Conquer 3 Tiberium Wars Demo DX9 ~1.20GB
go to http://www.gamershell.com/download_17978.shtml select Your mirror and wait 10 sec to start downloading

Medal of Honor: Airborne Demo DX9 ~1.27GB
go to http://www.gamershell.com/download_20718.shtml select Your mirror and wait 10 sec to start downloading

Overclocking Your ATi card Guide:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=124420

### ALL LINKS WORKING AT THE TIME OF POSTING ###


### [-4-] Showing FPS in games ###

Follow my other guide here and choose method that suits You best.


### [-5-] Release notes ###

Guide Version: 1.1 beta
Guide created: 13/09/2007
Last edited: 18/09/2007

Last changes in v.1.1 beta:
- added guides [link to my seperate thread] to show FPS in games,
- couple of layout changes

######################################

 

nice one, mate! +rep

 

A really small update, but You can now configure 3 different programs to show FPS in games. Check the guide [separate thread] http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=170472

 

Don't forget to mention MobileMark05(WINXP only)07 available for Vista, PCMARK05, SuperPI, WPrime, &HDtune

 

This is purely gaming benchmarking thread. We are not interested in results from benchmarks mentioned by You, yet everybody testing overall performance should bear in mind them. Thanks!