zepto 6324w and 8600 performance

Can you tell me more about your configuration, including your stock 3dmark scores? I'd be extremely interested, as my Zepto has been pretty dissapointing for me graphics wise so far, and its similar to yours (6324W, 4gig, Windows 64bit Ultimate, C2D 2.0ghz). I got 3200 3dmark on the latest zepto graphics drivers, then 3400 by using the latest from nvidia/laptop2go , I think v169.

If I could break the 4k mark, I think I'd be very happy. Gives me a bit more hope in the laptop anyway.

 

@ Thomas

After testing your fix using Rivaturner WoW runs much better! Almost constant 60 FPS But after I played for ~2 hours the FPS droppes came back. And it always falls to exactly 15 FPS which feels kinds strange. It's stutter like hell for maybe 10-20 seconds then it lets go. btw... lowering all graphical settings won't help. It doesn't matter if I run with everything on low or high.

 

That means its a problem in either a) the driver or b) the game code

 

It's known that the wow patch 2.0.3 came with alot of performance/fps/dodge gameplay problems for many. If you look at the wow forums both us and eu you will find alot of this in the support areas.

 

How does it work for you atm? If I run everything on max. OFC no AA. I get around 45-60FPS.. it jumps up and down.

 

I get fine fine fps between 40 and 220 fps depending on area and camera view. But after 15 seconds online, the fps drops with about 15fps and everything starts to stutter and become a slowmotion-lag frenzy.

 

Is this problem related only to 6324w? or is 6224w effected too??

 

The 6224/6324 are the same chassis in different colours, so it is possible

 

its both yes, but also alot of other computers when were talking WoW at the moment. Thousands of people on the WoW forums are experiencing huge fps drops and laggy gameplay since patch 2.3.0

However, i had the EXACT same problem before in every other game too... tried the rivatuner oc fix, but havnt played enough to actually say if that does it for all the other games.

update:

I can confirm that both the new wow patch and the new bios has done absolutely nothing for me in World of Warcraft.

 

And yet again, i can confirm that im so sick of this computers performance... i feel robbed of my money and starts to think this might be my last Zepto.

The bios has done nothing at all, and it proberly isnt WoW thats buggy for me anyway, Call of Duty 4 has the exact same problems as my WoW does.. runs fine for about 15-20 seconds... and then drops like 20 fps and stutters like hell with major slowdowns constantly.

Update:

Ive been thinking... Could it be something with the intel chipset? the PCI express drivers are dated back to some point 2006 ?!?! ive tried to update with intels chipset drivers, but they only update like 3 of the 12 different things, which means, NOT the pci express drivers. :/

 

Maybee my addon cooler could help. The prototype lower the maximum temperature by 4C. And maybee these 4C could be critical?

My Zepto is running very good, but I would like a larger HDD and faster CPU, maybee more RAM while at it

Min Zepto e dejlig!

 

This issue has nothing to do with temperatures.

 

So, i managed to get some new pci express chipset drivers off intels site and force install them. They are dated at feb. 2007 which is alot newer. However this still does not fix this problem... :/ getting tired of it.

 

I have been busy with WoW in recent times. But I played C&c3 yesterday for a couple of hours. And my problem occurs there as well. After 1-2 hours of gaming I get FPS drop to 10-15 FPS for about 10-20 sec every ~5 min.

By then I could probably fry eggs on the left side of the Znote since it so warm. So I guess my problems is heating issue after all. Gonna test the new BIOS tomorrow, hope it helps. By the way, I haven't ever upgraded BIOS. And I run with the newest driver for all devices (not from Zepto ftp). Maybe I should downgrade to the old, tested drivers for chipset etc.. I dunno. First of all I'm gonna test the new BIOS at least.

 

I dont think so.. my laptop cpu never gets past 74 degrees at gaming, which is nothing compared to other models with a 14,1" screen.

also my slowdowns happens after less than a minute.

update:
I have been trying to single in on what could cause this problem, and ive been thinking... could it be the cpu? rather than the gpu, but maybe still throttling?

When i look at the cpu load while gaming wow for instance, and tab out when the slowdown hell starts, I see that the cpu never uses 100% (which i guess is good since it wont choke then), but it seems to jump up and down from like 55% to 85% cpu load on both cpu's ?

I cant however clearly see that it doesnt do that before the slowdowns, when everything runs just fine... :/

Ive been thinking of trying to disable some of the management things for the cpu in BIOS, just to test.

 

btw... I havent changed anything but boot settings in my BIOS.. is there anything handy to change?

 

I think the way your CPUs behave seems kind of strange. And that the GPU never gets warmer than 74C, is extremely odd, as many/all others seems to reach 96C. I never play WOW myself, so can't compare the behavour of my CPU with yours in that game. However, in 3DMark06 (first scene) my cpu0 reports a load around 50 % while my cpu1 is used almost 100 % all the time. Of course with some variation.

Try and compare to see whether 3Dmark06 can challenge your cpus to use full capacity... and if it can't, not even in the scenes which measure cpu power, I think you have narrowed down the problem...

 

@tyven

Good thinking! ill test that later... at work now. But the different % cpu use could very well match the slowdown - speedups I have in every single game.

Ill report back!

 

Okay im back... with rather.. confusing news.

So i tested my cpus and monitored them. I looked at rmclock were they were somewhat up and down in % used. But then i compared it with my old laptop, also a Zepto, but the 6214w with a 7600go. However it also has 2,0 ghz duo2 core cpus, same type and it has very similar looking graphs when playing wow :/ and never has problems...

3Dmark06 can max out both cpu's at 100% when doing the cpu tests.

Also ive managed to force the computer not to throttle at all and go for max power by using rmclock.

So what does all this mean?!? Fact is, I still have slowdowns-laggy-speedups in every single game. :/

BUT! I have found out, that when it begins to go wrong, if I tab out to windows, stay there few seconds and tab back ingame. The problem is gone for like 10-15 seconds... then returns!

VERY disturbing, gah!

 

#169: okay, that points the finger back on the GPU. I really think it's strange, that the temperature is as low as max 74C. A theory could be, that your card is somehow restricted to the 74C just as mine normale is to 96C. The ups and downs in games can then be explained by the system automatic throttles the clock of the GPU; making it go slower when hitting 74C and back to full speed when it reaches a lower temperature. That does also fit with what you says about the game running fine in in a limited time, when shifting from windows to the game, as the temperature is reduced when being in windows.

Try to check out whether the problem occur in the second the temperature reaches 74C. Use fx Rivatuner to show the temperature while in full screen.

Also try to check whether the temperature is maxed out at 74C in a game, after the computer has been put in standby.

 

@Tyven

Okay first off, I gotta make clear its not the GPU that gets 74 degrees.. its the CPU! My graphics gpu i getting 96 degrees at max performace, just like yours. Also ive already used rivatuner to tweak the gpu in different ways. By overclocking the 2d and low3d to the same as high3d so IF it should be throttling, it would "down-throttle" to the same clockspeeds.

All that also does right about nothing to my system...

Also gotta remember, this problem occours both in vista AND in xp.

-edit-
I wish Zepto would be more active and have more interest in this problem...

 

Sorry about the CPU/GPU confusion; I misread. That kind of ruins my theory...

don't have any more ideas for now

 

I think there was a Zepto rep who posted that there is a known problem of the 8600 GT card coming from the nVidia factory wich made problems like this.

But maby I remember wrong...

 

I'll experiment with this tomorrow. Gonna play til the FPS starts dropping and then I'll make sure the computer can stay cooler by:

1. Lift it up a bit so the ventilation under the laptop gets better
2. Open all windows/doors to get under 10 degrees inside. Which will result in a cooler air for the laptop to cool with.

If the gpu temperature even gets some degrees lower and the stuttering disappear, I'll have the answer to my problem.

 

I tried this with the COD 4 Demo, got the gpu down to 75c while i was playing (placed next to an open window) but the game still stutters like hell.

 

Hmmm.... no good news here. I'll make a test anyway.

 

I didn't even have to test it. After upgrading to the recent released new BIOS all my FPS drop problems seems to be gone. Played the whole weekend without FPS drops.

gj Zepto

 

Fps drops and stuttering is unchanged for me, with the new bios

 

Some official Zepto news

At the end of January we will be releasing some new drivers for the 8600GT for the 6224W,6324W and 6625WD

It'll be a 167-series driver.

 

Wohoo, finally you got some sense into your heads

 

@ZeptoUK

Finally !! I just read this, after commenting the lack of zepto's interest in this in another post.

But, when you say there will be new drivers... what does that mean? are you co-working with nvidia to solve this problem or is it just to shut up unhappy buyers?

 

We do have a lot of interest in these posts, there are a few Zepto staff on here now, some for work and some because they have a genuine interest in our notebooks

We do take these cases seriously but different people look at different types of threads,
We are working with Nvidea on this and Zepto has someone hired full time dedicated to quality control which will include updates like this

EDIT; Back to this driver update it is a software and NOT a hardware issue

 

I think it was a bit harsh and unfair to say that Zepto was showing no interest in customer posts. I check these forums regularly and other than Zepto, I haven't seen many laptop producers actively helping their customer base out as much as Zepto staff does. We do see postings from Zepto staff in every thread and they are always very helpful.

I have just ordered a laptop from Zepto and the most important factor in my buying decision was the excellent job they are doing here. Keep on great work guys

 

evren, i think ZeptoUK's post is also directed at this comment:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=2871351#post2871351

Baserk, yes some of us are using the forum off-hours as we have no time to look at non-work related stuff during work hours. I've helped about 60 customers today on the phone in 7½ hours.

 

Sure you guys do alot of work here, and maybe more than other brands.

But this particular issue has been on for months now, and today is the first day we hear anything. Until recently it has seemed to be ignored, and I've only been told "update your driver" and "your the only one that has this problem" though we all know lots of people have had these problems, maybe calling it different things, but still discribing the same issues.

You can say now that you've worked alot and after hours on this, but what good is that to us if we never hear anything about it? today is the first day since i bought my laptop that I've got just a slight hope that this issue wil be fixed, since you now say that you DO work with nvidia to solve it. So thanks for that, but next time... please come out a bit earlier when so many are affected.

p.s. Dont let this take another 6months... Nvidia havnt given people much hopes lately since this issue should have been fixed by september 2007... and were still waiting.

*update*
Oh and I just thought id add that... im sorry if you Zepto guys feel you work too much, but hey its your job. The rest of us work hard aswell, just doing other things. Buttom line is Zepto A/S sold a product that isnt working and its not the consumers fault that Zepto uses components from a firm who is screwing up at the moment. We all know Zepto in general cant do much, but who else are we going to complain to?!?

If you go buy a car and your breaks arent working, you wont just accept the Car-shop telling you, sorry its not our fault, its the firm who makes the breaks that has an error.... ?!

 

thomaskc.dk you have been the only one of our danish customers complaining about this to us. As we've said earlier it's hard to fix a problem we haven't seen on any of the test machines we have.

If you where a company selling 1500+ machines a month and only one customer where complaining about an issue you would look into it, but it would be toned down compared to if 500+ of those customers where complaining.
This is only an example and not how we actually work, but was just to illustrate. We really do take the issues raised by the customers seriously, but in this case there where no information until today, and it's pretty hard to give out information where there is none.

We are sorry that you have felt you haven't been informed but I didn't get any information until today about this either. We normally don't get informed about issues like these until they have been solved and there is a fix for them.

I didn't say I've worked a lot on this issue after hours, as I have nothing to do with investigating issues like this as it is not my job. I said I visit this forum off-hours. I work hard enough from 8:30 to 16:30, Monday to Friday, where I get paid, but I also sometimes use some of my spare time here. Yes its my job to be a supporter at Zepto, but I don't particularly like your attitude that's it's our jobs so I also have to work off hours to support/get things fixed. (I might have read it wrong and if i did i appologize).
I do this out of the kindness of my heart. Basically I could just say "I don't care about the forum" when I get home, but I don't.
I bet you don't do a lot of your work at home for free.


This is not meant as a flame, but I don't like to feel stepped on my toes about something I've had no information about and therefore have not been able to say anything about (EDIT: I got a PM from thomaskc.dk a few days ago about the issue, but have not answered him as I was trying to get information about the issue). It's not like information hangs on trees just because you work at a company. We only get information that are relevant for our daily work. I bet people could agree that you don't know everything that happens in every part of the company, but only the part you work in.
Our Product & Quality Controller is the one having the close contact with every company we get parts/drivers from and most of the stuff he knows, he can't talk about anyway because it's under NDA's.

 

@Rene S.

This wasnt ment as a direct flame or anything personal against you. However it seems wierd to me that I have been the only danish customer complaining about this issue, but ofcause you would know that better than me.

Anyway about your work here, sure its very appreciated that you take your time, just dont make it sound that we should feel sorry for you. Because like you just wrote, you are not forced to do it.

And ofcause you dont know everything that goes on in a company, who does, but how many people has been told your role and what you area is? you zepto guys are in here helping people here and there, and people see (on most issues) some response. So it's natural to come to you guys aswell with this issue.

All im asking is that you could have mailed me back telling that it's not your area and that youre trying to seek more information. As long as I/we dont know anything, it just seems people dont care.

It's understandable the some information cant be told to the public, since its under NDA's, yet again I think the public has some rights after spending lots of money on a product that doesnt work as intended, that there atleast are some kind of hope.

I guess we got that info now, so thanks.. and let them come, because we are hungry as you might have found out

 

My post wasn't meant as a "feel sorry" post. I just wanted to get it off of my chest, and I know I'm not forced to do the work I do here. As I said i do it because I like to.
Basically I haven't had time to actually check out the PM you sent me the other day as I've been pretty busy. But when i see stuff like that I normally forward it to the Product & Quality Controller.

Well about my role in the company, it kinda says so in my signature on here I'm a supporter.

We do post information as we have it and basically that's what really matters.

 

Why should I use a 167.xx driver from Zepto when I'm using a 169.xx driver for months now...

 

Alright then

Well, I hope the plan with releasing a driver late January holds and that it makes a difference.

 

CLB-NL

Because I think more or less official the 167.xx series is Nvidias laptop beta series by development. The guy at laptopvideo2go made a list of what the different versions contained and what they seemed to made for.

 

Yes the 156.xx was the last official line of 8600M GT drivers. They have now moved to 167.xx drivers for the 8600M GT line of cards.
The 169.xx are for the desktop market.

 

I don't mean to fuel the fire here, but I am also a danish customer, which voiced my problems on this area...
And as said by me before, it is the lack of acknowledgement that makes it a tiresome process...
I was 70% decided on selling my zepto, until I read that you will be releasing this driver, now I'll have to wait and see if things get fixed.

 

Nania, I'm sorry I can't keep track on peoples nationality Okay so 2 danish people have voiced this

 

Jeg er sgu også fra Danmark

Well the drivers are just getting worse and worse for 8600M GT. I think the best drivers are the ones before 169.25. Seems that nvidia stopped optimizing for 8600M

 

How many new drivers has been since then?? I recall the newest are 169.28, and they are only a laungage update of previous..

 

Argh, I give up!

I think I'll go to bed now

 

Ahh I thougt so...

Pff official or not, I'm using the 169.xx'ers with much joy

 

Just found the post here. I ahve the same machine, and exactly the same problem. Mine starts to stutter when the gpu temp. goes above 95. No solution yet? I would really like to try out 163.71 beta but don't know how to get it, and how to do that thing with the inf file? can someone help?

 

Hi there mate, sorry to hear yet another one suffering.

You can get all the beta drivers in the forum section of www.laptopvideo2go.com

have fun.