I got an Alienware M17x with NVidia 680M yesterday and am a bit shocked regarding the low fps in FSX. At my usual situation (EDDF with PMDG 737NGX) I get just 5 fps.

Now, I had an Asus G75 with 670M some weeks ago for testing and got around 20 fps in the same situation.

 

What the heck is going on, the 680M is supposed to be the fastest card on the market for Laptops ? Both Laptops use the same driver, and in the NVidia 3D settings, FSX is connected with the NVidia card. Some comparison values with 3DMark 06 (DirectX9 benchmark):

 

Asus/670M : 15800

Alienware/680M : 24300

 

Similar results with 3DMark11, the 680M performs roughly 40% faster. I checked some games, e.g. Witcher 2, they all run perfectlly at the highest details. The Alienware fans come up after seconds in any game, but stay dead quiet in FSX.

The low fps in FSX make the impression as if it's using the onboard Intel Graphic, but in the FSX display settings I see only the 680M.

 

Any ideas what might be wrong or what to check ?

The Alienware fans come up after seconds in any game, but stay dead quiet in FSX.

Those games are using much more of the GPU's capabilities than FSX does. As we all know by now, FSX is CPU dependent.

I don't think there would be a jump in performance comparing the 680M to the 670M in FSX, doesn't mean it should get worse though, what's the CPU on both?

Those games are using much more of the GPU's capabilities than FSX does. As we all know by now, FSX is CPU dependent.

 

Hmmm, both Laptops use the same CPU, Intel Core I7 3610QM.

It's 5 vs 20 fps in FSX.

I don't think that it's hardware related, delete your fsx.cfg file and check your display settings.

Display settings are Ok, I tried to renew the fsx.cfg several times already. Also reinstalled FSX.

Not the slightest change :(.

That's weird, ok try this, download a tool like CPU-Z and check to see if the CPU temperatures and frequency are okay when under load, try to compare it with the other laptop if you still have it.

This sounds like your fsx.cfg needs some tweaking. I run FSX on a Lenovo W510 that is significantly less powerful than the Alienware (1.7GHz 820-QM / nVidia FX-880 with 45 CUDA cores) and I get in the mid to high teens in areas such as KSEA and KJFK with REX/UTX and Orbx.

 

Have you read Word Not Allowed's software guide? Lots of good info there as those tweaks were what allowed me to run FSX reasonably well on my laptop. Also, I have most of my sliders in the middle or at 3/4.

Hi Mikealpha,

 

If this is a new laptop, one thing could be, that it's power saving settings are restricting you using the 680 to it's full potential.

 

Some are preset to give maximum battery life when new. You would have to check these in control panel etc.

 

The power saving plans can reduce your CPU power to it's minimum.

 

Look for something like 'use max power' or similar.

 

just a thought,

 

Ron.

just to add,

 

I had a look at some Alienware laptops, they have a thing called Stealth mode

In the Alienware command centre somewhere, this in effect turns off the discreet graphics card and switches to the onboard Intel one, it also throttles down the CPU and other hardware to save power.

 

something to check,

 

Ron.

just to add,

 

I had a look at some Alienware laptops, they have a thing called Stealth mode

In the Alienware command centre somewhere, this in effect turns off the discreet graphics card and switches to the onboard Intel one, it also throttles down the CPU and other hardware to save power.

 

something to check,

 

Ron.

 

This post brought back some frustrating memories. I had this very same issue with my laptop until I changed the BIOS setting for the discreet GPU to always on and set CPU to maximum performance in the power settings.

 

Laptops can be a pain but at least I got it to run FSX.

I suggest you look for some spyware or virus...

First of all thanks a lot for all the hints and tips !

In the meantime I did the tweaks as recommended by Word Not Allowed and I am up from roughly 5 to 8-9 fps. While that's an improvement, it is still far away from what I should get. It's the NGX at Aerosoft EDDF, without AI Traffic, clear weather and by far not all maxed out to the right.

I would expect something in the range of 25-30 fps.

 

There's no option for the graphic card in the BIOS. Just the turbo mode for the CPU can be activated (was already by default). Besides that, overclocking mode can be turned on, but I did not use that yet.

In the NVidia graphic settings, FSX was connected to the 680M. I changed now the Global settings to 'use the 680M always', so all applications should use it now. It didn't change anything. With the GPU-Z tool, I see the GPU temperature slowly rising to 56C during FSX. Then it stays there. Very strange, the GPU load goes up to 20-30%, but also remains there. Anyway, it seems FSX uses the 680M, but only to some degree ?

 

Power options are set to 'high performance' in Windows 7 and in the NVidia settings (set to max. power). The newer Alienware laptops don't have that stealth mode anymore.

I wouldn't really expect spyware or virus in a new laptop, but all scans are negative.

 

What completely puzzles me are the benchmark results. For both CPU and GPU and for both DirectX9 and 11 they are all as expected and correspond to the reviews :

 

Cinebench 10 : 5828 (Single CPU 64bit), 21984 (MultiCPU 64bit)

Cinebench 11 : 6.64

3DMark 06 : 24300

3DMark 11 : 6450

 

What else could it be ? 680M driver issue with FSX ? As mentioned above, the 670M in the former Asus test Laptop with same driver got roughly 20fps in FSX. Four times more, out of the box without any optimization.

 

Mike

Hi Mike,

 

very strange, you should be able to run FSX fine.

 

Try this as a test, disconnect the power supply and then start and run FSX with only the battery.

 

Once the power is removed the laptop should automatically go straight out of 'gaming mode' and into a reduced power mode.

 

compare the performance, ( if it runs at all ), it should be a lot worse. The battery cannot give the 680M all the power it needs.

 

If it runs the same, then either it has a bad power supply, or it is not switching to high power mode.

 

Check also the Alienware control centre settings.

 

At least you can eliminate that as a possibility,

 

Ron.

The GTX680M is obviously working but FSX won't stress it fully unless you use additional AA and fly in clouds. Next check the cpu load in task manager. Depending on your AffinityMask, is the first assigned core close to 100% load? If not, something is holding you back. Otherwise the CPU is either not at full speed or simply not enough for your settings. Are you sure you tested the other laptop at the same settings/scenario?