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Alienware 17 (Ranger) - low 3DMark Graphics score


bvermeul

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Hi,

I have a (new) Alienware 17 (Ranger). It has an i7-4910MQ, 32 GB RAM and a GTX 880M with the 120 Hz screen.

When running 3DMark, I get a rather low Graphics score (5986). According to the 3DMark site the graphics score should be around 8000.

I am using the Geforce Experience latest driver (347.25), the card has vBios 80.04.F5.00.07.

Any idea what may be causing this, and how to fix it?

Thanks,

Bas

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Have you tried any actual fps benchmarks yet? Sometimes 3Dmark doesn't give the best representation of true performance due to some stray setting or newer driver it's not compatible with yet.

I'm also assuming your testing under ideal conditions? Clean os, machine plugged in, latest optimus drivers, etc?

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Optimus is disabled (120 Hz screen with 3D). It's about 2 weeks old, and I haven't installed too many things on it yet. Machine is plugged in when I do any tests.

What can best be used as actual fps benchmarks? I'm kinda new to this stuff.

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Maybe you should check for your power options profile (set to high performance). Also you need to use other tools to check if your CPU & GPU are suffering from throttling (mostly due to overheating or insufficient PSU).

Few useful tools are Intel Extreme Utility (XTU), HWinfo64 and ThrottleStop. Be careful though with XTU since it can brick your bios if not properly used (just use it to bench and do stress test and everything will be fine).

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I did a Heaven run with core clock (no changes with Afterburner or NVidia Inspector. I'm using MSI Afterburner to show/measure the stats during the run.

My CPU is currently running at 3.9/3.8/3.7/3.7 with a core voltage of 1.2 V.

I believe I'm running into some power throttling during parts of the benchmark:

post-32940-14494999374276_thumb.jpg

I don't think it's a lot, but wondering if there's anything I can do about it.

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Check your pci settings in your bios or power saving settings and see if your card is being throttled at all. I'm not sure how robust your bios is but there might be something in there.

To check frame rate just try any game and download fraps or look up how to display fps in that game. For example steam source games have it built in to the console. Then check on line benchmarks for what your card is supposed to be getting.

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My bios (system bios anyways) doesn't have anything that I recognize as power saving for PCI. I always have my laptop set for high performance, mostly because it's always on power.

In the games I play (mostly Dungeons & Dragons Online and Star Wars: The Old Republic) my frame rate is fine, although there is an occasional drop in fps. When using 3D it sometimes drops below 30, but that's about it.

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  • 3 weeks later...
That's for the Alienware 17 r2; I have the Alienware 17r1 (Ranger). I have a 240W PSU. So that's probably not it (but have a 330W PSU on the way anyways).

The 880m has a TDP of 100w, and the 4910MP 47w. As such, I don't think the 330w PSU will solve your issues.

That being said, performance dips can often be due to throttling, either thermal or power-wise. That's a common problem with the new AW17. It wouldn't hurt to try with the 330w.

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