The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    AW17 Overclocking Suggestions

    Discussion in 'Alienware 17 and M17x' started by Tarupron, Aug 1, 2014.

  1. Tarupron

    Tarupron Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    32
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    I've never overclocked anything before, and I was told today by my on-site Dell tech that overclocking could increase my gaming performance by quite a bit (I've known about overclocking but it's clearly not going to void my warranty so I'm okay with it now), and I was just wondering if anyone had any suggestions.

    I like to play games at max settings with high performance, but there's always a rough balance with that if you're not overclocking, so I'm hoping anyone could give me some suggestions.

    I've got the following:
    16 GB Ram
    Geforce GTX 780M
    i7-4700MQ CPU @ 2.40GHz
     
    Tarupron, Aug 1, 2014
    #1
  2. J.Dre

    J.Dre Notebook Nobel Laureate

    Reputations:
    3,700
    Messages:
    8,323
    Likes Received:
    3,820
    Trophy Points:
    431
    Unlocked NVIDIA GTX 780M VBIOS

    [​IMG]

    P.S. Don't blow up your card. Take it slow.
     
    J.Dre, Aug 1, 2014
    #2
  3. Tarupron

    Tarupron Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    32
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    Sorry but when I look at my nVidia Inspector and that picture they're identical, I don't see anything on optimal settings, is there supposed to be? I've never overclocked anything before so I'm a little afraid to just mess around.
     
    Tarupron, Aug 1, 2014
    #3
  4. Hackintoshihope

    Hackintoshihope AlienMeetsApple

    Reputations:
    308
    Messages:
    1,042
    Likes Received:
    227
    Trophy Points:
    81
    What the poster suggested is flashing your graphics card with a modified vbios to allow for more overclocking in nvidia inspector.
     
    Hackintoshihope, Aug 1, 2014
    #4
  5. J.Dre

    J.Dre Notebook Nobel Laureate

    Reputations:
    3,700
    Messages:
    8,323
    Likes Received:
    3,820
    Trophy Points:
    431
    Yeah, sorry. I should have explained it. The custom vBIOS will essentially unlock your GTX 780M, allowing you to potentially squeeze another 25% out of it. But to push it that far, you'll need an extreme edition CPU and a 330W PSU.

    I don't think you can go back from this change. So, make sure you understand what you're doing exactly. Overclocking can be risky.
     
    J.Dre, Aug 1, 2014
    #5
  6. Tarupron

    Tarupron Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    32
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    I'm not sure what my PSU is, I'm checking the specs via MSINFO32 but I don't see the information there. I'm on a laptop so I can't really just pop it open to check, any ideas?
     
    Tarupron, Aug 1, 2014
    #6
  7. J.Dre

    J.Dre Notebook Nobel Laureate

    Reputations:
    3,700
    Messages:
    8,323
    Likes Received:
    3,820
    Trophy Points:
    431
    You have the 240W PSU (power supply unit). I mentioned the 330W PSU (that the Alienware 18 uses) because a higher overclock draws more power. Unfortunately, these systems weren't designed with overclocking enthusiasts in mind. They're just meant to game. The 330W PSU will allow you to overclock more - it's not necessary to overclock.
     
    J.Dre, Aug 1, 2014
    #7
  8. Papusan

    Papusan Jokebook's Sucks! Dont waste your $$$ on Filthy

    Reputations:
    42,727
    Messages:
    29,850
    Likes Received:
    59,668
    Trophy Points:
    931
    Hi
    Have you see how much watts your Alienware uses under 3dmark test (skywalker) with an Overclock of GPU with a mod VBIOS? I have only a small Overclock of GPU (78/200) with a standard VBIOS. I max out my power supply under test with a wattage of 251w. I have a too weak power supply if I should use the mod VBIOS and a higher Overclock. The new 3dmark (skywalker) test extracts more watts out of my machine than 3dmark 11 and firestrike test. it is very strange. :confused:
     
    Papusan, Aug 2, 2014
    #8