I wish . I got my EMT certification a couple of months ago and have been working part-time at the university; it's a start.

Darn, I dunno, maybe I forced it with RMClock? I forget to be honest, maybe it ran slower and I just don't remember.

I just updated about a month ago to Xtreme-G 91.xx because BF2142 was giving me problems with my old 88.xx version. tweakrus took down all the old versions though and now they only have the newest version of their mobile drives, probably works just as well though . Is your bootdisk corrupted? As long as wfflash works without any problems, no worries.

RAM temp can be found in I8KFanGUI/I9KFanGUI programs, although it really doesn't matter. You aren't overclocked so the RAM puts out very little heat (comparitively to other parts of the systems) and therefore there's no need for extra cooling. The heavy hitters for heat output are the GPU and CPU, in that order. Everything else is pretty much ok.

I meant GPU RAM : )

Is there a way you can get me your current drivers? Like a web server, something... I'm kind of desperate. I scored 1000 lower than you on 3dmark05 at 440/1250... running cool temps, max of 80C...

GPU RAM is a guessing game . What's your CPU speed, that could make up the difference. Also note that the 8400+ 3DMark05 run was done at clocks of 505/1350, which is much higher than I normall run the card.

oops I guess I better update my sig! :P Anyway, it's stock 2.0ghz. what's your scores at 460/1250 for both 05 and 06? you should have that in your sig as well.

any word on getting me those drivers? I donated to tony's website to see if I could get the old ones

Whoops, late reply, but I found my screenshots of my old benchmarks. At 460/1250 I got 7719 in 3DMark05. At 460/1220 I got 4188 in 3DMark06. The CPU speed difference probably plays a major role, but the driver could definitely be a part of it. Usually the last driver before a new generations/refresh of graphics cards came out is the fastest; afterwards, the BS/optimizations for the new cards can sometimes hurt the performance of the old ones. I have an 88.xx version and a 91.xx version, if you have hosting, I can upload either one. If not, contact me on AIM and I can do a file transfer .

do you have the individual scores for that 06 benchmark? we would be able to see exactly how much was affected by the cpu. also, another member in this forum pointed out that having 1.5gb of ram meant that I had two different sized chips therefore ram was not working in interlaced mode and slower.

The other thing I just noticed is that you have the WUXGA screen, not the WXGA+ that I have. Since my screen only supports a maximum resolution of 1440x900, 3DMark06 runs at 1280x854, I believe, instead of the normal 1280x1024. This most likely raises my score a few hundred points. Anyway, the individual scores for my card at 460/1220 are 1875 for SM2.0, 1908 for HDR/SM3.0, and 1016 for a CPU score. The CPU score is probably the only accurate score there.

As far as the RAM goes, that member is correct, but techinically it shouldn't make a difference. The reason is that the 533FSB of the chipset so completely limits the bandwidth of the RAM, the performance difference between single and dual channel is close to non-existent.

Are you sure that is the resolution your 3dmark runs at? You're right, mine does run at 1280x1024. Anyway, my individual scores are 1707, 1719, and 809. the cpu score makes sense, maybe the others are a result of your rez? you should try running it at 1280x1024. that's dumb, how the default resolution isn't really standard.

I've been noticing your posts all over the board, you're cracking me up. You're getting excellent benchmark scores for the setup you've got, but running around worried and paranoid because they aren't any better. Relax, what's a few points on an artificial benchmark? The important thing is, can your computer do what you want it to do (run your desired software), at the speed you expect it to?

Like I told you in the other thread, CPU speed was the primary difference in the scores you two were getting there, and that the memory (single channel vs. dual channel) had some impact but not enough to worry about. Here, it's quite obvious that you both are running at different resolutions, becuase HIS SCREEN'S NATIVE RESOLUTION IS LOWER THAN YOURS AND THEREFORE CAN'T SUPPORT AS HIGH A RESOLUTION AS YOURS DOES, PERIOD! And HIS SCREEN DOESN'T SUPPORT 1280x1024, LIKE YOURS DOES, PERIOD! If you both run the benchmarks at native resolutions his will naturally be faster because his resolution is considerably less taxing to the videocard than yours.

Everyone wants to get the most out of their systems and I'm no different, but you have to remember we're dealing with mass produced laptops with their inherent limited cooling solutions and Dell's limited BIOS options in extracting the most from what we've got. All we can really do is install the fastest drives and CPUs and clock GPUs so that they'll operate in the very limited cooling envelope Dell has provided, using those standard vanilla, extremely limited RAM timings and FSB settings within their BIOS, and that's all! So the speed differences between machines with similar components are going to be limited and primarily going to be influenced on how we've set-up our individual OS and the software we have running on them.

You sound like you have a great curiosity and desire to get the most out of your machine, but based upon what you already have (a nicely configured I9300) there are only so many more things you can do, they all require additional cost, and the price to performance gained is going to be expensive and show only little improvement. My advice (based upon what you said in the other thread) is that once you get your new 1gig stick of RAM, is to save your money and don't put any more into your rig. Then when the next gen machines are introduced, sell your current one and take the plunge on a newer one. (That is, if you want dramatically improved scores.) Otherwise just be happy with what you've got, because like I said in the other thread your rig is faster than 95% of what's out there.

But I'll warn you from my 20plus years of computing experience, computers are like crack and highly addictive. Once you get on the upgrade treadmill it's hard to get off. Because just as soon as you've bought the latest greatest fastest thing out there, something better is introduced and you'll be right back to where you are right now, again, yearning for that next best thing. You can never stay on top for long. It's an expensive hobby and can ruin a marriage if you're obsessive about it (it did mine). I figure over the last 2 decades I wasted enough money to buy a house, before I finally got off of that treadmill. (Wasted is the right word too because computing isn't an investment, it's an expense. Just ask the IRS, that's why businesses are allowed to depreciate computers at an accelerated rate.) Something to think about.

Ciao

My main qualm was that when I bought the 130W PSU from ebay, the seller accidentally sold me the A01 instead of the A02 he advertised. I was concerned that my computer was purposely slowing down the GPU because of inadequate power. I understand how everyone's benchmark is going to be a bit different but I want to know why when I can.

This is what it all comes down to: I sell Dell laptop video cards and I need a baseline to make sure that my products meet a certain test requirement and that the temperatures stay within an expected band. I don't care so much about having the fastest out there, but my clients might, and I need to inform myself with the most amount of knowledge I can lay my hands on. When I sell a card to someone and they're asking me why it's a certain number, or that something is not acting as expected, I don't have time to start asking around the forums. The best I can do is act like an upgrade junkie and squeeze it out of the notebookforum.com.

I'm also very interested in hardware tweaking, but just for the sport. I don't even play video games that much, the only thing I really use is Maya and 3dsmax. That's why I got a Quadro 1400m for myself, but it came in the mail and wouldn't boot (I just posted a new thread about that actually).

Thanks for all your help, responses like yours move this forum forward, unlike posts that look like ... no offense to those smart people that like to augment their posts with these though. You know what I mean.

Keep it up!

In terms of cooling... On the second pic, what'd you make that "heatsink" type thing out of? Copper sheet?