Some real world benchmarks for W520 regular users

Ok - I've had my W520 for just over a week now and in general, I'm really, really happy with my purchase. I figured that I would give a bit of an idea of how this computer performs in regular day to day usage for those people who are considering this system. Perhaps if other posters are interested, we could compile some real world usage stats for these highly powerful notebooks. The W520 owners thread is already so huge that I figured I'd start another thread strictly for real world usage benchmarks and tweaks...

Anyway - my system:

Lenovo W520: Key features:
Legacy Bios (splash screen disabled) - currently ver. 1.22 - will upgrade to 1.25 shortly.
Intel 2720 processor (2.2GHz Quad Core)
Ram: 16GB (4GB Samsung single dim shipped with system; addition 12GB G.Skill 10600 ordered from Newegg) - working flawlessly so far.
Display: FHD 1920 x 1080
Video: Intel HD3000 and NVidia Quadro 2000M
Boot drive: Intel 320 160GB SDD (yes, I know it's only SATA II, but it's still damn fast in regular usage)
Secondary Drive: Intel 310 80GB SSD
Ultrabay: either stock DVD writer (currently installed) or 500GB 7200 RPM HDD that came with system in Lenovo Ultrabay adapter
Install: Clean Win7 install with Win XP mode enabled

I think that probably describes the majority of the system.

So, on to the "Real World" Benchmarks

Startup time with AC adapter:
26 seconds to login and 8 more seconds to desktop for a total of 34 seconds.

Startup time on Battery:
29 seconds to login and 10 more seconds to desktop for a total of 39 seconds.

Games: currently I only have Crysis 2 installed on my system (will get my Steam account setup for L4D2, SC2, Dragon Age, etc... shortly): I've only played this on AC power so far. I'm currently running it at 1280 x 720 which has the same 16:9 aspect ratio as the native resolution of 1920 x 1080; the "quality" is set to "Hardcore", which I think is the highest setting. The game runs absolutely fluid at these settings with almost no hiccups ever, even in large areas with lots of things going on. I haven't used FRAPS on this, but I would say that the frame rates probably are sustained at least in the 35-40 Frames / second at this setting. At higher resolutions I would start to experience slowdowns and noticeable lag: at 1600 x 900 the game was playable, probably averaging frame rates in the low to high 20s, but certainly not fluid all the time; at 1920 x1080 resolution, frame rate was probably in the mid to high teens.

I think that i'm getting better frame rates with the nvidia settings are set to "performance" instead of "quality": however, I'll get Fraps installed to measure some real world differences here.

Since this is one of the most demanding games currently out, I am going to say that I would expect the W520 with the nvidia 2000M will handle most games on the market quite well and probably do this for the next several years.
Load times between levels are about 15-20 seconds: this is installed on the Intel 310, so load times would be slightly faster on the Intel 320 160GB SSD obviously and substantially faster on a fast SATA III drive.

Apps:
Google Chrome: Starts pretty much instantaneously. The first time it's loaded (after starting up Win 7), it might take 2-3 seconds: successive loads are pretty much instantaneous and under 1 second.

Solidworks 2011 Premium: This is my main work software and I usually have all features enabled. Obviously performance here is exceptional. Load times to usable software (i.e. being able to load or start new models / assemblies / drawings) are:
1st load after startup: about 12.5 seconds
Successive loads: about 4 seconds.

nvidia drivers are set to "quality" here here, but I don't really notice much difference - again, I'll look into this more carefully and see if there are noticeable performance differences when running at 2560 x 1440 resolution on my Dell U2711 monitor.

Obviously the SSDs help HUGE here, but this has been one of the biggest productivity increases for me: rebuilds and document saves (big issues in Solidworks if you use this software professionally) are very fast, even on complicated models. Obviously real view runs very nicely and I've even managed to install and run older x86 versions of solid works that we had kicking around the office from 2007, 2008 (from our subscriptions) without problem in Win XP mode. However, i've only been able to run these older versions on integrated graphics, so they they get the advantage of the fast processor, memory and SSDs, but not the Quadro video card. I'm not sure if I'll be able to get real view and such enabled in Win XP mode, but this is more for my personal interest than any kind of production work.
My Dell U2711 monitor works awesome here and is fully accelerated (more on this shortly) and there are no issues running at 2560 x 1440 resolution through the notebook's Displayport port (I don't have a dock).


Stability:

As was posted in the W520 owners' thread (by hrana iirc), the notebook is definitely more stable running on either integrated OR discrete graphics (i.e. set in the bios): Optimus is fine for day to day usage, but I would reboot and pick discrete if I was going to run on AC for power usage - i.e. gaming or 3D CAD usage - as it seems to run better and more stable.

Quirks:
Audio: if you plug in a monitor that's Displayport audio compatible, then the W520 will transfer the external audio straight to the monitor. Your W520 speakers won't work, nor will the headphone jack on the right side of the W520 - you'll have to use external speakers or headphones plugged in to your monitor or your monitor's speakers if it had them. This caught me off guard the first time - I didn't even realise that my U2711 monitor had an Audio out jack! I'm not sure if you can change this configuration in the W520 (i.e. to use the W520 speakers and / or head phone jack), but it would be good to know because otherwise, you'll need external speakers if you plug in an audio capable Displayport cable into the W520.

Video: obviously the Displayport output works great and images are absolutely sharp. However, the old VGA output sucks: no fault of the system I suspect, but I used it at home with a new Samsung 24" FHD LED monitor and image edges and colours were mushed / not sharp running through the old VGA cable. For home use, I'm ordering a Displayport to HDMI cable which should clean this up I suspect.

However, the issue here is that if you want to run two external monitors (without a dock), you're going to be running one of them from the VGA adapter and it sucks. Not sure if using a VGA to HDMI/Displayport adapter will make much difference here, but I'm sure someone can let us know if they try this. Also, I think that one of the docks would help here to eliminate using the analogue video output.

That's about it for now - hope this was useful!

 

You can change the audio output using the Sound control panel of Windows 7.

I'm having fun with 800x600 in Crysis 2 at 20FPS on my HD3470.
Might want to get the Crysis2AdvancedSettings tool.

 

To change the audio, to click the little speaker on the taskbar (or hidden in the little arrow) and left click on it once. Once it loads up, you will see a large icon on the very top. Click that and you can change the speakers from you monitor to your laptop.

 

you did the reverse by using the mSata as secondary drive

 

Yeah - I know - in hindsight, it would have been better to have probably just bought a 300GB intel 320 SSD, but I bought the 80GB 310 first...

Anyway, it's now my "play drive" for games and such - basically anything that I want to have decent performance with, but that's not work based apps.

Overall, things are working well and the system is stable - and fast

 

You have the 1.25 bios. It is listed on Lenovo's site as 1.25 but shows on the computer at 1.24.

The older bios is 1.22.

Perry

 

Since this is a thread for real-world usage on the W520, would anyone with a Quadro 1000M review its gaming performance and post results here? I'm thinking of getting a W520 soon and I'm not sure how the 1000M performs. Thanks in advance.

 

Here are some PCMarkVantage scores, which reflect the real world tasks I do on my PC:

A W520 with a regular hard drive has a PCmarkVantage score of about 9,970

When I tested the W520 with a single Vertex-3 I got 16,006 and with a single Intel 510 the score was 16,302)

By putting 2x240GB Intel 510s in RAID0 I now get a PCMarkVantage score of 19,000 with 1333MHz RAM or 19,228 with 1866Mhz RAM

(For comparison: The 9.6 pound heavyweight $3,300 Alienware M17x (i7-2820) with a 256GB SSD, which Laptopmag calls
"by far the most powerful notebook we've ever tested" gets 17,486)

 

I would also like to know this. I am debating between the 1000m and 2000m and trying to decide if it is worth it. The price difference is roughly $300 for me. So I either pay $1500 or so for a loaded W520 with the 1000m or go for the 2000m version for around $1800. I just returned a loaded out T420 that I payed almost $1400 for so I will consider either option (always good to save money though ). I wasn't originally going to play games on this pc but might consider it as it seems like either card will handle steam based games with ease (probably all I will be playing to be honest as I have a PS3 for console gaming).

 

Yes Biff2bart, it was useful.

I just ordered a W520 + Intel 310 SSD for regular office jobs, Solidworks, software developing and Lightroom.
Your Solidworks load times are very good, not only compared to my 2006 Thinkpad Z61M but also compared to my 2010 desktop workstation.
Can you confirm that Quadro 1000M is fully compatible with SW 2011?
Lenovo and NVidia say yes, but SW site doesn't reports Quadro 1000M as a supported GPU, maybe because the list is not updated very often.

Thank you.

 

Cool - good to know!

Yes - the SW load times are fast: what will blow you away is how fast rebuilds and saves happen. As I mentioned (and you know), these are the kinds of things that can really bog down SW and waste a lot of your time. Of course any SSD (on any fast system) will speed that up, but this is a laptop and it's damn fast for a portable system.

I have the Quadro 2000M - not the 1000M - and it works awesome with Solidworks (and i would assume the 1000M would be the same). it's Dasault certified, and I haven't had any issues at all: edge / vertex selection works well, Real View is on by default, all features work and work well. The only thing - like I mentioned - is that as others have mentioned, is that the Optimus drivers can be a bit flaky, so if i'm settling down for a power session with Solidworks, then i'll usually boot straight into discrete graphics mode just to ensure that there are no problems. However, that might be a bit of paranoia kicking in as well

It's really not a big deal though either way and i'm sure that you'll be stoked with the system.

YOTR: regarding games: I don't know of any exact benchmarks here between the 1000M and the 2000M, but if you have to gamble, then I would gamble for the 2000M - yes, it's $300 more, but the system is very capable gaming so you might as well pimp it out if you're going to play demanding games on it. Also, for programs like Solidworks (that are mainly processor / disc / ram dependent) the 1000M will probably work more than fine for 95% of serious users. However, software that's more vid card demanding will certainly benefit from the 2000M - I just can't tell you how much more they will benefit over the 1000M.

Good luck in your decisions!

 

Cool - thanks - yes, of course you're right. I have 1.22 installed currently (and I updated my original post to reflect that).

Thanks!

 

Quadro 1000M Benchmarks

I get 26.84 FPS in Cinebench R11.5 and can play SCII demo on ultra settings at 1600x900.

 

Thanks for the reply. At this point, another $300 is not a huge issue since I am already going to be in for $1500. I honestly didn't want to spend over $1300 when I was first looking for a new laptop. The screen quality on the T420 really turned me off though. I was just going to get the HD+ on the W520 but again I figured I might as well spring for the FHD option. Still a little gut wrenching to be spending $1800 on a laptop but my R61 is almost dead and I need something to last me a few years without major issues. I am very spoiled by the thinkpad's build quality so it is hard for me to consider another brand.

I originally was going to get a T520 after I decided to send back my T420. In the end though, the W520 is simply a better deal. I hate the large power supply but that is hardly a reason not to get the W520.

 

That actually really good. I would primarily be playing half life 2 (and episode 1 and 2), and a few other games off of steam. I am sure the 1000m would run any of the source games perfectly as the engine is pretty old by today's standards. I just have to decide if I want to fork over the extra money for the 2000m. I am pretty set on the FHD screen even though I honestly don't need it. I am coming form a 3 year old R61 with a 1200X800 resolution .

 

I originally ordered mine with the 1600 x 900 screen, but changed the order shortly after submitting it for the FHD display: I think it was a very worth while decision IMHO and I'm glad I made the change.

I think the 1000M will have no problems playing any Valve based FPS games even including L4D2. hell - I think that HL2 runs pretty well on the intel HD3000 according to some of the earlier blog post reviews!

 

Thanks for the reply. I don't want to settle and with it being a laptop (not easily upgradeable if at all gpu wise), I would rather buy the best one available for at least some future proofing . I have a PS3 for games but yes it would awesome to play Half Life 2 or even Portal 2 with max settings. I bought Portal 2 on PS3 but I haven't opened it yet. It comes with a free PC version so I could just sell my PS3 version and play it on the pc.

 

Your comments on upgrading the GPU are exactly my reasons for pulling the trigger on the 2000M.

And - c'mon - you know that any FPS style game (especially one as freeform as Portal 2) is WAY better on a PC and with a mouse instead of a console controller - that alone should be reason to ensure that you can game on your notebook!