Dell Inspiron 8100 + Mobility Radeon 7500 - Got One, Benchmarked It.

[Killer Ape]

I know some of you folks have ordered this beast, and some are just wondering what the Mobility Radeon 7500 can do. So here's my experience so far:


The Machine Specs.:

Dell Inspiron 8100

Intel Pentium III 1.0GHz-M
15" UXGA TFT
256MB RAM
30GB hd UDMA 5 (sorry, not sure of brand & speed)
8X DVD
64MB ATI Mobility Radeon 7500
ESS Maestro PCI Audio
Intel 815 Chipset (sigh)
133MHz FSB

(Total: $1,683.00 - bunch of free upgrades, free shipping + $75 worth of coupons)


The Caveats:

1. I've had exactly 3 hours to play with this thing, so don't expect too much.

2. Apparently I'm not bright enough to figure out how to disable speed stepping (yet), so 3D Mark would report crazy CPU speeds like 838MHz etc. prior to running the test. I can't guarantee that the proc was doing 1GHz at ALL times, but I assume that under a load like 3D Mark or Q3A it would "step-up" to full speed. Someone please point out if this is incorrect and how I can cure myself of this painful speed step disabling disability.

3. This is not Lab quality testing. It's not even Walk-In Clinic quality testing. What it is is down and dirty cramped New York City apartment testing after work.


The OS:

WinXP


The Driver:

ATI Driver Rev.: 6.13.10.6006 dated 12/5/01 (DL'ed from DELL. Shipped with the 10/2/01 ATI drivers)
VSYNC: disabled
Antialiasing: disabled


Q3A (OpenGL) "DEMO001":

All "GAME OPTIONS" set to "OFF".
Sound off.

First the old standards:

640x480 ("NORMAL" w/ all default graphic settings) = 163 FPS

800x600 ("HIGH QUALITY" w/ all default graphic settings) = 135 FPS

Now max quality (all graphic settings at max. & trilinear filtering):

640x480 = 147 FPS

800x600 = 116 FPS

1024x768 = 77 FPS

1600x1200 = 36 FPS


3D Mark (D3D):

3D Mark 2000 Shareware (DirectX 7):

Default (1024x768, 16 bit color, 16 bit textures, 16 bit Z-buffer, Triple frame buffer, T&L optimizations, no antialiasing) = 5404

3D Mark 2001 Shareware (DirectX 8):

Default (1024x768, 32 bit color, compressed textures, T&L optimizations, no antialiasing) = 3637


Other Stuff:

By way of comparison, the only thing this machine is slower at than my P!!!933/GF2 64MB/256 MB rig is 3D Mark 2000 (7309 vs. 5404). The 8100 is about 10% faster at all the Q3A settings and equal at 3D Mark 2001.

The software DVD playback is VERY nice with great resolution and colors. Smooth with no blockiness.

The screen is very nice, but has a pretty narrow viewing angle, particularly at normal light levels. My screen doesn't exhibit any of the defects others have reported, but then again it's brand new. The 1600x1200 native res is tolerable to my eyes with extra large fonts and large icons. Some text is still small, but clear. 2D color and graphics are very nice.

Sound is okay, but kind of tinny with inadequate bass. Two fans at the rear are LOUD when they kick on and may annoy the unpublished author sitting next to you at Starbucks.

The case is pretty fragile and kind of cheap looking, especially compared to some of the titanium ones out there. This is NOT a sexy rig unless your breath gets taken away by monster trucks and rhinoceroses.

This thing is a beast. A 15" screen + 2 internal device bays + full size keyboard = +8 lbs with ONE battery. My boss got an IBM Thinkpad X today that weighs 3.4 lbs and is 9" x 12" x 3/4". It's very cool but doesn't have any internal bays, only a 20GB HD, P!!! 800MHz, 8MB Radeon Mobility, 12" screen, and it cost about $500 more. Highly mobile, but not for serious gaming or multimedia. We sat the 8100 next to it and you could almost literally close the Thinkpad inside the 8100. If you don't want to lug a big notebook, this is not the machine for you. This is a big, strapping desktop replacement, with all the I/O ports of a standard desktop, and a real mobile gaming/multimedia rig, in my opinion.

 

[oldfart]

Do you have the little flag down in the tray? Open that up and pick advanced/disable speed step control.

 

[John]

You can also disable speedstep in the bios.

 

[Madcowz]

OMG, that's awesome! This is the first time I've seen ANY laptop beat my computer scores... the scary thing is that I'm only running a measly P3 800 w/ a radeon!

 

[Killer Ape]

Thanks O.F. and John. I'll check my results tomorrow with speed step off.

Is that sarcasm or self pity I detect Madcowz ?

 

[Punisher007]

Thanks for the info. I actually ordered the exact same system but haven't gotten it yet.

BTW: What operating system are you running?

 

[Bovinicus]

Those scores are quite exceptional for a laptop. Good job ATi.

 

[Degenerate]

Wow... That is nice, that is almost the same as my G force DDR 32MB.

 

[Hulk]

Those are some really great scores.

I have a few question about this laptop.

How do you configure this system with the 64MB Radeon? I was just at the Dell site and only saw 16MB Radeon and 32MB Geforce to Go options for video configuration.

How does QIII (or other games) look when the LCD scales to lower resolutions, like 1024x768 where the frame rate is more playable?

 

[RKAltimas01]

How does this Laptop with the Radeon compare to one with a Geforce?

 

[Apex]

<< How does this Laptop with the Radeon compare to one with a Geforce? >>



The Radeon Mobility 7500 is definitely faster than the Geforce2Go.

BTW, the 6011 drivers seem to be better than the 6006. I'm using the Omega set (on my Radeon Mobility unfortunately), though some people go directly for the 6011's.

 

[Dug]

What about the official 6.13.10 3286 drivers?

 

[Killer Ape]

Punisher007:

Oops . Yeah the OS would be good to know: WinXP.

Hulk:

You can only get the Radeon 7500 with the Inspiron 8100 and you MUST get it with the 15" UXGA screen, otherwise it doesn't appear as an option.

The lower res Q3A images looked good. 800x600 probably looked best as it scales nicely from the native 1600x1200 res. In general the image is a little dark, but the colors are bright, the textures smooth, and no noticeable stuttering or tearing. I didn't really play much however, so I'll reserve final judgement on all this.

Apex:

Thanks. The shipping drivers actually seemed a little faster than the newer ones I DL'ed. I'll try the 6011s. Maybe they'll make-up some of the D3D deficiencies. I think the drivers still need to ripen a little.

RKAltimas01:

The few reviews I saw showed the Radeon 7500 nearly twice as fast as the GF2 Go. Since the base system specs of my 8100 are almost exactly the same as my desktop I'd say the Radeon 7500 performs about the same as my 64MB GF2 Pro, plus it does environment bump mapping.

 

[Dug]

For those of you with an 8100 and some other graphics card, you can now buy the Ati 7500 seperately for only $169!
It will also work if you have an XGA or SXGA screen.

You need at least the A07 bios installed for this to work.

Although Dell sold out within the first 2 hours it was available. They should have more very soon.

 

[Killer Ape]

Good news Dug. Any word if the Radeon 7500 will work in the Inspiron 4100?

I'd gladly trade 1" of screen for the smaller size.

 

[LikeLinus]

Dug - are you sure about that? I called and i was told the same thing a few weeks ago $169 for the ATI 7500, but it turns out when they dug deeper that was for the desktop model. They foward me on to someone else who told me that they would not be offering the 7500 mobile seperately to install with the Inspiron because it uses a different interface? I have no idea if this is true, but this is what i was told. Do you have a parts number or CS rep # of someone that we can call directly?

 

[Dug]

Here is a quote from the Dell moderator at the Dell forums-


<< the ATI 7500 for our portable systems does appear to be available for purchase and in stock. Part #9J057is $169 and part #9J066 is $179 (both of these numbers refer to the same piece of hardware). >>



A lot of guys on the forums ordered right away when this was announced so they are not available again until they receive more from Ati.

 

[Dug]

Forgot to mention that they do not list it on their site.

The guy that originally got the order was transfered from sales to spare parts.
Only there was he able to get the card ordered.

Mine should be here today or tomorrow.
I called to check just incase and they had some new ones come in, but they don't.

No word on putting the Ati card in the 4100 yet.

 

[scsi stud]

I got an Inspiron 8000 last May as my college graduation gift, and boy does it rock! 1 Ghz, 320MB RAM, GeForce2 GO 32MB card, the 15'' UXGA screen, WinXP Pro, it runs games beautifully. I don't play games on it much (except Dark Age of Camelot, and it runs that just fine) since I have a nice 1Ghz desktop with all the goodies inside, but it is sure comforting to know that in case I wanted to run Return to Castle Wolfenstein, I could without any doubts.

I haven't ran any benchmark scores on it, but I will try in the near future. One thing that I found out recently was that, in regards to the speed stepping, I found out that if you boot up the computer with the laptop running on the battery(s) instead of A/C power, my clock speed gets reduced to 700Mhz, to conserve power. You can of course, as a few gentlemen said earlier, disable that in the BIOS, but I actually like that feature, because I doubt I'll be playing Quake 3 on the airplane. Even then though, 700Mhz is still mighty fine.

 

[Soccerman]

lol those probably beat my Duron @866 /w Radeon LE @166mhz..

of course, I don't OWN Quake 3 so I can't test that theory....

 

[Killer Ape]

There's this thing called the Q3A Demo you can DL for free if you really wanted to test, Soccerman...

 

[daddyo]

Unless Dell eventually offers the Radeon 7500 on the Inspiron 4100, you most likely will not be able to upgrade.

The only reason people with an I8100 can upgrade is because Dell had to write support for the 7500 into the bios of the I8100. I have an I8000, and from all the info I can gather, it will be a cold day in hell before I can upgrade to a Radeon 7500, since the I8000 bios will never support it.

 

[Killer Ape]

Yep. I spent my lunch scanning the Dell Forum and it appears that I8100 users are in good shape, but I8000 users are not, and I4100 users may not be either. They're already up to A08 BIOS revisions for the I8100, but only A03 for the I4100. Then again, I don't think the I4100 supported the GFTG originally, but I could be wrong.

They sell a lot of Inspirons and obviously there was a market for "thin & light" with better graphics, so I imagine with enough demand they might offer a I4100 with the Radeon 7500. Many people will want the Radeon 7500 but be turned-off by the size of the I8100. Their marketing plan seems to be introduce the "hot" part in the top of the line model and then trickle it down to the less expensive models after the initial buying frenzy. The 15" UXGA screen is a prime example.

 

[Punisher007]

Finally got my system last night and boy does it rock. It's the same as Killer Ape's but it has 512MB of ram instead. I think he covered the performance quite well so I don't have much to add...

3dmark2001: 1024*768 @ 32bit color = 3584

 

[RagingGuardian]

It's a shame when a laptop spanks my desktop. I can't wait for my XP to get here...