M17xR2 Bios A09 Discussion Thread

Updated to Mirrored Support Site:

M17xR2 A09 System BIOS

BIOS Information:
BIOS Revision: A09
EC Revision: 15.32

Instructions and comments:
1. To install the BIOS, download the executable and run it in Windows and click on the Flash BIOS button in the WinPhlash utility.

A09 System BIOS Release Notes:
1. Implemented Turbo Ratio limits for maximum performance

BIOS history:
Please see previous BIOS release for their release notes.

Bios M17x-R2 A09:
http://support.dell.com/support/dow...dateid=-1&formatid=-1&source=-1&fileid=417210

Enjoy

 

Hope this one makes extreme cpu owners happy x).

 

I'd run some tests on it, but I don't have either of my XM CPUs in it. I'm lazy at the moment. , Still downloading and flashing though

 

I just installed it, this time i didn't have to set Raid0 again, or even go into the bios. Started up normally i guess.

I'm getting a polling on the touchpad of 55-61Hz with this Bios A09 and installed Synaptics Drivers.

I think the other changes are for the extreme cpu guys, hope they got back what they wanted.

 

I will install tonight

 

Hi,

Is this update just for US Alienware, if so anyone know when the UK site will have to download.

 

You can download it from this server aswell, it's just where it is located. Once the file has been posted globally, i provide it's Support Page and then you should also be able to get it from your UK/EU site. I normally get it from the us server, though i'm from europe aswell. But anyway, here's the global ftp FTP Link: ftp://ftp.dell.com/bios/R282206.exe It's only 2MB, so it should not take that long to download it from either location

 

Thanks for the link Grimfan love my touchpad now

 

Hehe yeah, who doesn't like prereleased things that are up on the FTP and not on the Support Page yet I already liked my touchpad with A08 alot better, but i think the XM-Users were not that impressed, we know the story hehe Cheers.

 

Cheers Grim

 

the new bios as wery well
tested super pi
a08 2 mb from 47s
a09 at 28s
a08 4mb from 1m.48s
to a09 1m.02s

 

Wow that's a pretty nice performance boost imo, thanks for sharing that info andy, i'm sure the followers with their XM-processor will appreciate the changes.

LOL i just checked SuperPi on A09 (I'm sure A08 would have been the same for me) with my 720QM and i got 38s on 2M and 1m25 on 4M. Can't believe i was once faster than a XM processor on this system lol

 

For those of you without extreme processors, A09 should be basically the same as A08. No harm to flash, but I don't think you are going to see any change...

 

I'm hitting 31sec (2mb) with a stock 840QM, not too far behind

 

Brian will there be a new bios for m15x we are having to run Throttlestop to get the multiplier back to the way they were for XM processors and would appreciate an official bios release so we can use our systems just like m17x users.

thanks

 

when you say same as A08 BIOS i hope you dont mean losing performance.

i am going to flash it now. hope engineers didnt add any secret performance drop info to the bios

 

Well to find out, we are eagerly awaiting all your benchmark runs and other relevant info you have to post with your 920xm and how things perform on A09

 

I might do some tests on friday if I'm not too lazy.

 

I'll DL and run a few before and after tests. 3D 06, Vantage, Super Pi. If you have something you want me to check lemme know. I'll start around 430 EST as I am at work now.

 

I would be very interested in hearing any confirmation reports that the following works correctly, in a specific hardware configuration, after upgrading to A09 and the non-beta Dell catalyst drivers also being released today:

1. CCC operational
2. SC2 and/or WoW playable with no "stuttering" when the mouse is moved (you will know what I mean if you see it)

Configuration:
*single* GPU 4870

 

I have SC2 but no WoW. Where can I get the drivers? Dell website? I'll check.

 

I'm currently downloading the new driver: R281215.exe - AMD Mobility Radeon HD 5870 (8.763-100810a-104118C-Dell)

 

Grim,
I have never used Super pi, what do this numbers and results mean in dummy terms?

 

I think it calculates Pi (you know 3.141592653589793238462643383279x) on it's x-th decimal place (example is a lenght of 30), so i assume i ran 2M and 4M(illion) in that specific time

And i never used it either until right before to compare it to andy's test, just for fun

 

Read Me!!!!!

And Me!!!

 

Very cool pmassey,

 

Super PI is a single threaded benchmark and isn't an accurate way to measure a performance change on a CPU that is capable of running 8 threads. Try wPrime or Hyper PI instead so you can fully work these CPUs.

Downloads | wPrime Multithreaded Benchmark

Hyper Pi - The Super Pi Front-End

 

And if you run WPrime, Run Argus monitor as well so we can actually see the CPU activity. I'm going to run a lot of tests on it, just as I did with A06, A07, and A08. Probably this friday. Well mostly wprime to monitor CPU activity and in order to gain an understanding through comparison.

 

I can confirm that this bios has the speed of A07 and polling of A08. Hopefully further revisions will be made to the polling rate as well as implementation of a C-states toggle in the bios. Good job Brian, thanks for getting this out there so quickly.

 

i installed A08 and removed it after 2 minutes.never run a test on it. but i could run 3dmark06 and compare my score with A07 one (tested under same conditions)

 

wprime 32 mb 11.147s

 

is that with 8 core threaded or default

 

8 core simul no trottle stop..
http://www.wprime.net/Scores/

 

Sure, please take your time, i think everyone is interested how this A09 performs atleast equal to A07 and what everyone else should expect

I'm gonna stick around for now and leave the stage to the XM-Users, so they can share their experience with this. Hope this holds up, anyway that Bios was likely my permission to order a i7-940XM for myself, cheers

 

You guys should see identical performance to A07. I ran WPrime 4 threads in A07 vs A09 and it was the same. Multiplier jumped to 20x+ for both. When you hit 8 threads, the performance is similar although A08 was still slower.

Just a little bit more to go before the M17x-R2 is nearly perfect:

1. SSD performance increase
2. Polling rate tweak so that it doesn't drop to 60 Hz with synaptics and then again to 40 Hz when it's uninstalled.

Other things I noted when I tested the bios:

1. When mouserate checker is enabled and the CPU is active (e.g. Wprime running) the polling rate for the touch pad jumps to 90-100 Hz on average vs 80 Hz.

I think with a C-states toggle (so we can turn it off) in the bios like how the X7200 and the MSI laptop have, we could get higher SSD performance and touch pad polling rate.

 

on hyperP 2M w. 8 cpu 55.34 s ,
but on this bench all cpu not fully load ..
after i have select 4 cpu and the cpu go to full load , and on test 2M
result is 43.12s
why this result?

 

Hyperthreading does not count i guess then, so 4 physical cores

 

Sweet. I like what i have seen so far.. Looks good I will have to snag this and install it.

 

I don't really work the M15x, but I don't believe there are any plans to change this back on that system...

 

Will test later this week if there is a need. So far it's looking quite promising. Thx for the update.

 

Just flashed from a08 to a09 when i was on ao8 i got 12883 on 3d marks 06 and on ao9 i got 13198 so it looks good to me...

 

Hmm. Have you tried testing the polling rate with "Processor idle disable" turned off? (this was one of the "hidden" power settings)

I suspect you are right. but doing that test should make it very clear if the polling rate is crippled by C states like the SSD controller is.

 

Just flashed right now..so far so good.

 

I flashed A09 and had to reset my raid 0. In the Bios in Raid there was a setting I didn't understand it said.
Disable
Intel Raid OPROM UI and banner are not displayed if all disks and Raid volumes have a normal status.
Enable
Intel Raid OPROM UI is displayed

I hit CTRL I to see the Raid setup and it says
Status Normal

Should I Enable or Disable that setting

 

Something is wrong with your tests, you should score at least 2k more in 3DMark06. Maybe the CF was disabled or some unnecessary CPU load present in the background?

 

This is what i have been geting since day one was 12880. at the moment i am still on the ati 10.5 drivers. I did update once to the 10.7 and my score jumped to 13995 and every still plays the same for me. if there any info that i might be missing please let me know and thanks for the info so far.

 

OK. Results. Some a little better maybe, but still seems like it's slow in Vantage and 3D.

wPrime with AO8 BIOS

wPrime with AO9 BIOS

Vantage with AO8 BIOS

Vantage with AO9 BIOS-Beta Drviers

3DMark with AO8 BIOS

3DMark with AO9 BIOS-Beta Drivers

Any experts wanna guess why Vantage is Low?

 

So not sure I completely understand, is the jury still out? I just got my m17x delivered today and it came out of the box with A08. Would I benefit from upgrading to A09?

 

Well, I haven't seen any negatives yet in the whole 5 hours I've had it running.

 

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And here'sthe mouse poll.