Envy 15 2nd Gen Benchmarks

Not noticing flickering. So far seem good, here is a comparrison of Vantage scores:

10.2
Vantage 550/1100 clock Score P5979 GPU 5197 CPU 10894
10.3 preview
Vantage 550/1100 clock Score P6125 GPU 5338 CPU 10953

Running Mark 06 now.

 

Well I ran 3D06 and at default it was 1 point less than the 10.2 driver 7986. With OC of 633/1127 I was able to get a 10,222 score.

The screen flickers seem to have gone away except during startup or restart. Getting a black screen flash during the 'windows swirly colored balls' and then a couple more times when the blue win7 backround screen loads right before loading my desktop screen. These are very quick 'flickers' of the whole screen which I'm sure weren't there before. Anyone else seeing this??

What does the install program due with the old driver and CCC versions? I'm wondering if there is some sort of conflict with the older drivers during loading. If I remember correctly the old desktop ATI updates recommended that you unistall all older versions before updating drivers, does this still apply?

 

????? So far they seem pretty decent. I still lock at 550/1100 in mark6 but will play around tomorrow as you suggested.

 

............. = quickest way for me to type 10 characters, lol. I forgot I was in the quick reply window when I restarted, when I reopened page I couldn't get out w/o typing somthing.

 

I uninstalled my old ATI driver and ugraded to 10.3 from strags and so far so good.

It will really be nice to have access to regular ATI updates from 10.3 and up. This is one area where Nvidia has had an advantage. I am also looking forward to seeing more apps using the ATI GPU for transcoding (compared to CUDA from Nvidia).

My laptop from work uses an ATI driver and HP is really bad about providing any GPU driver updates (driver updates is where Dell is definitely better overall).

 

Seems a lot of companies drag their feet in the driver area. I think its great AMD is going to start providing a Unified Desktop/Laptop driver set and has made the program "Opt-Out" as opposed to "Opt-In".

 

Well the new 10.3 drivers made quite an improvment on 3DmarkVantage, was able to break the P6500 level several times, max screens below. I believe I gained around 225 pts over the old drivers at same OC's.

Doesn't seem to make much difference on 3Dmark06, gained only about 25pts. to 10,222.

3DmarkVantage:



3Dmark06:

 

Yep I got over 6100 in vantage as well. I haven't tried as aggressive a OC as you tho, only 550/1100 so far, but maybe later will see just how much more I can do. Mark06 is still fussy and wants to lock at those clocks and haven't had a chance to try your suggestion about dropping the mem and upping the core....my other half won't take their grubby hands off my Envy.

All in all I am very pleased with the 10.3's, especially considering their just preview/beta's and not the finals. Using on both the laptop and my desktop with no issues noticed so far.

 

I agree, these drivers are pretty awesome. Though it did break one of my games, but it's not a big deal. At least the computer has stopped crashing altogether.

I've left SC2 beta running in the background all day, computer is completely solid.

 

I can only see one Hard Drive benchmark (dual SSD).
I would like to know if anyone have an Envy with only one SSD (2.5") and could run the bench. I'm trying to figure it out how much the dual Raid SSD setup is faster than Single SSD (like Intel G2, Vertex Limited Edition).

Thanks

 

I have "unraided" my dual SSD's. Here are before and after benches, RAID0 vs individual G2's;

RAID0:



Individual 160 G2 (C: Clean win7 pro insatall and drivers only (28GB):



C: with all apps (69GB) and 2 weeks heavy usage:




In real world use I do not notice any difference in the speed from RAID0 to non-RAID. There is also speculation that this benchmark does not provide accurate numbers on the 4K write test in RAID0, as you can see from the RAID0 numbers this should not be possible for 4K writes.


Edit: These are 1.8" drives. HP does not use the 2.5" versions.

 

Did you have to specify a profile for the benches to get the scor bump?

 

Here is how I ran the benchmarks. I used the windows high performance power plan. If you're really serious you can turn off all uneeded startup programs / services, anti virus and wifi / BT.

Reboot system;

Then I turn off 'power play' in CCC and move 3D slider to second from left plus turn on open GL 'triple buffering' (make sure catalyst A.I. is to the right) > apply, then open clock tool and set clocks, open benchmark and run...

 

I'd like to know if anyone play COD MW2 at 1920x1080 smoothly on the envy. Can it handle this resolution at higher settings or setting off?

 

3DMark06 gained almost 200 points for me at default clocks, from 7800 some to 7991. That's a 2.5% increase... a bit higher than the margin of error.

 

My question is whats better for gaming i5 Dual Core or i7 Quad Core?
On the configuration page for the GFX card it says GPU for i7-620M, Am I missing some thing because it does not have that CPU option.
Not sure which one to pick

 

Clock for clock, the i5/i7 Dual trounces the i7 Quad in Single Core and Dual Core gaming. However if you take account for programs that uses more than two cores, the Quad will win. Since most games are only starting to touch the Dual Core realm (and you got HT to give you a "third" core overall), the i5 will still be faster than running it with the i7 Quad in that regards. For true multitasking and CPU rendering power, the Quad takes the crown.

 

Why is the i7-620M not an option on the Envy even tho the "i7-620M" term comes up all over the Envys site. Just not an option for configuration.

 

Thanks JJB .. really great benchmarks .. you cover my question.

 

We really need to get some stock, non-overclocked benchmarks on the first post here. It's nice doing the drag races, but it'd be helpful for people to know what they're getting without any overclocks or anything. As a start, I get 7991 in 3DMark06 with the config in my sig and the Catalyst 10.3 betas.

 

Just had to install 3DMark06 because you called for it Pitabred! Have had my laptop for one and a half week now without installing it... guess the curiousity grew on me.

Anyway, I dunno where to upload any sceen dumps of it so you have to trust me. I did save them though just in case.

Non O/C'd with beta 10.3 drivers installed: 8104
O/C'd @ 550/1100: 9666

While overclocked the temps on the GPU were 71 / 70.5 / 70.5. I have never come this high running at the same clock while playing WoW.

I have a Core i7-720QM Envy for the record.

I did have some hefty stuttering while running 3DMark06 just like I have while playing in crowded areas. Dunno really how to get rid of them?

And I have to end this post with a question since I found out my memory (4 gig) is in single channel using both the 'hard to get to' memory slots). How much do having the memory in dual channel mode affect the performance?

If anyone knows, that is.

 

Well I got you by 1 pt LOL. Ran 3Dmark06 everthing at defualt (even CCC) and got 7992 with the 10.3 drivers. What's really strange is that I have notes from my first test runs when I got the machine showing I got 8050 at default with the stock drivers??

On a side note, I am still getting some strange screen flashes/flickers during startup since loading the 10.3 drivers. Specifically a quick screen flash (to black) when the windows 4 colored balls come together and then again a few flickers when the 'welcome screen' appears right before switching to my desktop screen (I boot right to my desktop, no UAC password etc.).

Have reinstalled 10.3 package with no change. Is anyone else seeing this issue???

Is there a way to completely uninstall all ATI / AMD software and drivers so I can try a 'clean' install of the new driver package?? I am thinking that there is a conflict during startup of some sort as I now have had 4 different 5830 drivers and 3 versions of CCC on this machine.

 

okay well at default I got 8147. I did a ton of oc tests and without shutting anything off the best I was able to do with mark06 was a clock of 570/1070 and a score of 9853.

 

Dunno. I've never gotten that high, so maybe it's something with one of the HP drivers, or it was just a really "clean" run. Sometimes that happens, 3DMark misreads something or whatnot.

I'm not seeing the issue myself. I'll try to keep a closer eye on it. As for removing drivers, try this: http://downloads.guru3d.com/Guru3D---Driver-Sweeper-(Setup)-download-1655.html

 

Thanks for the link, it got me started in the right direction. After using the app I found a lot of leftover ATI files and the older drivers still there so I bought this program for $10 ( http://www.drivercleaner.net/index.php) and it really worked well, it found an extra 1200+ files to remove. After that I ran CC & registry cleaner and another 200+ files gone... Reloaded 10.3 package and all I see is that driver (8.71.3...) and the generic VGA.

After all that I still have the flashes during startup

Oh well I did get a little performance boost and gained 500MB disk space...

Results; default everything 7997. Selective startup, wifi, virus scan etc off = 8035. Same with screen res @ 1280 x 1024 and CCC to max performance defaults 8066.

It appears I deleted the HDMI audio drivers by mistake, The drivecleaner program listed them under ATI so I removed them thinking it was part of the CCC 10.3 package but it didn't list that during install. Will test it later but if there gone I'm not sure if they are in the old SWsetup file ?

 

They should be part of the install. The official release will have them at a minimum.

 

Well the HDMI drivers were included but didn't install automatically, along with Avivo and the video transcoder. They all had setup files and installed when double clicked.

The HDMI installer was in an obscure place, you may want to check to see if it installed when you updated, here is the location:

C:\AMD\ATI_Win7_Vista_Catalyst10.3_Preview\Packages\Drivers\WDM\HDMICE

 

if i understand the configurations correctly....the i5 only supports 2 dimm slots of memory?

 

That's correct. You need i7 to get 4 slot and usb 3.0.

 

As per Pitabred's suggestion, I agree that we should get a "baseline" default settings benchmark list started on the opening page of the thread. It would be a good reference list not only for owners but potential buyers.

So here is a 3DmarkVantage defualt score for the i5-540m / 5830. High performance power plan and default CCC settings;

 

that kinda sucks...

 

Yeah, it does. I'd love to have 4 slots with my i5, but they're trying to segment the market. i7 = power users, i5 = general users. And as much of a power user as I am, I want the battery life of a general user, so I'll stick with the i5.

 

how is the i5 compared to the i7 in terms of photoshop and flash? i know those programs use a lot of RAM...

 

No clue. I mean, you can upgrade the i5 to up to 8GB of RAM, and that's a ton of memory in a mobile system. I don't have much call to use Photoshop or Flash. But really... don't lose sight of the forest for the trees. 4GB of RAM is still a ton of memory for most users.

 

and im assuming that the motherboard is different between the i5 and i7? or are they the same socket and i would be able to upgrade to an i7 in the future?

 

I had the i7-720qm and now the i5-540m. In photoshop CS4 the only thing that the i7 did better was very large batch processing (GB's) of images, and only if you did this as a 'select all' and start. In other words if you just selected a folder to batch process like normal the i7 only used 2 cores so it was slower than the i5, if you opened the folder and selected all then all 4 cores went to work and it was blazing fast.

In normal use with CS4 I think the i5 is equal to or even faster than the i7.

Edit: as far as I know they both use the same socket so should be upgradable.

 

interesting...might go the i5 route then...save a little...

looking at the wiki, they are the same socket, but whats preventing the core i5 from using 4 dimm slots? and whats with the two different GPU options when customizing?

 

FYI, your posting these questions on the Benchmarks thread, would be more appropriate on the 2nd gen owners lounge.

HP is what limits you to 2 Dimms by removing 2 slots from the mobo. As for the GPU option I am unclear as to why, they seem to perform the same and use the same memory, clocks and drivers.

 

I thought, based on someone elses post, that they didn't actually "remove" the slots. They just don't work if an i5 is installed. IIRC someone swapped out an i5 chip with an i7 and the other 2 slots did work but if they populated all 4 slots with the i5 installed system wouldn't boot.

 

The i5 models have only 2 slots, single high instead of doubles.

The person you mention I believe started with a i7 quad (4 slots) and changed to a i7-620 dual core, so he had 4 physical slots but only 2 would work for him. May not be the same person.... All I know is both my machines have 2 slots but the mobo has solder pads for all four slots.

I keep forgeting to ask, what the h*ll is IIRC ?

 

The layout for both i5 and i7 Envy is basically the same. There are 2 difference tho.
1. Envy i7 version comes with 4 slots of DDR3 ram while i5 only have 2 slots available.
2. Envy i7 version comes with NEC usb 3.0 controller and Intel usb 2.0 controller, while i5 only have Intel usb 2.0 controller.

They share the same socket, as many of us in this forum have proved. I personally upgraded my i7 Envy from 720QM to i7 620M. There is a major issue tho. on i5 part (i7 620M is the same as i5) only 2 of the 4 DDR memory slots is enabled. If any memories were in the other slots, it will cause the Laptop not to POST.

on other hand, from i5 to i7. you shouldn't encounter any problem. just remove the old cpu then replace it with your new i7 quad core.

 

i guess the downside is you're stuck with only two dimm slots if you start with the i5...

 

IIRC=If I Recall Correctly

@RaidenFX
Thanks for clearing that up. I forgot you had started with an i7 board. Somehow got it in my head you got the i5 board and then upped the proc to an i7 not that you tried to downgrade the cpu LOL

 

If anyone has Modern Warfare 2, what are the highest settings you can play Multiplayer on while retaining smooth gameplay?

 

I like how you upgraded from a 720 to 620. Quad Core to Dual Core.

On Paper seems like a downgrade. Unfortunate Intel would do such a thing.

I as well would like a 620. Wish it were available from HP.

So then how does the 820 compare. Is that an upgrade or downgrade to the 620 still?

 

I heard that was not possible to upgrade from i5-Based motherboard to any of the i7 Quads, as weird as it sounds since both Envy motherboards share the same socket and chipset, minus the USB 3.0 controller.

 

820 is faster than 620 in all benchmarks.

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Processors-Benchmarklist.2436.0.html

 

I think johnnobts upgraded 540 to 820.

 

sleey0 just sold his OEM 720QM after he said it won't work with an i5 Motherboard Envy 15. Hmmm...

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=461038

 

Has anyone tried under-volting the core i5s to get battery life?