*OFFICIAL* Alienware M17x Benchmark Thread - Part 4

[DR650SE]

ichime, can you edit the voltage to 1.15v in the GPU vbios? If so I'm definately getting them, already contacted pkhetan.

[inap]

from his other post, he stated that it was the same as the dell cards, going 1.15v cause the drivers to crash.

[DR650SE]

Hmmm that's a bummer. Now Im wondering if its worth investing in.

[inap]

yeah it kinda sucks for benching but still a great gaming card though.

[Basilownzyou]

Mark my word, Tommorrow. Working three jobs and planning my wedding (5.5 weeks away ) has taken too much time Tomorrow I have the day off so I'll sort the last 30+ pages out of this thread and update.

Oh alright dude, fair enough. I understand that it gets busy and irl>online. If you need a hand looking for scores through the pages let me know.

[ichime]

ichime, can you edit the voltage to 1.15v in the GPU vbios? If so I'm definately getting them, already contacted pkhetan.

Yep, like inap said, 1.15v causes crashes. Hopefully the following results will encourage you to make the purchase:

Vantage and 3d11 runs at 820/1050 with temps and stuff





Furmark runs (for scook9). First one is a stock run for 20 minutes, second one is a 5 min run @ 820/1050





Also, @ 820/1050, Kill-a-Watt read a max of 278 watts, furmark stock hovered around 260 watts, 820/1050 furmark run hovered around 272 watts. In all these runs, the CPU (920XM) has turbo mode on with no bclk or throttlestop-type overclocking.

@ DR650SE: If you plan to do some serious overclocking if you do decide to get these cards, consider the following: The Clevo/Eurocom designed 6970Ms (the one I'm using) use Samsung memory modules while the AMD Reference model 6970Ms (the ones Dell/Alienware uses) use Hynix modules. The Hynix modules seem to overclock better than the Samsung modules (which is why you see AW cards hitting 1100mhz @ memory easily in their systems). However, it seems that the Clevo/Eurocom designed cards hit slightly higher core frequencies as seen in some X7200s equipped with 6970Ms.

EDIT:
System tripped @ 850/1100mhz. So I'm gonna need that 330w PSU for more extreme levels of testing.

[DR650SE]

I think i May get the 6970s. I think with the xm cpus so unlocked, my R2 with xfire 6970s would make ot a dream system. I think it would top an 18x

[Basilownzyou]

Very nice scores chime. I wish I could have cf 6970s in my r3 with my 3.6ghz cpu, would have some serious vantage, 11 and 06 scores haha. Too bad it's impossible! Have hope for the R2 though.

[Cygoris]

Cygoris,

Silence is not important to me, at least to the extent we are talking about with computer fan noise. If it made loud shrieking sounds or some crap like that, then I'd not be very pleased. I already listen to my R2 fans running high most of the time in game, so I don't really see that is being an issue.

Had you read a few of my previous posts, you'd see that I do want an M18x but cannot afford to drop $5,000 to buy one spec'd the way I want it. If I cannot buy it how I want it, then there's no point in buying it. I'm really very happy with my R2 also, so there's no real pressure to buy something new.

I'll do some research to see if your statements are supported by data, but I find it difficult to believe the 820 and 840 perform exactly the same as the 920 and 940 Extreme. I want the Extreme CPU so that full turbo clock speeds can be reached with all 4 cores. Non-Extreme procs only hit full turbo clocks on single threaded applications. My 720 is OC'd and hits 2.8GHz under load with single-threaded apps, so my concern would be that the 820/840 would not be able to provide that extra "umph" I'm looking for.

You're the only person I have ever heard call an Extreme CPU a joke, so my supposition is we are looking for something slightly different. Thanks for weighing in with your thoughts. I do appreciate it, and I will research the performance of the 820/840 compared to the 920/940. If you can, please post your benchmark scores so I can see how they compare to mine and the results of those friends here on NBR forum with a 920 or 940 in their R2.

The performance in game is the same, if you actually read my post I was asking about the purpose of getting an extreme CPU.
That's kind of important to be honest, if you use your laptop to play (as most of us do, including me) then an extreme CPU is useless and I can tell you that without any doubt, I tried it.

I called the 940 a joke as it is a very expensive, over clocked 920, it's the same CPU in every way, but overpriced.

Anyway with an extreme CPU you won't gain anything but a lot of heat and noise.
If you want to bench then you just have the wrong computer, again that's a simple fact, it's like having the fastest Hyundai in the neighborhood.

It's just basic common sense really, look at the frequencies and the TDPs of both CPUs (840 and 920) and you'll see for yourself.
Now check the price of both CPUs and.. Voila, epiphany.
If you understand french I can give you links of a french forum where R2 owners try to exchange their extreme CPUs with 840s.

[Mr. Fox]

Anyway with an extreme CPU you won't gain anything but a lot of heat and noise.
If you want to bench then you just have the wrong computer, again that's a simple fact, it's like having the fastest Hyundai in the neighborhood.

There are probably a lot of folks that would consider your facts to be a matter of opinion, but I do respect your opinion. It's too early at this point for me to accept those opinions as fact. You have given me something to research and come to my own conclusions, so kudos for that. I'll be all the wiser in the end, even if I reach a different conclusion. I did read your post carefully because I value receiving input and opinions from a variety of sources. My purposes for getting an Extreme CPU may be slightly different than yours and you cannot really pigeonhole each person into another person's experience.

In case you haven't seen the bench results on this thread and others, there are quite a few folks benching with an R2 and getting results that are phenomenal. With the right mods, it appears the M17x R2 will do about as well as the M18x without having to shell out $5,000. Getting to keep the R2's 1200p RGB LED is an added bonus. (By the way, nice work, ichime.) So, the Hyundai analogy really doesn't strike a chord with me.

After I finish doing my own research on the performance capabilities of the 920 versus the 820, I will not spend extra money on the 920 if the 820 truly performs exactly the same in benchmark results, and is capable of hitting full turbo clock speeds on all 4 cores. To the best of my knowledge at this point, the non-extreme CPUs only achieve full clock speed on a single core, but I haven't started my own research into that yet. As an observation, I don't see folks like DR650SE running non-Extreme CPUs in their R2.

Thanks again for sharing your thoughts.

If you understand french I can give you links of a french forum where R2 owners try to exchange their extreme CPUs with 840s.

I'm not French and I live in the America. If you can find a bunch of Americans or Canadians trying to exchange their Extreme CPUs for 840s, please do post the links. Maybe I can buy an 840 and trade it for one of their 920 or 940 CPUs to save a few bucks.