Leafamouse Posted September 16, 2012 Posted September 16, 2012 I needed a new laptop for work and also really wanted to get back into Flight Simulation, as I have been out of the game since Flaming Cliffs 1. I had trouble finding any solid performance information regarding DCS and Dual Monitor setups on laptops. I definitely couldn't find any first hand reviews on the new Clevo P170EM running a 3610QM and a GTX 680. I took a gamble as I really could have gotten away fine spending $1000 dollars less to meet work requirements. I have been a forum "taker" for many years, so I figure it is time to give back. My Laptop/Hardware Specs: Clevo P170EM 1920x1080 Matte Black Display Intel I7 3610QM 8 GB (2x4GB) Kingston 1600Mhz CAS 9 Nvidia GTX 680M 4GB (Nvidia Inspector over clocked +100 GPU +180 Mem) Intel 520 120GB SSD Rosewill 7-Port USB Hub Razer Death Adder Black Mouse Razer Black Widow Mechanical Keyboard Sound Blaster X-FI 5.1 USB (for optical out) Tritton AX Pro (already had them from xbox and they are awesome) TrackIR 5 Cougar MFDs Warthog HOTAS Saitek Pro Flight Pedals Main View 42" Panasonic P42ST30 (3D mode upscale looks awesome) Second Monitor 20" Acer G205HV First off, a quick Promo. This Laptop absolutely destroyed my expectations (in a good way). Some sort of SSD for the OS is a must. The Intel 520 series is top of the line and getting cheaper :) Not that it is everything, but from Off state to Windows Desktop everything loaded (AVG too) is 24 seconds. It is really a game changer, makes having to reboot for updates no big deal at all. I ordered mine from RJtech.com. They have always been awesome. I received the laptop and quickly put it through some benchmarking while monitoring CPU/GPU Temps. I then took off the back cover so I could apply my own TIM. RJtech did a good job by the looks of the OEM paste. I prefer to do it myself and I really like Tuniq TX-4. I slapped it back together and ran the same benchmarks. Dropped 7 degrees celcisus. I will take that. I then overclocked the GPU 100 Mhz and GPU memory 180 Mhz. I have yet to have artifacts or a crash and don't see the need to try higher clocks right now. That tweak gave me 1000 points in 3dMark11. I have Saltius/Svl7 custom VBIOS ready and had planned on using it, but I installed and tried DCS first. I quickly realized that I didn't really need to. That brings us to the point of this post. Windows / DCS Configuration Windows Main Monitor 42" Panisonic 1920x1080 Extended Monitor 20" Acer 1600x900 (I also tested with Laptop screen here at 1920x1080 no difference) Nvidia 306.23 Drivers Nvidia Control Panel All Application Controlled Nvidia Control Panel Program Settings: Digital Combat Simulator> High-Performance NVIDA (didn't do this the first time, Intel HD 4000 did about 20 FPS on instant action) Laptop Power Scheme High Performance DCS DCS World and A-10 Mod version 1.20 All exports on Mod applied Here Single Monitor = 1920x1080 Resolution Full Screen Checked Dual Monitor = 3520x1080 Left MFD, Right MFD, CDU, and RWR on Second Monitor Full screen unchecked. ----------------------Max-------------- Relaxed --------------------Settings ------------Settings Textures ==========High============Medium Scenes ===========High============Medium Civ Traffic =========High============Medium Water ============High============Medium Visible Range =======High============Medium Heat Blur ==========High============On Shadows ==========High============High Res. Displays =======1024frame========512 MSAA = ===========16xQ============8 HDR ==============Normal===========Normal Clutter ===========1500M============0M Trees ============15000M===========9000M Preload ===========150000M==========150000M Aero display========Checked===========Checked Tree Shadows ======Checked===========Checked Cockpit shadow =====Checked===========Checked TSAA =============Checked==========Checked Vsync =============Unchecked========Unchecked Performance Please see the attached .jpg for the performance graph. DCS runs beautifully. I have experienced no stutters so far. The game really shines on the 42". The second monitor MFDs with the cougars Poster Puttied on are very immersive and efficient. I haven't tried SoftTH yet, I have heard it can increase your FPS by allowing you to run Dual monitors in Full Screen mode. My results tell me that I wouldn't get much, so I don't plan on trying. There are lots of tips out there to get better FPS regarding specific settings. My intent was to show worst case in this evaluation. I am sure I will be tweaking my settings for quite a while or maybe I will just leave them maxed out. Who doesn't want to see clutter and bushes for 1500M? :) I hope this information helps anyone that may have been thinking about trying this laptop or a similar one with DCS. Do it. You will like it. 'Clevo P170EM' 3610QM-8GB-Intel 520 120GB-GTX 680M 4G
WildBillKelsoe Posted September 16, 2012 Posted September 16, 2012 interesting. thx man! AWAITING ED NEW DAMAGE MODEL IMPLEMENTATION FOR WW2 BIRDS Fat T is above, thin T is below. Long T is faster, Short T is slower. Open triangle is AWACS, closed triangle is your own sensors. Double dash is friendly, Single dash is enemy. Circle is friendly. Strobe is jammer. Strobe to dash is under 35 km. HDD is 7 times range key. Radar to 160 km, IRST to 10 km. Stay low, but never slow.
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