My Blades - '13 vs. '14 Benchmarks & Overclocking

I wanted to share my Razer Blade 2013 / 2014 benchmark comparisons before I sell the ’13 model. I also posted my GPU overclocking results on the new Blade.

3DMark11
I ran everything with very default settings on both boxes.

’13 Blade: 4059
link


’14 Blade: 6776
link


Pretty straight forward =) the new Blade has an impressive 67% higher score from last year’s model. Nvidia isn’t messing around with GTX 870 here! I will say that 6776 score is very tempting to OC and hit 7k! More on that later.


Game Benchmark
The only reason I have a gaming rig is for my MMORPG; Final Fantasy XIV: ARR. FFXIV offers a free application benchmark, which runs through predefined gameplay screens and offers a score to judge you PCs performance before purchasing the game. e.g.



The benchmark offers a lot of customization. I ran with what they call High - Laptop (right in the middle) & Maximum. You get the point here:




I’m just using the scores to show a more real world difference between the models. Here is how they are rated:





Results

	2013	2014
720p (High)	9629	14022
720p (Max)	7494	12158
1080p (High)	5566	9514
1080p (Max)	4117	7455

Cool! But what can this baby do at native 1800p?


High: 4159




Max: 3198



Impressive!!

If any FFXIVers found this post, you may like to know I ran Brayflox’s Longstop HM, CM, and then T2 back-to-back at 3200x1800p with High settings and had zero issues. Above the keyboard will get HOT, the rest of the laptop is warm but not really noticeable. If you’re still not convinced, rest assured system rocked the benchmark with standard settings @1800p, which would help keep the heat down. You can play FFXIV @1800p resolution^^




Overclocking
Oh the overclocking section... why do I continue to do this. It’s like an addiction at this point, I think the results clearly show the new Blade has more than enough processing power to meet my needs, but I HAVE to overclock it anyway.

Anyway, I only OC the new Blade, and here we go.

The nvidia specs say the GTX 870M has
Graphic Clock: 941+ <- what’s up with the plus?
Memory Clock: 2500

I see a default of 954 GPU clock/2500 Memory clock. I guess the “+” is an extra 13Mhz on the GPU clock...



You should take these things slow, so:

Run 1: 990/2600


3DMark11 result: 6884
link


So remember the stock score was 6776, and I hinted this may be close enough to OC to a 7k+ 3DMark11 score on a 14” ultrabook! Let’s continue.

Run 2: 1065/2736


3DMark11 result: 6940
link


So close! I actually said “that’s close enough” but...

Run 3: 1110/2860


3DMark11 result: 6964
link


And...

Run 4: 1161/2860


3DMark11 result: 6977
link


Oh come on lol!!!

Run 5: 1200/2950


3DMark11 result: 6978
link


Okay, I think it’s fair to say we’ve reached a reasonable ceiling; its about 7k =)

 

Hey there;

What driver are you using on the Blade 2014? I'm using the 337.50 betas, and I don't have the "Performance" section on the nvidia control panel. Also, 3DMark crashes with an 'Assertion Failed' error - something regarding a getGPUname call.

Those are impressive results, thanks for sharing!

 

Thanks for doing this. How were the temps?

 

I don’t think you can just download the latest drivers from nvidia with an optimus laptop. I stayed with the default drivers. If you want to upgrade before the vendor, laptopvideo2go.com has the modified inf file for various versions.

To get the Performance options open, you have to download the ”you will burn your chip if you don’t know what you’re doing” nvidia system tools. They stopped supporting this with the 600M series, and it’s really showing its age now…

My OC were Bonzi runs, with proper cooling equipment lol.

 

You can. It takes them a little while to add regular support, but you should be able to download the latest WHQL and/or beta version and it should detect the 870m just fine and install.

 

Yep, agreed, mine just updated through the geforce experience update today and it worked just like my desktop PC does. No special drivers are required.

 

Sweet! Thanks guys, I’ll have to check it out. I remember having problems with GPU switching in the past. It seemed to get “stuck” on the Intel GPU using standard drivers, but I really haven’t been that into it since the m15/m11x days…

Sorry I missed this. Ya, I had some wonky behavior with 3DMark11 myself. Best bet was to leave the system at native 1800p, and selected the “stretched” option for the benchmark.