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    overclocking 940xm cpu?

    Discussion in 'Alienware 17 and M17x' started by jmyroman, Sep 27, 2011.

  1. jmyroman

    jmyroman Notebook Guru

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    should i be overclocking my 940xm?


    if anyone knows a particular thread that addresses this question please refer...

    laptop used primary for gaming
     
    jmyroman, Sep 27, 2011
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  2. TurbodTalon

    TurbodTalon Notebook Virtuoso

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    I would say yes, but I overclock the hell out of everything. Use ThrottleStop and up the power consumption and clocks.
     
    TurbodTalon, Sep 27, 2011
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  3. zoolian982

    zoolian982 Notebook Deity

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    If you know what your doing, go on ahead. Though you don't really need it past 3.2Ghz for most cases.
     
    zoolian982, Sep 27, 2011
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  4. TurbodTalon

    TurbodTalon Notebook Virtuoso

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    Raising the TDP/TDC with ThrottleStop will allow the CPU to run closer to the maximum clock across all four cores. The temperature will go up too though. If you check the summary in HWInfo, you'll see that under load the cores don't all run at maximum clocks all of the time. Running all four cores at 3.2Ghz while running Prime95 will create a tremendous amount of heat.
     
    TurbodTalon, Sep 27, 2011
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  5. zoolian982

    zoolian982 Notebook Deity

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    We have some 920/940xm-ers who go crazy and try to hit like 4.5+ Ghz, but they have insane forms of cooling. Pads, best paste they can get their hands on, an igloo in Antarctica, things like that.
     
    zoolian982, Sep 27, 2011
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  6. TurbodTalon

    TurbodTalon Notebook Virtuoso

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    I'm talking about something that you could run every day. DR650 has used dry ice (not a daily use solution). I don't know what clocks he has hit. Might need to repaste the CPU.
     
    TurbodTalon, Sep 27, 2011
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  7. zoolian982

    zoolian982 Notebook Deity

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    Well...i'll just leave my opinion, and the OP can go from there.

    First, you should read this to hear another 940xm owners concerns over heat.
    http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m17x/611931-i7-940xm-temp.html
    One of our prominent members DR650SE has given good advice on the 2nd page of the thread.
    Heat usually will kill chips and parts like a cancer. It won't show immediately, but it will wear out ur hardware much faster. Hence the insane cooling methods people have done. Like dry ice.

    You really should not need it past 2.5Ghz. People used to buy the 2630 which I believe was at 2.0 Ghz and gaming ran fine. Occasionally though you will run into games that seem to be slow due to rendering, but that's not always the cpu needing more speed.

    If you are going to do any heavy multimedia editing and creation, then you'll need some oc-ing to get the speed you need, otherwise, I would play it safe and keep it at a low level that still works and keeps your games at the 30fps minimum, or whatever speed your xfire 5870's can handle.
     
    zoolian982, Sep 27, 2011
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  8. jmyroman

    jmyroman Notebook Guru

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    yeah i really do not want to decrease the life of my laptop.
     
    jmyroman, Sep 28, 2011
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  9. JohnnyFlash

    JohnnyFlash Notebook Virtuoso

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    For gaming you'll barely need to increase the clock, save the heat budget for the GPU's.
     
    JohnnyFlash, Sep 28, 2011
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