Why is my laptop scoring lower benchmark scores than the less powerful model below it?

[Christophhh]

Hello all,

I currently have the HP ENVY 17-k251na which contains:

- Dual-core Intel Core i7-5500U (2.4GHz to 3.0GHz with Turbo Boost)
- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 850m (4GBs)
- 12GB ram
- 17 inch screen at 1920 x 1080

My partner has a HP Envy 15-k200na which contains:

- Intel Core i5-5200U (2.2GHz to 2.8GHz with Turbo Boost)
- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 840m (2GBs)
- 8 GB ram
- 15 inch screen at 1920 x 1080



After attempting to play the Witcher 2 (which my laptop supposedly meets the recommended specs for) I was surprised to find that I was only able to achieve a stable framerate (50-60) at 720p on minimum graphics settings.

This prompted me to run the 3DMark benchmark tests on the two machines, where her laptop scored noticably higher than mine on the Sky Diver test.

Here are my results: http/www.3dmark.com/3dm/8984418

Here are her results: http/www.3dmark.com/3dm/8985243


I am in the process of installing the Witcher 2 on her laptop to see if a more stable frame rate can be achieved.

Things I have tried:

- Ensuring that the graphics card is being used, rather than the onboard graphics
- Reinstalling the grahpics driver
- Using Razer's Game Boost software
- Ensuring no background applications are consuming resources
- Crying...

Many thanks for your time and opinions. If any more information is provided, please let me know.

 

[Barty1884]

No logical reason from what I can see.

One question would be the OS?
A possible reason would be W10. It has a tendency to update GPU drivers to BETA versions it 'thinks' is the best suited, regardless of what you do. Entirely possible it's forced an updated on yours, but not on your partners.
To turn it off: http/www.tomshardware.com/faq/id-2763685/stop-windows-automatically-updating-device-drivers.html (Be mindful, if you do this, you'll then need to keep your hardware drivers up-to-date yourself).

If you're still on W8.1 (I believe those laptops came with), then I have no idea unfortunately.

Good luck!

 

[Christophhh]

No logical reason from what I can see.

One question would be the OS?
A possible reason would be W10. It has a tendency to update GPU drivers to BETA versions it 'thinks' is the best suited, regardless of what you do. Entirely possible it's forced an updated on yours, but not on your partners.
To turn it off: http/www.tomshardware.com/faq/id-2763685/stop-windows-automatically-updating-device-drivers.html (Be mindful, if you do this, you'll then need to keep your hardware drivers up-to-date yourself).

If you're still on W8.1 (I believe those laptops came with), then I have no idea unfortunately.

Good luck!

Hi Barty,

Thanks for your input. Both laptops have W10 on there, although I will follow the instructions on the thread you linked and get back to you!