Why does my new laptop score so low compared to similar specs on CPU and GPU benchmarks?

[martin]

I am super desparate, hopefully someone can help me out!

I am facing a severe issue with my factory-new laptop. I bought it literally 2 days ago and did not install any software apart from Steam and Total War Rome II.

This is my computer (more details are in the benchmark links):
HP Pavillon
GeForce GTX 1050 Ti
i7 7700HQ
16GB RAM
Windows 10 Home

Upon installation of the computer, the game ran fine, absolutely no problems. Then, I had to do the 1709 Windows Fall Creators Update. I did some web search and this update has been known to cause problems with NVIDIA video cards. After the update, when going into the game, the screen always turned black during loading sequences and there was a band of flickering colours at the top of the screen. It looked really bad (the colours were bright, like neon green and violet) . During the game itself, the screen kept flickering and the game crashed multiple times. I tried reinstalling drivers etc., but at the end I factory-resetted the laptop and somehow managed to run the game stable.

However, I felt that the frame rates dropped considerably. To verify this, I did some benchmarks with 3DMARK. Indeed, I am always a lot below other laptops with exactly the same specifications. Here some of the benchmarks:

1) After update with old driver
http://www.3dmark.com/cg/4162377

2) After update with most recent driver
http://www.3dmark.com/cg/4162389

3) After update, but rolled back to previous build of Windows
http://www.3dmark.com/cg/4162402

4) After complete, clean slate factory reset
http://www.3dmark.com/cg/4162435

Do you think it is possible that my GPU is broken or got damaged?

How can it be that my new laptop performs so badly compared to laptops with similar specs?

And finally, how can it be that exactly the same laptop has different MHz for GPU in the benchmark (compare benchmark 1, 2 vs. 3). How can this be explained?

I am sorry for the long post, but I am honestly desparate about what is going on here...

[martin]

Hi, thanks for your reply!

As per the benchmark http://www.3dmark.com/spy/2838411 I am in the lower end of the spectrum of similar systems. This is what I find strange because these laptops also use the same processor i7 7700HQ and GPU GTX 1050 Ti.

If I compare it to some of the best-performing Marks with similar / identical components I see for instance Graphics Score 2545 vs 2161 (me) and especially problematic CPU score 4118 vs 2721 (me).

Benchmark http://www.3dmark.com/cg/4162402 shows that I am really bad at physics with a 40% gap to some of the better benchmarks.

Here you see a comparison for Skydive benchmark - here I really lag behind in terms of the graphics score, again against an identical configuration: https://www.3dmark.com/compare/sd/4905725/sd/4839902

I will try to do a clean install, but I would be very surprised if the difference from that really accounts for almost 100% in the CPU (because they all have the same CPU and GPU). Is this normal? What else could be causing such extreme performance gaps (both benchmarks above are without the new Windows update).

[xarvn]

First make sure you are running the benchmarks with the cord plugged in as Windows will force power saving mode when there is a high demand on battery. I'm not sure about Win 10, but previous versions required you to set gpu preference (integrated/discrete) on a per application basis so make sure you select nvidia gpu rather than the Intel Iris graphics for your benchmark programs. I mention this because the clock speeds listed, that is 350 core and 1200 memory for the gpu are very suspiciously similar (or even identical) to those of the Intel grapics and presumably your main memory. GPU-Z should show the core and memory clocks for your graphics hardware and also whether you have discrete or some type of shared memory. You can verify the clock speeds by running the "Bus Interface" benchmark (click the question mark on the right about midway into the main page) and then clicking on the sensors tab to see the actual clock speeds. If you suspect that your laptop is running off of the Iris graphics and cannot get windows to select the dedicated gpu, then see if there is a BIOS setting that will disable the integrated graphics. Note that some laptops do not have BIOS options for disabling the integrated graphics. Note also that unfortunately under the OEM banner, the gpus used in some laptops may differ from those used in desktop PCs and even from those used in other laptops. Clock speeds, the memory types and sizes as well gpu configuration might not be the same. Some versions of the gpu might even be without any dedicated memory at all. And in the worst case scenario, some laptops only allow so-called hybrid mode where the integrated graphics can never be fully turned off.

[martin]

Hi! Thanks for all!

I had the cord in for all my benchmarks. You are actually right, 350 MHz seems to be for the Intel GPU! However, it is strange because the reading says clearly "NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (Notebook)" (https://www.3dmark.com/sd/4905725). Also, in some benchmarks I was at 450 MHz, not 350 (https://www.3dmark.com/cg/4162402)

Below are my GPU-Z screenshots. How can I tell if I have discrete or hybrid memory?

GTX 1050 Ti:
http://gpuz.techpowerup.com/17/11/30/4tp.png

INTEL HD GRAPHICS:
http://gpuz.techpowerup.com/17/11/30/tqg.png

Thanks again for all the great help!

[xarvn]

The 1493/1752 core/memory speed and 4 GB GDDR5, according to the GPU-Z screenshots, indicate the hardware is in order. The clock speeds are correct and you definately have dedicated graphics memory.

I did notice something in the Sky Dive benchmark comparison linked in post #17. Although the hardware you are comparing is simlar, the higher scoring gpu is significantly overclocked--1911 MHz vs 1493 MHz. The overclocking most likely accounts for the higher GPU scores.

An easy way to test if the nvidia GPU is being fully utilized is to run GPU-Z while doing a benchmark run. Click the sensors tab and check the "Log to file" box. Run the benchmark for a short time, say 10 seconds. Exit out of the benchmark and review the log file, particularly the clock speeds. You should see in log file the core clock jump to 1493 MHz or higher if the gpu is being utilized. For comparison, you could repeat the test but this time set GPU-Z to monitor the Intel graphics.

Benchmark test scores can be useful for identifying problems but I suspect that the majority of the scores posted were not motivated by a desire to establish a diagnostic standard.

[Big Boom Boom]

You do not need GPU-Z at all. When you finished a benchmark run don't close off 3d mark you will see all the clock, usage and temp graphed for you

The graph is NOT saved as results online.

Another trick is disable laptop monitor, which can be eating away the power distribution and throttle your card performance.