2920XM v 2860QM

Just thought I'd share some observations that might help some people thinking of upgrading to an extreme. I have a new R3 with the 2860QM and after much investigation; locked bios, unlocked bios, throttlestop, Intel XTU, a whole bunch of posts from the experts here in NBR, and a gazilloin reboots, it seems that the 2920 may be end-of-life and will be replaced (in manufacturing) by the 2860.
I base that on the following:
Dell no longer offer the 2920 as the top of the range processor on the M17.
The published specs are identical.
CPU-Z reports my chip as a 2920 Extreme (even uses the extreme black logo) with a spec of being a 2860QM @ 2.5.
After all the things I tried to tweek on this processor i found that all the useful stuff (that worked) referred to the 2920.
Basically i think it is the same as the 2920 with the multipliers (max) locked out. I can get it to start in max turbo mode always, but it's not easy, and I can use throttle stop to set the multipliers as long as i am slowing them down from the 33 max (or 36 in single core). If anyone wants to chime in or ask questions...

 

the 2920xm has been replaced with the 2960xm

 

oops, thanks, dunno how i missed that. back to the drawing board :-(

 

Well seeing as the 2860QM is a refresh. The 2920XM's successor is the 2960XM. Both of which are the same chip. The 2860QM has locked multipliers. The 2920XM is unlocked and will walk all over the 2860QM when overclocked. Theoretically, the 2920XM can reach anything up to 10Ghz (lol) if you have enough cooling and power. Stock for stock, the 2860QM is a bit quicker and more energy efficient. My 2920XM will runn full 4.4Ghz on all cores for the whole duration of a 1024m run of wPrime.

 

hehe, no biggie. The 2860 is a fabulous chip though. With XTU, you should be able to keep it around 3.5ghz if you bump the turbo tdp to 58w (it only uses about 55w but you have to set to 58w because of vdroop)

 

Thanks wideus69, it was most of your guides i have been working with! Looks like it is worth some extra cash for the 2920 if u can get a stable 4.4. I'm not used to all the oddities of laptop chips, i've only built desktops and go for (cheap) 2.2 i7's as i can get them to 4.5 stable (on water) easily.

 

Mick, just be aware you'll be fighting temps with a 2920 @ 4.4ghz. Its not like a desktop that has more robust cooling

 

^^This. Very hard to keep temps under control. I only use that for benching.

 

Thanks, I've seen all the things needed to optimise the cooling, I've only built desktops so water cooling and high W power units are easilly available. I'm not sure I'm up to it yet but it seems that this chip is hard-wired to a max of 3.3 on all cores so I'd have to upgrade that to get any benefit.
I have used XTU and ThrottleStop to get it to stay constant at that speed but it's a lot of messing (and i prefer to 'play' with the vid at the moment)so first step is to check out some guides on pulling this bb apart and re-pasting.

 

LaptopMonkey is selling OEM 2960XM for £618 on eBay and you can get them cheaper if you offer 4% less I think

INTEL i7 2960XM extreme 3.7GHZ fastest laptop CPU! | eBay

 

yes, excellent idea

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m17x/561599-m17x-r3-cpu-gpu-re-pasting-guide-w-pics.html