huge differences in performance between two laptops

MiCr0

Hi All,
i'm looking for some advice here if anyone can suggest anything.

We've got 2 very similar work spec laptops, both HP (2560p and 8460p).
Both running win 7 64bit enterprise.
Both with 4gb ram.
Both have the same Intel Core i5-2540M CPU @ 2.60GHz.
The 8460 has a 160gb SSD vs a 320gb HDD in the 2560p (but this is a 7200rpm drive)

But the bigger 8460p seems to give much higher performance scores.

Any suggestions/thoughts?

MiCr0

it would appear they have different GPU's aswell

lynchie

ssd > hdd

imitation

lynchie wrote: »

ssd > hdd

Do you mean the windows benchmark ? Hdd is usually its bottleneck, so a ssd will cause that to shoot up. Thats even more so if one has a gpu and not the other.

Torqay

MiCr0 wrote: »

The 8460 has a 160gb SSD vs a 320gb HDD in the 2560p (but this is a 7200rpm drive)

OCZ send this sticker with ther SSDs for a reason...



Seriously, all a 7,200 rpm HDD does, it drains the battery faster and makes more noise.

MiCr0

its giving me approx 75seconds for the 32m wprime benchmark.
this is compared to approx 20sec for the other machines.

Does that seem a bit off?

srsly78

If that's a CPU-only benchmark then yes it's very off.

Are both machines plugged in? They will clock themselves down if running off battery. Is there loads of rubbish running in the background on one?

MiCr0

srsly78 wrote: »

If that's a CPU-only benchmark then yes it's very off.

Are both machines plugged in? They will clock themselves down if running off battery. Is there loads of rubbish running in the background on one?

Nope, nothing odd running or happening.
All machines plugged in and with normal power profiles.

Torqay

CPU-Z showing both processors at the same speed? See what it reports under stress (e.g. with wPrime running).

If only 800 MHz, speed-step might be disabled in the BIOS.

MiCr0

Torqay wrote: »

CPU-Z showing both processors at the same speed? See what it reports under stress (e.g. with wPrime running).

If only 800 MHz, speed-step might be disabled in the BIOS.

yep, its not budging from 800mhz :eek:

Torqay

And the other one is reporting full speed, 2.60 GHz?

Search the BIOS for Intel SpeedStep Technology. If this is disabled, the processor will always be clocked at the lowest possible frequency, i.e. 800 MHz.

Torqay

If this doesn't help, try the following:

Disconnect the charger
Remove the battery
Press the power button a few times
Replace the battery (and connect the charger)
Load the BIOS default settings and save it.

MiCr0

Torqay wrote: »

And the other one is reporting full speed, 2.60 GHz?

Search the BIOS for Intel SpeedStep Technology. If this is disabled, the processor will always be clocked at the lowest possible frequency, i.e. 800 MHz.

Nothing in the BIOS :-( I'll give option B a shot or return the machine to our IT group

MiCr0

and tried the bios too, with no effect

off to tech support we go

srsly78

Torqay wrote: »

And the other one is reporting full speed, 2.60 GHz?

Search the BIOS for Intel SpeedStep Technology. If this is disabled, the processor will always be clocked at the lowest possible frequency, i.e. 800 MHz.

In my experience if you turn it off it will just default to 100% all the time.

Torqay

Anyway, the culprit is definitely SpeedStep

MiCr0

Going to try with a 32 bit version of windows 7. I'll report back

MiCr0

32bit windows 7 on an identical machine gives a 32m wprime time of 20 seconds - 50 seconds that my machine with 64bit

srsly78

You are missing some important motherboard driver for 64bit I would say, something related to speedstep.

MiCr0

swapped the RAM with an identical machine with proper performance - no difference
swapped the CPU ............... - no difference
swapped the hard drive - massive improvement

so it looks like some system board issue

Torqay

MiCr0 wrote: »

swapped the hard drive - massive improvement

so it looks like some system board issue

So you swapped the HDD from the another identical machine and it was fine?

Then it is not the systemboard. It is an issue with Intel SpeedStep Technology. On the other machine SpeedStep is working properly because the necessary driver is installed.

Forget about benchmarking for a moment. CPU-Z is your tool of choice. If it only reports 800 MHz it means SpeedStep is not active and thus the processor is locked in its "maximum efficiency" state, i.e. lowest power consumption.