Administrators Hervé Posted February 1, 2013 Administrators Share Posted February 1, 2013 No, I have slightly higher values. But I have a different (better) CPU and I don't believe XBench actually evaluates the GPU. To me it only tests CPU. I believe your feeling of lower performance is simply due to having the low-end CPU of the T7xxx family. Your RAM might be slower in the D630 too (timings, not just bus speed). Also, don't make the mistake of thinking that an nVidia GPU should just be quicker/faster than the Intel integrated GMA X3100. It may be quicker, it may not be (I don't know the inner frequency of the nVidia 135m), but it definitely has more graphical capabilities than its Intel counterparts. That will be felt in graphics intensive application (games, video, CAD, all that kind of stuff), not really on basic/regular desktop windowing or browsing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dutchcow Posted February 1, 2013 Author Share Posted February 1, 2013 But shouldnt the basic desktop performance be the same? I didn't expect the difference to be this big. I'm going to sell the D630 and see if I can get a Intel version. Or maybe a cheap hires screen for the D820. Once you boot into Windows on the D630 it is like having a new laptop, or pressing a turbo button. I just can't live with the sluggish desktop performance on the D630 when it sits next to a D820 that feels so much faster and nicer to use. Anyways, believe in the benches or not, it clearly renders GUI elements 2-3x faster on the D820 than the D630 and you really notice it. What exactly the cause is (gpu/cpu/etc) I don't know and I was trying to get help and figure it out on here. But it seems there is nothing more to be done. Even though they should perform equally they don't. I'm amazed you don't have it on yours. I got them sitting besides each other, both booted up with Lion and the difference is day and night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Hervé Posted February 1, 2013 Administrators Share Posted February 1, 2013 I'd simply upgrade the CPU if I were you, that'll be a lot quicker and probably much cheaper to do... Get a faster C2D with bigger cache. To prove my point: a. D620, C2D T7200 2.0GHz FSB667, 2GB DDR2-667, 320Go HDD 7200rpm, nVidia NVS 110m with 1440x900 LCD, Lion 10.7.5 b. D630, C2D T7500 2.2GHz FSB800, 4GB DDR2-800, 80Go HDD 7200rpm, GMA X3100 with 1440x900 LCD, Lion 10.7.5 c. D630, C2D T7500 2.2GHz FSB800, 4GB DDR2-800, 160Go SSD, nVidia 135m with 1440x900 LCD, ML 10.8.2 -> Xbench Quartz Graphic tests on all 3 running PState on-demand, no app running and nothing opened on desktop a. 1) 89.94 a. 2) 90.29, a few minutes later a. 3) 106.65, a few more minutes later a. 4) 100.35, even more minutes later b. 1) 81.78 b. 2) 65.43, a few minutes later b. 3) 71.03, a few more minutes later b. 4) 68.84, even more minutes later c. 1) 43.38 (ok, I forgot to close utorrent in the background) c. 2) 212.39 a few minutes later (utorrent being closed) c. 3) 87.35 a few more minutes later c. 4) 74.97, even more minutes later c. 5) 216.22, immediately afterwards Then ran Quartz + OpenGL tests simultaneously on all 3: a. -> 64.09 b. -> 37.36 c. -> 71.47 So, go figure! These benchmarks don't mean much to me I'm afraid... All three laptops run fine, with D620 nVidia definitely a bit slower than the D630 X3100 under the same version of Lion. The D630 nVidia remains the best performer to me, although I don't really feel much of a difference between that one and its X3100 counterpart, the graphics rendering is however much nicer, a lot of that having to do with ML as well... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dutchcow Posted February 1, 2013 Author Share Posted February 1, 2013 But it gives me no guarantees that it will fix anything. CPU wise the laptops are nearly equal, with the T7100 winning it. It is just the (whatever it really uses to test) the render tests of the user interface where the difference is. So whatever it tests there, specially the parts with the fonts and list boxes, the D820 outperforms the D630 up to 3 times. And at the same CPU speed the D820 still scores twice as much. So I don't really care if that test leans on GPU or CPU, the difference is there when it should be the same (in theory). I've ran 3dmark and other tools under Windows and the NVidia performs as it should. It is an OSX thing for sure here. I don't want to risk spending money on the D630 CPU when it looks like the problem isn't really there, how else do you explain the score difference at the same CPU speed? And if those results don't explain the huge difference in feel when using the OS what does? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Hervé Posted February 1, 2013 Administrators Share Posted February 1, 2013 It is your CPU, you can take my word for it. If any point had to be even stronger: just ran Xbench Quartz test on my D630 T7500 GMA X3100 under ML 10.8.2. There's no GPU support, no graphics acceleration at all, yet the test scored 128!!! Just get a T7500 or better (T8xxx, T9xxx with FSB800) and then you'll see a real difference. The T7100 appears just too low-spec for the D630 laptop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dutchcow Posted February 1, 2013 Author Share Posted February 1, 2013 What about a P8100? Would that be any good? I don't have socket p cpu's laying in a drawer It has 1MB more cache and it's baked @ 45nm. I'll just try it, its the only socket p cpu I have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Hervé Posted February 1, 2013 Administrators Share Posted February 1, 2013 If you mean T8100, yes, I believe that'll fit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dutchcow Posted February 1, 2013 Author Share Posted February 1, 2013 Yeah it's a T8100 sorry, and yes it fits and works. The Dell bios detects it as some weird string, but Windows and OSX detect it as a T8100 correctly. I can't really get a feel for it as I'm booting from usb stick into ML, but I'm getting 3000+ with Geekbench now. So it must be better than the T7100 for sure. It's also staying pretty cool with it's new TJmax of 105, shows around 35 idle when on load the core temps differ upto 10 degrees according to HWMonitor, but I guess thats normal. I'll stick my OSX disk in there later to see how much of a difference it makes. At least I got the laptop fitted with a slightly faster CPU. Good tip and lucky me I had one laying about. Where would I pick up a really cheap faster C2D for my D630? Can't find much on ebay for a nice price. To put it in context I picked up the D820 without HDD and only 1GB RAM for 70 euro. I don't want to spend too much on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Hervé Posted February 2, 2013 Administrators Share Posted February 2, 2013 Ebay is always a good source, then each country has its own other places... Just be patient if there's nothing on right now, there'll be something sooner or later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dutchcow Posted February 2, 2013 Author Share Posted February 2, 2013 I'll keep my eyes open for some nice cheap high end C2D. Thanks for the CPU tip by the way. Do you think OSX leans harder on the CPU caches than Windows? I didn't notice any difference under Windows between these CPUs but under OSX the difference is very noticeable. Finally no weird sluggishness anymore, OSX feels as snappy as on the D820. The CPU itself gets hotter when under load but I read its normal for the T8x00, 80C under stress is fine. It idles around 35C. So it should be all good. What do you reckon is the max tdp/CPU the D630 can handle without melting? The cooling bits aren't as big as in the D820, that thing stays so cool its not funny. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts