Lenovo Y500 Noob Questions!!! Please Help!

Hello all,

I recently purchased the Y500 at a very good price from my local MicroCenter.

Specs:

Intel i7

Dual GeForce GT 650M SLI

16GB SSD

750 GB HDD

First of all, I love the look of the computer, it's very powerful, but I have had a few issues in the first two days of owning this laptop.


I was very excited about the graphics card on this notebook. This is where my enthusiasm ends.....

One: I ran 3DMark '11 to test the GPU performance. It was a terrible 21 fps. Looked like I was playing on a 1st generation IBM PC. I enabled SLI, I turned the nVidia settings to maximum performance under energy management, updated through nvidia website to newest drivers, and still no dice on getting better performance.

What gives? What do I need to change? I'm computer competent, but im no guru so a guide or walk-through would be much appreciated.

Two: When I am right next to my router----I can pull in 45/mb on speed test. ----- When I am in my room less than 30 feet away, it drops to 8/mb. I have no idea what's going on. It has full bars. I have disconnected and reconnected many times. Changed security settings, updated intel drivers, messed with the N settings and all that jazz and still no dice.

Any and all input would be much appreciated!

Thanks,

Dirk

 

Were you using the charger? Need to be plugged in to get full power from the GPU. If you were make sure you had Maximum Battery in the lenovo battery setting and not Battery Health.

 

Character Zero-- Thank you for the quick reply. I have tried it plugged in and also on battery. Either way it still gives me stagnant performance with 3DMark.

I appreciate your response! Any other ideas?

 

No need to worry...u might not be used ur charger...please connect ur charger plugged in and run tests again to see your laptops real potential....and keep high performance option on battery management app...
For more better results use throttle stop...but u need to run these tests under a cooler or ac...

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

 

Thank you for your reply gnan10.

I still get the same FPS with the charger plugged in. It's still really bad for some reason.

I also have high performance option on in the battery management app!

Thanks anyways!

Let me know if you have any other ideas.

 

3DMark is a benchmark; you're supposed to be getting super low FPS. If would be a lot more helpful if you told us your actual scores.

WiFi throughput drops the further you move from the access point. Even more so if it's going through walls and floors or sources of interference. That's normal.

 

Thank you for the reply octiceps. My brother made me well aware I was an idiotic jackass for not knowing that about 3DMark. Although, he was kind of alarmed at my 3DMark score being on par with his with weaker set-up.

Here is the score: NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-3630QM Processor,LENOVO INVALID

I still don't understand why the WiFi discrepancy is so large. I understand it losing power the farther you get from the access point, but losing 35mb? Just doesn't seem right.

I really appreciate you replying. Let me know what else ya got!

 

What are the specs of your brother's "weaker setup?"

Can you provide your 3DMark 11 score? I don't use and am not familiar with the new 3DMark.

 

He did not specify, but said mine should be topping it in the 3DMark benchmark.

After tinkering with a few things, the final test came out a little better. The other tests were pretty good throughout from what I can see.

The WiFi is still giving me issues. I tested again last night and it would be 55 mbps through ethernet, 35-40mbps right next to it through wireless, but as soon as I stepped 10 feet away to the kitchen it dropped to 4-8 mbps. It also would continously just drop the connection when downloading LoL. Maybe a USB adapter since the Intel 2230 seems to be so weak? There's something wrong and I've done all the updated drivers, tried multiple security/connection settings, and still nothing.

I appreciate the help. Thanks!

 

1) As you noted, the purpose of a benchmark is that it is SUPPOSED to look visually choppy. The only thing that matters is the score you get at the end.
On a different note, your 3dMark scores look a bit low. I'd suggest updating your graphics drivers (through nVidia's website at World Leader in Visual Computing Technologies | NVIDIA), rebooting, and then re-running the benchmarks.
It would make more sense for you to look for 3dMark11, a slightly older version of 3dMark benchmarks. The scores you get in that are going to be much more familiar to computer enthusiasts, since 3dMark11 has been around a lot longer.

2) What is the brand & model of WiFi router that you are using?
The symptoms you describe sound like you are getting a lot of interference or a degraded signal between your laptop and WiFi router. Is there anything weird about where your WiFi router is located? Any walls or furniture within 1 feet of the router?

I had a problem with my in-laws' WiFi router signal being weak. When I took a look to see why, they had put the WiFi router behind a MIRRORED China plate cabinet. MIRRORED. And they wondered why they had problems getting a strong WiFi signal across their house.

 

Thanks for the reply, Kent!

That's hilarious about your in-laws.

I am slaving away at work, but will post the 11 results when I get home.

GPU(s) updated to latest 314.22 drivers through Nvidia. Still getting lower scores than I should

WiFi router is from Comcast, brand new Motorola one. When I do it in a POS Dell laptop it stays strong throughout the apartment around 25 mbps, new $1000 Lenovo....not so much.

Router is on the floor next to entertainment stand, but 3-5 ft away from it and nothing around it.

I really appreciate you taking the time to respond. Thanks, Kent! Let me know if you have any other suggestions.

 

Here's what I'd recommend trying. Some of these options may or may not be available in your router, depending on the specific model and configuration options.
* As a test, configure the router to only operate on 802.11b/g mode. Disable 802.11n
* Configure the router to operate on 2.4Ghz (disable 5Ghz). A 5Ghz signal is more likely to be weakened by walls and furniture in your home.
* Configure the router to use 20Mhz channel bandwidth (not 40Mhz)
* Configure the router to run on a different wireless channel. You want to use channels 1,6, or 11

Try that, and see if any of those help.

 

Quick chime here.

I was able to get better performance from the wireless by disabling the bluetooth from the device manager and the wireless card's advances options(again in device manager.) I blame Intel for this, as I've seen this card fail with "high end" netgear routers.