Diablo 3 on the M11x R1

As the title suggests, I've been playing Diablo 3 on my M11x. Before I bought the game, I researched whether or not my computer could play and the answer appeared to be: "maybe." So, I bought the game and have played it solo and with my wife. Here's my review of how well it does.

First off, the laptop...
Start with a fresh install of Windows 7/8 (tried both, equable performance, if not a bit better on 8), and then pinmod to true 1.73ghz with OC'd memory. Set to discrete graphics and clean install non-Dell latest and greatest Nvidia drivers. Use EVGA precision to achieve 525 on the core clock and 810 on the memory. Finally, use Gamebooster for optimum results.

After playing through the game, I can firmly say the M11x R1 does quite poorly with Diablo 3. With x768 resolution, and all settings on low (Low FX, no shadows, etc.), it's barely playable with no multiplayer. Here, barely playable is 10-15 fps. Add a single other player (in my case, my wife) and watch those meager results go through the floor. To get 10-15 fps, you have to go to 800 x 600 resolution. At this point, it starts to look like you're on an 8bit gaming console with poor fps.

So there you have it. The M11x R1 is basically no good for Diablo 3.

Addendum: perhaps the full 2.0ghz pinmod would help, as the cpu is definitely the limiting compound in this formula.

Further Addendum: With my rig, I can play Witcher 2 on Medium to Medium-Low settings and achieve 20-25fps, sometimes even better. The problem with Diablo 3 is definitely the slow CPU.

 

Thank you. If I would have known the R1 can play The Witcher 2 that well I would have bought it on Steam while it was on sale

 

Gonna have to disagree with you there. My R1 without throttlestop or any software overclocking played Diablo 3 perfectly fine (occasion slow downs in massive fights, but in general 30-40FPS) on low-medium settings, even without 'Low FX' using just the latest drivers from Dell.

You sure you were in high performance power mode and not balanced/power saving?

 

What do you mean without throttlestop? I thought throttlestop was to prevent CPU scaling which is already disabled when OC mode is enabled, which yours should be since your sig says 1.7GHz

Will throttlestop work with OC enabled? I prefer the CPU to scale than to be stuck at max speed.

 

I also average 30+ FPS on my R1. It's definitely playable. You just have to adjust the graphics properly. Off the top of my head: 1366x768, shadows low, low FX, AA off, textures high and I average above 30 fps easily (even in 4 player games). Basically try to disable or turn down anything that is CPU intensive as that is your bottleneck. I occasionally get slow downs but it's only a minor annoyance and not a game breaker. Don't be deterred! The game will run fine on your R1s!

 

Something's wrong with your M11x r1 cuner01.

I'm playing with smooth graphics on medium/low settings with a non-overclocked CPU, dell-driver GPU on my M11x r1.

 

Same I've just tried Diablo 3 on my friends R1 it is playable in a max player game. In a big massive fight it tends to slow down a lil bit (15-20fps) for only a lil bit though then it pops back up to 30-40 fps. In single player mode it doesn't lag at all avrg 30 + fps even in a big mob

 

Again have to agree with everyone else my M11x R1 runs Diablo 3 like a champ on native res. With everything low and Low FX OFF. Very strange...

 

Yeah, if you like playing by yourself - Diablo 3 runs get on my M11x R2. With 3.. even 4 people... it slows down to a crawl. Act 3 is pretty much a slideshow on my M11x, even with 164 bios overclock and throttlestop.

 

Did you read this thread? 1/2 of everyone here is playing Diablo 3 on an R1 at 30+ constant FPS in a full 4-man game. So the issue is quite clearly with your laptop or the way you've set it up.

Again - are you in high performance mode? The amount of people who complain about performance and turns out they've in Balanced/Power Saving mode this entire time... Uncountable.

 

Agreed^^^. Also to clarify, I play with max players on server, my computer hasn't been formatted, and I'm doing no overclocking of any sort.

 

The game runs fine on R1. Like almost all games....

 

+ 1

I have an r2 myself, single player it pretty much locks at 60fps even in big mobs. Max people in the game with a big groups of mobs it never falls below 30fps average fps is 40.... I've tested this both on i5 and i7

 

Ok. Well, so that I can pinpoint exactly where things are going funny, here, I'd ask that everyone (R1 owners only please) post the following information:
1)What OS? Stock Win7?
2)Bios OC'd CPU? Pinmod?
3)External Monitor or Laptop Screen?
4)Any other relevant information

Thanks

 

Win7 x64 Home Prem (as with most people)
SU7300 with 8GB DDR3
BIOS overclock on
BIOS set to switchable GPU
Laptop Screen (though i don't see this as being relevant unless you're running it off an external monitor @ 1080p or something)
Stock drivers from Dell (all of them)
Everything else stock settings, no GPU overclocks no tweaks or anything
OS stripped down to remove windows media apps, games, gadget platform, IE 9, tablet PC components, search
Windows Aero theme
High-performance power profile

 

There is virtually no difference in Balanced and High performance for the R1 if OC is enabled. High performance is just balanced with the CPU locked in the highest state which is what it already is when OC is enabled.

I run all my PC's on Balanced and there is no difference in framerate, it just sucks down much more power when doing nothing.

 

There is a difference. All power plans have dedicated & integrated GPU performance settings, as well as active/passive cooling settings and max/min CPU states. Sometimes people play around with settings not realizing the impact it's making until further down the track when it affects them.

Try gaming in the Power Saving profile and you're looking at throttled CPU states, passive cooling and low performance GPU state among others. Mother of these are also active in the Balanced plan. Take a good 10-15 mins and actually go through your Fusion plans one-at-a-time and set them up right. I have my High Performance profile set to 100% minimum & max CPU states, and everything on max performance.

 

Yeah, I know about the cooling method in Balanced,but running on power on Balanced is like High performance and on battery is like Power Saver(but not as efficient).

The windows settings are more advanced than the Fusion settings.

As for the CPU P-state settings, there is no point adjusting it for the OC'ed R1 as the CPU is locked to the highest P-state. I know the P-state setting can make a difference in other laptops and CPU's, but the motherboard must allow the P-states to change.

I will test MW3 in High Performance now and see if there is even any improvement. Will report back here.

Back, well, I was right, there is absolutely zero improvement in the framerate, certain maps still cause the framerate to drop to 40+, otherwise it is all 60 @ native res, 4x AA, and some settings on low/ off

 

1. Stock Win 7.
2. Bios OC'ed to 1.6ghz
3. Laptop Screen @ 1366x768 or external at the same or 720p (1080p will cause a drop of 5-10fps or more).
4. 4gb ram, 7200 rpm HDD, stock drivers. Settings mostly on low/off, with textures on High. I use game booster most of the time and generally keep up on my computer maintenance (defrag, scans, etc.). As I said before no problems averaging above 30fps in a 4 player game, occasionally get slow downs to 15fps or so but it's only a minor annoyance.

 

I have a very noticeable performance increase in High Performance over Balance playing Warcraft 3 which is a pretty old game, as well as Diablo 3 and Tribes so i don't know what to say. The exact same results are replicated with my R3.

 

I recently tried using Window Full screen mode to improve FPS for two days; regular full screen was fine as well. Helps a little My R1 is very playable and it's been working fine since release date. There are fps drops at certain areas; 9-10FPS (use to be 11-12FPS since 1.03. Averages at 20-35FPS usually and goes up to 60ish; multiplayer. I say try uninstall and reinstall (clean installation) of the 263.08 driver from Dell. It may take a few tries for it to finally install properly; by properly I mean noticing FPS improvement in D3. I did overclock my video card and cpu is at 1.6ghz. I am running into issues with random reboots while setting to 1.73ghz from the pin mod so I don't use it. Also, the most important thing to do and you should notice immediate improvement is your power settings. Go to power options and make sure your settings are not in balanced/energy saving mode. It should be in High Performance. You can also try using Gamebooster 3 to see if there's any improvement (none for me that I can see).

My current settings are High/OFF/Low/High AA on/ Fx Checked / Vsync Unchecked.

 

1) Win7 x64 with SP1
2) No OC, no pinmod. Latest dell GPU driver (Dedicated only in BIOS).
3) Laptop screen.
4) If you're playing on 1080p (or anything above 768 height), that might be the reason why you're lagging.

 

I have to disagree, diablo 3 runs fine with my r1 with high settings, maybe it's your internet connection that makes the game laggy