QUESTION TO DV6t-70xx OWNERS! 650m GPU PERFORMANCE?

I received my dv6t-7000 two days ago. I was under the impression (before buying) that I would be able to play starcraft 2 on high settings at 60+ FPS after reading this: NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M - Notebookcheck.net Tech

Whenever I play, however, I get 40 or less FPS.

Is this because I have a Full HD (1920x1080) screen and notebookcheck's tests were run on a lower resolution (maybe, idk what resolution they used)? Or does that fact that their gpu was 2gb while mine is 1gb make the difference? (though I didn't think it would)

Any ideas/suggestions/input is greatly appreciated!!

Thanks.

 

This is the setting they used for benchmarking Starcraft 2..

 

The extra memory of the 2GB GPU would not affect the results in a meaningful way.

 

It does if you run high resolution textures.

 

So that website classes low/med/high/ultra by resolution and not by in-game settings? What in game settings do they use then?

 

Oh never mind, I found the answer. Their "ultra" setting includes everything at ultra - the resolution (1080p 1920x1080 res), in-game settings maxed, highest AA possible, highest AF possible, etc.

Not a very good testing method, especially for lower/mid-range cards because a lot of the values for modern games are going to be in the red. Getting some medium/high setting values would have been nice, but I suppose including so many settings would be unfeasible.

 

The sensors tab in GPU-Z will show you how much video memory is being utilized over a period of time. It can also log this info to a file. You could use this to determine how much video memory your resolution and settings are using when playing your favorite game.

If your'e running at full HD resolution with high AA/AF options, and it consistently is pegged at 1GB, that would be a sign you could benefit from a 2GB card.

Granted, there are only a few games today that really benefit from more than 1GB of video memory. But if your buying a new system today, and have an expectation that you want it to last somewhere in the range of 2-4 years, I can't see not getting the 2GB card for an extra 50.00.

My 2 cents.

 

Even still, i should be able to get 37 fps with ultra settings/1080p and i get 22-25. I just want to know if i got a baD gpu or not

 

First off, In the two days you've had the laptop, have you performed any optimization on the system, or is it as received from HP? If it is as received from HP, it has the HP bloatware on it and isn't performing at its potential.

I would follow the steps outlined in this thread to clean the system up, (minimal install), as well as following the optimization guides in step-5.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-compaq/432564-hp-laptop-out-box-guide-2-0-windows-7-a.html

Regarding the framerates you listed for starcraft 2, and the link to the notebookcheck.com page, make sure the resolution your testing with matches the resolutions listed in this thread by xacid9. If your running your tests at full HD (1920x1080) this will be a factor in your results (lower frame rates) vs the resolutions the review of the GT 650M was tested using.

Also note the specs on the system they used for benchmarking listed below. You can see they are using an Intel i7 3720QM. You don't list your system specs, but i'm assuming your using the i7 3710QM, which is a slower processor and will also have an affect on your results. If your system doesn't match this system specs wise exactly, its like comparing apples to oranges. In this case, all things are not equal.

REFERENCE SYSTEM SPECS FOR STARCRAFT 2 BENCHMARKS

M73-2O
Intel Core i7 3720QM 2.6GHz
GeForce GT 650M (735MHz), 2048MB (1000MHz) GDDR5,
Optimus, ForceWare 295.93
8192MB RAM

I would also run 3dmark 11 and compare your results to the results they list to determine where your system is in that benchmark compared to the results they posted on that page. Note that they are using a 1280x720 resolution for that benchmark.

Hope this helps you get things worked out and headed in the right direction.

Les.

 

I ran 3dmark 11 and results seem correct (23xx ish for graphics). I guess this GPU just isnt as good as I thought it would be?

PS. When I run SC2 on LOWEST settings I get 57 fps.... That's ridiculously low. I used to have a nvidia gts 360m that would run SC way better than this. =[

 

57fps does sound lower than what you should be getting. The GT 650M is significantly faster than the GTS 360M.
I'd download GPU-Z and make sure that the GPU is clocking properly (~800mhz) while you're running SC2.

 

Whats the best way to run a game and look at the clock speed? alt-tabbing? or windowed mode?

 

This might sound obvious and stupid but,
are you absolutely sure that the 650M is being used when you're running the game and not the integrated graphics?

I can't remember if switchable graphics is a function with the 650M but if it is sometimes that functionality is faulty with some games and you have to turn on the GPU manually.

 

Yes, it has switchable graphics. I am 99% sure that the 650m is being used, though I could be wrong. I have it set in the nvidia control panel to use the 650m for starcraft 2, but I guess I still can't KNOW that it's being used... unless theres some kind of monitoring system??

 

User lsheldon mentioned using GPU-Z's sensors tab to show how much video memory is being used at the time, so I guess that's one way to check. I have another way listed below:

I remember when I had my Envy 14 with switchable graphics and I had enabled them on a game also. Problem was it didn't activate properly and I could tell based on comparing the expected performance with the actual performance. What I did was went into the BIOS and disabled the switchable graphics functionality and just had it run the GPU at all times. I'm not recommending that you leave this on, but it is a sure-fire way to know that the GPU is being used; if your performance is better than before changing this in the BIOS then you know the switchable graphics wasn't being used, but if not then obviously it's something else.

I had problems enabling the switchable graphics for a single program/game, so when I disabled it in the BIOS it was much easier because it allows you to switch back and forth for the whole thing; the only downside is you have to remember to manually switch from GPU to integrated after playing a game or whatever. Again, I'm not recommending you do this but it is an option.

 

Just make sure the "Continue refreshing this screen while GPU-Z is in the background" option is ticked off in the Sensors tab, and you can run the game in full screen. GPU-Z will log the GPU clock and usage in the background.
Starting a game by right clicking it and selecting "Run with graphics processor -> High performance nvidia..." always works for me when the GT 650M isn't used for some reason.

@touchtoplay
That actually only works with AMD's switchable graphics as Nvidia's optimus solution works differently.