6130.. low fps.

Hey guys,I researched for quite a while into laptops, and came across this averatec 6130 at a local staples. I decided to buy it, seeing as how I have heard quite a few good things about it. So just today I brought it home, fired it up, and took a good look into things, only to find out my 3d performance isn't as good as it should be. Here are a few things I did do:
-Ensured I installed the latest omega drivers
-downloaded the AGP driver from the averatec website
-ensured i was using 8x agp acceleration
*edit*-ensured i was running off of AC power after a full reboot

However, with all of this, I only get a measly 17,500 points in aquamark 3 [} ]

It seems the average around here with these machines with the above tweaks is around 22xxx. I don't know what to do. Maybe we are using different omega drivers? I installed the "rad_w2kxp_omega_2597a" ones. Please, I really hope this isn't a dud computer. I don't want to return this... I'm starting to fall in love, despite the mentioned issue. If any of you possibly have any ideas what could be at fault, please, help out a fellow user. I mean, my scores are roughly around the ones that some people clocked in without using the agp drivers, or omega's drivers lol [B)].

Take care all, and thanks in advance

 

hi nowhereatoll,

The omega drivers can be downloaded from www.omegacorner.com. Just Click on "ATI" at the top of the page that opens, and follow the links to the download.

Hmm, reinstallation may be required. I will see if perhaps anyone has any other tips before i give the hd a good 1 over.

nowhere, would you do me a favour? Once you download the omega drivers, as well as the agp drivers, do you think you can download aquamark 3 from www.aquamark3.com and post your results of the "test" (it's the top option once you start the benchmark). Maybe we can compare scores. Take care.

 

question for a question:
I dont understand the omega driver thing, but know it is a hot topic here. Assuming they are third party drivers, can you direct me to them? I also have to follow in your steps and download all the new agp drivers.
Suggestion; You may not want to hear this but maybe you have to start over and reload the drivers? maybe in a different order?

 

can do. I was going to ask you for the test site info next! It may take me a day: I am on dial up.[xx(]. BTW I bought my 6130 at Mwave.com I ve been real happy, dealt with them for years. I took the back cover off to look at the guts. Really impressed. Is that a heatpipe radiator liquid cooling device covering up the processor?
I downloaded http://www.hdtune.com hard drive utility and ran the numbers; the burst rate seams to be excellent (87.4 Mb/sec). I am going to go to a 7200 60 GIG to improve this. Cant seem to find anything bigger in that speed. I can get a exterior enclosure for 12.00 at Mwave for the 4200 60 G drive.

 

HD Tune: IC25N040ATMR04-0 Benchmark

Transfer Rate Minimum : 0.5 MB/sec
Transfer Rate Maximum : 8.0 MB/sec
Transfer Rate Average : 2.2 MB/sec
Access Time : 29.6 ms
Burst Rate : 19.3 MB/sec
CPU Usage : 6.9%


Please don't tell me you go a 87.4 value on your burst rate! [:0] Something is definitely wrong..

 

I just tested my system with aquamark 3 and HD Tune and my results are:

Aquamark 3 score of : 22633


Transfer Rate Minimum : 10.4 MB/sec
Transfer Rate Maximum : 28.1 MB/sec
Transfer Rate Average : 21.5 MB/sec
Access Time : 18.0 ms
Burst Rate : 83.2 MB/sec
CPU Usage : 1.5%

From my scores it seems like you have a bad hard drive and this might be causing the poor aquamark scores that you are getting. With the hard drive performance being so poor i would go back to staples and get it replaced ASAP.

 

weird, I ran it again and got the following score:

HD Tune: IC25N040ATMR04-0 Benchmark

Transfer Rate Minimum : 12.1 MB/sec
Transfer Rate Maximum : 27.2 MB/sec
Transfer Rate Average : 21.6 MB/sec
Access Time : 18.2 ms
Burst Rate : 84.8 MB/sec
CPU Usage : 1.3%

The only difference was that I just installed windows sp2 before this last run.

 

Knightmare: my slightly higher burst score will probably come down quickly when I put all the software on. How long since you defragged?
Existential: Maybe your frame rate is up too now? As far as me and aquamark 3; NO GO (for now)! Its a 62 mb download (unless I read wrong) and I tried to download 35 mb 4 times last night to no avail. I would get to 30 meg before the server would reset.

HD Tune: IC25N060ATMR04-0

Transfer Rate Minimum : 12.7 MB/sec
Transfer Rate Maximum : 30.3 MB/sec
Transfer Rate Average : 22.7 MB/sec
Access Time : 17.1 ms
Burst Rate : 87.4 MB/sec
CPU Usage : 1.3%
Temp around 105 to 109 F.

Installing a 7200rpm Hard drive should raise the average to 29 or 30 according to dudes who have done it already. It also reduces the temperature.

 

i have a question, how does increasing the hd speed reduce the temp? I thought the faster the moving part was the hotter it will get.
-andrew

 

i just ran aqua mark 3 and i got a score of 22 247. i only have the 4200 rmp drive still in it and I'm not overclocking the gpu.
-andrew

 

I usually defrag my hard drive every month or so depending on whether or not I have installed any programs. I don’t find it to be necessary to defrag to often unless you moves files around and install and uninstall a lot of software everyday.

About the higher RPM hard drive with a lower temp, I can only image that the hard drive is specially constructed to produce less heat than the model installed in our laptops?

Just a thought!

 

man o man... what is going on!
Ok, I used the system restore cds that came with the computer to "format" and return to the base factory settings. I ran directly the downloaded aquamark and got a score of 17000, same deal. So I downloaded the omega drivers and did a proper install, as well as disabled something in my boot sequence ( I really wish I remember what it was ) Then ran aquamark again and got 22147! woohoo!! Now, I am not sure if disabling what I did in the bios will adversely affect the laptop. It was labelled as "intel [....]" aside from the basic hdd, removable data.

I was wondering, do you think you could quickly press f2 at bootup to enter the bios, and tell me what you have as values for your bootsequence? perhaps if I compare it to mine. I have a feeling that was the problem all along. The reason I disabled the particular boot device was because it caused my computer to take over 4 minutes to boot up. Thanks all!

 

Update:

Ok, the thing I disabled in the bootsequence is the Intel UNDI, PXE-2.0 build 082. So far no problems performing any functions that I could have had I not disabled it, and enjoying lightning quick boot times as with high aquamark scores.

 

my thoughts on why the hd is cooler with the higher speeds is that b/c its faster, it doesn't need to be accesed as much (as long) and therefore can spindown sooner and not be spinning at full speed the whole time.

 

Hey nowhereatoll,

I broke up the Aquamark 3 file into 5 smaller chunks with winrar and put it up on my site so if you still want to download it then let me know and i'll give you the link. Four of the files are about 14mb and the 5th is about 7mb so it should be easier for you to download.

 

Dam my Winrar just expired. I gotta pay for that? ANyway I can try to use the other utilities to decompress you files Knightmare, and I really appreciate that: I owe you one. Im sure anyone else with dial up will love you too.
jedisolo and RadcommTxx: I was surfing I think this sight but in a different room and that is where I got the HDtune utility. Two of the posters had upgraded their hard drives with 30% increase in the average transfer rate. They also dropped temperatures too and I am not sure but I think I remember 5 or 10 degrees drop in Celcius. I gotta find those posts. IT may be attributed to the empty drive but theoretically a faster moving plate is cooler; no?

 

HERES the link for the thread about the HDTUNE performance comparison in the ACER forum:
http://www.notebookreview.com/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=7661&SearchTerms=www.HDtune.com



galleries:
www.pbase.com/nowhereatoll

 

Here's the link:

http://www.importtruck.com/aqua/

Let me know when your done cause i dont have a lot of space left on my site so i cant leave the files up for too long! Anyway hope this works and you might be able to just uninstall winrar and reinstall it so you get another 30 days! Not 100% sure though!

One question, I just bought an external enclosure and hard drive and the USB and firewire controllers pop up but the drive doesn’t show up at all. I tried to set the jumper to slave then master but the hard drive never shows up? I just looked on the box and it says the hard drive is Ultra ATA/100 and I looked at the enclosure and it only says it supports ATA/100 no Ultra and was wondering if that’s the reason? I'm not sure what's causing it to not show up but if anyone has any experience please let me know. I also tried plugging it in using both the firewire and usb cable (not at the same time!) but none worked.

by the way i bought a Seagate 200 GB Ultra ATA/100 drive and the enclosure is ABS Venus DS3 3.5" enclosure w/firewire and usb2.0

Thanks in advance!

 

you may need a utility? I wish I could be more specific help. One work around I did once was start a windows 2000 install. At one point it asked about the drive and it formated it in ntfs (or fat 32, your choice) and then I cancelled the install. If you have another computer available like a desktop see if you can format it there? Let me look if I have a hard drive disk somewhere (and thanks for the files; they are downloading now). I think it is not registering because it needs to be formatted.

 

Oh man, how dumb can i be sometimes!!!

I was in such a hurry to get the hard drive put in the enclosure i didnt even bother to pop in the supplied "DISC UTILITY" that seagate so thoughtfully supplied with the hard drive. DUH!!!!!!!

Thanks a lot nowhereatoll! If you didnt remind me of the disk utility i would have never even bothered to have looked for it! I got it up and runing and in the mist of formating it as i type.

Thanks again!

 

Hey you got it good! I got the files down too and thanks again. I am going to run the Aquamark tonight (it is 7 am here right now)

 

That's great that you were able to get it! I will leave it up till tonight in case anyone else wants to download it, if you cant get it by 12:00 am pacific time then let me know and i'll leave it up a little longer.

I just took down the files!

 

Existential

I had a similar problem to urs. I had omega drivers installed, updated agp drivers etc. I figured out that when my comp went from battery to ac my processor which was throttling never went out of throttling. Even after a reboot it continued to throttle. I noticed this when playing counter-strike 1.6 getting avg frame rates around 17fps and aquamark scores around 17xxx. The only thing I can do to fix this is to give it a full shutdown, wait some seconds and turn on the laptop again. Only then did I get framerates 60+ avg in cs1.6 and aquamark scores of 22xxx & sometimes 23xxx. I'm thinking its some power management problem in the bios n not a windows thing. I emailed them asking about a bios update, and told me that there was one in the works but not something for the public to use yet. So hopefully they get one out soon that will fix some problems and maybe add somethign to turn off this annoying beep at bootup.

 

Tranh2,

The throttling was an issue with me as well. It's good to know I have everything up and running. One question though: I know a lot of you have run aquamark3... Does it report your system's cpu running at 2850 mhz as well? It should be reading 3000, but not in this case. hmmm.