Optimizing Your M3 r1/2/3

How to Optimize your M11x:

There are many way's of going about optimizing your m11x (computers in general). I will list and explain different software, tips, etc etc to get the best out of your m11x if your looking for a little fps increase.

So lets get to it...

Gaming

1. Installing More Ram:
If you have 2gb of Ram I would highly recommend you to get atleast 4gb. Since these day's ram is very inexpensive and will definitely see a performance increase.
"I have 4gb already" well.... since the m11x uses ddr3 800mhz samsung modules from dell, you can upgrade to a 1333mhz Kingston hyperx module.
Why? well the hyperx ram has tighter timings (cas 7 vs 9).
yes it will be a minimal performance upgrade but the performance boost is there, but you have to ask your self if the upgrade is worth it to you.

2. Updating Drivers:
r1 users: I would advice you to use the Latest Dell Drivers since the r1 does not have optimus and uses manual gpu switching, Also it is probably the most stable and will be the least to give you driver problems.
r2/3 users: Head to the Nvidia site and Grab the latest beta 290.36 Driver.
I myself has tested this and got around a 3-5% performance increase (depending on the game, skyrim mostly )

Also don't forget a clean driver install. I always do this and it seems to give me less headaches after the new driver.

3. Gamebooster:
Install this program and use it every time you start playing a game.
It tweaks your system by turning off unnecessary background process, and prioritizes your game before anything else. This by no means will magically give you 100 fps increase, but people like me with an i3 (and yes im looking at you r1 users ) which have fairly limited cpu crunching power this will certainly help quite a bit.

4. Overclocking:
Need I say more? head on over to Evga and download the precision software.
and start tweaking those gpu clocks.

Gpu clocks speeds which I was able to hit when I had an r1 and with my r3 now
GT 335m (r1/r2):
570 core / 960 mem
GT 540m (r3):
820 core / 1080 mem

ofcourse these numbers will vary with different users so I would suggest you to slowly raise your speed and use Furmark to check for artifacts and see how stable it is.

I would also Advice you to invest in a can of compressed air so you can clean those vents to achieve the best possible cooling from your little beasts .

Also here are some cpu ocing links:
How to supercharge your i5/i7
r1 Pinmod

5. Cleaner/Defrag
Keep your m11x clean not just inside but "INSIDE"

CCleaner
Defraggler

Note: if you have an ssd do not defrag as this can cause problems. (Thanks un4tural)

I currently have these two installed and run them every week, so I'm not sure if it does help with performance but your welcome to try. and it also keeps my OCD level down since I know that I'm "maintaining" my m11x

6. Write-Caching
Provide the fastest possible performance from your HDD with a bit of tinkering in windows 7.
Link

7. High performance Power Plan

You see that Little battery icon on the taskbar? well yeah....just a reminder really to have it on High Performance before playing games.

8. Soluto

Was skeptical about this software at first, but I have it installed now and it helps alot with my boot times and keeps those unnecessary background services as low as possible.
Link

well that's all for now folk's thought I would spend an hour of my boring sunday to give some of my fellow m11x users tips and get the most of their m11's


Feel free to reply if you have a tip you want to share.

Hope this helps some of you
Have a good one

 

Thanks for the tips. Hadn't heard of 6 or 8 before, checking them out now.

 

Nice guide fluffboy. It'll be very helpful for people trying to get the best gaming performance they can from their M11x.

Just one thing about the RAM; I think any type of RAM will be locked at the same timings (cas 7) because of the 800MHz limit for the R1 and R2. It may be different for the R3 though. The timings can be changed manually using some software if the RAM supports it but that is a mission within it self and the difference it makes would probably not be worth it, which you already stated about the RAM upgrade in the OP.


EDIT: Also, maybe you could change the title... sorry just a bit OCD

 

hey nice guide thanks a lot
Im checking the cache and soluto right now

 

i mostly only use Registry Mechanic... from my experience messy registry slows it down the most... Just keeping my windows on M11X as mint as possible without pretty much any software that i don't use...

Should mention in defrag section not to do it for SSD... BAD IDEA.

Also, any tips on making windows 7 show actual battery time left? mine just shows up to 5hours all the time, when it actually lasts almost 10hours...

 

Look at the second answer on this forum

or

you can use batterybar
It uses a different way of calculating the battery life compared to windows.

 

the link provides fix to a different issue, it displays remaining % correctly, it just guesses the remaining time wrong, basically when at 100% it would last ~8-10 hours but it always shows just shy of 5 hours until it hits 50% or so, then displays it correctly counting 4:40-5:00 hours down... It just seems weird that it knows when it will be able to last 5 hours, but not more than that

 

That does seem weird. I don't have that problem on my R2 because I don't get much more than 5 hours anyway. I'm jealous that you get 8-10 hours of battery life though