XPS1730: Very Poor Age of Conan performance, Please advise

[XBS]

I purchased a well equipped Dell XPS 1730 for the purpose of playing Age of Conan, I am always on the go and therefore needed a laptop.

Below are the specs on my computer, Please let me know what I can do to improve performance, I am about to reformat again and do a bare install with just AoC.

On a side note is it true that I cannot run Windows XP because I will no longer be able to use DirectX10? I think XP would greatly improve performance.

Specs:

Dell XPS 1730 Gaming Laptop

Intel Core 2 Dou T7700 2.4GHz

4GB DDR Memory

NVidia 8700M GT x2 in SLi configuration

320GB HDD 5,400RPM

Vista Home SP 1

As you can see these requirements are over what the game is recommend to run at, I play it on the LOW setting with a resolution of 1600x1050 and i can an average of 15-20 FPS, they go as high as 28FPS when I don't move and as low as 7FPS while in combat, I really need help!

I am thinking if I can throw in some smaller HDD's and run them in Raid 0 that might help, Also does anyone know if I can upgrade the processor to the 2.8 without changing the motherboard, If not where could I purchase the motherboard to support the 2.8 processor?

Thanks in advance!

[Thomaskc]

first of all, id choose a lower resolution, since 1600x1050 is alot to handle for a laptop.

second, you can go with winxp no problem! age of conan as of today are running DX9 only.. dx10 arent even implimented as an option yet, so you will have no problems there.

[Dox]

try a new driver like 174.90

you can find it in this forum.

they are sli drivers for 8800MGTX but should work with sli 8700MGT.

or 175.16.

i dont think its your hardware dont do anything drastic to it like new hardrives or motherboard.

I think its just dell gave you outdated drivers.

windows xp would probably give a performance boost but you wouldnt be able to use dx10

[XBS]

I am currently running 175.12, as have read on here that someone had good results with it.

So you guys would recommend 174.90? Its a bit hard for me to determine which driver I should use, Also for some reason I only download the drivers from this site at like 20kb/sec wierd.

I have to change the motherboard anyway because the laptop won't charge the battery, so I was going to upgrade the processor while I was at it.

So AoC is not currently using DX10? Anyway to confirm this?

Thanks again guys!

[Dox]

maybe you havent activated sli?

[XBS]

It is enabled. Just doubled checked :)

Also I notice in the games most of the time my CPU load is at, or close to 100%

Any thoughts?

Also, My windows score is only a 2.8 seems a little low for such a powerfull laptop, something must be wrong.

[Dox]

which part of you hardware gives 2.8?

if its gpu something must be wrong with it.

i reccomend you try 174.90 as its mobile sli driver which may work for you.

dx 10 conan isnt out yet: http://kotaku.com/391601/age-of-conan-dx10-version-delayed

[XBS]

2.9 for Processor

and 2.8 for RAM

Gaming graphics are at 5.5

So confused with this machine!

[Dox]

wow. that is strange.

i got the same processor as you i had around 5.x and for mem i had 4.8.

maybe something is wrong after all with ur hardware.

if its still in warranty maybe get it checked?

[XBS]

No warranty, I am going to change the motherboard since it is not charging the battery anymore, any idea were I can get one? I was thinking about upgrading the processor to the 2.8 at the same time.

[CooLMinE]

Yeap seems like a CPU and ram problem to me.

Since you don’t have warranty anymore try replacing the ram if u got a friend that can lend the ones he/she have and see the score with the new ones.

Also try running the system with 1 ram, assuming you got 2x2gb ram try run it with 1 stick each time and see if you got a faulty ram.

Edited June 2, 2008 by CooLMinE

[XBS]

Another thing to think about, I am having problems with my motherboard thinking I have the wrong power adapter, and it won't charge the battery (which is why I am in need of a new motherboard) Maybe this is decreasing my CPU performance as a safety? What do u guys think?

Let me know,

[Guest Guest]

I just bought a new gaming laptop, toshiba x205-sli5:

2.4ghz intel dual core

3gb ram

8600m gt sli

and I get performance like yours, with around 5-20 fps on lowest settings with lowest resolution

**My girlfriend has an identical laptop, x205-sli5, except with:

1.66ghz intel dual core

2gb ram

8700m gt (non-sli)

she runs on maxed settings, maxed resolution, at 40-50 fps

So strange...

Interestingly, if I increase my settings to highest and also increase the resolution, I still get framerates around 5-20 fps.

It seems like the settings I use don't affect the framerate; in other words, maybe it isn't a performace issue per se, but something else happening (directx? drivers?).

I'm trying updating all the drivers I can, but so far with disappointing results.

[Dox]

this maybe a solution:

http://forums.laptopvideo2go.com/index....showtopic=18287

[XBS]

I did that ^^^ Still no luck :)

By the way, I just ordered a new motherboard from Dell to resolve my charging issue, this may be causing my processor to run at a lower clock speed which could be why my Windows score is so low. It was only $288 shipped so I am surprised, although they only sell refurbished parts.

I will keep you guys posted!

Edited June 3, 2008 by XBS

[XBS]

Just ran CPU-Z and it seems like my processor is only running at 1.6GHz which would explain a lot, here is the details:

Processors Information

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Processor 1 (ID = 0)

Number of cores 2 (max 2)

Number of threads 2 (max 2)

Name Intel Mobile Core 2 Duo T7700

Codename Merom

Specification Intel® Core2 Duo CPU T7700 @ 2.40GHz

Package Socket P (478) (platform ID = 7h)

CPUID 6.F.A

Extended CPUID 6.F

Core Stepping E1

Technology 65 nm

Core Speed 1595.6 MHz (8.0 x 199.4 MHz)

Rated Bus speed 797.8 MHz

Stock frequency 2400 MHz

Instructions sets MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, EM64T

L1 Data cache 2 x 32 KBytes, 8-way set associative, 64-byte line size

L1 Instruction cache 2 x 32 KBytes, 8-way set associative, 64-byte line size

L2 cache 4096 KBytes, 16-way set associative, 64-byte line size

FID/VID Control yes

FID range 6.0x - 12.0x

max VID 1.288 V

Features XD, VT

So it leads me to believe that my faulty mother board is causing windows to operate my processor at a lower clock speed.

Will be replacing the motherboard this weekend and then hopefully we will have some closure to this problem, and hopefully I get better than 20 FPS on a $4K laptop!

Edited June 3, 2008 by XBS

[XBS]

Just installed new motherboard, that fixed the charging issue (finally have a battery!) and also the computer is running at full power.

Going to install x64 Vista, then report back with performance.

If game is still not as good as I would expect going to upgrade to 8800mGTX SLI card from Dell.

Thanks everyone for the help, will keep you guys posted for future XPS 1730 owners!

[Dox]

i know you must of spent alot on that laptop.

hope all works out for you :)

keep us posted on how it goes :)

all the best

dox

[XBS]

Hey Dox, are you still running XP Pro SP3? Or are you on Vista x64 now?

Are there any games you run on your notebook, if so what type of FPS are you seeing and what game?

[Dox]

I'm on XP sp3, i was on vista x86 (32bit)

I would like to go to vista x64 but its too expensive for me.

I have some games that i play resolution all at 1280 x 800:

Call of duty 4 all max 4xAA/16xAF: 60-93 fps

Gears of wars all max 4xAA/16xAF: 40-62 fps (its capped at 62 fps)

Crysis all high, medium on shadows, clouds and water and particals: 25-40 fps

Bioshock all max 4xAA/16xAF: 45-70 fps

counter strike source all max 8QxAA/16xAF: 250-300 fps.

its fair to say one 8800MGTX is a beast having two would be crazy good.

but i feel one is enough for me.

[Apak]

I work in computer repair and to be honest this does not sound like a bad board to me. sounds alot like a software issue with what it is doing. I would try a reinstall of OS first thing if that doesn't work update your BIOS might help. You system should run AOC with 25-35 FPS on high setting - shadows atleast. I would suggest downloading PC-Check program and running it on your PC befor you replace all that, it does a pretty good job at testing your whole system. You might have a bottleneck problem someplace thats causing your CPU to be crap. there are a few ways to test this mostly just need someone that knows computers to watch all your system settings as they run to see whats causing your CPU to run crappy. I would possibly try to take a stick of ram out and test each one by itself see if that improves it any to check see if you have a bad stick.

[Guest rlinfinity]

OKay HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!

U don't need XP. Stay with VISTA cos that's where the future is. AoC is gonna launch DX10 sooner or later and u wont have support on XP.

For another matter ur PC should easily handle AoC.

I have a Dell XPS 1530. So i run AoC on Higher than HIGH settings (Click High and hten increase some stuff even more), and I get 20-30 FPS most of the time. Sometimes it goes as high as 50, sometimes it can drop briefly to 15.

But considering I got:

2.10 GHz Core 2 Duo (800 MHz FSB)

GeForce 8600M GT with 256MB DDR3 RAM (single board!)

4GB DDR2 at 667 MHz

at a standard 160GB Hard Disk (5400 RPM).

The crucial thing was that i made sure my card had DDR3. but you having 2x SLi 8700Ms and all the other garnishes, i dont' see why you can't handle AoC.

I'd recommend getting PowerDefragmenter with Contig.exe and defraging ur AoC folder (And ur WHOLE hard drive if possible). remove unwanted startup programs, or shut em down manually before launching AoC. And also get RegCure or osmetihng to clean ur registry. This is merely a measure to rule out all these as possible contributions.

Now back to your PC, the only thing I can suggest is. To go to a loewr resolution. Tho if MY rig can do so well with 1440x900 I'm guessing you should be able to run on HIGH with 1600x... and atleas squeeze out 15-25 fps. .... STill try the lower FPS. go with 1440x900.

Then start tweaking out a few settings. Turn Anti aliasing off, or to one of the lower levels. Turn Bloom off. See if some of these 'auxiliary' settings that aren't (THAT) crucial help you squeeze out more FPS.Also turn Wait for V Sync off. Some people will say that V Sync doesnt affect laptops. Well, i've noticed a few drops on FPS jus by having VSync on. Either way, ur not doing above 60 FPS (and ur monitor is prolly 60Hz refresh) so there's no point in having it on anyways.

I'm assuming your video card is up to date. My vid card is. I bought this rig to place AoC. it would ###### me off if it couldn't run it. So I feel ya, having spent more.

Anyways, Like I said. I my rig is lower power than urs and I run with all settigns maxed out (Except anti-aliasing which I have at 2x or 8x or even turned off. I found that doing 16xQ whatever could lower FPS in some instances). I dunno if you could contact dell and tell em that ur computer works s***ty and you want a replacement. Sometimes the sad truth is some Comps specced to deliver, dont. You might wanna try that if it sucks so much out of the box.

Still if Ihad ur PC, i'd expect to run AoC without compromise (highest Resolution, Anti-aliasing quality maxed out, etc) with decent FPS.

b**** to dell,

ciao