*OFFICIAL* Alienware M18x Benchmark Thread - Part 2

The speaker thing was annoying me. I could uninstall the IDT drivers but then could not get 5.1 out to my z-5500s. So I figured I would get a "repair" to get sound working. Worst case, I have working audio. Best case, new laptop.

lol

 

Spoiler

At 0 flex voltage is enough to handle 90c+ temps at 4.3ghz 8thread load on Intel Burn (should be higher than vantage wprime etc) so your using the lowest voltage you can. Given fans at max i posted a chart of my second 2920xm under hundreds of intel burn test loads its in my sig there. It shows 44/44/43/43 under heavy multiple tests didnt shut system down and didnt require over 0 flex. So 4.3ghz 8thread in a wprime should be easy at 0flex (ive seen some capable of 4.5ghz at wprime 1024m 8t @ 0 flex but guarantee it was set to have just enough watts to maintain, a higher load app probably would have crashed from lack of voltage at 0flex) and if its overheating at that with fans maxed (im not talking special cooling this testing i did was at 70f room temp nothing but basic fan notebook cooler they dont cool they only keep hot air from staying by the laptop...) then yes perhaps check heatsink mount and stuff. I have 2pipe heatsink not modded currently. Stock dell paste on the mentioned testing and stock on mine now... Was i any help?

Aikimox if 0flex wprime 1024m 8thread at 3.8 ghz is that high you may have as you suspect room to improve temps. But one factor is that 78f room temp perhaps blowing 80F like air into cpu is not helping but if others could jump in here i think if you have same temps at 3.8ghz fans max... Maybe

Lolz John Im happy i cant speak for everyone. this chip handles nice and at low volts Sam i hope you get taken care of anyway

 

ok, looks like I'm back to stock for now, till the new hs is complete

 

how do you guys maintain 4.3ghz on intel cpu burn. theres no way its pulling less than 100w @ 4.3Ghz. it must be throttling down to the low 3.xGhz.

can you guys run intels cpu monitor with intel cpu burn?

games are a diff story and should be running at 4.x just fine. i just dont believe its possible to run intel cpu burn @ 4.x ghz without pulling 100W+ on the cpu.

if the XMs are maintaining 4ghz even in cpu burn im buying an ivy es this year

 

Spoiler

As far as i can tell... its not guys but only me who bothered... (makes sense no other app is like IBT/Prime95/OCCT

It was possible for me because my test (posted for reference at Tech Inferno) i was using 0flex.. 300amps 300watts. Draws like 130watts at most usually lower... But you need the amps skyhigh and watts atleast 150+ no one was trying to find stability in it and that kinda load it made me curious so i got 99C @ 20test IBT with 2000mb ram load over 8thread with above settings all other tests i did and charted were done for 5 tests same settings.

Cheers zero989 cool? Or lame
that was a 2920xm oem my second sample and if i did it with this 2960 sample i believe the test going above 4.6ghz would require less flex than that one ever did. Seems that it was my worst sample that one and required more flex than most of these

For reference on a desk no ac just a notebook cooler to keep air from localizing for too long and fans set to max

Edit: i see about the links no probs MODS i'll post results instead of a link to them

 

hmm damn i dont see ivy being too much better. maybe 10-15 watts or so. the temperature seems to be the issue.

 

Alright I tried turning off short limit and wprime32 on fresh boot it got 6.02secs temps c0-78c c1-87 c2-96c c3-94c but after idling for 15mins and rerunning test it's now throttling like a (fans are switching low to high on and off) with wprime32 score 9.722sec. Going back to stock level3 oc and pri-0 and checking out temps. Btw Thermal limits are raised (modded bios a05). Do u guys leave C7 enabled?

 

Put it this way....You would be pushing your luck at trying to go above 5 minutes at that rate. Full throttle.
Under normal conditions, you can run that fine for everyday use.

It would drop from 4.9 all the way down to it's native speed of 3400 mhz. over time, because your temps are not below 49C under load.

Im hoping you get it sorted out.

Again here. Unless you are really trying to stress a laptop like it's a desktop.(24/7 using 100 percent of all cores at 4.5 ghz or higher)..Best to get a desktop.

Easiest way to go is just to set pri-plane to 900 to 1000 (112.5 to 125A) and 40x in the bios with no flex.
Start your testing.
Use XTU to up the multiplier to 41 on all 4 cores and reboot.
Run same test.
Continue this same process going higher till you get a blue screen.
That's a good way to start finding your temps and what not....


Personally there is no need to stress test it all day every day, till it actually starts failing at normal speeds. Over clocking is a bonus that we pay for..not a guarantee that it's going to be a great one. (As some of us have found out) And no one at Intel say's to over clock this chip to 45x on all 8 cores either.
We just assume that's a right.

 

Thanks johnksss oc level 3 temps are great. core3 hitting 90c and others core within 3c of each other in wprime32. Will try pushing a little more until I get more speed/temps 4.2ghz seems ok for games do may stick @ that for normal use. Do u use c7 enabled? shore limit enabled?

 

No problem.
During normal over clock use, i would have all states enabled, but controlled from windows using TS. I usually leave short term at 99
and if your running fine at 4.2 ghz...then i would stagger cores 45/44/43/42.

 

your bottom line John is what i meant just didnt come out right. you dont see what i meant so ill try again you might set 50/50/50/50 or rather what i was saying 50/50/49/49... if you set watts like your recommending like 99 or less... for everyday use above you get 5ghz in single core but who knows like 3.7ghz under a heavier 8thread load...but under 4threads -8threads under above settings light load... lower than wprime32m may see 4.9ghz but would drop well within reason of like wprime 1024m 3.7ghz 8thread.... its up to what someone sets the watts to and amps... others should know to be clear if you raise through the roof it will crash and overheat everytime... like you said John 4.5ghz for maybe 5 minutes... some can do 0flex 4.5ghz but thats using lower watts raise them and it needs more volts... so thats all im reffering to when you overclock like 50/50/49/49 (given your chip can handle those speeds as commonly not often) only way it works is if you let it drop where you would see overheating so 4-8thread using a lower watt limit... and that all is unappealing to me or anyone as 4.2-4.3ghz in 8thread can be run in almost any app out there so sure even prime95... just give enough amps and watts... 0 flex is only way or temps are impossible...

the test i mention in IBT is just to show how inefficent cpus like the one i had require flex... so anyone could set multis in my chart and use less than the same flex to be stable... so as to take guessing out of flex requirements.

thats a good one i liked 44/44/43/43 with high amps/watts since it forces full speed under heavy load and didnt require over 0flex... i tested 45x on the 1st core it required slight flex bump under IBT. havent tested prime 95 but i can John... which setting is the one considered max load? I'd like to see max multi for 20 minutes prime95 and possibly more than a few hours... its probably 4.2-4.1 givien IBT is a bit under Prime95... so small fft, large fft or blend or a custom setting?

 

Was going to long explain it, but decided against it.


Side note:
Say brother Fox, Looks like we may need a " Stability thread" started.

Benching for numbers and benching for stability and benching for quality are 3 different types of benching.....

 

I moved the posts about CPU overclocking into the M18x 2920XM/2960XM CPU Overclocking Discussion thread, that way we can focus on sharing our number-chasing benchmark scores in this thread.

Those posts are a better fit for the discussion over there for the moment, and Brother RV is going to set us up with an advanced CPU tuning technical thread in the near future so he can share his wealth of knowledge about overclocking CPU for stability and temps.

Brother RV, some of your recommended settings are excellent and my posts sharing the stability tuning results are over here now. Thank you, bro. +1 Rep.

 

Sure no problem Mr. Fox sounds good.

new cpuz validation entry John 5197mhz @ 1.431 VID

Spoiler

 

Mr.Fox

Spoiler

one thing to take into consideration is that temps and voltage requirements on that particular 2920xm oem sample and factory paste job... were fairly bad though it could reach the 4.9ghz range okay it took a lot of volts to do so. so what i am saying look at it as the most one would want to set for flex etc and you may be able to drop just slightly lower on those clocks in flex... hard to say but it will help hone in. your chip i suspect requires less voltage for same speeds than that chip you saw data from. your ranges in the benches seem to show it should do better than that chip... i mean two cores atleast 10c apart from the other two in a even 8thread load is horrible stock pasting and most wont see that bad... it caused results to reach high temps in the testing sooner in theory than most would. look forward to the future results of yours plus your not running prime95 or intel burn OCCT etc so your good to go cutting it a little closer

 

Spoiler

Not too bad but I think I hit a brick wall at 45x multipliers. Is there a way to use intel xtu to set the multipliers to 46 or 47 and then enable the long duration power limit to 99 and the bclk to ~103 without the bios and intel multipliers overwriting each other?

 

You're right. That's not too bad, Brother Räy. Look at the settings in the screen shot below. Use XTU to set the multipliers and BCLK. Set the Flex VID and Pri Plane in BIOS. XTU will not work for change those values.

 

New 3DMark11 score for the leader board. AC cooling courtesy of Courtyard-Marriott.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M SLI benchmark result - Intel Core i7-2920XM Processor,Alienware M18xR1 score: P8455 3DMarks



Gave up on Vantage. Was able to match my previous high score, but cannot seem to improve on Vantage. Pushing GPU harder simply makes the NVIDIA driver crash consistently. (Was able to get CPU score a little higher, but seems the higher the CPU score goes the more the display driver crashes... backing down on GPU settings lowers the overall score even with a better CPU score... weird, like they are canceling each other out.)

 

Thanks for the tip.

 

nice one Mr.Fox great improvement. You mention seems less stable you push cpu in gpu driver its perhaps the baseclock as you are overclocking the pciexpress lanes Mr.Fox. Instead a way to push higher is now use 47x and an equivalent baseclock to get you that same mhz... Then try the runs again (only if you have time eventually) and see if gpu doesnt falter pushing cpu how you mentioned. By the way i see you see 118 amps id say that could be way higher and the 300 watts could be lower if you want instead.... Perhaps 300-150 watts for 4.8ghz 8thread. As you disable cstates in bios and enable as necessary with throttle stop... Use same theory and use high amps and then you dont need to bother changing them anymore just raise or lower watt much less hassle and having higher amps got me farther under heavy load. nice temps Mr. Fox nice use of the AC 85c max is really good
Nice clocks on gpu it could be shaders at 1720mhz starting to protest.
Have you tried 5ghz CPUz Mr.Fox? Your 4.9ghz says null is there a current one?

A few posts up i posted my 2960xm at 5197mhz on 1.431vid not sure if i can go higher but seems it should if it only required 1.431volts at that.(1 core active and no hyperthreading of course) i used 150amp like you said John or 1200primary plane... Funny part was i was trying in cold temps and had more success at pushing frequency for validation purposes at more of a room temp than 35F didnt make sense to me unless thats a prime example of a cold bug?

 

I was not able to run the same settings as 3DMark11 on Vantage. Vantage seems a lot more finicky about settings. I burned about 8 or 9 hours trying different flex, pri plane and using different watts in TS to no avail. I also tried raising multipliers and lowering BCLK and that did not help. Even setting BCLK at default 99.8 or so with 47x makes Vantage balk, more so that 46x with raised BCLK. It is almost as though Vantage is refusing to run with more than 4.8GHz for some reason. I cannot push past 850/1700/1800 without freezing and driver crashing in Vantage like I can in 3DMark11, so it could be the shaders not liking Vantage for some reason.

Maybe I'll think of something different tomorrow. At least I know it's not temps. This thing is super chilly, LOL. Maybe the GPUs just need to get some sleep. I know I do.

 

Wow power to the Fox. Well i understand completely then i hit similar wall on my 2920xm didnt even get to 4.8 think i was still running 4.7ghz.... From my observation... 3dmark11 takes higher speed to get higher score but vantage runs an even higher cpu load in its physx test than 3dmark11 because i saw same thing seems enough flex should get you to higher than 4800mhz if you were trying to do that in vantage... Temps were a non issue nice one so instead 118amp vantage use 300 so 2400primary plane and same watts if it asks for more volts give it to it you need to force it to run way u want in vantage its heavier than wprime and 3dmark11 just runs more time than 32m but less than 1024m in wprime. Goodnight Mr.Fox i need sleep to. If you tinker anymore id be glad to hear about it. Nice score to say the least.

Edit 4:21pm 2/12 : Mr.Fox try above but drop speed each time your reaching thermal shutdown... that AC is at limits for Vantage 4.8ghz for you as is so just get it to highest stable for that kind of cooling... only thing holding you back is the max cooling your ac setup is capable of. Unless you set a spare heatsink over top of heatsink and bench with case open and on ac lol (not likely with that hotel one) you wont be able to go higher... the shutting down is your ceiling.... if flex is lowest you can go and still survive the run... and you still shutdown on vantage on ac at that speeds drop by 1baseclock unit and keep testing your doing awesome and im not sure about the 580m yet John may have advice on pushing the 580m more... it may be easier to start best you can at 4.75ghz and slowly go up in the testing... only adding flex as needed. if you hone in on stability in the test you can maintain the speed given enough amps and watts then only variable at all is temp Get the cpu how you like and the gpu seems easier to push up there

okay seen your description in 3dmark11 results browser. 29flex is okay but if you can stay cool you should get 21-23 flex at 4.8ghz maybe you can manage24-26flex that will gain a last few points and put you maybe at 10700 atleast in 3dmark11 Vantage same idea but may need 26-28flex but a slightly lower clock 4830mhz is too high in vantage for that hotel ac setup... bound to be cool but forcing the cool air into system and heatsink fans/fins yields most optimal results. Have you set thermal throttle beyond unlocked bios limits id suggest that to push farther it will increase that cpu score more. Beside that if you can get your gpu core higher in vantage could really be that last tweak to really boost your score. Youve got some great ones with potential to have top one :0
if you remove 2 sticks of ram out of top of system... dimm c/d you can run those sticks at 1T and slightly improves speeds (for benching atleast not huge realworld application)

 

Anyone with a killer network card can you please help me in this thread I made: http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m18x/644921-issue-killer-1103-a.html

 

Spoiler

Now in the 5.2s. Where should I adjust to go from here?

Mutlipliers: 4x46
VID Flex: 10
BCLK: 101.9mhz
TS: 300w

I haven't been able to boot into windows using any means at 4x47 multipliers. Guess I still have some work to do.

 

Räy - crank your flex VID up to like 30 and set your pri plane like 930-950, or up to like 2400. You should be able to boot at 47x or 48x like that. Set BCLK at 99.8. If you don't have enough flex you will get a BSOD with 0x124 stop code. Once you boot, check the temps. You can fine tune for lowering temps from there. I have used as much as 99 flex VID and 8191 pri plane (the max setting for both) and it does not hurt anything. The CPU will only use what it can and ignore the rest.

My 2920XM QS will not boot on 4 cores above 48x. You may be able to boot with one or two active cores at 49x or 50x. So far, I've not been able to do that... always BSOD. I can go up to around 4.9GHz overclocking 48x and anything higher causes a freeze and BSOD.

 

Agreed raise flex VID in bios make sure its not "non turbo flex ratio" that your adjusting. Fox is right start 30flex try booting each time at 99.8 baseclock and check after raising one multiplier each time. Stop once 30flex isnt enough for the speed you get to. Now keep cool and wherever you get to give that wprime another run
Your goal should be 48-50x if you have decent chip 4.8-4.9ghz... If you have a gem and keep cool with AC perhaps a run at 4990mhz like John id start low and work up dont jump ahead that way you know what works already

 

I'll get it up there for You Brother RV.

I'll get your new scores up as well.

Your maxing the total watts for the system and your temps may need to be about 3C to 6C colder. Take off the bottom cover and try it again.( If you haven't already).
I'll get your scores updated.

I'll get this score up in a bit.


I have been out of town for the weekend. Lake Havasu, but now im back so give me a few to read through everything else.

im thinking your too high on the memory over clock. You need a far higher core over clock for 3dmak11. (It's what i used to get that 8956 or something or other score) gpu score.

 

Thanks for the tip on the bottom cover. I will try again if I have time this week. Is this advice for Vantage, 3DMark11 or both?

Will try this also. Do you remember how low you dropped the GPU memory? (I will look at your screen shot posts to see if you don't remember.) Will that work on Vantage, too? Vantage was protesting like a big dog to being pushed harder. I was wondering about what the GPU memory temps might be, as the only temp sensor is for the GPU core. With the memory in such a tight area next to the mobo, the cooling is probably not all that effective. Thinking the GPU memory might be getting warmer that we want it to?

 

It show's the over clock. And you can go higher on core for 3dmark11...It's about 860 on vantage.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/8289145-post809.html

 

new wprime for leader board John. BTW what do you think

Spoiler

 

Dang, Nice run!

 

Thanks DR650SE you were one of the first to teach me basics of overclocking, along with 5150Joker, Michael and StamatisX you guys helped me a lot starting on 920XM. John you helped to then there was always watching some other top dogs around here couch Shaden, Scook, Mr.Fox,
Nicholas, Zero898 and many more

 

That you are finally starting to listen.

Nice scores!!

 

Thanks i was stoked i may try to go lower via 105-106 baseclock and lower multi... When i have time

 

When you have cold, doors will open.

 

nice scores residualvoltage now that is going to be hard to beat lol

 

Thanks Dan... Hey now that you are repasted you can do the same Dan just put a little iceberg under that thing that's what me and John did

 

Even Brother Fox got in at the Hampton inn and suits.

 

Great wPrime scores, Brother RV. Awesome!

Time to ramp it up and start benching 3DMark11 and Vantage, bro. Those 580's are going to start rusting if you don't use 'em.

 

might be couple days got motherboard replacement soon and might not have as much late night time for a few super pi is single threaded but what is the third cpu bench pi fast is multithreaded... Is it like max mem and mostly memory dependant? Gonna finally flash that vbios tommorow maybe give first quick trial of vantage or 3dmark11. Any prerequisites? Image detail stock? Leave physx on? Anything tweakable but allowed without results saying not a comparible valid result? Driver version errors we can ignore but thats it yes. I hope the 580m's can clock decent. Mr fox what have you found your cieling at John you used as suggested 890 3dmark11 and 860 vantage on the core. 900-850 memory? (while very cool otherwise volts required for that core seems over .92v yes?)

 

890 was where i left off at. Once i beat the current world record i stopped right there.
All links are on the first page. Most of them show the correct over clocks. And max voltage is .92V for nvidia.

157.78

4.8

 

Awesome wPrime runs, brother John.

 

Great Wprimes John way to optimize looking fast as usual
Id throw a +1 on there but already repped you and Mr.Fox recent need to spread the rep

Boy... Competitions stiff around here... hold on John let me just put a bigger sheet of ice under this thing lol

 

Thanks Brother Fox.

That's what I said when Terry started coming up.

But let me ask you guys this...
1: 3dmark06
2: Run gpu test 3 first and by itself. (If you bought the program)
3: Check the fps as the ship starts it turn down the canyon (right to left)(spot right before the dragon swims under the ship). This is important. Then watch what it finishes out at. (The whole run)
4: Now run cpu test 2 and gpu test 3. Watch the same exact spot. (spot right before the dragon swims under the ship).

I want to see if anyone else is having that same problem or is it an nvidia thing. Thanks.
This can be done at stock clocks or over clocked.

 

amazing numbers, keep it up John

 

So John you should post your top scores you know you have a few hiding away for a rainy day

 

Thanks Brother Ahmadmud.

You already beat that score with your 4.834 Wprime.

 

Then you beat that with a 4.9ghz run...

 

Nah. It took 5.165 ghz to beat that.
Edit:
The 4.8 is done with a 5.165 ghz over clock
The 157.78 is done with a 4.9 ghz over clock.
Just to be clearer.

 

Very nice almost to your max cpu speed but in 4 core