m1330 graphics card woes

E

Einsteinjr

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Nov 20, 2007
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I'm trying to figure out whether my new laptop already has some Vista limitations or whether there's actually a problem with my hardware/software...

I first noticed it with Aero...Somtimes I'll see some jerky movements when I minimize/maximize windows or when I do the cool, yet pretty useless, window flipper. I thought that maybe it was just me, but it was pretty consistent. So I decided to reformat with just the basic windows install with the basic drivers...better, but still kind of a problem...

I then tried to install some of the latest nvidia drivers (8400M GS) by using a modified inf file...the jerkiness of the windows went away, but now I'm having an issue with the screen saver I like "Pan and Zoom" which uses the aero feature. The new drivers actually made the screensaver WORSE.

I thought about overclocking it a bit, but I think the drivers I have now (169.09) do not allow the computer to be overclocked.

I've tried just one game (WoW...not an addict), and it can play fine on mediumish settings. I guess I was expecting this thing to at least play the non-as-intense games out there.

Any ideas/suggestions? Anyone out there who has a m1330 find the same problem?
 
Nope.. mine is fine...
I'd ask in the Dell part of forum.notebookreview.com
they have a whole m1330 owners lounge that's pretty helpful
 
Load the latest Dell graphics drivers back (should be Oct. 07 drivers), they have some changes that allow them to work with some of the laptops features that the regular drivers do not have.

What are the rest of the specs?
 
Einsteinjr said:
I'm trying to figure out whether my new laptop already has some Vista limitations or whether there's actually a problem with my hardware/software...

I first noticed it with Aero...Somtimes I'll see some jerky movements when I minimize/maximize windows or when I do the cool, yet pretty useless, window flipper. I thought that maybe it was just me, but it was pretty consistent. So I decided to reformat with just the basic windows install with the basic drivers...better, but still kind of a problem...

I then tried to install some of the latest nvidia drivers (8400M GS) by using a modified inf file...the jerkiness of the windows went away, but now I'm having an issue with the screen saver I like "Pan and Zoom" which uses the aero feature. The new drivers actually made the screensaver WORSE.

I thought about overclocking it a bit, but I think the drivers I have now (169.09) do not allow the computer to be overclocked.

I've tried just one game (WoW...not an addict), and it can play fine on mediumish settings. I guess I was expecting this thing to at least play the non-as-intense games out there.

Any ideas/suggestions? Anyone out there who has a m1330 find the same problem?
Click to expand...
The 169.09 allows O/Cing. I have my 8400GS O/Ced to 475/950/775 from the stock 400/800/600 speeds. I Play WoW pretty damn well. Most everything high, but I kill the draw distance to maintain a smooth 60 FPS.
 
Sorry for the late response....

My specs are pretty much the highest I could get at the time...2.2 C2D and 3 Gigs of RAM..I'm assuming that should be good for most games that are older than 1 year.

I'll try formatting the machine once I get a chance and if that doens't work, I'm going to be tempted to call dell support.

Thanks for the help.
 
Vengance_01 said:
The 169.09 allows O/Cing. I have my 8400GS O/Ced to 475/950/775 from the stock 400/800/600 speeds. I Play WoW pretty damn well. Most everything high, but I kill the draw distance to maintain a smooth 60 FPS.
Click to expand...

What tool did you use to OC? I tried ATITool and anytime I tried changing the core speeds, it went back down to the original ones.
 
Riva Tuner, but I had use a custom setting. When I get home tonight I will look it up.
 
Vengance_01 said:
Riva Tuner, but I had use a custom setting. When I get home tonight I will look it up.
Click to expand...

I do remember seeing some registry setting I had to change for RivaTuner...but I still had problems OCing.

Could you do me a huge favor and see how well the "pan and zoom" screen saver runs on your computer? (assuming you run Vista, of course...)

Thanks,
Marc
 
Are you sure you don't have it? It's actually the "photos" screensaver, you just have to go under the settings to pick "pan and zoom".
 
Oh ok. I will check right now.

EDIT*** Seems to run just fine. Whats your WEI score? I am at 4.4 ATM.
 
Ok, if yours runs well, my computer is obviously not running the way it's supposed to. Each time a transition for a photo occurs, there's very noticeable jerkiness.

My score is 4.0 (lowest being the desktop performance category). I'm not sure if the difference between ours is because you've OCed or what...

The only thing I can think of is that I immediately formatted when I got the computer to both A.) put Ultimate on it I got from a friend and B.) get rid of all the junk. Maybe i'm missing some special Dell driver that links everything up...:) Are you running the stock OS that came preloaded? Did you format to get all the 'junk' that comes preinstalled? (dell isn't bad compared to some other companies...) I remember reading on a forum somewhere that someone from Dell told a customer that he should install drivers in a certain order. I've never heard of that before, but I guess that seems plausible...

Thanks for the help
 
Einsteinjr said:
My score is 4.0 (lowest being the desktop performance category). I'm not sure if the difference between ours is because you've OCed or what...
Click to expand...

That's odd. . . I have the 2.0ghz with only 2GB of RAM and my WEI Score is 4.1. I don't remember what my lowest score was but I believe it was graphics/Aero related. I have not OC'd anything and am using the 169.09 drivers from Laptopvideo2go. I didn't get the laptop for gaming, but have test some games out on it (WoW, NWN2, Witcher) and everything has been acceptable.
 
I think it might be related to me switching up the drivers a bunch of times...I'm not sure. When I checked the score today, it said that it detected changes in the hardware (which obviously I didn't) I can only think it found changes because of the different drivers I installed.

So am I correct that I should use the drivers from laptop2go? I was hesitant and thought maybe I should just stick with the drivers from the Dell website. I've seen more than one person recommend the newest nvidia drivers (with a modified ini file, of course...)
 
Yes I use 169.09 drivers and they work great. Yes my Card is O/Ced, so thats probally why I am seeing a 4.4 score for my WEI
 
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