Strange behavior after driver updates

I got an M17xR1, and it was suffering from both a video stutter and an audio pop. I upgraded to bios A03, which resolved the audio pop, but the video stutter still seemed to exist.

After getting tired of it, today, I downloaded most of the updated drivers from the dell site and installed them. I installed the OPTIONAL video driver on dell's site, the 197.XX driver. Now, it seems that the video stutters are gone, but only in certain situations, but a new problem that wasn't there before is now here. The problem is that the pc seems to be using a 11.5x multiplier by default for the CPU AND its downclocking down to 1.5 GHz and going up to 3.06 GHz. I would understand this behavior if I had it overclocked, but then I also have the power management settings to 100% minimum processor state and 100% maximum processor state, so at a default multiplier, I should just be seeing a constant 2.53 GHz. Also, when the clocks are changing from 1.5 GHz to 3.06 GHz, im noticing quite a bit of video stutter on a flash video, which may be from the clocks changing(maybe dpc latency), or just from t he flash video requiring more than 1.5 GHz on a single core for requiring fully smooth playback.

I did reset the bios to defaults, so I am assuming the default multiplier is 9.5x, but I haven't checked whether it is actually at 9.5x in the BIOS, but im almost 99% sure it will show 9.5x if I check. The thing that's really puzzling me is the clock modulation going up and down even though I have min and max set to 100%. I had no issues with this before I installed drivers and reset BIOS to defaults.

If I run throttlestop, and use it to run a constant 2.53 GHz, the laptop seems to run perfectly fine with no skipping issues.

 

Also, I'm pretty sure I was using a Synaptics touchpad driver before, but I installed the latest one off Dell site, and I immediately noticed that the polling rate of the mouse was extremely slow, and the mouse was basically jumping around the screen. It was always bad but not this bad. I downloaded mouserate checker, and its currently running at around 25Hz when i move the mouse, which I am pretty sure is way horrible. What should i do here with this problem too?

 

Ok well, the first issue with the CPU I guess was solely just due to stealth mode which I knew I had it in, but I guess I didn't realize the extent to which it has effects on CPU throttling and power consumption. When you are in Hybrid SLI, can you switch from integrated to discrete without using stealth mode? Hitting the function key and F7 does nothing on my computer, so it seems I cannot switch. Also, regarding the mouse, I reverted to a windows driver, and its getting me an average of 40 Hz. It's usable, but is this still lower than it should be?

 

The touchpad as a whole is just downright horrible too.

 

There is a more current bios out for the M17xR1, it is A05. I would first update you bios to the most current. I have an M17xR2 so I don't know what all was fixed in that bios update. Yes, the poll rate for the touchpad is terrible. On the M17xR2 they have improved it with the A09 bios update, but I don't know when they will fix it for the M17xR1. There is a subforum on the M17xR1 bios A05. Go there and check it out.