Brand new i7 M11x can barely play Starcraft 2- please help!

Hello everyone- first post here. I surfed these forums a lot since January as I was deciding if/when to get an M11x...I got one 10 days ago, but I am having such problems that I am in desperate need of help.

I don't think I am running my M11x correctly at all. I have seen in threads on here that people are running Starcraft 2 with good FPS at near ultra settings.

My M11x, running SC2 at medium to low settings, gets 8-20 FPS (based on in-game command to see FPS). I also have Assassin's Creed 1 installed and I can run it at (I am guessing) 60 FPS with all settings set to about medium.

I have SC2.exe on my whitelist, have it set to run with the high-speed processor, have my battery set to max performance, and have my Intel(R) Hd graphics even set to max performance.

I have tried automatic updates for drivers for my integrated and GT 335M in my device manager, and get told that everything I have is up to date!

Here are my specs:

From NVIDIA Control Panel:

I tried going to the NVIDIA website and searching for automatic updates, and it tells me to update Intel HD Graphics and my GeForce GT 335M, and it says

for my current driver version. When I downloaded and installed the two drivers they gave me, the setup fails because it says setup could not locate any compatible drivers for my system.

My current NVIDIA control panel version is:

According to device manager, my current drivers are:

I have no idea what else to do...I started my Master's program at UNC today and it looks to be a hard year for me...I just want to be able to play this game (and others) in peace.

Please, if anyone has any idea what I am doing wrong, let me know as soon as you can...

 

No doubt it is having issues with Optimus.
I suggest you go ahead and download the dell 257.30
Welcome to Home User Support
It is under the downloads. Just enter your service tag, or choose your model, and you will be led to the drivers. Go under video, and download the Gt 335M 257.30 drivers.

The Dell 257.30 have worked well for me.
I myself managed to get an average of 35 FPS for medium settings, and about 30 FPS on high with shadows on low, and some other settings tweaked.

 

noah are you getting those numbers in single player or multiplayer or both. Im thinking about getting an m11 and worried this same thing will happen to me as the op.

 

In my experience the modded 259.22 drivers run the game better than the Dell 257.30 ones. 35 - 37 fps avg on high early to mid game and 23-28 in big battles.

 

I found these via these forums on a google search and downloaded the file from a megaupload link (259.22 R2 Modded.7z, 91.9 Mb)

However, I have no idea how to install this file on my laptop...

 

In the campaign.
I admit, I was a bit timid of going online, so I just sticked with the singleplayer and campaign.

As for multiplayer, you should see a significant increase in framerates, as the CPU will not be taxed as heavily.

 

Which is why I suggest you try out those 257.30 drivers first.
If those still cannot satisfy you, you can use the the 259.22, though you will need the modded .inf file to make it work.

 

Oh wow, this is a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT GAME. I went from 8 FPS on settings to 29-35 on an overall medium set of custom settings.

I notice smooth 33 FPS or so, but then every 4-12 seconds everything freezes for half a second. Is this unavoidable? It instantly became a sort of annoying thing that I wait on, like a broken or loose part in the house that drives you crazy when it makes a sound every X seconds.

 

i was having the same problem when i first got my m11xr2 its the problem with the driver i used this driver and everything worked out fine be sure to follow instructions.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...er-258-96-beta-discussion-relating-11xr2.html

tried playing with all the settings on high and it played it with minor lag except when your already in battle with hordes of zerg ahaha.. but in medium setting everything is running smooth.

 

any reason why dell doesn't use up to date drivers when its only been bought 10 days ago?

 

If you had done a search you would have found this.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m11x/503901-starcraft-ii-m11x.html

happy reading, and word of advice, send your m11x r2 back for refund before its too late. it's NOT worth the cost.

 

your help can be found here
http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m11x/510346-modded-optimus-drivers-collection-r2.html

 

Why don't you think so?

 

For many many reasons.

I'm not going to spam the forums here but i'll list a few things simply.

1. i7 is waaaaay too weak to do the real job in gaming and even in many every day tasks if you ask me. the ULV is simply just like any other netbook cpu with a fancy i7 name.

2. The nvidia optimus is nothing but problems... and if any of you have been around with computers for more than 3 years you will also know that it will always cause problems.. things like these do not get "fixed" because Nvidia does not sit down with dell... and hp.... and sony... and every single one of them to fix their indivual problems. Dell might try and make it a bit less frustrating but at the end of the day it will be an annoying technology that will affect most people every day. just wait and see.

3. the random lockups/bluescreens are all over the place, noone can tell you why, everyone have them aka its not a faulty MB its probably something globally wrong with the way the m11x r2 is build or the combination of components... which again means, it probably wont change.

4. The price, it's an insane price for something so faulty. you can get a brand new macbook pro 15" for the same price and sure its not perfect either, how ever you are 100% covered and any issue will be resolved or you will get a replacement. just to put it in perspective.

5. The quality of the screen itself, colour, contrast and so on is really not great... pretty bad to be honest. specially for something at that price with a pretended quality of highend gaming (which should mean the best of the best in buildquality and so on as gamers are picky s).

I could go on... but you get the idea.

 

I can understand your reasoning for both 1 and 2 (to an extent 5 but my last laptop had a very similar screen so for me the point is moot), however I have never had a random lockup/bluescreen. While I will concede that the laptop is pricey for simply a processor upgrade, honestly I only got the R2 I7 because it was on sale for the dell.ca site literally negating the cost of upgrading.

I can honestly say if it wasn't for me being incredibly paranoid given the hinge issue (last laptop had an issue with hinges as well...not fun) I would consider the thing the perfect laptop for my current situation.

 

It's too bad you had a bad experience but the fact remains per units sold to the returns they are doing pretty well. I haven't had a SINGLE issue with my R2 since I received it. No blue screens, no nothing. It runs quick enough for what I expect from it.
It is NOT a replacement for a desktop machine, at all. It's a portable gaming machine that works great within specs.

All new gen laptops have little issues, get over it.

SC2 runs great on mine.

 

Yeah, I've had zero performance or stability issues. I've also never had a problem with Optimus doing what it's supposed to do. Only one game hasn't run on it for me and that was The Witcher. Not a big deal, I paid $7 for it and played it on my desktop.

 

1. I completely disagree. This laptop handles most of the games you throw at it. Ive yet to find one that doesnt play (My Steams collection has 30+ games)

2. I have never had a single problem with Optimus. Works every time.

3. You had a faulty unit, and this may surprise you but it happens. Not every computer that rolls off the line will be 100% perfect.. not one single company can say they have a 0% failure rate. With my M11x, Ive never had a single crash, lockup, or BSOD.

4. I call BS. My old MBP had issues, and I never got any replacements... Was sent in 4 times before I demanded my money back, and was never once offered a replacement even when I asked for it.

5. While the screen is not the best out there, its certainly not the worst. Not anywhere even close to being the worst. Its a mainstream panel and is just as good as every other 11.6" panel Ive seen.


It really sucks that people who have a bad experience with a product always poke around and bad mouth it. For every unhappy customer, there are probably a hundred who love it.

 

Small but vocal minority indeed...

Have only had screen viewing problems, none of the rest.

 

Heheh I knew this would happen. It's good you all think its the best thing in the world, but he asked for my opinion and thats what he got.

The only thing the m11x does better than ANY other laptop ive seen or had (have had 6 different laptops by now) is get rid of heat. It's the coolest laptop with no danger of overheating I have used. Which is a big deal... one reason for that could be the slow i7 though

 

it was mention in a post before. different ppl just look at things differently and have different expectation. I personally had use a laptop with ULV processor before in my work place some time back. So I do know what kind of performance it can dish out as compared to other more standard processors prior to buying this. Still I have no regret getting an i7 model and I do thank god that I was patient enough and waited when I first saw the C2D model. Not saying that C2D model is bad but like i said I use a ULV C2D before so I know what kind of performance generally it can give. I am pretty sure the i7 ULV does indeed perform better as a CPU perspective compare to C2D. Not 100% in all scenario but generally its still faster. My take on this laptop is this.

1. the i7-ulv does its job well in terms of gaming. it is not meant to let you run games at crazy framerate but it does still run "most" stuffs at a decent playable framerate. for those who expect this thing to run everything high and ultra you might have mistake this product in the first place, this is not m17x that is running with a full i7 mobile processor. at this point of time still i dont think there is anything out there of the same size that give you similar performance in terms of gaming and for this portion i think Alienware already delivery it within specs.

2. Optimus is not perfect I do agree as I am one of those who help putting up modded drivers and such to over come certain issues. But still it cant be call "faulty". Nothing is perfect. Even GPUs running on fermi chipset (non optimus) have quite a bit of funny issues out there but yet they are on retail and people still buy them despite knowing there are issues. I dont think any computer in this world is perfect, every of them definitely have their own fault somewhere be it hardware / software but most importantly its not completely broken that it couldnt run a thing. Making it fair Optimus issue is not Alienware issue as other brands like Asus and others that have laptops with Optimus share the same amount of problems (go search the internet). To be fair my neutral take is Optimus is not perfect but still does it's job.

3. I have not had any blue screen till today. Neither any system lock up or any sort. Even when I OC my R2 which I ever did to get a 7.9k benchmark on 3DMark. I never had such issue before. So I cant comment why there are people who experience such problem. Maybe they are just unlucky ones who got a lemon? Such things can happen.

4. I never had a MBP before so I cant comment or compare. Neither my R2 has any problem that needed a warranty claim. So not much I can comment in this portion.

5. Agree that screen quality is not that great. Like when I look at my external Samsung display the color itself is very obvious to me. But at the same time I dont think currently anything this small out there have a fantastic display to begin with. My guess is that it's just not there yet as demand for such is still low. How many 11.6" laptop actually can play games decently? I believe when demands catch up. You will start to see something. But as for now it is already as decent as it should be.


Buying an Alienware in the first place you know that you normally pay more than you should. I think this should not be taken as an argument like "hey I pay XXXX amount for this thing and it does not even justify the price" and etc etc. If price is a factor to begin with, Alienware should not be a choice of computer to buy. Same goes to any Apple product. And should not buy already then start complaining.

 

I would agree with thomaskc, simply because SCII does not run on medium well enough for me. I thought the computer would do it a little better, and whether its the hardware or the drivers or blizzard programing, the game doesn't play up to my standards.

So I would personally also return it if I could. However, I agree different people have different expectations/perceptions, so if you are diggin' the m11x then that's all that really matters. It runs some games pretty good, just not my favorite one.

 

Well I'm on the 257 currently as was recommended in this thread. I will definitely look at the 258 and the modded 259, but the 259 link doesn't discuss how to install the drivers or mod the INF file as was mentioned earlier in this thread would be necessary.

thomas: I found several SC2 mentions but couldn't sort out a specific solution. I also got 300 dollars off my M11x

 

I think you may want to re-read the 259 thread again

 

You're right- I didn't know that 7z was a zipped file.

I installed those drivers and am at around 38 FPS with very nice settings in SC2. I just tried UT3 and got what seemed like 60 FPS with everything cranked to max.

Thanks so much for your help everyone. I can't believe I have such a light machine that can run these games so well.