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New XPS Few Questions
First off all I'de just like to say sorry for the long post, I'm just making sure to throw it all out there :) If you don't have the stamina to read all of this I'de be greatful for someone just to answer one or two questions each.
Hello all, my XPS M1730 just arrived today so of course I've already tore through it and started throwing the games on it hehe. I was expecting to see it blow through a game like World of Warcraft, but it does comparable to what my lesser computer does. Under some of the the most stressful areas the FPS goes down to 10, which in my opinion for the thousands I paid is unacceptable. Which is why I am going to start fine tuning this basterd :
1. It only recognizes 3.14 of the 4 gb of RAM supposedly supposed to come with the computer. I've known this to happen before, and I'm not sure why it happens, so I've never really bothered to fix it. But considering that its taking away 1/4 of my possible RAM space, I'm going to do what it takes to have it set correctly. My friends desktop he built himself had a similar problem, and apparently the problem was that he needed to get 64-bit Vista for it to see all the RAM. Is this the solution for my problem or is there a better way?
1a. If getting 64-bit Vista is the solution... How come Dell doesn't give the 64-bit Vista with these laptops? A dual core extreme is the top notch processor to have a 64 bit OS with... Is there any chance that $200 wasn't wasted to get Vista Ultimate and maybe I can call Dell up to have them send me the new version?
2. I'm not happy with the color on my monitor (really only noticable playing video games where I am used to the colors of things). The coloring is too "cold" (it has a blueish tint to everything). In a game like World of Warcraft, the color of epics is a King's Purple, for me it is showing up as a very blue looking violet for example. Of course the specific tuning isn't important, all I need to know is where I can adjust such things? I looked in the nVidia tuning thing (Go to Personalize > Advanced...) and it has some adjustments but they don't help it very much. Is there a monitor color adjustment?
3. I wasn't really thinking about overclocking this processor at first (despite the extreme really being meant for it), but because I see a lack in performance (CPU only rated 5.6 in Window's performance testing? For an almost $900 processor?!) I don't see how its possible to toss on an extra .6 ghz in a laptop because I'm sure this thing is already running hot enough. Or was the system really designed for that kinda thing? Also, how will a .6 ghz overclock affect the life of the laptop. I was really hoping for 4 years out of this thing.
4. Is there anything I need to do to the graphics cards to make them run at their peak? When I looked in the video options I saw they weren't even running SLI default, which to my noobiness is crazy. SLI can only speed things up correct (or am I wrong and should turn SLI off...)
Once again, sorry for the long post, I know if I were reading this I'de probably fall asleep by now hehe. Any help or advice is highly appreciated, I feel as if this laptop isn't worth how much I paid for it right now :( I'm hoping to get some of this cleared up before installing Crysis hehe, hopefully to avoid some dissapointment.
PlasmaSnipa
11 Posts
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April 1st, 2008 04:00
PlasmaSnipa
11 Posts
0
April 1st, 2008 04:00
What are your system specs;
Processor?
Video cards?
I'm still waiting to recieve mine. I bought it as I have heard only great comments about its gaming performance.
mfinnan101
1.2K Posts
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April 1st, 2008 09:00
As for the poor frames per second turn down the resolution from the crazy 1900X1200 to something a lot more managable like 1280X800.
1. Your operating system is 32bit. A 32 bit operating system only has 4Gb of address space the RAM it doesn't see is used for i/o etc. I wouldn't worry about this at all 3.14Gb of RAM is more than enough for all todays applications. Don't go with the 64bits operating systems until they hit the mainstream - It can be very hard to find drivers for 64bit plus a lot of applications will not support it.
2. Is the tint always there or is it only in games?
3. Since it's a laptop I wouldn't overclock it at all. It'll run hotter and the fans will be louder. You won't get that much of a preformance difference with the extra core speed.
4. SLI will only give you a noticable advantage if your games are designed for it, otherwise it'll be pretty much the same as having only 1 GPU. Turn down your resolution and you should be fine.
mfinnan101
1.2K Posts
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April 1st, 2008 10:00
undrgrnd
4 Posts
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April 1st, 2008 10:00
Intel Core 2 Extreme X9000 (2.8 GHz)
4 GB DDR2, 667MHz RAM
1GB NVIDIA SLI GeForce 8800M GTX
400G (2x200) 7200RPM SATA HDD - RAID0
Thankyou all very much for the answers. Sure it is utilising the other RAM? Seems like such a waste.
The tint is on games, Desktop, everything. Just looked at a screenshot from WoW lol, looks same outside of the game.
139sroberts
10 Posts
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April 1st, 2008 11:00
Hi undrgrnd,
I have this laptop, see below sig for spec.
1) As mfinnan101 said, you clearly have 32bit O/S (as do i) with which Windows can only use just over 3gb. 64bits operating systems WILL let you use all of it however as it is not mainstream, drivers can be hard to find. However, there is still value in having 4gb instead of just 3gb, as having both memory sticks the same size (ie. 2x 2gb) they will run in duel channel thus offering a notable performance increase. I play games from Company of heroes, CCS, Crysis, CoD4 and WOW and find this plenty.
2) My monitor suffers from a little light bleed from the bottom of the screen when the OS is loading up from the bios from the black background. I don't get this during normal operation or when gaming, even when there is a black background. This is odd but not a problem so i haven't queried it with Dell. I don't suffer from "cold colours" or purple tints when playing WoW. I would definitely speak to Dell about this!
3) If i could have afforded to buy the X9000 processor i would have! And, if i had it, i would definitely play about with the overclocking in the bios as that’s what you are paying for. I acknowledge that yes the fans will spin faster and will be constant from the time you bout up, thus being louder, so i would probably only overclock if i fancied extreme performance for a particular application of period of time, then tune it back when the whining sound of the fans get tiresome. Remember, you have XPS warranty which covers hardware failure, Dell (presumably) would not ship the overclockerable chip if it would cause damage.
4) By default, my SLI was turned off also. I think is because the standard Dell setting is for energy efficiency and battery life. I turned mine on right away and have since left it on. I have my laptop plugged into the mains all the time so I have also turned off the energy efficiency setting in the control panel and have everything set to maximum. SLI will increase performance where games/ applications have been optimised for it. The only reason to turn it off is if a) an application or game has problems with it or b) if you want to conserve battery power.
You should definitely be getting more than 10fps in WoW. I can't remember what mine is but i have everything set to max setting and it runs beautifully. Again, you may want to speak to Dell about this.
I hope my comments are helpful.
Steve
joshtaylor2
3 Posts
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April 1st, 2008 19:00
Same Laptop.
SLI is turned off to support multiple monitors.
undrgrnd
4 Posts
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April 1st, 2008 19:00
Okay. I called Dell today to try to figure out this monitor issue. Me and the guy worked on it for an hour and we weren't able to resolve the issue with the blue tint. We reinstalled the graphics drivers and tried it on an external monitor (the coloring was fine on the external monitor). There is no special monitor configuration or anything either. Before we were done he said to try it with some other games to see if the color was off with them because I've been mainly basing this off World of Warcraft (but a screenshot of WoW from the internets coloring was off too, and it looked fine from the other monitor, so it is my desktop too). We ended the conversation with an "I'll call you tommarow and if other games are messed up looking we'll replace the laptop".
What do you guys think, is replacement the right move? Has anyone with this spec of laptop noticed any change in color compared to their external monitors (especially in WoW)? I'm just afraid I'll have to go through all this trouble to replace the thing and it will be the same. Opinions welcome!
More woes. With two 8800 GTX and a Core 2 Extreme 2.4 GHZ this thing should be giving crazy framerates. I got CS:S loaded and did the stress test. At 1900x(whatever) resolution it got an average of 106 FPS. Back to 1600x(whatever) it got 120 FPS That is kinda lame with this hardware, I'm not sure what the deal is. My desktop has a 2.13 ghz normal dual core and a single 8800 gts and gets an average of 150 FPS. Compared to the desktop I'm getting some poor performance from the laptop. Is the "mobile" version of the (CPU/GFX CARD) that much worse than the desktop versions or is something wrong..?
Once again thanks for all the replies so far I really appreciate it!
mfinnan101
1.2K Posts
0
April 1st, 2008 20:00
Since you said the display on an external monitor is fine, the problem is with the screen of the laptop. I would let Dell replace the laptop, if they offer it to you.
Don't know why you're complaining with 100+ FPS, that's extremely palyable. If I got 100FPS on my laptop with all my games my college work would go out the window.:smileysurprised:
It is true that the mobile GPUs are not as good as the desktop GPUs - It's a wonder at all how games actually run at crazy resolutions like 1900X1200.
tigerwolf7
3.9K Posts
0
April 1st, 2008 23:00