*OFFICIAL* Alienware M18xR1/R2/18 Benchmark Thread - Part 3

Is asic quality really that important? Of all the forum posts I've read about overclocking I've never heard of it before. FYI the asic quality of my cards are 72.5% and 73%

The issue I'm having is that I can run 196/400 highest overclock in Msi Afterburner using a single 680m; but I can only run as high as 170/400 overclock using sli. For information the cpu is set up to run at 38x4 using throttlestop, c-states enabled, so not an issue as I was going for stable gpu overclocks. I followed the excellent guide provided by Mr Fox to set up throttlestop.

Do you think I just have a weaker 2nd gpu when it comes to overclocking?

On another note: My power adapter cable was bitten by my friends dog, between the brick and the laptop connector, it still charges ok etc; Could this possibly be an issue?

Can a moderator move my posts to the overclocking thread please.

 

Stock vBIOS +135 core...

Generic VGA video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-3920XM Processor Extreme Edition,Alienware M18xR2



Generic VGA video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-3920XM Processor Extreme Edition,Alienware M18xR2



It's a shame Windows 8 CPU performance sucks. And, the high overclock on the CPU is causing the GPU throttling. The GPU throttles worse using ThrottleStop for the CPU, so you have to use profiles in all but the Physics and Combined Test... 3.9GHz on the CPU during graphics test produces higher benchmark scores than 4.5GHz does. It appears it might be this new battery saver crap... almost like the GPU is trying to cut back to reduce power consumption. Peter noticed this early on and thought it was a need for dual AC adapter. It seems power related, but not a lack of power as much as an effort to use less.

On both runs above my GPUs stay near or above 1200 on core the whole time running 3.9GHz in tests 1 through 4 and 4.5GHz for Physics and Combined tests. I did about 10 runs on each benchmark and the behavior is always to throttle with too much CPU overclock. This may also be a clue why 980M is a smash hit with pathetic BGA HQ processors.

GPU max temp 69°C.

 

Wow this is exciting stuff!! Good work man. Those are some nice scores out of the gates all things considered.
It seems like your analysis/theory regarding power handling might explain a lot of the strange throttling we've been seeing. A goofy battery saver/boost retardation coded into the vbios/drivers might definitely be screwing things up.

Even though we've got a long way to go I still can't wait till mine come now.

 

Great job!!


Still...Lots more testing will need to be done to get stock to work correctly though....

 

More confirmation... the moment you try using brute force with the CPU the GPU wants to roll over and play dead, LOL. Use Precision X and ThrottleStop to set your clocks, then shut them both down and let Windows 8 manage everything and they run like a banshee! Amazing. Again, stock vBIOS and no GPU throttling whatsoever. CPU cores alternate and cycle through low power states using Windows power management, but in the Physics and Combined test the CPU does what it is supposed to do without hurting the GPUs. These runs are with Chrome and Micro$lop Outlook open and running in the background, LOL.

3DMark11: Generic VGA video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-3920XM Processor Extreme Edition,Alienware M18xR2

Fire Strike: Generic VGA video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-3920XM Processor Extreme Edition,Alienware M18xR2

You can do it, but if you try using the big hammer approach (like I always have in the past with ThrottleStop and XTU) it backfires... real bad.

 

Broke 20K GPU score on Fire Strike! http://www.3dmark.com/fs/3528857

 

Catzilla Computer Benchmark - Your Online Result

 

Flashing the vBIOS is a MAJOR pain in the butt with two 980M cards installed in the R2 so I will be playing with the stock vBIOS for a little while. With the Christmas holidays and other things I am involved with at the moment, I don't have the time or patience to deal with the process right now. I'll start tinkering with a modded vBIOS after the holidays and other things are out of the way.

You can run a single 980M with Windows 7 in legacy mode, but SLI requires pure UEFI mode or the system will fail to boot with 8 beeps. NVFLASH will only work in legacy mode. UEFI flashing is not possible. Because the M18xR2 will not boot in legacy mode with two 980M installed, so you have to flash one GPU at a time, swap heat sinks around and that nonsense. I am going to buy an old Kepler or AMD GPU cheap, slap a primary GPU heat sink on it, and use that for flashing so I don't have to repaste every time I flash the vBIOS.

None of this would matter too much if there was a way to flash the GPUs in pure UEFI mode, but there is not thanks to our enemies at Micro$haft. I feel so much safer knowing they have my back... NOT.

 

NVIDIA GTX 980M SLI video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-3920XM Processor Extreme Edition,Alienware M18xR2

 

Is there a write up somewhere how to get the 980m sli working on that r2?

 

Getting them to work is super easy. The only inconvenient part is if you want to flash the vBIOS.

As far as a write-up, here's what you need to know...

Getting them to work:

• Set the BIOS Boot menu like this: http://i.imgur.com/RcBheNf.jpg
  (pure UEFI mode without any CSM/Legacy Option ROM support)
• Install Windows 8 or newer
• Install the two 980M cards
• Install the drivers with a modded INF
• Enjoy 980M SLI beast performance

You can run Windows 7 in Legacy mode or UEFI with CSM/Legacy Option ROM in Optimus mode with a single 980M. If you want SLI, then you're condemned to a life sentence without parole running Windows 8 in pure UEFI mode. Windows 7 does not run in pure UEFI mode and requires CSM/Legacy Option ROM on all but a few rare freak systems that accidentally support it.

NVFLASH requires Legacy BIOS or UEFI with CSM/Legacy Option ROM enabled to work. It will not function in pure UEFI mode. This means you cannot flash the 980M with both GPUs installed. You can change the BIOS to SG mode, enable Legacy Options ROM, flash the GPUs one at a time in the primary PCIe slot, and then change back to pure UEFI mode, PEG mode for video and then go back to using GPUs in SLI. If you enable SG mode in the BIOS with both GPUs in their PCIe slots the machine will fail to POST with 8 beeps, so be sure to change the BIOS from SG mode back to PEG mode before putting the seconary GPU back in the laptop.

 

Do the card work in the M18 brother fox?

 

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-3920XM Processor Extreme Edition,Alienware M18xR2

 

Nice Bench's Brother Fox! :thumbsup:
Have you had a chance to test out some games yet?
BF4 or anything else?
Thanks.

Anybody else got 980M's in their Aliens?

 

No, they do not work in the M18XR1.

 

A friend gave me some G.Skill 2133 RAM as a gift. I dropped it into the Alienware 18, knowing that 1866 is the highest speed at which the BIOS allows the memory to function (memory multiplier is limited to x1.33). Not sure why Alienware chose to do something so naughty to their most recent flagship product, but I have already done enough ranting about the new machines being crippled. It is what it is.

Nonetheless, it did goose the performance up just a tiny bit compared to the stock 1600MHz vanilla consumer-grade memory, and more performance is always nice to have. I am posting before and after results for those that are considering blowing a wad of cash on a memory upgrade for their Alienware 18.

Stock Alienware 1600 Memory	G.Skill 2133 Memory @ 1866

 

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 880M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-4940MX,Alienware 04WJJ9

mr fox , i wanted to ask is the above score of for this machine , i think either the drivers are not up to date or the bencmark is no updated - its with a friend i was going to buy it hence i asked .score seems a little slow --its all on stock though .

 

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 880M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-4940MX,Alienware 04WJJ9

all stock no over clock is the score ok for dual 880m n sli stock and stock cpu .

drivers are not updated and neither is the benchmark

asking ---as i want to buy this laptop from a friend . my 1st time buying an expensive laptop hence asking

 

lol he was asking if they work in the new 18 ..not the old R1.. and im wondering it my self..

 

louis1978uk had 980M SLI working in his 18. He posted about it and showed some benchmarks at Tech|Inferno. I'll be messing with it to show it works maybe next week when I start trying to get the vBIOS sorted. It's a shame the heat sinks won't cross fit from the 18 to the R2 chassis. It would make it so much easier if they would just drop in as assemblies without having to repaste and move thermal pads around to fit the inductors.

 

mmm ive used the the 18s heat sinks in the r2 just fine.. and vice versa.. did they change some thing maybe? (unless of course i used the same heat sinks thinking i was using the others haha)

 

Hummm, I thought he was talking about the R1 In his signature. Since it's already known they work in an AW18

 

They don't fit for for me. I'll try one more time because that would make doing a few benchmarks in the 18 and 980M vBIOS flashing a whole lot easier. But, last time I tried cross-swapping the 780M cards between the R2 and the 18 it was definitely a no-go. I did not try to force them into place because I didn't want to bend up any of the fins on the radiators.

 

AMD Radeon HD 7970M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-3940XM,Alienware M18xR2
My first run with an R2 after repaste bought second hand and temps even on standard were very high , I found out why when I took it apart , just a level 3 overclock and 45 on all cores , small overclock on cards . temps 83 cpu 68 gpu1 69 gpu2 , on win 8.1 over 13k but using SSD ...compared to the R1 pretty happy so far ..will post win 8 later if anyone interested.
Cheers.

 

well i could of sworn that they work.. i do know tht even with the stock ones from the 18 there was more room in my fin housing area for the heat sinks.. i belive i have both still let me take some pictures and compare and to be sure whats the 18 part number for the heat sinks?

 

New personal record:
3DMark Fire Strike:

10180!!!

Alienware M18X-R2 | 3920XM @ 4.5GHz | SLI 680M

PS: The new mod(following the old mod pattern) of the dual AC adapter it's going on pretty well. The desing is done and I'm just waiting to get all the pieces left.

 

i got a set here ill send ya... pm me.

 

AMD Radeon HD 7970M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-3940XM,Alienware M18xR2
New score for 3dmark11 but where I live its always too hot here in the Philippines too go too crazy but pretty happy with the score , looking at the scoreboard unless it hasn't been updated yet I should be on there somewhere , need a bit of help regarding 3940xm and the 7970m as running default driver profile etc , so anything to help my score would be cool ..thanks

 

yeah, the m18!

 

What paste did u use for repasting?

 

3DMark 11: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M SLI video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-3920XM Processor Extreme Edition,Alienware M18xR2

 

Hello Mr Fox nice score. :thumbsup:
How is it having to use Win 8.1? Sucks Physics score? What score do you think you had with win 7? I hope you Soon Can bench with win 7 ..

 

Mr.Fox

i wanted to know what setings to use to get atleast 4.5ghz on the 4940mx , is it safe to overclock the cpu , as i was reading that it generates a lot of heat etc , also i have 2 gtx 880m in sli

on more or less stock setings i am geting like 12300 in 3d mark 11 , but i see ppl here touching 15000 and more .

what should i do to reach these scores - suggestion welcome please

 

Use the tips I have posted in this thread [ LINK ]as a starting point, then tweak to find out what your CPU likes best. The main things that interfere with overclocking the Haswell XM are the Turbo Power Lock and a defective factory Core Current Limit setting, both of which can be fixed with XTU.

Your Haswell XM CPU will overheat like crazy with a moderate overclock unless you use Liquid Ultra thermal paste.

 

980M/970M Vbios Download.
http://forum.techinferno.com/general-notebook-discussions/8786-nvidia-maxwell-vbios-mods-900m-series-overclocking-versions.html

 

the link is broken for me and i can't seem to find that topic on the forums((

 

Server crashed
NVIDIA Maxwell VBIOS mods - 900m series overclocking versions

 

Thanks, got it now) Awesome job!!!

 

Sooo.... I was browsing 3DMark scores for 980s and noticed you are king with that clevo

 

That's because Alienware is having technical difficulties at the moment.

 

Johnksss I also noticed your recently your #5 with your quad 980 5960x beast. Awesome stuff. Well done!
I know you're a bencher first but one can't help wonder what 4k Crysis 3 would look like at 120+ fps lol

 

Thanks Brother T
I was first in allot of them categories when I first got them, but have stated sliding down the ranks because I sold all my cards.

It wouldn't. No way it will hold that at 120+ fps.

 

Also, not to mention that you're almost always the best at everything because that's just how Brother John rocks and rolls.

Let's pray those technical difficulties get sorted. Some of it will probably never be fixed (having to use pure UEFI and Windows 8 without Optimus/single GPU) but hopefully the throttling part will. It is a love/hate relationship at the moment. About when I think I am going to ram my fist through the screen it surprises we with a flirty burst of nice behavior to match it's gorgeous physique, LOL.

 

Yeah, I like to test out allot of the high end stuff to see what i'm getting or missing.

 

Well, would you look at that... it appears that the trusty old M18xR1 with no lid on power handling is going to beat the Alienware 18 in 3DMark11 without even trying that hard. Both running a single 330W AC adapter in this comparison. Compare: M18xR1, 2920XM @ 4.3GHz, 780M SLI @ 1033/1500 vs Alienware 18, 4930MX @ 4.5GHz. 780M SLI @ 1111/1500

 

I am going to need to repaste with Liquid Ultra or move to the AC cooler. I was out of it and have IC Diamond on the 2920XM CPU right now. At 4.5GHz it hit 100°C and throttles too much without AC or Liquid Ultra (as expected). At 4.5GHz and 780M SLI clocked at 1125/1500/1.150V the M18xR1 pulled 621W on my UPS meter in 3DMark11 Test 1, LOL. Hopefully, this will hold me over until I can get 980M SLI to work consistently well or find a great bargain on a P570WM3 to move them to.

Here is what my new dual 330W Adapter box looks like. The guts are the same, but I used a heavy cast aluminum box to absorb heat instead of a heat sink on a plastic box like the last two revisions. I added nice rubber feet to keep it from sliding around.

 

Nice Mr Fox..nice. " Tonka Tough!"
I like it!

 

complete stock gtx 880m sli and stock 4940mx cpu ---every thing maxed out to ultra --not bad ehhh

 

What benchmark is that?

 

Shadow of Mordor