Overclocking Help (M17x-R1 P8600)

Hi there guys. I've been combing this board for a while now, trying to find any relevant information to my problem, and I'm not 100% sure if it's been posted before, but if it has, I can't find it anywhere. I'd appreciate any help you guys could give me, whether it be the answers I seek or a place I can find them.

I have an M17x-R1 that I got maybe a year ago (through accidental damage protection from an old XPS M1710; thanks, Dell! ) but I wasn't given any options to customize it when they sent it to me. My previous XPS M1710 had a processor that could be overclocked through the BIOS... I'm not exactly sure what processor it was (and I can't check, since all of my previously owned products got wiped off of my Dell account for some reason; thanks, Dell -.-). It was definitely 2.4GHz, and I could overclock it to 3.16GHz (I think). My R1, however, is unable to do this, and I'm not 100% aware of whether this is supposed to be the case or not.

I didn't have the mind to check whether my processor was the same or not at the time, since the performance boost between my M17x-R1 and my XPS M1710 was completely ludicrous, and I never paid much attention to the overclocking feature in my old laptop either. But now that games are starting to actually push my computer to its limit, it's been something I've really considered.

So, in that regard, I have a couple of questions.

1. Is this processor the same one or similar to the one I had before?
Does it have a BIOS overclocking feature that I just didn't realize was there? I'm running A07 of the BIOS.
2. If not, what are my options in regards to overclocking it manually?
I've never done it before, and I've hunted around for some guides and acquired a few of the necessary programs (namely SetFSB), though in working with them I couldn't really get them to do anything specific. Plus, I'm afraid to fiddle with them and break my system without some hard answers first, which I have yet to find for my specific processor/computer model combo (searching P8600 overclock in the search function gives me, like, two results).
3. Does Dell owe me a processor upgrade?
I've looked around and have seen multiple people complain to Dell about receiving parts that were weaker than their previous iterations in cases of accidental damage replacements or similar, and some have had successes in squeezing upgraded parts out of Dell. Is it possible for me to do the same? It's worth mentioning that I've been outside my hardware warranty or accidental damage protection period for almost a year now.

Here are my system specs, just in case.

Alienware M17x-R1
CPU: Core 2 Duo P8600 2.4GHz
GPU: GeForce GTX260m x 1
RAM: 4GB (2x2GB Samsung 1033MHz)

Again, thanks for any help you guys can give me!

Edit: It's also probably worth mentioning that I talked with Dell in regards to getting an upgraded processor, and the guy I talked to told me I could even get an i7 for my computer. He gave me prices for the 740qm, 840qm, and 940qm ($850, $1280, $2064). Can R1's use i7's, or was his information inaccurate?

 

If your old processor allowed you to overclock then you had an extreme processor, but the lowest clock they had was 2.6ghz.
If you could find some information from what you ordered previously, you may be able to get them to send you a new processor, but after a year, I wouldn't hold my breath.
I believe you can do a little bit of FSB overclocking via the bios, but I am not sure about that.
Unfortunately you can not put an i7 into your system. You can check ebay for an extreme processor or maybe a core2quad, but I'd search the forums to see what others say about going this route.

 

M1710's had a single processor that supported OC: the Intel T7600G. It was 2.33GHz stock. (There was also a plain T7600 locked processor that many mistakenly bought thinking they could OC it.)

I'd say overall you got a faster replacement, but not top-of-the-line like your last M1710 was.

 

Hi DivideByIchi,

Like custom90gt said the Alienware M17x R1 does not support i7 CPUs.

The great thing about the M17x R1 bios was it was left unlocked for all CPUs to have the ability to OC. So being careful and doing some testing could net you a nice will CPU performance boost no matter what CPU version you had installed in the R1 at the time.

The best CPU that you can put in the R1 is the QX9300 Extreme processor.

Cheers.

 

You can overclock the FSB in the BIOS. I had a t9600 that would run at 3.4ghz 24/7, up from 2.8.