Alienware m18x underperforming

madisonstreet

Distinguished
Nov 23, 2011
36
0
18,530
Hello basically I'm concerned that the laptop I bought is underperforming. I've reason to believe the CPU is causing a bottle neck that's not allowing my graphics card to perform how it should be. The game I'm primarily concerned with is Starcraft II. When purchasing my laptop I was under the impression that based on the specs I was receiving I'd be able to play without any problems on max settings.

Below are the system specs for my laptop.

System Model: M18xR1

Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2630QM CPU @ 2.00GHz (8 CPUs), ~2.0GHz
Memory: 4096MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 4078MB RAM
Graphics: Dual AMD 6990's in crossfire

I'm aware that there is some negative scaling with Crossfire and Starcraft II and that the i7 and hyperthreading is not fully utilized in the game either. I was reassured by dell tech support however that my laptop would be able to run the program fine and on max settings. I currently get 60 - 70 FPS on a mixture of medium - lower settings. On Ultra its a very choppy 30 or under FPS.

Thanks in advanced!
 

madisonstreet

Distinguished
Nov 23, 2011
36
0
18,530


I see well basically I get conflicting reports.

I know the 6990's in CFX are arguably the best mobile graphics cards compared to NVIDIAS 5XX in sli.
However my i7 processor is the entry level i7 at 2.0 ghz and 2.8 w/ turboboost.

Some sites tell me the CPU is causing the bottleneck because they know my GPU's are top of the line.

I am however aware that neither one of those should be causing problems due to the older nature of Starcraft II and the "top end" of those components.
 

andrewcarr

Distinguished
Well although the GPU is the best it really isn't the best in terms of all graphics but same for you processor. There is a chance it could be the CF issues but I doubt it. Seems that that is all the system is capable of running the processor is good but could be better but I would only expect 3-5 FPS form a better processor.
 

andywork78

Distinguished
Oct 31, 2011
296
0
18,810
From my research Star Craft 2 have a issue with CF or Sli model.
I think Blizzard have to fix there game fast.
You laptop is monster already.
How about disable CF on your laptop and play sc2 again.. let see how it goes...
 

cbrunnem

Distinguished
why buy a laptop with 6990m crossfired gpu's with an entry level i7? id return it and get a higher clocked i7 or have them put a better one in yours.

make sure your temps are fine and that when you turn off crossfire that that doesnt solve the problem.
 

roald

Distinguished
Dec 31, 2010
144
0
18,710
It might be a silly question, but you are playing the game while your laptop is hooked up to the adapter and you are not running just on the laptop battery?

Most laptops dont use the discrete videochip wile on battery but use the standard built in graphics to save power which results in low performace ofcourse.
 

madisonstreet

Distinguished
Nov 23, 2011
36
0
18,530


I did it to save money. It was my thought process that with the high end gpu I'd be able to save some money by skimping on the i 7.

In your opinion how much of a difference do you think me upgrading and or oc'ing my current processor will make on my FPS ?
 

madisonstreet

Distinguished
Nov 23, 2011
36
0
18,530


Yea I only play with the battery. This laptop is more of a desktop replacement then a full laptop. I opted to go mobile because I travel alot while gaming and wanted the luxury of an all in one.
 

cbrunnem

Distinguished


when i drop my i7 to 2.0 my fps drop a lot and my gpu usage drops to 60% indicating a cpu bottleneck and my fps to decrease in half to 40 fps on ultra....
 

madisonstreet

Distinguished
Nov 23, 2011
36
0
18,530


With turboboost my 2630 should be reaching 2.8 ghz

Can you try the settings with that?
 

andrewcarr

Distinguished
The battery would explain it even a low end laptop won't perform well only on the battery. They laptop runs itself on low power so graphics are at about 50% or less (just an estimate though). Try using it for games when plugged and and report back.
 

madisonstreet

Distinguished
Nov 23, 2011
36
0
18,530



I never run my laptop on the battery.

What I was saying is I prefer laptops to desktops because I travel alot.

I always keep them plugged in.

I outfitted my laptop with higher end parts because I treat it like a desktop replacement.
 

cbrunnem

Distinguished


i believe turbo boost will go up to 2.4-5 with four cores activated, only will it reach 2.8 when just one core is being used.
 

madisonstreet

Distinguished
Nov 23, 2011
36
0
18,530


I see so based on this what do you think is causing the primary bottleneck?

Also the more I monitor my memory usage I get a consistant 70% physical memory being used only 30% is free.

Could this be causing the bottleneck? I have yet to purchase additional ram due to the dell ram being overpriced.

Only running with 4 gigs.
 

roald

Distinguished
Dec 31, 2010
144
0
18,710
Well only 30% free memory could be a problem. I don't know why you have 70% usage tho. I'm running windows 7 Pro on my desktop with 8GB of ram and i have at most 1.5 GB in use when not running a game. Or did you mean while running Starcraft?

Regarding your problem it could be a CF issue but then you would only have low framerate running Starcraft and not with other games. If you have this with other games i would lean toward a heat issue. If the temperature is too high thermal protection will underclock your CPU. Have you checked what temperatures your CPU and GPU's are running at?
 

madisonstreet

Distinguished
Nov 23, 2011
36
0
18,530


Alright when not in game I get 33% physical memory usage when idling in game it shoots up to 70 - 75% physical memory usage. I've tried running with and without CF. In games like Skyrim and BF 3 I get better FPS with crossfire.

In SCII I get better FPS without CF. I also use radeon pro and have configured settings to min max FPS.

I'm pretty sure temp isnt the issue I monitor using gpu - z have never seen over 80 while running SC II.
 

roald

Distinguished
Dec 31, 2010
144
0
18,710
I'm assuming you mean Fahrenheit. I'm Dutch so 80 Celsius would be alarming to me :)
Looks like a CF issue with Starcraft then. Wether this is a solvable issue with a driver from AMD or patch from Blizzard i don't know. Have you consulted the alienware support crew about this matter? They should be keen on resolving issues like this since they do provide enthusiast gaming solutions.
 

cbrunnem

Distinguished


no he means Celsius, 80 degrees Celsius in not hot for a cpu or gpu in a laptop.

those temps are to bad OP
 

cbrunnem

Distinguished
im kinda baffled so lets collect as much data as we can. you mind running some games at different graphics settings and if its faster with cf on or not. normally when you lower graphics setting and the fps dont go up thats an indication of a cpu bottleneck fyi.

while your at it run this to lower your clock speeds. http://www.techinferno.com/downloads/
if your fps dont go down then its not your cpu.
 

madisonstreet

Distinguished
Nov 23, 2011
36
0
18,530


When I lower the graphics settings the FPS does go up.

I'm using my NIC card bigfoot control panel to monitor cpu usage over a 30 minute game usage is never over 20% with medium to high settings with affinity set to 6 CPU. If I raise the settings to ultra I'm still getting under 20% CPU usage.

Interesting thing to note is my physical memory is over 70% usually around 85%. I have yet to upgrade my ram past the stock 4gb's. Is this possibly bottle necking me and not my cpu?

Medium - High settings 60 - 70 FPS drop to 40 FPS during heavy load. Around 20% CPU usage. Physical memory around 70 - 75%

Ultra settings - 30 FPS drops to 5 - 10 FPS during heavy load. Around 20 % cpu usage Physical memory around 70 - 75%
 

cbrunnem

Distinguished



its gpu issues. but it looks like you should be gettign around 80 fps with crossfire and 65 with just a single 6990m.
http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-Radeon-HD-6990M.57308.0.html
http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-Radeon-HD-6990M-Crossfire.58862.0.html

its not ram usage. if its not getting to 100% its not using the hard drive as additional ram just make sure its not spiking up to 100%.