*OFFICIAL* Alienware M18x Benchmark Thread

. it was never locked. thats the only way non 2920xm users can overclock. its in the BIOS. its in the form of khz. 9900 or something. make it 10400 or around that. i forget where the 0s go.

 

strange. mine greyed out. :S

maybe i have to reinstall the bios.....

 

Yes, yours should be unlocked as well, reinstalling it is a good idea. I did that the first time I checked my bios; most options were grey/disabled and that seemed weird to me. After re-flashing all was finally enabled. I set mine 10,400 as well, which the bios sets at 10,399

 

You guys are talking of reflashing bios yet i dont see it on dell downloads....are you just restoring bios defaults or actually reflashing with bios? - if so, where from?

 

I believe they mean F9 , restore to defaults.

 

Yes sorry, that was a bit confusing on my end. I was mixing things up. I had bios problem with both my M17x r2 and M18x when they arrived. Bios showed grey/disabled options. I did re-flash the m17 bios with the same version but downloaded from dell website, which solved the problem, and I only loaded the bios setup defaults and rebooted the m18. However, it's possible to actually re-flash the m18x bios saving and re-loading its own file, although it won't really be of any use.

 

Ahhh...i thought as much. Just thought for a minute that there is no bios available to download to flash with.....thats all...

 

World Slowest HD6970M 3DMark11 Score P0003

iPhantomhive......this is something im aiming at beating lolol

 

Thanks for watching , I'm done benching , tried many ways cant beat those 2 beast above , been keep formatting my m18x , I'm out of benching world peace~

 

Could someone please link me back to the 11.5b mobility drivers? All I can find was the desktop version.

 

I think this link should do it.

 

i thought the driver name should include a "mobility" word inside?

 

Yes, my bad, here you are.

 

aha! thank you! +1 rep

 

Thanks . Anyways, if you need them again in the future, or you'll have any issue with the link I just sent you, here you'll find the AMD webpage with all the 11.5 related files.

 

thanks mate

 

Here's a few I did for fun. Bone stock scores:

and

 

so, ive got my 4 core overclock to 3.99ghz. it stays there solid for a cinebench run. but, if im rendering an animation wich takes say 3 mins, the clock speeds will slow down to 2.64ghz after about 1.5 mins and then keep going up to 3.99 and down to 2.64ghz. temps stay below 87 degrees, so its not temps. long short and window settings in bios are at maximum limits, and flex vid is at 25.

any help would help.

thanks

 

I think that's a bios turbo boost limitation.

 

yeah thats what im thinking aswell, turbo boost can only be sustained for so long before it goes back to stock 2.5ghz clock

 

youd need at least a 100-120W cap to keep that 4ghz.

 

Well, the M18x arrived yesterday and I'm still in the process of getting it set up and installed. Here are my first 3DMark11 and Vantage runs.

Vantage: 21017 / 3DMark11: 6311

Spoiler

This is an interesting Geekbench comparison of my new M18x and my R2 that is boxed up for FedEx to take back.

Compare Alienware M17x with Alienware M18xR1 : Geekbench Result Browser

 

Nice stuff Fox ... I hit about the same. I want to figure out how to get the new drivers installed, my one attempt screwd stuff up and I had to go through a whole process to get back to stock ...

But I should figure it out on this machine so when the replacement arrives I can do it simple ..

 

This is the procedure I have used when updating drivers and has worked for me without fault every time.

Firstly, make sure you have the latest versions of Driver Sweeper and Ccleaner downloaded and installed. Also, ensure you have the full package of the driver you wish to install ready to install on your desktop. (just nice n easy that way)

i. Uninstall current driver via control panel / add/remove
ii. Express uninstall ALL Ati or AMD software.
iii. uninstall any CAP profiles you may have installed too.

REBOOT INTO SAFE MODE

i. Run driver sweeper as admin by right clicking on desktop icon
ii. Check Ati/AMD Display box (Nothing else)
iii. Click Analyse
iv. Click Clean

It will show a list of registry files at this point after running "Analyse" but before sweeping, leave them all checked and then run the sweeper.

Then, whislt in safe mode, I run CCleaner (again with Administrator priveledges) for files and also for registry entries. I do this AFTER I have ran Driver Sweeper as described above.

I run the registry tool of CCleaner until all issues have been fixed (it gives you the option to backup your regsitry if you are unsure).

RESTART NORMALLY

At this stage, you should be back at "standard vga drivers" which you can check by opening device manager and clicking on display adaptors.

I then (to be sure) re - run Driver sweeper and CCleaner as above (with Admin priveledge).

At this point, all traces of the old driver should be history. COMPLETELY!

Then its simply a matter of installing the driver you previously donwloaded to your desktop.

Also, dont forget to install the latest CAP for your drivers....easy done.

Some people will say "overkill" but I have done this every time and havent had a problem...I guess its a case of whatever you are comfortable with and if it works for you, stick with it).

 

Ok, dumb question, but what is the a CAP ... what are these CAPs and how do you delete such profiles...

 

well I have the drivers installed adn they seem to be working, but when running driver sweeper ... I checked all the boxes and ran it ... it deleted a whole ton of , including physix stuff .... hope I didn't screw anything up

 

And I can't frickin overclock my cards beyond 750/1000 or they freeze, glad this thing is going back

 

CAP or Catalyst Application Profiles are available from AMD for use with AMD Drivers. They are a constantly evolving "list" of various fixes and enhancements for games. If you have never installed any, you wont have to delete any! (they wouldnt have come installed from Dell). Visit AMD and you can get the latest CAP Profiles. Should you wish to uninstall them in future, just uninstall via control panel > add/remove.

You only needed to check "AMD Display" as you were only sweeping for the remnants of your Dellized AMD Drivers - nothing else needed sweeping. If you think its caused you problems, sytem restore to before you did it and try again - if you think its worth it!

Were you able to OC 'em more than this before you did the above? - if so, def. try rolling back to before you removed Dell Drivers.

 

I suggest checking your shader temps using gpu-z. i couldnt overclock my cards past 790/990, but once i repasted, i am at 800/1150.

before repaste my gpu shader temps were 120-130. after they are only 4-5 degrees hotter than core.

hope that helps.

 

nah I couldn't before and my temps are fine .... lile in the 60s still

 

Did you run regedit and change the value for all instances of EnableULPS from zero to 1? If you did not, then you cannot do much with the cards without crashing. I can use Trixx to set mine at 800/1150 without any issues. The cards run temps under 80C under heavy load.

For what it's worth, I went from Catalyst 11.6 back to Dell drivers. I had better benchmark scores using the Dell drivers and the cards were flaking out with Trixx running 11.6. My gut feeling is that there are multiple issues with AMD Catalyst and Dell fixed some of them with their modded OEM driver.

 

I only get 2 values for Enableulps (using find through edit)

EnableUlps Reg_DWORD 0x00000001 (1)
EnableUlps_NA Reg_SZ 1

I couldn't push the cards when I was on Stock Drivers either ... Catalyst 11.7 drivers are giving me much better performance in games, but still can push the cards... Maybe I just have crap cards, but some people are pushing these things hard with no problem ...

 

There are a bunch of instances of EnableUlps in the registry. If you used the find function, it only took you to the first instance. You have to use F3 to find next repeatedly until it finds no futher instances at the end of the registry database. Some are set at 1 and others to 0. We want all set to zero. This disables AMD "Ultra Low Power System" that causes crashes when trying to overclock.

When you find the first instance of "EnableUlps Reg_DWORD 0x00000001 (1)" double click to change the DWORD value from 1 to 0. Close the pop-up window and you will see the change occur. Then, press F3 to find the next instance of EnableUlps. If the next one is already at 0, press F3 to go to the next. If not, change it to 0, then F3 to the next. Continue this process of changing any 1 DWORD to a 0 DWORD until you get a message that there are no more entries for EnableUlps located.

Do not change the values for EnableUlps_NA Reg_SZ 1. I do not know what that does and you could hose your system by modifying those keys.

 

gotcha ... I wont change that second one, but those are the only instances regedit finds, I ahve hit f3 a million times ...

 

ok ,,, ugh found more. It just looks like it keeps finding the same one .... do you have to do anything to save the registry or does it auto save as you make changes ?

 

Fox, thanks, got it rolling ... now to push

 

Here's where I'm at so far... Vantage: 21017 - 3DMark11: 6311 - 3DMark06: 21315

Spoiler

Just for giggles, I am going to run a 3DMark2001SE bench to see what kind of wild number that produces.

 

Just stopping in to compare for reference. Installed my 6970s. Havent reflashing the bios and only installed 11.6 drivers. I ran with only cpu TDP at 72w. Coming up with around 20500 on vantage. Gpu score of around 21k at stock clocks. Low temps too. Highest was 73*C after a few bench runs. Think I may like these cards.

 

whats crazy for you R2 owners is that the next gen of AMD cards is still going to be mxm 3.0 ...
so you will be able to upgrade AGAIN !

 

That's great, DR. Trixx works really well for OC'ing the 6970s. Trixx did not work that well for me with the 5870. (I had to use the RivaTuner mod on Tech|Inferno for good results with my R2 with 5870s.) However, just yesterday I just discovered and downloaded the latest Trixx release ( 4.0.2) and it has some real solid improvements. This new version may also work better with the 5870 CFX. Pushing my 6970 CFX to 800/1100 is very stable with low temps. I haven't pushed harder than that with good results, but I may be able to go further by testing with smaller increments.

For anyone that has not already discovered it, there are two very good tutorials on Tech|Inferno to OC both the 5870 and 6970.

 

What I just posted on another thread may also be of interest on this one... LINK (also look at the post directly above the one linked).

Installed this and, so far so good.

 

Yea I have pushed 850/1050 ... I crashed out in 3dmark 11 but It plays games just fine....

 

Hoping this works. Havent done it just yet, awaiting your results Fox....lets hope its good news all round....

 

I prefer flashing the cards but will definitely give that trixx version a shot. Thanks. +1

 

Hey, thanks for the rep.

DR, I am not mentioning it for your benefit because I am sure you already know this, but for anyone that does not, you must use regedit and disable ULPS (Ultra Low Power System) to avoid lockups and BSOD, or reinstall drivers after modding the inf files. That is covered on the Tech|Inferno tutorial I previously linked. I find modding the registry far easier and faster than fussing with the inf files.

 

Fox, have you not checked the ULPS box in the setting tab on trixx? - should do the same thing right?

 

Stevie it doesn't necessarily get all the registry entries. I had only that clicked and I was able to OC slightly, went through the registry and did it manually and now I can get a pretty sick OC in ...

 

Ahhh, gotcha. Kind of like trixx "missed a few"......I went thru my registry by searching "enableulps" (without quotes) and then using "find next" .... I only found 3 entries that were "1" as opposed to "0"

Everything else that came up in relation to the search had a value of "0" next to it so, I assume just leave it......(havent changed any values as of yet)

 

yea that soudns about right, I had a few ... maybe 3 or 4 ...

 

Before changing 'em, ive just done a run with trixx OC'd to 800/1000 (mark'06) and it ran fine. Didnt flake out or crash. Scored about 28k with a cpu OC. What kinda OC do you get now from your gpu's with regedit changes?