The First M17x R2 BIOS mod. Need suggestions for future mods.

Figured it was, just never noticed something like it before. It was very subtle and only lasted 20-40 seconds. No idea what it was. *shrug* Might have even been my imagination. I'm just amazed at how little impact there was in the cpu temps after the 5% OC (which is admittedly small but definitely noticeable). This is certainly awesome on the part of the guys who worked on this.

 

Yea, with OCing the CPU, there might not be any temp change. What will really cause the temp to increase is increasing the TDP through throtte stop, or increasing CPU voltage. Add the extra 150mV, which is a small increase, and you might see what I'm talking about. It's a small voltage increase, and really just designed to add stability to a CPU that may not respond well to the 5% OC. Glad everyone is enjoying the new BIOS. It was defaintely a lot of fun to test and flash Especially when the non XM OC patch worked

 

Is this now the only laptop in the world with bios OC for non XM CPU's ???

 

The M17x R1 allowed for FSB OCing through the BIOS without an XM CPU. I remember playing with my P8600 when I first got it. Although it didn't have BIOS voltage options, though that could be had from throttle stop. Come to think of it, if you used throttle stop to up voltage, you could stablize an otherwise unstable FSB OC, assuming you could get it to be stable long enough to boot and load the OS.

 

Hello people,


I am going to try in xp mode. Have not tryed that yet. But when i get time over the weekend i will see if i can manually make a crisis stick in windows 7.

As regards to what size usb stick, it really doesnt matter. My stick is a 8gb sd adaptor usb stick and it even worked fine with that.

I will update post to reflect this.

 

The FSB in the R1 was maxed at 1333 though. Go to about 1360 and the system hard locked (not enough chipset voltage). Just about ANY CPU the R1 could take would be relatively stable at 1333 MHz FSB and stock voltage.

 

Well I successfully flashed the bios. Thanks for all the hard work. I do have an i7 920xm so I already run the 5% bios. Now it appears that there is full control of the CPU options which I am WAY underqualified for testing. I noticed the SMM is disabled and is for "out of stock configuration" or something like that. I am using the logic that maybe it is a security measure for if/when people begin to push the CPU beyond the recommended specs/guidelines. It will be interesting to see.

Now since voltage and other options can be manipulated does this override the TS need? I have all the programs to monitor temp but haven't really used TS due to no CPU increase need for gaming (5% is just a nice easy and stable bonus).

Any idea on the potential for 6970 GPU ability in the R2?

 

Just updated mine worked perfectly i run my 940xm @ 5% only use throttlestop for benchmarks. would be cool if we could go a little higher then 5% in bios
Can't wait until Version 2 lol

 

403 error on link.

 

Ahhh Dell don't like it lol

 

That's the real reason?lol I dont think so...

 

First of all, thanks a lot for this
Might take some time to understand everything, but the OC option for non XM CPU is already a lot, great work!

Now I also have a 403 error on the link, but since I'm from work, I better try downloading it when I'll get back home...

 

mmm actually i cannot even access their site, neither their forums. Always 403 error.

I hope everything is fine...

 

Thats not good. Dell definitely got to this IMO.

 

I can still download from the link just fine.

 

yup..its back up. thats nice! Hopefully someone can answer my question regarding the probability of getting additional GPU support (6970). Gimme two of those with my 920xm and I am set for a few more years.

 

It's been stated a few times (and it's in the main post) that this is a possibility that is being looked into. It is, however, a LOT more difficult than just unlocking options that were already there but just hidden.

 

Not trying to be rude dude but I wasn't talking "possibility" (as stated numerous times) I am talking about "probability." I don't know enough about programming and was just trying to get more expert advice. I would assume it is an issue of bios and recognizing the GPU and therefore would have to be some sort of ID profiles that recognize the cards. Isn't the R2 using the same MXM 2.0 B (or whatever it is) which support the 6XXX series? So theoretically the only downside was lack of dell support VIA BIOS. Now with people that can unlock and work within the existing BIOS, those ID's could be added?

BASICALLY, its just interesting stuff and even though I don't know how to do it doesn't mean I wouldn't like to know what would need to be done. I may not have a CS degree but I do have a masters degree and am smart so I like to learn stuff.

 

Didn't mean to sound rude either, all good

No idea exactly how it works myself. Was studying CS for a while but certainly don't have a degree in it either, much less in BIOS programming.

It would be interesting to know how it work though, I know that the VBIOS has something to do with it as well, being as that you can get a physically identical 5870 but with a non-Dell VBIOS and the pc will not recognize it.

I'll just chalk my response to you up to 2.5 hours of sleep prior to coming in to work for training and not quite reading your question properly Sorry.

My assumptions on GPUs in BIOS:
1. It has to recognize the GPU by the VBIOS (ID like you mention?)
2. Probably has some default settings in response to certain input from the GPU itself, temp, etc.
3. Needs to be able to recognize messages from the GPU for POST and general operation in order to run properly.

^ these are just guesses. I might be able to figure it out if I saw the code for a BIOS though. At least, the high level code that is where is basically human readable, but I'd still only have a basic understanding myself. I leave the real coding up to those that have the actual talent for it. I learned a long time ago I'm not cut out for it.

 

Awesome , so far so good , and more faster +rep goodstone & thewiz

 

Hey everyone,

Sorry about the 403. My site hasn't had a problem in 6 plus months and i woke up to find "somehow" my ftp permissions were a complete mess. Fortunately it didn't take too long to recover once I was up

I am still looking into the GPU upgrades, so please be patient as I have more code to read. I am however looking into changing the OC increments (1, 3, 5, 7, 10) because I think we can manipulate the CMOS token IDs to change the string names (i.e. the percent that shows up), and re-associate those with higher values in setup. Not sure if this will work though, so its also in consideration.

Cheers to a successful V1,
TheWiz

 

That sounds great for V2 man.
Thanks again for the Awesome job!

Cheers.

 

sounds really great for more OC option in bios, thank you and wait for your good news

 

Add another to the list of happy users of this.

 

BIOS installed and all working fine with o performance loose, i will test the overclocking etc soon.
Thank you for your hard work doing this.

 

Check to see if the 740M is TDP unlocked, that will help a lot too. I know my 540M is TDP unclocked, but my 520M isn't. That would net you an even larger performance boost. Use throttlestop.

 

Hey DR,

Where do I check to see if the TDP is unlocked? I have both the 740QM and 840QM CPUs so I can check it out for you.
Is it a setting in the new modded bios or in TS?

I can't wait for Modded BIOS V2!

Cheers.

 

Kudos for an awesome mod -- _very minor_ observation:

Spelling error: "Clarksfield DPI-sub menu": Clarksfield spelled as "Clsrksfield".

 

now, that's interesting.. how can i see if the tdp is unlocked on my 840qm?

 

And how about 720M sir?thanks...

 

Run Throttlestop click TPL tab, change TDP/TDC to whatever you decide.Then run HWiNFO32 on summary page to see if your TDP has changed.If you have HWiNFO32 already running you will need to restart it after you change TDP/TDC on Throttlestop to see if changes happened.

 

Thanks for the info Sauce, unfortunatly i think my 840qm has TDP locked, since that option for me is grayed out.

One question about the "intelligent power sharing" option in bios. I've serched but not found that much of information in the net about it. Seems something intended to improve performance (?) but i'm not sure.

Once enabled it open up other option and there are as disabled: "processor power limit" and "core power limit"

both of them allow adjustment that are of a tenth of a watt
both of them if enabled show a criptic 1023. Is there a way to better understand how does it works?

 

is there any benefit in using this BIOS if you already have an xtreme CPU?

 

well people are enjoying non xtreme 5% OC but there is the possibility of further OC in bios. Plus potential control of other factors that may be beneficial. I don't know enough and can't understand the bios enough to say as I thought the same thing as you. I am hoping that we will be able to upgrade to newer GPU's most.

 

You have more control over your overall system.

But whether or not that is actually a bonus is debateable. Its really cool to have all of the options open like this, but from what I can tell the vast majority of things are choices that none of us are really going to mess with because they are "best at default".

Saying that the more people "play" with the settings and the more that is discovered what they do we might find that the BIOS being this unlocked are the best thing since sliced bread, or the worst thing since the black plague.

You just have to tread VERY carefully until we discover what all of these things do as screwing with BIOS settings can be dangerous. (mandatory Mod warning to all)

 

thanks for the reply. i'll just have to keep an eye on this thread as new features are unlocked. subscribed!

 

IPS is a technology to maintain Turbo Boost balance between CPU and GFX in one package.

 

The IPS option is very much needed in the R1s !

 

The IPS feature is nonexistent in the R1.....different CPU architecture lol

 

sorry,my bad,thought that had to do with the power distribution between components.

 

Thank you Mumak

 

Hey guys,

We are still working on a new BIOS that will let you OC upward of 10% instead of the current 5. also, we will publish the option manual soon. We now have a new homepage where you can follow all our updates via twitter and RSS so you can easily stay in the loop as things happen. Also Dan mentioned to me that there is something important to improving the SSD read rates in one of the options now available, more on that as well.

@Sam:Is the new R1 BIOS working that I PM'ed you?

Thanks,
TheWiz

 

what is your twitter handle for this TheWiz? can't wait to try 10% on my OEM 940xm

 

My laptop gets a little 'BSOD-happy' when I have the BIOS overclock OR voltage turned up. I'm guessing it's because I have a QS chip. That 10% will be mighty nice for most users though.

 

I am waiting with baited breath to hopefully get all i can from my ssd.

 

I finally got my 2nd 4870 back so will be able to do some more testing with the new bios TheWiz. The main thing it will allow me to test is the throttle option to see if it still happens.

 

Just spent about an hour gaming with my 720 oc'd to 5%. What a difference! Thanks a lot for this. The only downfall is that after seeing the difference in a 5% oc in my 720, I am now really considering buying a 920xm!

Edit, may have been covered already...if so sorry. Should the voltage be changes? I left it at 1.5v

 

voltage increase it's needed only if you experience some instability, to better feed the cpu. If is running without problem, leave it alone as it is

 

The twitter handle is TheWizBM. For a direct link of latest updates, you can follow the twitter link and feed on the bios-mods homepage.

Even if you guys upgrade to your XM CPUs, hopefully we can up the OC to 10%

TheWiz

 

I really dont know much about Bench scores, however, with the 5% oc I appear to now be in third for best results with my setup.

Result

http://3dmark.com/search?resultType...apters=0&cpuModelId=1010&chipsetId=612&page=0

From what im reading, that is still pretty low. Any thoughts on how to increase this, or is this what should be expected from my processor and graphics combo?