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    Just got my 880M twins!

    Discussion in 'Alienware 18 and M18x' started by Arotished, Apr 22, 2014.

  1. Ethrem

    Ethrem Notebook Prophet

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    Am I to assume that non-MX CPUs don't gain a faster sustained overclock from an undervolt but instead get lower temps then?

    At least until amperage and such is adjusted in XTU?
     
  2. n=1

    n=1 YEAH SCIENCE!

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    Undervolt still increases clockspeed in non-MX chips, but the key difference is the chip doesn't turbo as aggressively to make up for the "lost" TDP so overall temps are lower.
     
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  3. Mr. Fox

    Mr. Fox BGA Filth-Hating Elitist

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    No, the IA Core Limit is something a little different. Use HWiNFO64 if you want complete information has HWMonitor is missing way too much important data. The fact that there is almost no change in the value is the first clue that the information is of limited value.

    If you look at CPU Package Power with HWiNFO64 you will see a higher real-world number that reflects what the CPU is actually drawing under load. You will also notice that the wattage draw more closely resembles what you see ThrottleStop showing you in real-time when the CPU is under 100% load.

    PackagePower.jpg
     
  4. Ethrem

    Ethrem Notebook Prophet

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    There's not much a difference. The higher temps are because I boosted the TDP in the BIOS to test and see if it pushed higher overclocks (it doesn't so I'm going to set it back).

    [​IMG]

    Oh yeah, forgot... those 85s are from OCCT Linpack. I left TS running, didn't mean to. Oh well.
     
  5. Mr. Fox

    Mr. Fox BGA Filth-Hating Elitist

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    Sometimes there can be a pretty big difference between them, depending on what kind of load there is. I think the IA Core value may represent the most an individual core draws at time, but the CPU package power is what the CPU (cores, cache, memory controller, etc.) is actually drawing through its socket. There is probably something posted on the web explaining the difference. I generally don't pay much attention to the IA core power and focus more on what the CPU package is drawing.
     
  6. Ethrem

    Ethrem Notebook Prophet

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    Yeah my CPU package isn't drawing much but it's good to know that value is there for the next time I tweak the current limit.

    Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk
     
  7. D2 Ultima

    D2 Ultima Livestreaming Master

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    Well, I started rendering another video (similar to the original one I did before testing this). Seems my CPU fluctuates between 3.3 and 3.4GHz on the 4 cores and is using 100% clear-cut while rendering. It's odd, given the temperatures I'm getting, because when I stream I usually get hotter temperatures and keep the clocks higher... but we'll figure that bit out later. Anyway, here's the screenshot of HWiNFO and the render next to it.
    Screenshot #1050.jpg
     
  8. Mr. Fox

    Mr. Fox BGA Filth-Hating Elitist

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    Try pushing up the Processor Current Limit and that might help. My 4930MX idles at the clock speed I set it for and throttles to a lower clock speed if Processor Current Limit is too low. The key word is "limit" (as in capacity or ceiling) because that's what it is... meaning you can set it much higher than what you need because the GPU only draws what it requires. It's not a static value that gets pushed on the GPU. Same thing applies to the Long and Short Turbo limits.
     
  9. Ethrem

    Ethrem Notebook Prophet

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    What do you push your current limit to Mr. Fox? I lost all my XTU profiles when I wiped out my RAID the other day so I'm back at square one.
     
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  10. Mr. Fox

    Mr. Fox BGA Filth-Hating Elitist

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    That depends on the overclock. The higher the OC, the higher the settings need to be. Here is what I use for 4.6GHz.

    [​IMG]

     

    Attached Files:

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  11. D2 Ultima

    D2 Ultima Livestreaming Master

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    Yeah, it'd be something to try in the future here as well.
     
  12. Meaker@Sager

    Meaker@Sager Company Representative

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    The exact settings that perform best will also vary by individual chip .
     
  13. Ethrem

    Ethrem Notebook Prophet

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    1.473v?! I think my laptop would self destruct at that point.

    You got a really nice chip in that MX... My desktop 4770k won't even do 4.6 @ 1.47, it tops out at 4.5GHz at 1.38v.

    Thanks for sharing your settings though, i don't think the Clevo could handle that type of abuse haha

    Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk
     
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  14. Arotished

    Arotished Notebook Evangelist

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    and after a windows re-installation, both 780M works in SLi in my R2...
     
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  15. D2 Ultima

    D2 Ultima Livestreaming Master

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    Computers.
     
  16. jimbo4510

    jimbo4510 Notebook Guru

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    so you never got the gtx880m working in the A18r2
     
  17. Meaker@Sager

    Meaker@Sager Company Representative

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    Yeah the variance in chips has gone up, seems intel are tuning for yields over performance.
     
  18. Ethrem

    Ethrem Notebook Prophet

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    Yeah that would seem to be the case. 4790k is a perfect example. Even with a superior TIM they are hitting the same walls that 4770k chips do - just a few degrees lower temperatures.

    I wish AMD could get their act together and come out with a part that actually makes Intel be forced to be competitive again

    Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk
     
  19. Mr. Fox

    Mr. Fox BGA Filth-Hating Elitist

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    AMD has not made a respectable enthusiast CPU compared to Intel since the Pentium III/IV days. It would be nice if they gave Intel a run for their money like they did back in the early Athlon days, but I see no indication based on their past 6-8 year track record that they have any intention of even putting forth a half-hearted effort to produce an Intel-Killer CPU. I think they are too entrenched in a low-budget mindset to even think that way any more.
     
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  20. Ethrem

    Ethrem Notebook Prophet

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    Oh I am well aware. And so is Intel. Why be competitive when you have no competition?

    Intel has no motivation whatsoever to produce anything ground breaking. They can make minor technology adjustments for years for the foreseeable future.

    Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk
     
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  21. Mr. Fox

    Mr. Fox BGA Filth-Hating Elitist

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    And hence, we see garbage like Haswell emerge.
     
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  22. Ethrem

    Ethrem Notebook Prophet

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    Broadwell won't likely be much better. Lower energy but higher heat is the trend these days.

    Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk
     
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  23. Mr. Fox

    Mr. Fox BGA Filth-Hating Elitist

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    Yup... as they say, "can't fix stupid." It's the unfortunate reality and symptomatic of a displaced preoccupation with small low-power devices for small low-powered minds. ;)
     
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  24. Meaker@Sager

    Meaker@Sager Company Representative

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    The six core thuban was actually pretty decent if you knew how to handle it.

    6 cores at 4ghz with a raised northbridge clock did pretty well for itself, their next chips were actually a step back from that.
     
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  25. D2 Ultima

    D2 Ultima Livestreaming Master

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    That's actually why Piledriver was made so quickly and they moved off of Bulldozer so fast. Piledriver was a bit stronger and they had the hotfixes for core parking and such, but it still isn't really an improvement per-se clock-for-clock. The extra cores do the work, but not for games which don't use extra cores. It's surprisingly useful in BF3 and BF4 though, as the games don't make use of hyperthreading by intel but DO make very good use of all 4-8 cores of the current AMD CPUs and give players a benefit over any non-hexacore i7 in framerates. #DiceCanCodeTheyPromise

    Anyway, AMD really does need to improve their stuff. As far as I see, they're just boosting clock speeds and rebranding their high end CPUs and GPUs over and over (with the sole exception being the R9 29*x cards). They're making their stuff cheaper each rebrand, but while intel is screwing up with haswell, they DID make clock-for-clock improvements. My 4800MQ destroys i7-2700K CPUs and even people with ivy bridge still have it weaker clock-for-clock than haswell (far less if Mr. Fox had at them with his 4.5GHz daily OC plus his 780Ms which I'm sure he can crank up to make SLI GTX 770s look like a downgrade to a laptop), and when comparing to AMD, the FX8350 needs to hit ~5GHz to match the performance I get at stock in this laptop. It's a joke right now.
     
  26. Arotished

    Arotished Notebook Evangelist

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    Got it to work with a single 880M but had problem when I installed the second 880M card. This might just be because of bad cards. Clevo didnt replace my second card due to wha they said was damaged caused by the user.
     
  27. jimbo4510

    jimbo4510 Notebook Guru

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    I read this whole post and I didn't want to believe that the conclusion was it didn't work. Sounded like you went through hell and back and still didn't get it going to me it sounded like power issue
     
  28. Arotished

    Arotished Notebook Evangelist

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    I think it would have worked if I got two working cards to begin with :)
     
  29. Cloudfire

    Cloudfire (Really odd person)

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  30. Meaker@Sager

    Meaker@Sager Company Representative

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    Lol, we knew they were coming eventually :p
     
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  31. Mr. Fox

    Mr. Fox BGA Filth-Hating Elitist

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    At least Christmas comes on the same day every year. ;)
     
  32. Ethrem

    Ethrem Notebook Prophet

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    Gonna be finding out what this machine can really do... Liquid Ultra, Gelid GC Extreme, and a dual A/C adapter converter box incoming ;)
     
  33. dandan112988

    dandan112988 Notebook Deity

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    Can you buy the dual adapter box as a pre made assembly?
     
  34. Ethrem

    Ethrem Notebook Prophet

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    Its a Clevo machine that I have, they sell a converter box for their machines. Alienware 18 is stuck at 330W due to board limitations.

    Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk
     
  35. dandan112988

    dandan112988 Notebook Deity

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    Ah I see, does it work with m18x by chance
     
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  36. Ethrem

    Ethrem Notebook Prophet

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    Mr. Fox made one for his R2, send him a message and ask him about it. There may even be a thread here somewhere about it.
     
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  37. Mr. Fox

    Mr. Fox BGA Filth-Hating Elitist

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    Yes, there is a thread and detailed instructions on how to build your own.

    It is located here.
     
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  38. deadsmiley

    deadsmiley Notebook Deity

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    I read the entire thread a couple of weeks ago. Interesting stuff!
     
  39. Meaker@Sager

    Meaker@Sager Company Representative

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    I'd still be interested if you could hack the clevo box somehow. Maybe resolder the right leads and put in a manual connection from one of the data pins.
     
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  40. Mr. Fox

    Mr. Fox BGA Filth-Hating Elitist

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    I would really like to try that, Brother Meaker. If nothing else it would be informative to see what is inside of the converter box. I have been looking for one at a good price and have not seen one yet. I think I could change out the input sockets to the center-pin design and I already have a spare output cable I can use. The data pin is actually not required to use the AC adapter strictly for AC power. It is only needed for battery charging, so for benching having the data pin is totally optional. In fact, if you connect the ID wires to ground wires (on the AC adapter end, not the computer end - the computer end is left disconnected in this example) it seems to force both AC adapters to output full power instead of dynamically adjusting based on load. I've tested that and it seems to work OK other than no battery charging. (I disabled the AC adapter warning in the BIOS.)
     
  41. Ethrem

    Ethrem Notebook Prophet

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    Laptop Parts Now has it for 60 bucks if you want one. It's a Clevo original, mine will be here Monday thanks to FedEx screwing up and shipping it to California instead of Colorado otherwise it would have been here today.

    Great service from them too. The day I ordered it, they called me to make sure I knew what it was and to make sure I had two compatible power adapters.

    Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk
     
  42. n=1

    n=1 YEAH SCIENCE!

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    Could you provide a link? Googling laptop parts isn't very... productive lol
     
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  43. Ethrem

    Ethrem Notebook Prophet

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  44. Mr. Fox

    Mr. Fox BGA Filth-Hating Elitist

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    Well, $60 for an experiment is not very cheap. But, curiosity carries a price tag I suppose. With shipping it's close to normal price. I was hoping to get one really cheap (like $30 or less).

    I went ahead and ordered one so I can check out what is on the inside of it and compare that to my dual AC adapter mod. This sells for quite a bit more than what my homemade convert box cost me to build, so it definitely not a more affordable option.
     
  45. Ethrem

    Ethrem Notebook Prophet

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    Yeah I've spent a good bit on this laptop too... Almost 5k for the machine and now I've bought IC Diamond, MX-4, GC Extreme, Liquid Ultra (which just got here today and my syringe appears intact which is awesome), and the converter box. Lol

    Oh and ArtiClean too.

    Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk
     
  46. n=1

    n=1 YEAH SCIENCE!

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  47. Ethrem

    Ethrem Notebook Prophet

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    That's a bit extreme :O

    Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk
     
  48. n=1

    n=1 YEAH SCIENCE!

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    Well Xtreme chips deserve extreme treatment amirite?

    Jokes aside, I'm a chemist and curiosity got the better of me, but dilute hydrochloric acid really has proven superior to anything else I've tried.
     
  49. Ethrem

    Ethrem Notebook Prophet

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    I was under the impression that it's not *that* difficult to remove.
    So do you use the pad that comes with it before applying it?

    Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk
     
  50. n=1

    n=1 YEAH SCIENCE!

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    I don't use the pad anymore. As far as I can tell it's just alcohol soaked paper towel, nothing special.

    I only use acid because I have regular access to it, and I find it to be much faster at least for me. I just dip some Q-tips into some dilute acid, then gently swab them over the die and heatsink until both are clean. The nice thing about acid is I don't have to worry about using too much force, as if I wipe the surface too hard some of the Liquid Ultra seems to be become bonded to the die/heatsink. The other bonus feature is that acid cleans off any degradation products like a champ.
     
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