Compal HEL80 Geforce Go 7600 OC Results

hey kokonutmonkey what kind of frame rates are you getting with that laptop on oblivion is it playable or not

 

pharoah: it is quite playable in my opinion. defaulted to high settings and a lower res but i stepped it up to native 1280*800, raised tree fade to 75%, object fade just below max. large textures, turned down some shadows, did some ini tweaks from the tweakguides site and even have bloom+ 2x AA (HDR kills the frames for me). Runs buttery smooth in dugeons and indoors (40-70 fps). Lowest fps is around 17 in crowded town areas, 20 outside (with minor 2-3 fps drops while loading). Average around 26 outside and 1-2 frames less in towns. Haven't seen an Oblivion gate yet tho, not too far in to the game. Hope that answers your question.

On a side note, you can create your own custom, slightly lower resolution in the NVidia control panel if you want to maintain widescreen and pickup a few extra frames.

 

That is a good theory, but I doubt they would have underclocked the CPU. However underclocking the GPU to get less heat would make a lot of sense

 

anyone running your OC'd 7600's through 3dmark06?

if so what scores are you guys getting?

 

Anyone know what is the initial "true" stock clock of the 7600GO?

 

Look at the first post in this thread.

 

So let me get this straight... default is 350/350..

Then what does the Compal set it as?

 

That is exactly what Compal sets it at: 350/350.

 

Acording to Laptop Logic http://www.laptoplogic.com/news/detail.php?id=541

Geforce Go 7600 has:
450Mhz Core Clock Speed
500MHz Memory Clock Speed

Compel Sets stock at:
350Mhz Core Clock Speed
350MHz Memory Clock Speed

So if this information is true Compel really underclocks and I would say undervolts it's Video RAM most likely for heat and power reasons.

The web site says it draws 16W Paladin44 you know what the HEL Go7600 draws?

Anyway I am looking for what a standard Vgpu and Vmem on the video card for a normal 7600 is and what compels is, I will post when I find out.

IRF

 

Thats what i was thinking too. if its true then we should be able to overlock for even nicer results! though im afraid of what this might do about the boasted temperatures in this machine.

 

yeah I have been researching this alot tonight. I have found great CPU and RAM tweakers. where you can control the Vcore to the CPU and latency rate. Alot more research needs to be done before I press this issue further by changing things.

A current site I am reading about overclocking you laptop.
http://laptoplogic.com/resources/detail.php?id=15&page=1&PHPSESSID=e4d4c636f7d87b4325b50c166c8105fd

Rightmark makes some good Analyzers. CPU-Z is another useful tool. Prime 95, and 3dmark05 are great stressors to make sure. But I am going very careful because I just spent 1500 bucks on a new laptop one wrong move and all that money is wasted for a small gain. be careful, but being a electronic engineer I love to push things to the max.

IRF

 

IRF, have you discovered anything yet? I'm really curious to see your results!

 

I'm interested in this too. I have an HEL80 on order and it'd be awesome if I could get the same performance out of this card as that which it was intended to produce. It seems an awful shame to have it running at a (relatively low) fraction of its potential. I haven't even seen the laptop yet, but I bet I'd be willing to have a warmer palmrest in exchange for some totally rockin' gaming performance. :-D

 

Keep in mind though that at stock, you still get quite good gaming performance. It's not like the HEL80 comes incapable of gaming.

I haven't OC'ed my HEL80 yet, and I play most games at WSXGA+ with quite high (if not max) settings without any problems.

 

Word up. I guess I've just developed a fear of my video card dying all-too-soon; right now on my Inspiron 8600 it's just lame and I think the fan is dead and it overheats like crazy, so I've all but stopped gaming because it's just too much frustration. :-O So I suppose it seems to me that every few hundred 3DMarks mean a little bit of extra time where the laptop performs really well with current games.

 

Hey, I was wondering if you wouldn't mind elaborating on what tweaks you did to Oblivion to get that kind of performance out of it. I haven't done much with the ini yet, but I'm having a bit of a rough time even overclocked with Bloom, AA, and HDR turned off.

edit: been playing with it more... and it seems that wheras things like lights and other characters take a significant toll, the real killers are wolves, which have a mystic power allowing them to cut my frame rates in half. (20~ down to 10~ and another one showed up and it went to 5 )

 

I have been kinda busy with work but I have done some things with the HEL80.

The farest that I went overclocking with the HEL80 was 470/369 that produced 3,602 in 3dmarks. I could have pushed the core even higher but there was a big bottleneck between the RAM to the GPU and scores wasn't worth the cost of the extra heat that is produced.

A few things I have learned. First the GPU is on a heatpipe line that connects to the CPU pipeline and is cooled by the central fan. So when overclocking the 7600 your fan will be on all the time and the higher you go the faster the fan will always be spinning. The only noteable heat was over the fan exhaust where the media controls are. not hot but noticeable.

I also Flashed my BIOS to 103B which in 3dmarks did give me a extra 4-7 FPS while testing, but my main thought was trying to boost the video card RAM pasted the 369 point. 103B didn't change anything, but 105B is out and I am going to test that BIOS out soon. I did however found that NGO drivers would let me overclock the RAM to 372 stable but for some reason I was getting around 70 points less on 3dmarks.

Another thing I noticed was the GPU looks like a thermal pad is between the heatpipe and the core, and the RAM for the video card don't have anyheat sinks on them. I had a infrared thermometer and was taking temps but I forgot to measure heat on the RAM. Also I tried to take apart the case so I can look at the the full card and see if there is a easy place to do a vmod. taking off the case proved very troublesome and I was not successful.

The main thing though when thinking about buying a laptop is not getting a really fast video card. The HEL80 has amply video capability while staying mobile on good battery life. If you want to play the the newest games at the fastest speeds the only really way is to get a desktop. on a desktop you can easly mod video cards, the system ram, and cpu and have all components fan cooled or better yet water cooled.

I would like to see how far the HEL80 can go but for everyday use I am 350/350 and running games. I play CS source, Diablo 2, and Eternal Lands. not very high graphic games but the HEL80 runs them at stock well, with little fan noise.

I am going to keep pushing but I sure don't run the speeds all the time.

IRF

 

I turn mine back down to stock when i'm not playing demanding games as well. Seems prudent... two questions for you:

You said that there was a bottleneck between your ram and gpu. how did you detect this? i'm trying to track down the reason computer isn't keeping the buffer full when burning this cd image in nero. that seems unusual to me, combined with the way it monopolizes the cpu.

It's odd in that, in Task Manager, the Performance tab shows one core being totally used and the other being essentially ignored, but in the Processes tab, it shows 90+% of the system as idle.

The other was the bios flash. That is, where did you find it? I'm certainly interested in all the performance I can get. While I don't expect it to replace my desktop, if I could get oblivion running playably and fairly pretty (medium textures and 0 view distance really don't do it) that'd please me.

 

the orignal clock speed is
Geforce Go 7600 has:
450Mhz Core Clock Speed
500MHz Memory Clock Speed

You want you memory speed to always be faster than your core speed. because what your core does it operations on the data from the memory. so like for my video card 470/369 the core is doing calcs way faster than the memory can supply data. so i am not getting that much gain in speed. if i droped my core down to 450 i would most likely not see any loss of proformance. really overclocking you video card mostly is like 500/800.

On Nero that sounds more software. if you want better proformance reboot before you burn a CD and turn off all apps running in the background.

here you go man.
http://www.bizcom-us.com/support/TechSupportDriversDownloadPage.htm#EL80

 

I just received and assembled my Hel80 yesterday (8/1) and everything seems to be working fine except for one thing -- it only scores about 850 in 3dmark 05. I haven't loaded any games on it and haven't overclocked it but I am totally puzzled about the low score. The whole test runs at like 3-5 fps. Any ideas, or do I just have a dud video card. The screen is great and the 2d is working fine, so I am quite puzzled.

 

it sounds very likely to me that you have not installed the drivers for your video card. without them windows defaults to some really basic drivers that don't take any advantage of your videocard's hardware.

 

I have installed the drivers -- version 91.37. It's working and recognized, even has the nvidia control panel, but the 3d performance just isn't there.

 

well, since i've got nothing truly insightful to say, i've another question: how many scenes are there in 3dmark 05? because, there are three that work off your graphics card, followed by the first and third repeated in a cpu-powered mode. the last two always are awful looking and performing, and if the program didn't recognize your graphics card properly, maybe it only ran the last two tests...

 

It runs through all of the gpu tests and then repeats the first and third scene as cpu tests. The funny thing is that the cpu tests actually run faster than the gpu tests, they just don't look as good. Has anyone had this problem? I thought it might be because I didn't install directx but then I did and there was no difference.

 

there might be your problem version 91.37 is for the desktop version of the 7600 I think but I can be wrong. I have used a modified 91.37 by NGO and it droped my 3dmarks05 score down around 100 points. Best bet is to download the VGA drivers from powernotebooks.com

Here:
http://www.powernotebooks.com/support/l8-15/cp15-2.php

Download the VGA driver, then uninstall the 91.37 driver. Reboot the system. Windows will try to find a driver for you, just click cancel. Unzip the VGA Driver and run the install program. This should solve the problem.

If not call powernotebooks or crowns tech support and try to get a RA number or possible fixes for your problem.

 

l33t_c0w: sry for the delayed reply. i dont remember exactly what tweaks i have made to oblivion. worked well though. i know that my shadows are set one notch above the minimum and i hardly notice the abscence of extra shadows. also my shadow filtering is off and one ini tweak reduced my shadow level of detail. i think shadows are the most performance intensive things in the game. that or having 5 allys get in my way during combat.

I have reduced the wolf problem by downloading a mod called "quiet feet". The stuttering around 4 legged animals in oblivion is mostly caused by playing an individual sound with each footstep. Quiet feet removes these sounds at the cost of a slight drop of realism, especially evident when on horseback.

 

I have tried both the 83.90 drivers that came on the drivers cd with the laptop and the laptopvideo2go.com 91.37 drivers and both game me the same miserable result. If anyone else has had weird problems with their video, please let me know. I scored 843 in 3dmark05, no higher than 6 fps in any of the tests.

 

Did you gets yourlaptop from powernotebooks.com? they run a stress test for 2 days and test out all for problems. If I was you, I would contact whoever I got it from and asked for a exchange or to fix the problem for you.

IRF

 

Make sure you don't have your drivers set to force AA/AF and that they're set to "Application-controlled" instead of something like "4xAA," for example. You should be able to check for this under "Manage 3D Settings" or something like that in the nVIDIA control panel.

I had a similar problem on my desktop. It has a 7800GS, but it was only getting ~3800 in 3DMark05. After I noticed the problem in my control panel settings, though, I changed it and my score shot up to ~6000.

 

I must have gotten a good card. I can get the mem up to 379 and the clock to 500. I could possibly go more on the clock, but I don't feel the need to. My 3dmark05 score is 3799. I have some questions: Is there a quicker way to change the overclock settings than going into the settings and manually setting it? I would only need to have the overclocked settings for games and would like to save battery power when I don't need the overclock.
Thanks

 

Dustin H. what's yours Forceware version?

 

The Forceware version is 83.90 - the same one that came with the drivers disk for my HEL 80. I found that I could pick up a few 3dmarks also by setting the power scheme to home/office desktop, leaving the frames to render ahead at 3 (I tried it at 0, but the score was lower), and using the dual core tweaks that I found somewhere in the forums (you could probably search for them). I just wish there was a way to easily switch between my overclock and stock clocks without having to go into the settings and do it manually. Oh well, the only thing I need the overclock for is to play FEAR at high res and graphics settings.

 

dustin threw my question out there but does anyone know if there is a utility that can switch between overclocking and not so that i can run on battery power and switch to max performance when i want to game?

 

Doesnt rivatuner and coolbits allow you to set which mode it OCs in, such as performance 3d and 2d? If I remeber correctly at least from my desktop dont have my laptop to check it gives you an option to OC depending on mode.

 

Donald, I've got a question for you.

You've stated that overclocking the graphics card voids the warranty on that piece of hardware (which makes perfect sense), but if something bad did happen to my overclocked card, would I be able to have it replaced one way or another, at my own expense? It sounds like it's in some kind of socket or something.

Disclaimer: I'm not planning/doing anything risky... leaving headroom and all that... just curious

 

1. I don't think I ever said that overclocking would void your warranty, just if you over did it and it blew the card, that wouldn't be covered by warranty.

2. We can fix anything

 

Hey, I downloaded rivatuner last night and I would reccommend it. It lets you make different profiles for clock settings.

 

Donald, in an article on Powernotebooks.com Knowledge section ( How much heat is too much heat? May 18, 2005) it says: Don’t Over Clock: Gamers ask whether it is safe to over-clock the CPU to gain faster speeds. This is definitely not recommended. The CPU performance has little to do with the overall performance in gaming. The GPU (video card) does most of the work in games and other 3D applications. Over-clocking GPU’s is not recommended either. The risk to benefit ratio is too low to really justify it, and any benefit is usually short lived when the next faster GPU comes out on the market anyway. Also, over-clocking voids your warranty and increases the amount of heat either the CPU or GPU produces, thus making the fans work harder to dissipate the heat.

So does overclocking void the warranty under powernotebooks or not?

 

CPU is different from GPU.

CPU does have little to do with the overall performance in gaming.

Please notice the date on that article is over a year old. The fact is that the HEL80 came out seriously under-clocked. That is why we so carefully and gradually demonstrated how to raise the clock speeds to produce obvious improvements in performance, while staying in the "safe" zone.

Also be aware that the reason Compal under-clocked the nVIDIA GeForce Go 7600 is that card is so powerful that it will play most games very nicely (as Chaz stated in his review and many times elsewhere in this forum) at those under-clocked settings. The obvious benefit is the cooler operation.

Now, there are some out there that seem obsessed with statistics, and pay little attention to real world results. A less than 10% difference in synthetic benchmarks makes them conclude that one video card is "better" or "stronger" or "faster" than another...when that is totally not true. If you are within 10-15% of the score on any synthetic benchmark you have an "equivalent" video card. Please keep in mind that some games are written for the nVIDIA cards and some are written for the ATi cards. Depending on the game there could be a very slight difference in performance. The synthetic benchmarks like 3DMark do not take that into consideration at all.

Bottom line is...don't be a statistic...whoops! I can't use that word...ok, so don't be a statistic freak and think that a few points one way or another on a synthetic benchmark all of a sudden makes one card "better" or "faster" than another. The fact is the the GeForce Go 7600 and ATi X1600 are equivalent cards.

I will bet any gamer out there who is not a "fanboy" of either nVIDIA or ATi that they could not tell the difference between the two cards in actual game play given a week of play with two computers with one card and the other, across a medley of games, unless they knew which games were written for which card.

Now, does overclocking void your warranty? No, not unless you take it to extremes and blow your card...and then of course we have to be able to actually tell that is what you did to make the card fail. So, like I said in my original post...take it easy, go slowly, and don't overdo it...if you do, you do so at your own risk.

Oh, and one more thing. I notice in your signature you say "Compal 8:14 (HGL30)". Actually what you have is a PowerPro L 8:14 (Compal HGL30)

 

I would like to post my results because I've been waiting so long to do this (with my brand-spanking-new hel80)

*note: when I did the auto-detect feature on coolbits, it recommended my mem clock to be set at 379mhz, so I guess I'm also one of the lucky ones

3dmark05: 409core/379mem: 3231
3dmark05: 459core/379mem: ~3423 (don't remember what the last digit was)
3dmark05: 479core/379mem: 3445

Super pi to 2million digits:
1m 19sec (from when I just opened the box)
1m 25sec (after installing an unholy amount of games )

Sorry, these are the only tests I have run so far because running a business is a bit time consuming

I would like to comment on the heat. With the first setting, the heat was very very minimal, which truly surprised me. Even at the highest setting that I listed, the heat was warm, but definitely not unbearably warm.

 

i went to donald's link for the instructions on how to overclock, but i didn't see the coolbits download anywhere. the guy who wrote the guide said that nvidia already has coolbits, just hidden, so all i did was the registry edit without the coolbits download, and i can see the clock frequencies now and change them. did i do it right? when i selected auto-overclock, i actually got 10fps lower on avg than i normally do when i did the cs source video stress test, so i went back to default. am i doing something wrong?

 

The link for download and instructions are Post #47 in this thread.

 

I posted in the gaming forum covering this topic but i wanted to post here as well for us HEL80 users.

System in sig

3dmark05

NON OC
core 350 mem 350 Score - 3058

OCed
core 480 mem 361 Score - 3601

Ran Donalds specs and i had bad artifacting so lowered mem down and went from there

Respectable scores but had to be OCed. Im kinda disapointed as are most HEL80 users about this underclocked GPU business. Comparable systems are getting 3500 out of the box

I am still pleased with the comp thou and it throws down just fine on new games ( runs FEAR great)

 

yeah i went there donald. the link goes to the article, but no where in the article did i find a download for coolbits. i read instead this first line:

"For overclocking an Nvidia video card I use a program called Coolbits. My reason for choosing this is the fact it is already in your system, though it may be hidden. "

So all i did was do the registry edit. i believe it worked as i can now see clock frequencies in my nvidia control center or whatever it is called. I can choose to auto overclock or manual overclock just as the picture looks in his guide.

My question was, since he said that coolbits was already in the system, was it ok that i simply did the reg edit without d/ling and installing coolbits like you said? i mean intuitively it seems like thats all i needed to do since i can now see the clock frequencies option and change the clock frequencies. the reason why i am asking if i did it right is because after choosing to "auto-overclock" my avg FPS in CS:source went down by 10fps with the css video stress test, and then went back up after i went back to "no overclock". it just didnt make sense to me.

 

There is no down loading. The program is already there, and by the looks of it you have followed the instructions given and you have access to the overclocking feature now

 

If you should need it you can go to www.guru3d.com and they have just about every tweak download I can think of.

 

thanks! so is there a reason my avg FPS in cs:source went down by 10 when i auto-overclocked it and went back to baseline when i restored to no-overclock? should i just do manual overclock?

 

The only thing I can think of off the top of my head and previous experince is, the auto overclock always seems to OC to much, and the chips tend to clock throttle when they hit a thermal limit, now a notebook lacks the good cooling of a desktop so if the core is beyond where the cooling on the laptop is able to handle it might be cutting the speed to save itself. I would try manual ocing it, maybe pump it up 10% until you get to a point your happy with.

 

k thanks

 

I agree that my post #47 was confusing as it does not require downloading a utility. I have now edited it for clarity...thank you for pointing this out