So my in 3Dmark05 my 8400GT in the FZ190 got:

This was with the 162.18 driver, multiple unnecessary services shut off, and only zonealarm running behind it.

Btw, if you have any experience with PCmark05, I cannot seem to get it to run the full test. Every time it runs it quits on the 10th test saying it has failed. It has done this on both of my vaios and I cannot for the life of me seem to figure out what the problem is. If you have an idea please let me know!

now after a few days of the system settling in and running nvidia stability tests, turning off unnecessary services and putting the theme to Windows classic my new score is:

I tried running the 158 series driver and overclocking it quite a bit, but it was nowhere near as good.

 

meh, everybody always wants benchmarks until they are posted...

 

I am sure it will be appreciated for those who are interested in the FZ.

 

dsg, can you link me to the exact driver? (i assume its from laptopvideo2go)

Whats your system specs? (CPU, RAM, HD)

 

give me a minute to find it again...

 

here you go

http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=13894

be sure to download the driver file first. then extract. then download the INF on the site and move it to the extracted file. replace the INF in the driver file.

eta: that driver is not overclockable...btw.

 

Did you use the have disk method or the nVidia's install program?
Also, did you uninstall the one Sony had installed from Add/Remove Programs?

Thanks.

 

Here are my benchmark numbers with no overclocking and using gpu driver version 162.18:
3dmark05: 4615
3dmark06: 2632
PCmark05: 5613

To install the gpu drivers just download the version you want from laptopvideo2go and also download the corresponding modified inf. Then replace the existing inf with the modified one and run setup.

I uninstalled all of the crapware that came with the system. I am only using norton internet security 90 day trial.

 

You missed uininstaling a major piece of crapware... Norton Internet Security.

It eats up a lot of CPU time and has a significant impact on Disk IO as well. There have been some major reviews of this lately comparing the impact of various AntiVirus packages, Norton and McAffee were two of the worst. Do a quick Google search, or even search the threads here. I posted a link to one of the magazines stories about this.

Gary

 

Go Avast anti-virus! Free and low-impact.

 

How are other antivirus software in terms of effecting the performance of the notebook and the effectiveness of warding off virus, adware, and spyware?

 

You should use a different program for anti-spyware and a program that does only anti-virus. Windows Defender works just fine, I also run Spybot S&D and SpywareBlaster (javacoolsoftware.com). The last two don't use any system resources because they dont run in the background, they simply set kill bits and Spybot uses a helper object in Internet Explorer to block spyware/adware.

 

So, for:
antivirus use avast
spyware use spybot and spyware blaster

What does Windows defender used for? And is there updates for avast, spybot, and spywareblaster?

 

Defender provides realtime protection. Yes, theres updates for them all. Avast should update automatically, you can set the amount of time between checks for updates. Spybot needs to be updated (and immunized) manually and SpywareBlaster also needs to be updated manually.

 

i use spybot, it catches some stuff that others miss...

 

Do you use avast and windows defender at the same time?

I just finished uninstalling norton internet security and the system loads much faster .

 

Anyone do any gaming on their FZ's?

 

Yes, its fine since Avast isn't anti-spyware and they dont clash at all.

 

Yeah, I've got NFS Carbon, Tremulous, Americas Army installed so far.

 

I have CC3 and Supreme Commander. CC3 is pretty good. I am only able to run at medium settings at 1280x800 for decent frame rates ~20-22fps. Maybe i'll try to see if it runs better now that norton is uninstalled.

 

Definitely uninstall Norton, its the biggest hog on the system after Sony's bloatware.

 

yea, right now im playing some nice graphics cames
C&C 3 tiberium wars = 1024x768, Max grapgics, 2x antialias
Age of Empires III the Warchiefs = 1280x1024 (no wide screen), Max graphics
Guild Wars = 1280x800, Max graphics
Oblivion = 1280x800, Max graphics, 2x antialias

i have tested some other games too
Lost Planet = medium graphics
Dirt = medium graphics
Virtual Tennis 3 = Max graphics
Halo 2 = Max graphics
Fifa 2007 = Max graphics
Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 = Med graphics

i think thats it by the time.. hehe its a nice video card

 

^^Nice, I plan on ordering my FZ tomorrow morning. I'm still trying to track down some solid info on the battery life though. Dsg said his will last 2-3 hours, but he hasn't done any acual testing. Can anyone else help me out? (battery life with 8400m gt)

 

For CC3 what frame rates are you getting during mid battle (20-30 units), when playing on ultrahigh, with 2x AA at 1024x768. I can only get 20-22fps at 1280x800 on medium settings with no AA.

 

On power saver mode, using wireless and bluetooth (mouse), I can get a bit over 3 hrs (3:05-3:10) while surfing, office work, and downloading some files. With high performance mode, I only get about 1hr 45minutes - 2hrs while doing the same tasks. These numbers were achieved using the standard battery pack.

 

Thanks thats decent. I should be ordering in less than an hour .

 

It's MUCH worse than the bloatware. Most of the bloatware consume ZERO resources because they are not running in the background all the time. Norton is, and not very efficently.

Gary

 

Well I ordered a couple hours ago, when mine comes in I'll be sure to do 3Dmark and post my scores. Has anyone here overclocked their 8400m GTs?

 

I uninstalled norton and replaced it with avast and windows defender. The system boots much quicker but the benchmarks (3dmark05, 3dmark06, and pcmark05) do not improve.

 

Really, it didnt improve pcmark? I wouldn't be too surprised if it didnt improve 3dmark, since thats mostly graphics and not so much hard drive access and CPU. But hey, at least overall system responsiveness is better.

 

ok guys, its been a few days since I got my system. I have run the nvidia stability test a few times and disabled more unnecessary services and have the system running how I want it to run now. So i decided to run 3dmark again:

 

nvidia stability test? Which services did you disable? What is your system configuration?

I currently have 84 processes running. I'm unsure which ones I need or don't need. As well, I'm also unsure of which apps are required to start up when the computer boots.

 

wow. I have about 40 processes running. Ill come back later to tell you how you can shut things off you dont need.