Laptops with i5/i7 Sandy Bridge CPU, Nvidia&Intel switchable graphics.... performance

[RoundSparrow]

So many questions about laptop performance, I figured time to start a thread specific to this CPU family + Nvidia GPU.

My system: Dell E6520 laptop; 2.2Ghz i7-2720QM (runs at 3.0Ghz Turbo in Dolphin), 8GB of RAM, Nvidia NVS 4200M 512MB graphics. I'm using a 1080p display, should run faster with the lower-resolution display. The Dell E6420 is a nearly identical system, smaller screen. NOTE: In my experience, Dolphin runs fine with 2GB of RAM, equally to 8GB of RAM. Also the hard drive speed doesn't really impact performance in significant way.

Windows 7 64bit. With Dolphin R7690... I turned off the EFB to RAM setting to match the default setting of Dolphin 3.0 release. Here are screen shots of Wii Sports Bowling NTSC. I used same settings for screen shots. in-game FPS display turned on, 640x480 internal resolution:

DirectX 11 gets around 75FPS peak: http://sites.google.com/site/stephengutk...ectX11.png - RENDERS Mii Perfect!

DirectX 9 gets slowest, around 60FPS peak: https://sites.google.com/site/stephengut...rectX9.png - Mii renders with corruption

OpenGL is in between speed, 68FPS peak: https://sites.google.com/site/stephengut...OpenGL.png

So, on my hardware, DirectX 11 is far outperforming DirectX 9 - and it is rendering the Mii attributes correctly on 11 Also notice the tiny "thumbnail" of the Mii at the left of the bowling scores.... it appears best on DirectX 11.

P.S. I am also running Linux... Ubuntu 11.04 x64 / Mint 11 and Fedora 15 x64 on this same system. So far, performance SUCKS on Dolphin - I'm getting 40FPS on this Wii Sports Bowling screen using bumblebee git & nvidia-current from August 1, 2011. I'll keep trying It is the fault of Linux graphics drivers, they really are in transition/flux.

[KHRZ]

Good, but the famous tests are Super Mario Galaxy in the comet observatory, Zelda: TP in Hyrule field and other slow AAA titles (so others can easier compare)

[HawaiianPunch]

Hmm. Maybe when i get home I can test my comp. Its very similar to OP except better GPU. I can try out SMG2 or wind waker and a couple other games too. However, I can't seem to dump SMG with CleanRip, so I can't try that and I don't have TP. SMG2 usually is fullspeed with HLE, but barely playable with LLE. I'll have to do more tests.

[RoundSparrow]

Good, but the famous tests are Super Mario Galaxy in the comet observatory, Zelda: TP in Hyrule field and other slow AAA titles (so others can easier compare)

I dumped my SMG with CleanRip 1.04... If I remember right, I choose to split it into two 4GB files and did it to a FAT32 8GB SDHC card I had. I verified the MD5 after rip.

Yes, but I was more showing the differences between DirectX9/11/OpenGL. I also note: SMG retails in USA for about $30 even USED at Amazon/Gamestop/BestBuy. Wii Sports... $8 USED or came free with the console

P.S. I just did a round of testing on Linux. Using the latest drivers, I'm getting about 54 FPS on this same screen as the screenshots using the Nvidia card. Using my Intel GPU, if I remember, it was more like 35 FPS.

[synce]

It'd be great if this forum had a cpu benchmark thread similar to pcsx2... anyhow I went with the 26y30qm and its fine. If I knew the 2.9ghz turbo was a bs figure I would've dropped an extra buck on the 2720qm. As it stands though I get 60fps at 2x res in most games I tested. My card is a GT 525.

[HawaiianPunch]

Oh good. RoundSparrow, I use a NTFS 8GB flash drive, so file size isn't the problem. The problem is CleanRip will randomly stop dumping in the same spot every time with a "Motor Stopped" message. On CleanRip's googlecode page there are reports of the issue too. I don't think the disk is scratched but I will check.