physX has the potential to improve benchmarks like 3Dmark Vantage, because that benchmark make use of physX engine whether dedicated or integrated in its CPU tests. you wont see any difference in standard CPU tests for 3DMark06. the problem with 3DMark Vantage is that our laptop cannot support this benchmark software at the moment because of resolution problem. this is a software bug and futuremark is working to fix this issue (since few months ago and yet still no news on a fix). i have uninstalled physX and re-run 3dmark06 and found that the reason i got poor 3DMark06 score earlier was because physX was enabled (regardless of disabling or enabling in nvidia physX panel). new score of 177.83 driver is 4885, which is a little lower than my previous record.

i need to dig further to see what exactly is going on, but i suspect that when physX driver is installed, physX engine is switched on no matter what, and because GPU now has to compute physics in 3dmark06 or games, the limited number of stream processors are used up. this wont present much of a problem for 8800 or 9800 series GPU because of the huge number of stream processors. for us, unfortunately, 32 stream processors are just not powerful enough.

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Added on August 15, 2008, 2:06 amwhat i meant was there's no use downloading the official 177.83 from nvidia. it wont run at all because 8600M GT is not specified in the device ID code. you'll need to download modded driver front front page and replace the downloaded inf to be able to install 177.83. physx driver, on the other hand, does not need any mod, just install directly

Front page added physX driver and modded v177.83 vista 32 bit driver. scroll to the bottom to download.

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Added on August 15, 2008, 2:11 amthere's a couple of software that can monitor temps. as a matter of fact, this topic has been discussed several times in this thread. you can try to search for it. anyway, since you are new, i'll give u some heads up. for free software, you can try HW monitor(basic), CPUID(basic), Rivatuner (novice), RMCPU clock (advanced). for paid software, you can try everest ultimate edition (advanced). the basic, novice and advanced bracket gives a rough indication on how much IT knowledge you need to use that software, so you dont get overwhelmed. HW monitor is really good for a basic software. try it first.

This post has been edited by alexnvidia: Aug 15 2008, 07:43 AM

btw dell should make the infrared is around the laptop or at every angle...when i use media remote control,i need face it to front of laptop only can work..if face to side then cant..

thx for the recommendation alexnvidia.

huh? how come i did not notice got infrared in this laptop? how do i enable the infra red and where it located? sorry, new to tech thingy

the infra red only design for the remote control, not for others usage like data transfer.
located at front of the center touchpad.

ya..at front thr...which makes the remote control only can function in front of it...

what about modding for windows xp? can u help? and whats the advantages for downloading the 2.5gb software?

xp version link updated on front page as u requested, the 2.5gg softwares are a bunch demos and mod packs for games like unreal etc. you dont need it unlesss u want to play with the demo.

This post has been edited by alexnvidia: Aug 16 2008, 09:25 PM

I heard that 1520 series with the 8600GT series easily overheat?anyone can update me about this thing ?

can i just copy the recovery and save it into my external hard drive and delete the original 1?

not 1520, it's M1530, 1420, vostro 1510, etc.. the complete list corresponds to the recent dell BIOS release to address nvidia G84M/G86M GPU overheating issue. 1520 has a dedicated copper sink for 8600MGT, so the overheating issue is not that serious on 1520. however, from my experience of using 1520, i strongly recommend a thorough cleaning/dusting of the fan and heatsink every 6 months. recently i was playing assasin's creed and i found that my GPU/CPU temp can go up to 77C/78C on full load! so i open up the whole thing, removed all the dust that clogged up and choked the fan and heatsink (and there's a lot!), dusted the whole machine, reapplied thermal paste and viola! the temp stays at 65C/63C on full load and 45C/50C on idle now! that's a huge difference!

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Added on August 16, 2008, 9:23 pmit doesnt work that way. once you've removed the recovery partition, there's no way you can restore it (at least not that i can think of), so think twice before u take the plundge. there's no turning back, not even Dell can help u.

This post has been edited by alexnvidia: Aug 16 2008, 09:24 PM

SHiet man. I dunno how to open my laptop and fix it back. How if lidat

open n fix wat??

DELL not more quiet with 8600m GT...
actually.. u guys got heard about the G86 issue, and dell release a higher fan speed bios firmware...
WHAT i can say is DAMN it NVIDIA.. why it don't come with recall it's failure and change all the part indeed to let dell release a "noisy" laptop?

noisy meh??i just heard my notepal sound only..lol

i need the battery for my inspiron 1520...9 cell...wondering got any lubang where to get? dell is selling too expensive..like a loan shark..thks for anyone got information.

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Added on August 18, 2008, 10:42 pmhow to preserve inspiron 1520 battery?

This post has been edited by edmondyjh: Aug 18 2008, 10:42 PM

i don think outside got sell or mayb except china brand..but price = quality...

better take ur battery off when u using AC for long time

the price increase for batteries were caused by battery shortage several months ago. i guess the price has not changed since then. u can try to ebay them, but i wouldnt fiddle around with dangerous explosive stuff like batteries. make sure the source is reliable before u make any purchase.

if you are constantly relying on batteries, there arent many ways to preserve it. it will eventually fail due to wear and tear. the few golden rule are simply to not subject your batteries to high temperature, charge to 40+% when you need to store it for a long time, reduce charge and discharge cycles, avoid using your battery to complete flat before charging and i think that's just about it. others are welcome to add. my 9 cell, which has served me everyday for 7 months now, has about 9% wear, so my total capacity is reduced to about 77WHr (compared to 85WHr brand new). not bad for a battery made in malaysia.

DELL™ Inspiron™ 1520 Review
by Daniel "Demonic Wrath" on 18th August 2008

Specification
Intel® Core™2 Duo T7250 @ 2.00 GHz
2.00 GB (2 x 1.00GB) DDR2-667 Dual Channel Mode
NVIDIA® GeForce™ 8600M GT 256MB GDDR2 @ OC 650/1300/550 (core/shader/memory)
- ForceWare version 177.83 w/ PhysX
250 GB HDD 5400RPM
DELL Wireless 1505 Draft N
Microsoft® Windows Vista™ Ultimate SP1 (fully updated)
DirectX 10.0 (August 2008 runtime updated)

Windows Experience Index score: 4.7

Synthetic benchmarks and game performance
- All tests are ran on 1280x800 resolution, No AF and No AA unless otherwise specified.
- Vsync is not enabled
- Power option is set to "High Performance" during benchmark
- Laptop is plugged into A/C supply

3DMark06
Default settings used.
3DMark Score: 4832 (SM2.0 - 2061 / SM3.0 - 1899 / CPU - 1703)


Crysis
For Crysis, the config files in the game dir are modified. These are the settings:-
- 1024x640 res
- HDR On
- GodRay On
- Shadows Off
- Other settings Medium
- Motion Blur Off

FPS (r_displayinfo): 25-30FPS Avg, 20FPS in very heavy firefights

For this test, I've played from the beginning (Airplane sequence) till the Alien spaceship. Shadows have to be sacrificed to enable HDR and Godray or else it'll be a slideshow running this game. For me, I'd prefer to enable HDR and godray instead of shadows.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
As for COD4, I've played through the whole game.
These are the settings:-
- Numbers of Dynamic Lights: Low
- Specular Lightning: Off
- Other settings max
- Com_maxfps 40

FPS: 40 FPS (Playable)

This game is very playable and the 8600M GT proved to be sufficient for gamers to fully enjoy COD4. The numbers of dynamic lights are not noticeable during gameplay, therefore I've set it to Low so I can enable other settings. Enabling specular mapping reduces the performance significantly.

Assassin's Creed
Settings:-
Graphic Quality: 2/4
Level of Detail: 1/4
Shadows: 2/3
Multisampling: 1/3
PostFX: 1/2
Other settings unchanged

FPS: ~25 FPS (Playable)

Level of details need to be reduced so that the game is playable. This game relies heavily on the processor speed, therefore Level of detail needs to be tuned down to reduce processor load.

Temperature and Battery Life
To measure the temperature, I played Crysis for an hour and used HWMonitor to record the min and max temperature.
Surrounding temperature: Room temperature (At night)

Intel T7250
CPU Idle Temperature: 45°C
CPU Load Temperature: 71°C

NVIDIA 8600M GT
GPU Idle Temperature: 49°C
GPU Load Temperature: 74°C

Hard Disk Drive
Min: 37°C
Max: 42°C

The 6-cell battery can last for 2 hours 45 minutes using Power Saver mode. A bluetooth wireless mouse is connected, and the laptop is connected to a network using the wireless adapter, and also a few programs running.

This post has been edited by Demonic Wrath: Aug 19 2008, 02:47 AM

good one Demonic Wrath. so you are doing 650/550 too ya? any stability issues? when did u purchase ur 1520?

added your 3DMark06 score to front page. one more question, was your physX enabled or disabled during benchmarking?

This post has been edited by alexnvidia: Aug 19 2008, 12:33 AM

I only OC it to 650/550 when playing games, so far no stability issues yet. Games are running perfectly fine.

I've also tested 680/550 too, it's also stable but I wouldn't want my 1520 to be too hot.

I purchased it on August '08 so it's very new. Enabling or disabling PhysX does not matter as the games do not support PhysX. Also, for some reason the PhysX can't be enabled (I can select GeForce PhysX but it does not work).

This post has been edited by Demonic Wrath: Aug 19 2008, 12:39 AM