i7 840qm... how far is a 'safe' overclock?

Was thinking about overclocking but the unlocked bios ( Alienware M17x-R2 A10 BIOS Unlocked OC Options) only allows 5% CPU overclocking. See no need to OC my GPU and ram yet, and am concerned about setfsb overclocking my ram as well. Also have no idea how to go about doing this.
Before I break my system, was wondering if anyone has stats on what would be 'safe' for an 840qm. Was thinking of bringing it up from default 1.86 to say 2.2GHZ at least, would that be an issue? Already getting 50 degrees c without any overclock... but my fan is usually never at full.

Help appreciated, and don't really understand the overclocking guide but will keep reading. Thanks.

 

I think the only way to overclock non-extreme CPU other than Modded BIOS is to use SetFSB.
I managed to push my i7 740QM to 1.9Ghz base clock, which is a minimal improvement,but better than nothing.

 

Overclock it incrementally, then run Prime95 on small FFTs long enough for the temperature to completely stabilize. If you're hardcore, run it all night long while you sleep. I think that is extreme overkill though. If you don't BSOD or shut down, and your temperatures are low, you can probably keep moving up.

 

you will see minimal gains with this oc. not really worth doing imo.
get a cheap 920 or 940 es, then oc'ing is really worth it.

 

Completely agree with inap. I'm going to buy at least 920XM from ebay when I'm back to UK.
But, in gaming, will I see any significant improvement with OCed 920XM?

 

It depends on how CPU hungry the game is. Fallout New Vegas, for instance, doesn't get my CPU hot at all. GTAIV on the other hand, is very CPU hungry. You will see higher and smoother frame rates. For our chipsets, the 920XM with ThrottleStop is beastly.

 

problem is its a laptop and i have no idea how to switch cpu. Any linky for newbies? Now the turbo is 3.2 ghz, so why can't I OC it to 3.2 and turn off turbo?

As for me, getting a 10% overclock is already a huge boon and probably don't need more.

Also wondering what 2 core natural turbo is.

Thanks.

 

Yeah I heard a lot of good things about 920XM, I guess I'm going to get that processor soon, after adding secondary HD5870 to my setup, plus it is much cheaper compared to 940XM.

You could refer to this link, http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware/401382-how-change-your-m17x-cpu-guide.html
This forum is filled with many helpful people, you can learn everything about your beloved M17x here.

 

Kay checked that guide, confirmed not for me. What kinda shops should I visit for them to do it for me? Anyway, probably not gona have access to parts for a long time. Therefore, overclocking seems to be the only option. It has a turbo of 3.2MHz, so why can't I make it run at 3.2 and turn off turbo? If not, would setting it to from 1.86 to 2.10 be considered ok? (about 12%)

Also would using setfsb mess up my other components (heard it affects RAM as well, what else does FSB affect?)

 

I am not so sure about that, but since i7 840QM also has locked multipliers, then your choices are pretty much between using modded BIOS or by using setFSB.

Regarding using setFSB, you can refer to tech inferno forum,there's a guide you can find there.
How to overclock Alienware M17x-R2 using SetFSB

But you need to know that only minimal improvement can be achieved by overclocking FSB, because although your CPU can handle it, other hardwares that connected to it maybe can't handle that higher speed.
Maybe someone with more knowledge can tell about this in more detail, because I am still not that expert in this as well.

 

Just to point out, if the OP is using an SSD, i won't sugest to go too high with FSB.. things can get nasty...

Much better 920xm and multipliers overclock.

imho...

 

The 920XM and 940XM are the same chip. The 940XM just has a higher multiplier. With the use of ThrottleStop, the 920 is basically a 940. In other words, don't get the 940 no matter what you do.

 

throttlestop? Whats that and what it do? Also, if I use this modded bios: http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...r2-bios-mod-need-suggestions-future-mods.html
How do i increase multiplier?

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/har...arket-upgrades/531329-throttlestop-guide.html

 

Nice, will that work on an unmodded m17xr2 bios? And what about the modded one? This ONLY changes the CPU right so I won't mess up anything else? What's a good CPU benchmark and stability tester? Gotta make sure this thing doesn't explode.
How do I know my current multiplier? Doesn't seem to let me set above 14.

Ran the benchmarks (without touching anything) on 2 threads (1 core) seems to be a lot faster than on 8 threads (4 cores). Temperatures are about the same though, and seems to hit 71 without my fans kicking in, is this bad?

Doesn't seem to ever reach the turbo freq of 3.2ghz even with only one thread though, 2.9 is the highest I got.
And no difference between 4 and 8 threads.
Once again I'm on i7 840qm, not overclocked (yet) and non extreme. 4 cores 8 threads. Yet I seem to be getting the same multiplier (15* which is the turbo) at 8 or 4 threads.
However when 4 threads are set I can see only 50% of the CPU is being used, and when 8 threads are set, it's close to 100%. Shouldn't the turbo for 2 core 4 thread be faster than 4 core 8 threads?

EDIT: When I restrict it to 2 cores (4 threads 0-3) using task manager, the MHz went up. Apparently, when set to use 4 threads, it was still using all 4 processors, maybe one thread from each? I dunno. Max temp is 80, not looking good. Fan speeds changing all the time but never hit maximum...
Not even overclocking, will 80 degree temps cause damage?

 

Just to point out to the OP, the 5% OC in the bios is a FSB overclock. Meaning it works just like SetFSB. It will overclock your FSB by 5% which in turn OC's your RAM and CPU by 5%.

To answer your other question. I have an 820qm (stock 1.73ghz). I use a combination of the 5% bios OC and Setfsb to bring it up to a daily use OC of 2.03ghz. For benching I'll run it at 2.12ghz. It's not 100% stable past 2.03ghz so that's my limit for daily use.

You will probably see similar results. The FSB can only be OC'ed so far before things get bad. I found switching to better ram let me increase the OC by a few mhz. Throwing 1600mhz ram in the laptop might allow the FSB OC to be increased even further. I think the main problem for my instability at 2.12ghz is the fact that the 1333mhz ram is running close to 1866mhz.

The 8gb ram kit I'm using is currently on loan from a friend. It's still at 1333mhz, but the FSB OC brings it to 1600mhz. It had lower latencies than my other set of ram so I was able to gain a few mhz. Once I have to give the kit back, I'm going to buy a 1600mhz or 1866mhz kit and see if I can push the FSB OC higher. Based on the types of error's I'm getting when it crashes past 2.03ghz I know it's the ram that's failing first.

 

Hmm, makes me wonder. Yesterday I did a voltage mod, and was running the CPU at 1.4v. I had the 540M benching wPrime 1024 at 178MHz FSB, so around 4.11GHz. That was for wPrime, but it became unstable. I wonder if I should have swapped the RAM. I gave up because I figured at an OC like that, it was likely a PLL voltage issue.

 

Well that's nice but I have no plans for frying my ram or reducing it's life expectancy to like 1 year. Any way to overclock the CPU alone?

 

Only way is throttlestop with a nonxm cpu. And you'd have a hard time frying your ram under these circumstances. . . . unstable at certain settings =/= fried.

 

I intend to use the unlocked bios to overclock 5%, and then somehow oc the processor itself. Throttlestop doesn't seem to work beyond turbo. The highest it lets me get is 14x, which is my regular 1.86ghz. The turbo throws me at 15x, which is the regular turbo of 1.95ghz.

 

You can't do it without another modded bios so long as you don't have a nonxm cpu. Throttlestop will only work with nonxm cpu's so your i7 840qm won't see any benefit.

The only way to OC further is with SETFSB or somehow modding the bios to allow multiplier tweaking.

 

anyone still working on a bios mod for that?

 

LeafyVeg, if you are intimidated by the prospect of installing a CPU in your R2, then you would be well advised to confine your early CPU overclocking efforts to the limited overclocking of the FSB available through the BIOS. Stay away from the separate program SetFSB, which in the hands of the inexperienced can create instability and lockups. The multipliers in your 840QM were locked at the factory and cannot by manipulated by Throttlestop or other o/c utility and no modded or unlocked BIOS can alter that fact. As others have said, if you want to overclock the CPU, buy a 920/940XM. In the meantime, concentrate your o/c efforts on the GPU, which is both easier and more precise and can yield far greater benefits than can ever be achieved by o/c the 840QM. Further, the 840QM is a nice CPU that is capable of very respectable performance in stock trim when coupled with a capable, overclocked GPU. Focus your efforts where they will do the most good and are most accessible to newer enthusiasts.

 

+1 tenchar

 

Oh kay, so 5% overclock it is...
As for GPU overclocking, I'm on dual 5870m. The major problem right now is the CPU as the GPUs can still be considered high end. Would overclocking them see any results at all? Right now I can't seem to get over 40fps with everything ultra and 8x AA/AF in WoW. Not city mind you, in field. Using dx11 though dx10 didn't seem to show much better results.
Don't have WoW anymore so can't really tell though... but as I have 2 top end GPUs I think the CPU is the problem.
However, can I shut down 2 cores so that only 2 are active? This way, the turbo will be greater than my dual core game running on 2 cores and windows/small CPU consumers run on the other 2 and prevent my 2 gaming cores from turboing?

Also, if setfsb works and the only thing it affects is the RAM and CPU, then can't I just reduce the RAM multiplier?

 

hey will be great if someone told me how to underclock ram permitting further OC?

 

Assuming your ram is set to the default 1.5v in the BIOS, it cannot be further underclocked in the M15x.

 

What about the modded bios? http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...bios-mod-need-suggestions-future-mods-38.html

If I somehow reduce my RAM multiplier then I can increase the FSB without consequences right?
I wanna run d3 in ultra when it comes out! If it comes out...