Several M17x R2 Questions (new owner)

Hey folks, longtime lurker first-time poster. This site seems to be one of the best places around for laptop info and advice, so I thought I'd ask a couple questions of you m17x guru's here if you'd be gracious enough to answer.

As a bit of background, my m17x R2 currently contains a core i5-520 and a gtx 285M.

1. Can I just drop-in upgrade to a core i7-920XM? If so, will the BIOS realize this and allow BIOS bclk overclocking?

2. I have gotten the sense around here that the extreme edition cpu heatsinks are a bit more beefy; is that true? If so, where can I buy one (the m17x R2 heatsinks on ebay aren't described very well)? As someone who uses laptops for years at a time, longevity and stability is very important.

3. Can anyone provide absolute, definitive proof that the base of the CPU heatsink is made of copper or nickel and not aluminum? I ask because I'd like to apply some TIM that corrodes aluminum.

Thank you very much.

 

Hey wabbit..

1) Yes, its simply a matter of putting a 920XM processor in. The bios will automatically detect it and allow for overclocking

2) I believe the heatsinks are the same regardless of the processor you have. I went from a i720 to an i920xm and haven't had any issues. As far as I know there aren't any other heatsinks, but folks feel free to correct me if I'm wrong here.

3) My understanding is that the CPU heatsink is made of copper, although I'm not sure how to prove it. So can't give you any proof there. I use OCZ Freeze which works fantastic, what TIM are you thinking of applying? Maybe folks around here are using the same and can comment.

Have fun and welcome to the board!

 

Upgrade to 920xm is plug and play regardless of bios version. If you want to unlock the 5% bios overclock, check the bios link in my Sig. You can OC the 520m. A 920 used with throttle stop will allow increasing TDP so you can overclock like a mother.

Cpu heatsink. There is only one for the M17x R2. its copper. The part over the die is copper. The piece around it is aluminium. The R3 has different versions. So your good with what you got. I've taken apart my R2 provavpy over 100 times probably a lot more than that. I've overclocked the crap out of the 920xm, 940xm, 720m, 540m and 520m.

If you want to upgrade video cards you can go to dual 285s or dual 5870s. You can even drop in dual 6970s or 6990s. Enjoy your R2. Ill be taking mine apt soon to put a silver lid and silver
base on it.

Edit: Grey bet me to it. Im a slow phone typer lol

 

I've got an M17xR2 and a 920XM on the way and I was just about to ask the same questions. Thanks for your answers Greywolf and DR650SE, it was really helpful.
I've ordered some MX-4 paste to try out and was wondering whether you replaced your thermal pads and where you bought them from? Thanks and sorry Wabbit for threadjacking.

 

Thank you grey and DR, really informative replies. No worries rypac, glad the answers were helpful to you too.

I'm planning to use coollaboratory liquid ultra on the CPU. I've had outrageous results using that TIM on my desktop (5-7 degrees at linpack load over AS5), but it contains gallium which destroys aluminum through electromigration.

DR, are you saying that the core i7-920xm only allows a 5% bclk overclock in the BIOS? I have a hard time seeing that as "unlocked" =/. I'm coming from a core i7-920 (desktop) where the bclk, vcore, etc are all available for adjustment in the BIOS.

 

Yea. That's what Dell has it at in the bios. Which was unlocked for non xm cpus with a bios mod (see Sig). The bios also offers +75mv and +150mv increases fir the cpu. I just use the cpu+75mv since the 150mv adds a lot of heat. 75mv is good because you can set throttle stop to run at starting and increase the TDP to around 85watts and keep the cpu at around 3.4ghz on all four cores. If you have a good paste job and adjust the heatsink right you can go up to 90w. You can also increase the multiplier to 25 from the default 24 and run it like a 940xm. Or you can set it custom and run a core at 26 and others at 23. really up to you. I keep all four at 25.

Also to properly adjust the heatsink i take the keyboard off. Than fire up wprime 1024 8 thread load, and open real temp. Crank the TDP up and then run wprime. I slowly adjust the heat sink screws till the temp is as low as i can get it. To do this you have to keep the keyboard plugged in but off the computer. Without the keyboard plugged in the system won't turn on or run. It also allows access to the heatsink screws for adjustment. Adjust them very slowly with small changes. Take your time and you will reap the rewards when it comes to heat.

Fir thermal pads i buy from frozencpu.com and use. 5mm pads for the gpu's and everything else. For the mofset near the cpu ill double up the cpu.5mm so its 1mm. I used the ek system pads but others used fujipoly. They are all basically the same with negligible difference.

Also if you get the paid version of setFSB you can OC the FSB using the asus g73 pll. But its just a lot easier to adjust the multiplier with throttle stop. Search throttle stop guide ib the forum search for full details on the program.

Typing from my phone so forgive any mispellings

 

Sweet. Thanks again for the advice.

I'll order some of those thermal pads from frozencpu but they are some pretty high shipping prices...

 

DR650,

I'm impressed with your phone typing skills

 

As am I, grey =P

Thanks for the advice folks, very helpful.