Dell XPS M1710 Version 2.0
Gaming Performance 1
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3DMark05 is the part of a long line of synthetic 3D graphics benchmarks, dating back to late 1998. 3DMark05 is a synthetic benchmark that requires a DirectX 9.0 compliant video card, with support for Pixel Shaders 2.0 or higher, to render all of the various modules that comprise the suite. To generate its final "score", 3DMark05 runs three different simulated game tests and uses each test's framerate in the final tabulation. Fillrate, Memory bandwidth, and compute performance especially all have a measurable impact on performance in this benchmark. We ran 3DMark05's default test (1,024 x 768) on all of the cards and configurations we tested, and have the overall results posted for you below. |
One of the most surprising aspects of the results above is the fact that the change from the 512MB GeForce Go 7900 GTX to the new 512MB GeForce Go 7950 GTX in the XPS M1710 yielded nearly an additional 1,000 points and narrowly missed besting even the dual-GPU SLI notebook from Alienware for top honors. For those looking for some serious gaming horsepower, no other single-GPU can match this latest flagship mobile GPU from NVIDIA.
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Futuremark recently launched a brand-new version of their popular benchmark, 3DMark06. The new version of the benchmark is updated in a number of ways, and now includes not only Shader Model 2.0 tests, but Shader Model 3.0 and HDR tests as well. Some of the assets from 3DMark05 have been re-used, but the scenes are now rendered with much more geometric detail and the shader complexity is vastly increased as well. Max shader length in 3DMark05 was 96 instructions, while 3DMark06 ups the number of instructions to 512. 3DMark06 also employs much more lighting, and there is extensive use of soft shadows. With 3DMark06, Futuremark has also updated how the final score is tabulated. In this latest version of the benchmark, SM 2.0 and HDR / SM3.0 tests are weighted and the CPU score is factored into the final tally as well. |
Once we begin using a more updated benchmark with support for the latest visual bells and whistles, we see the new GeForce Go 7950 GTX truly flex its muscles. Here, even the Alienware SLI notebook with two GPUs is unable to keep up with the Dell XPS M1710. In fact, the XPS notebook is offering more than 6x the performance of the 512MB GeForce Go 7400 found in the ASUS VX1. Without a doubt, the XPS M1710 is one of the fastest mobile platforms on the planet when it comes to gaming.
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Regardless of how a system performs in a synthetic benchmark, it takes an actual game to truly see how a notebook will perform in a true gaming environment. Using Quake 4, we are able to see that there is no other solution tested which can even come close to the performance offered by the latest iteration of Dell's flagship gaming notebook. Here, the newest XPS M1710 eclipses its predecessor by nearly 50fps and almost doubles the performance offered by the next-fastest system.