Aw m18x R2 Dual 980m SLI upgrade!!

LOL! Yeah, having the best of both world be awesome... but more than twice as much money. Decisions, decisions...

If I could count on Dell actually twiddling their thumbs, instead of using them for butt corks, I could certainly put up with Windows 8 for a little while they get their act together and go back to Windows 7 after they did so. The problem is, I don't think we can or should count on anything at this point. If we have to depend on them to do the right thing by us, hell might freeze over first. Case in point: Alienware 17/18 Secure Flash protection STILL hasn't been removed so we can unlock the BIOS. Secure Flash is NOT REQUIRED, but it was their decision to deprive us of full system ownership rights. That's a huge FAIL on their part. They don't give a rat's butt about what their customers want any more. There is no way to conclude otherwise by their actions (or LACK of action). They have become very disconnected and ANTI-CUSTOMER since the release of the Alienware 17 and 18. If they cared about us, we would already have an unlocked BIOS. The least they can do is remove their restrictive filth so we can unlock it ourselves like we have in the past.

 

One bios after the other has been a failure, Dell have not managed to fix anything on their 14 pcs editions of bios for Alienware17(10 pcs for Alienware 18). . All have some blemish. Alienware their new laptops have already been on sale 20 months, and even does not Dell clearly and fix a decent fan or overclocking profile to these laptop.

 

Yeah it is kind of sad the new AW18 is crippled by that SecureFlash nonsense, and the fact it remains to this day speaks volumes. That being said, I do remember there was somewhat of an upward trend initially, all the way up to A05 where they made the fan tables a bit better and disabled the turbo power lock no? And then finally fixed manual fan control with A07 (I think).

Unlocked A10 is still the best BIOS for the R2 no? Who knows maybe when they release A10 for the AW18 SecureFlash would be gone, and everything will be unlocked LOL

 

Yeah. I have to say this... I've seen a lot of people saying how Clevos have bad build quality and such quite a bit. I even made a thread a year or two ago asking what "build quality" was, as holding my at-the-time D900F I could not figure out why people listed a Razer Blade as a machine with better build quality than any Clevo... XD.

But they're far from bad.

 

Yeah build quality is subjective, but I guess one measure is how sturdy the chassis feels. I can tell you right now that my Toshiba flexes like no tomorrow. The screen flexes, the palmrest flexes, and holy hell the keyboard flexes if I type too hard I kid you not. Not to mention the bezel seems loose and feels like I could pry it off with my fingernail. And then you open the thing up and see swaths of empty voids, but instead of using the space properly you then see cables TAPED yes freaking TAPED to the shell instead of being neatly routed. Now that is bad build quality.

 

Awesome! My scientific software takes advantage of every core/thread so things process fast! This xeon cost me less than a new 5960x and it was new and a oem cpu.

No problem. The clevo definitely is built well. I think the screen bezel and plastic casing on the sides is what makes it seem like it's not that well built, but it's like a tank. Working on this thing is awesome, I've already disassembled it like five times since I got it lol. It's almost complete, waiting on my 2tb hdd to come so I'll finally have full storage capacity my desktop had.

Actually you can install windows 7 on a uefi system. You just need windows 7 sp1 dvd or a usb. Enable UEFI, disable legacy rom and it should boot as long as your copy supports uefi. I think most copies with sp1 built in support uefi because even vista 64-bit sp2 supports uefi.

I agree the clevos seem to have decet build quality. The new models with the desktop cpu also are looking to have good build quality, as is the new P650.

The chassis on my clevo has like no flex. Keyboard has no flex, the metal plate under the keyboard does a great job at keeping flex to none basically. I still like the feel and looks of my m18x and will be keeping it but this clevo is far from bad in terms of build quality. I haven't had any smaller clevos so can't comment, but like I said, the new ones are looking to be great.

 

Changing your GPU's within 5 min is the P570WM best function

 

I think my system SLI cable is damaged, now i dont see SLI open in Nvidia control panel. I tried to reset cable, on next restart SLI open showed up in Nv. control panel but when enable n click apply, i got black screen, forced to press power button to shutdown.On next restart no SLI option? I tried all last three released drivers. I got Aw 18 SLI cable, unfortunately it is slightly longer then M18x, cause unable to install keyboard.

 

Damn right now have to fall SLI cable

 

Wow, alienware REALLY doesn't want you with working 980Ms

 

already ordered new one, will get it by Friday

Alright just ran Heaven benchmark 4.0 with one card as sli cable is not working. I noticed that Primary 980M Temp. reaches to 72C but still fan wont turn loud and gpu start throttling back to 324 core clock. I just use Hwinfo64 to control fan profile manually, it working fine no throttle and temp stays below 54C @2400rpm. Is this normal?

 

from what I understand it in SLI you max 72 degrees ?
you turned up to second gear fan speed ? - 2400obr.

 

lol Heaven Benchmark 4.0 with single card > fan wont run at higher speed till card reaches 72C, unfortunately when fan kicks in already GPU start throttling due to high temp. I cant use second card until i get new SLI cable.

 

So your normal fan control isn't working then, something that we'll have to live with or hopefully some kind of a fix can be created. Strange that your card throttles at 72 degC though, because that's a very low temperature for throttling to start - sounds like there's some kind of 'interaction' happening somewhere which is causing such a low throttling temperature. Even if fan control worked properly you wouldn't want to see your GPU throttle at 72 degC, you'd want it to throttle at 92 degC perhaps but not 72.

 

You finally got them to work in your M18x and the freaking SLI cable is broken? lol I feel for you man. Talk about bad luck

I believe there are several on sale on ebay. Have them ship it with ultrasuperduperhyperturbo shipping service and you will pay extra for it.

Im trying to get a hold of a cheap base config for AW18 and will be upgrading to Maxwell SLI as well but its not easy finding a cheap one

 

Try the Dell Outlet too, they do refurbished laptops, I got a cracking deal on this one I'm typing on back in 2012.

 

72 degrees it should not be any problems
the Clevo colleague that he praised max 87 degrees
strange

 

A wise decision:laugh:

 

A wise decision :thumbsup:

 

Thanks for the advice but I want a new one. Not used or refurbished

 

Worse part. Bad flash and you can't use this machine to fix it.

980's are a bit funny. the cable is probably still good.
Make sure both cards are showing up as x8 in gpuz
In device manager. Uninstall both cards and delete the driver with this same process.
Reboot so that both cards show generic gpus installed.
Windows 7 you can just reboot windows 8 you will need to disable driver enforcement I think is what it's called.
With the desktop cards.... You need to basically uninstall the driver. then flash cards, then re enable driver for the driver to hold and keep sli. And not break the driver. Not totally sure about mobile.
Once both cards show up in device manager you should be good to go to do the reinstall of the driver from the exe file. If you had used a version that Mr Fox has made, then you will be able to enable sli on the fly. If not, reboot and hopefully this will re enable the sli option. "Hopefully"

It's not high temps throttling the card. it's power.

 

Just ran firestrike on single card. Damn score is almost 1000 points higher then Dual 7970M

 

You need dual 330W PSU's.

 

yeah it looks like, Both cards are showin in GPUz as x8. But there is no option to enable SLI. When i first installed card it was working fine, but when i launched 3dmark it stopped in between then after all issues pop out. Im goin to try your suggestion report back.
Huh power? but when i ran fan manually GPU wont throttle at all, just finished firestrike without throttle

ahh yes these cards are power hungry, got to feed with dual PSU's

 

Dual PSU to run 980M SLI and 3940XM? Are you guys on crack?
Dell is selling 880M SLI pluss 4940MX and they draw more power than 980M SLI

 

If the cards are throttling from power that's the cards themselves' problem... the cards draw less power than 680Ms at stock as far as I know, and run cool as a cucumber the whole time. Look at you with heaven 4.0 not cracking 72 deg, then you force fans to max and it sits at 56 degrees in heaven while clocked up? That's brilliant XD

 

@john: Couldn't you flash one card at a time in the P570WM, so if you accidentally brick one you still have some recourse?

 

Yep, Peter is only running one card at the moment, so it's not going to be throttling due to power, at least not due to the 330W power brick - 1 card is not going to get anywhere near! As you say, even 980M sli is fine for 330W, especially at stock. His throttling at 72 degC is weird, I don't think it's power or temperature related, I think it's general weirdness due to it not being set up properly in terms of some slight incompatibility that needs to be ironed out somewhere. (Yep, I know it doesn't throttle when he has his fans on max rpm manually, but I think this throttling is ultimately still not directly related to power & temperature).

 

I found some more info.

HTWingNut tested the Clevo 17" with 4810MQ with 980M SLI and the power draw was around 300W on some scenarios.
M18X got bigger display, but its PLS and use less power than the TN display in the Clevo. Peter got 3940MX which use more power than the 4810MQ.

So I dont know. If the AW PSU cant be utilized 100℅, there might be some scenarios where it may throttle. But HT didnt experience any throttling so I think it is unlikely because the PLS vs TN should cancel out the 3940MX vs 4810MQ more or less I think.

http://i.imgur.com/DIJ774c.gif

 

(Peter's only using one 980M at the moment - won't be throttling due to 330W power brick. Could be a different story (maybe) when both cards are activated in some demanding situations).

 

When overclocked, Maxwell consumes just as much power, sometimes more (because it can be overclocked more than Kepler).

That's why I suggested dual PSU's.

 

Actually i think it throttled due to Temp., then why card didnt throttle at all when i set fan manually @2400rpm. ran both benchmark firestrike and heaven. I believe that it may be due to SLI disabled.

At the moment im not able to enable SLI, hence wont throttle due to power as 330W enough for 3940xm and single 980m.

 

Alright just installed 344.65 drive with Mr.Fox mod, still unable to enable SLI. In GPUz both cards at x8.
Even right now im not usin laptop display as system connected to external monitor through miniDP. I believe can save around 17w to 22W.

 

A good way to test your idea (the bit I highlighted in bold in your post) is to manually set your fan RPM at the lowest figure that it will accept & still spin up the fan - e.g. 500rpm, then run the tests and see if it still throttles at 72 degC. If it doesn't throttle at 72 degC then you know it might be the simple act of manual fan control that influences the throttling behaviour regardless of temperature the card reaches. (It might be a bug, the weirdness I was talking about before). (Or block your intake vent while on manual fans to force to 72 degC to see if still throttles - another way of testing the same thing.)

 

lol i was wrong. just set fan at lowest 500rpm, ran heaven benchmark GPU temp. reached to 83C(Can't take more risk :|) and card did not throttle at all.

 

Oh, I thought you guys were talking about SLI. I just read pieces of the discussion with this iPad. Even writing this is hard lol

 

Haha, excellent, my theory was correct then, hopefully that little nugget of info can help the guru's come up with some fixes now that we have an understanding of the fan control's relation to throttling behaviour. Do I get a +rep! ;-) (There's some incompatibilities to be ironed out still somehow.)

EDIT: (For those just skimming the thread): Auto fan control results in throttling at 72 degC. Manual fan control, even when setting to low rpm, removes the weird throttling behaviour and GPU can safely rise above 72 degC without throttling. This is some weird bug/incompatibility that could be added to the bug list for ironing out.

 

Already added m8, Actually my system slightly silent now, otherwise with 7970m fan always kicks in every 7-10 min. Honestly, im usin windows 8 first time, forced to use it and i hate it. I just installed windows 7 theme now mostly looks like my fab. Win7

 

Maybe so, but I can OC my 780Ms to 1020/6000 and OC my CPU a tad and not run out of power on a 330W brick here (at least enough for a 3D mark run through) so that shouldn't be the case with 980Ms, especially single GPU at stock. You'd need to OC 980Ms a decent bit to out-draw 780Ms. Also, Mr. Fox gets a solid OC on his 4930MX and a very slight OC on his 780Ms for benching etc with his AW18, so that 330W brick is DEFINITELY enough with the more power effiicent 3940XM and 980Ms.

Edit: Scratch the above because it's already figured out. Blast you auto fan table.

 

Try Start8, StartIsBack or ClassicShell. Will make Win 8 just fine to use.

 

Yeah I agree with you. Shouldnt be a problem power wise unless you start playing with voltage and stuff. I want to go 970M SLI though. With 100W heatsinks. Just need to find that cheap base config to throw away the GPUs

Here's hoping Black Friday have some surprises ahead

 

M8 that's power draw from the wall. You have to figure in the PSU's efficiency which I'm going to say is not more than 90% with these laptop bricks (likely not more than 85% realistically). 300W*0.9 = 270W actual delivered power, so there's still quite a bit of headroom left before hitting the 330W deliverable power limit on the PSU.

 

90% power efficiency means 270W is used while 30W is used by the PSU itself. Sort of wasted.
300W power draw from the wall is 300W. Some PSUs can be utilized 100% in which case you have 30W left if it is a 330W PSU. If it can only be utilized 90% that 300W limit have already been met. If you go further it will either shut down to protect itself or a fuse will go. Or worst case, you kill it with overload

 

That's not how it works. 330W means 330W of deliverable power, not 330W from the wall. The efficiency loss is accounted for when designing the PSU. Even with a 90% efficiency it means power draw at the wall would have to exceed 366W to trip overcurrent protection.

 

Also bear in mind that these 330W AC adapters can go a fair amount beyond that as well, for short periods of time.

I responded to your comments over here, in this post: LINK. Any helpful tips you can provide would be appreciated. I think I am doing everything correctly. Maybe something is wrong with the machines or the OS media even though they are all EFI boot.

 

Thats because it got a slow fuse I bet. It can do a certain amount more amps above 330W (U * I) in a certain amount of time before snapping.

Are you sure about that? That the power actually used by the computer have the 330W limit and not the power the computer use + power wasted by the PSU in efficiency?

Got any link that back that up?

 

I guess this would be a start.

You can also head over to JonnyGuru and check out the 300+ reviews he's done on PSUs and what the wattages looks like in his load tests.

Somewhat OT: Things are relatively simple in the laptop world fortunately, but can get very complicated and ugly over on the desktop side. Toms has a good piece if you want to read a bit more.

 

I don't have proof I can directly show, but I'm dead certain I've seen over 400W pulled from a wall from a single 330W brick at some point. Somewhere.

 

Im not reading articles about PSUs in general. There are too many variance out there from OEM to OEM, from PSU to PSU.

Im asking you to post anything that AW18 PSU can deliver more than 330W from the wall in continiously and that it disregard the power loss from efficiency.

Edit: Is the fuse/protection on the AC side or the DC side? If it is on the AC side, it will for sure trigger if the power draw from computer plus power draw is above 330W (continiously)

 

Well the AW18 motherboard itself has some kind of built-in protection where it shuts itself off before maxing out the 330W PSU. So I'm not sure what you're asking for can be realistically found due to the system limitation itself and not the PSU. Mr. Fox can elaborate more on that I'm sure.

Overcurrent protection would appear to be on the output (DC) side.

EDIT: Alright well this is about as close as it gets I suppose: