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    3720QM and 680M questions

    Discussion in 'Alienware 17 and M17x' started by Platelock, Aug 20, 2012.

  1. Platelock

    Platelock Notebook Enthusiast

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    Hello everyone!

    Recently received my R4 and am loving the hell out of it so far. My question is on overclocking the CPU and gpu. I've done some reading and have tinkered a little bit with MSI Afterburner. Is that what I use to over clock the 680M? If so, what is a recommended over clock?

    I downloaded the intel extreme utility and am a little confused by it.. What would be a good over clock for the CPU? When I did tinker with it I noticed that the turbo boost numbers changed but not the non active ones. When does turbo boost turn on?

    Last question. What are normal temps for gpu and CPU during regular use. Such as web browsing.

    Thanks so much!
     
    Platelock, Aug 20, 2012
    #1
  2. mikecacho

    mikecacho Notebook Evangelist

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    All these questions can be matched up by using the search tab on the site or "google" as a cumulative amount of feedback will be your best and fastest reliable source for a starting foundation.
     
    mikecacho, Aug 21, 2012
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  3. Mvejerslev

    Mvejerslev Notebook Guru

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    I use Nvidia Inspector for the GPU OC, but Afterburner will do fine as well. I also use Intel ETU for the rest of the system. The thing is, overclocking on the M17x is kinda pseudo, since you are artificially limited as to the max OC you can achieve on both the GPU and the CPU. You can gain up to 400Mhz oin the processors turbo boost clock (at least momentarily), and you can gain about 100mhz on the GPU, and thats it for the clocks.
     
    Mvejerslev, Aug 21, 2012
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  4. jaeyang9

    jaeyang9 Notebook Consultant

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    the "momentarily" can be extended forever! :p

     
    jaeyang9, Aug 21, 2012
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  5. Mvejerslev

    Mvejerslev Notebook Guru

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    >There is a way around this though...but you have to keep an eye on your temps

    >Download XTU (intel extreme tuning utility)

    >Set the Max turbo tdp to 57w...it will only use about 52w but you have to set it to 57w. Your cpu turbo will stay high forever now

    True, except when using 100% CPU on max OC, I only get about 20 seconds worth of 3800mhz on all 4 cores before going down to 3,4 again (although it tries to throttle up). Are you saying someone is getting 3800mhz infinite on 100% load? I dont see how the TDP max would ever allow that.

    I do get extended (infinite?) max turbo clocks at lower core usage.
     
    Mvejerslev, Aug 21, 2012
    #5