*Official* Alienware M18xR1/R2 CPU Overclocking Thread - Learn How and Share Tips Here

Brother Good Bear - so happy to hear that it seems your problems are resolved now. A good and safe starting point is a standard Alienware Level 3 OC. Dell has published the settings for that. Once you are comfortable with navigation, I have posts in this thread with BIOS screen shots for more aggressive overclock settings.

Here is a link to the Dell/Alienware Level 3 Engineering document:

ALIENWARE M18X OVERCLOCKING SETTINGS FOR INTEL CORE I7 2920XM CPU | Dell

It should work the same on your 2960XM as it does for the 2920XM. The following comment by Dell is not accurate and appears to be a mis-statement. I am not sure what the author was attempting to say, but you can change the individual core multipliers.

 

Do you have that pad on? 'cause I leave it naked after a couple of very unsuccessful attempts.

 

no. i don not have that pad on there. it kept raising the cpu just a bit and it would start over heating fast.

 

Hmm. Interesting. I should try removing it and seeing if there is any adverse effect. I've had no issues with overheating with my heat sink, but cooler is always better... Maybe more OC headroom. Perhaps there is a reason they stopped installing it from the factory other than negligence, LOL. I was told that the voltage regulators and CPU would overheat without it. Perhaps they've changed their mind about the design and stopped shipping the heat sinks with that pad installed. Dan and Good Bear have not had that pad installed from the factory.

 

I was told here from a dell rep that there is a part no. for it??? But none of my m18x's or replacement heatsinks have come with one installed so not sure. I am going to run this new m18x as is without pad and see how it goes.

 

to answer your questions and PM's I have PMed you at Tech Inferno in response.

 

I cannot say I entirely understand the overclocking on this machine.
It's increasing by 10khz so when I'm at 10100 it's really only a .1 increase in GHz from the 10000 setting.

However, I can't get past 10200. The BIOS freezes when I hit "set immediately". I would understand if I was setting the clock like a crazy nut, but 0.2GHz increase from stock? Am I missing something?

 

10100 is 101Mhz, 10200 is 102MHz, etc.

You might want to add a signature to your profile.

What CPU do you have in your M18x?

 

I haven't removed the pad yet, as I'm not having any particular issues with overheating. I'll be interested in knowing if your system runs cool without the pad. I'm thinking about re-pasting and testing without the pad to see if it gets better, worse, or stays the same.

 

cool that would be good info Mr.Fox...

Omega since your overclocking via baseclock maybe yourcpu needs more volts or ram?

 

I was having some overheating issues after getting my laptop back from the depot and decided to repaste.
I DO NOT have the pad on my CPU heat sink, but I did have a clear liquid within the thermal paste. Seriously? Yup, I shoulda took a picture, but I didn't. I repasted and did the video cards too while I was at it with some mx4 and no overheating issues anymore! Now running great with stock level 3 settings. Any suggestions for pushing it to a nice 4 core 4ghz?

 

Do you have an unlocked BIOS? You'll need that. A04 or A05 will do. A04 is actually better with GTX 580M SLI. Fans behave better. You should find screen shots in this thread of my BIOS settings to use as a reference.

 

So sorta new to overclocking and didn't quite see a thread for this yet.
Was using Intel XTU 3.xx and was trying some of the settings.
I'm sorta new to overclocking especially on a laptop, and running the Intel XTU Stress test for 10 minutes, and it passed with no reboots or anything. Max temp got up to 94C.

Was wondering if any of my settings especially the Additional Turbo voltage is set to high or not, was hoping someone with more knowledge on this can chime in. Will probably try to run the stress test for longer to test for stability this weekend.

 

94C is a little high you normally want to keep it below 90C but in games and every day use it wont get that high

you can always try a repaste to see if that drops the temps a little

i see your memory is running at 2133mhz vary nice

the one thing about ivy bridge thats way better the sandy bridge is the memory controller maybe try overclocking the memory a little more maybe go for 2400mhz its never been done on a laptop be for if your up for it

 

Yeah, i thought the temps were high, but as soon as it hits that high, the fans spin up alot, where at the start it still going at its normal quiet mode. I'm thinking I need to start the fan up at max or something to keep the temps down.

 

XM Overclocking advice/info can be found over here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...-2960xm-cpu-overclocking-discussion-112.html# - Although there wont be much about overclocking the 3920xm right now (because of the newness/scarcity of xm owners coupled with the lack of unlocked bios right now), you can still gain knowledge by havnig a read through and posting questions there.

Side note to Mr. Fox: Might be a good idea to change the title on the above thread to include 3920xm so ALL xm cpu OC questions are under one roof, eh?)

 

Is it? the XTU shows 2133, but HWInfo show RAM at 1600 (798 x 2).

Can 1600 RAM (stock Dell RAM, at that) run stable at 2133? Even my expensive Corsair 1866 won't run that high!

 

I hope you not trying to leave the CPU overclocked all the time the problem is that after 85C the CPU start to throttle making you application or game slowdown you need to find a 24/7 overclock if you want to do that

for example I am using a XM heat sink with retention mod on the 3720QM and set all the multis to 38 I can run prime 95 all day and never pass 80C that way the CPU never goes under 3800MHZ and the applications run smooth

if we get an unlocked bios there is settings to up the throttle point up to 93C i think but I don't think is safe to let the CPU run that hot all the time

shame on DELL for selling $1000 CPU's with limited cooling for overclocking they should at least use water cooling for the CPU like the Asetec prototype

 

Interesting. Here's a story of the prototype cooling system being used on a M18x.

But, Speedy, it's a prototype. What is it you're expecting Dell to use now in production systems? Is there another liquid cooling system that is available for sale that you want Dell to use now?

 

everything is a prototype this days even the stuff we got at home lol but i guess is not cost effective

no there is nothing else that i know

 

Pretty sure the ivy bridge cpu's can handle anything up to 95C. I often run my 920xm at up to 95C for encoding (allows for 3.3ghz 25x encoding work lol)

I loved that asetek liquid cooling design. If only it were implemented...

 

I think we should use this thread for 3920XM OC talk and leave the other thread for the other CPUs. There is a difference in OC capability between Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge so it make sense to keep the threads separate, IMO.

The first post should be updated with a link to the previous CPU's thread so anyone that needs general OC tips can use it...until we get more folks with Ivy XM CPUs in their hands this thread won't be too exciting...but soon.

 

Yeah as Mr Fox said. Set 0flex (turbo overvoltage) for 4ghz overclock so temps stay in check. You can keep 2 and 1 core active to the same multis in level 3 overclock. Raise your amps to atleast 1100+ which is primary plane so set it to 1100/8 and that should set it above the stock 97amps. Watts set to level 3 levels untill you see that the cpu needs more watts. Avoid baseclock overclock if you can this way the system is as stable as possible overclock by the multipliers as you have been.

 

Folks, I am update the thread title to reflect no limitations to CPU. The new Ivy Bridge procs should overclock pretty much exactly the same as Sandy Bridge, so there is no need to start a separate discussion thread.

 

Well, at least on the desktop side - there's a significant difference in OC capability. I.E. SB OCs better.

Overclocking Core i7-3770K: Learning To Live With Compromise : Ivy Bridge Overclocking: What Does It Entail?

There are a few hypothesis' for why this is the case. Mostly related to the size of the CPU in relation to the IGP and also the additional transistors in a smaller package. So - while clock for clock Ivy Bridge is faster, it's also hotter.

 

Sadly Desktop comparisons don't apply to mobile at least not with the laptop cooling we always going to be limited to the cooling that's why is so similar on overclocking capabilities mobile IB-SB

 

This thread is gigantic, but I only see lvl 3 factory oc settings for the 2920xm. Do we have official lvl 3 factory oc settings for the 2960xm? That would be helpful for me. Thanks!!!

 

Much agreed that in some cases SandyBridge is still neck and neck with performance. Sandy cooler so higher overclocks, Ivy hotter so lower overclocks and sandy vs ivy is just about equal. You gain and you lose. I am happy with my Sandy XM and if some of you have Ivy XM or not you should be also happy the clocks don't need to be as high to equal a higher set speed on Sandy.

 

The architecture between desktop to mobile is very similar, if not the same - just smaller. So the comparisons do apply - they're just not apples to apples. I have yet to see a good write-up on IB mobile overclocking...but from what I've seen on this forum, the OCs tend to be less impressive.

 

There are some minor differences (proverbial "tick" versus a "tock") between IB and SB mobile as there are with desktop. The process one would go through and the settings that are available for overclocking with the M18x R1/R2 Insyde BIOS is expected to be identical once the R2 BIOS has the menus unlocked.

You're just not looking hard enough, bro. There should be a whole lot more information than just Level 3 overclocking. In fact, I suspect there is more custom overclocking information in the thread than there is standard Dell overclocking. There are also posts with screen shots reflecting custom overclock settings. I think I saw screen shots, maybe from electrosoft or tanderson (?) indicating that Level 3 overclock settings are, in fact, present for R2 owners the same as R1. I don't remember if the screen shots are in this thread or posted randomly elsewhere.

 

Wasn't it determined that the factory overlocking settings were the same as just setting the BIOS to Lvl 3 OC settings, or were there some other "custom" settings that Dell was providing?

I thought I had read that the surcharge for factory OC was just to guarantee and warantee the OC performance?

 

I know the 2920xm's and 2960xm's I tested none could run at 45x across the board on the stock bios and hold it but the 3920xm can. I had to use the modded bios with some PriPlane magic to do that.

 

exactly M18x R1 stock amps of 97 is not enough to maintain 4.5ghz 4core

 

Maybe they have bumped upped the Pri-Plane in the stock R2 BIOS to facilitate that.

To the best of my knowledge, you're 100% correct. Paying for a service to be performed and warranted, nothing else that I am aware of.

 

Here are some screenshots of the BIOS for my M18xR2. It does seem that there are some options for overlocking with the 3820QM processor.

Are these options available on the M18xR1? How are these options different on the M18xR2 with 3920XM?

 

Yes, they are available. It appears the ability to do a little more overclocking on the 3820QM than what is normally possible with a non-Extreme CPU might be a feature of the Ivy Bridge processor, and probably not the BIOS. The M18x R1 and R2 both use the Insyde 2.0 BIOS and the screen shots are pretty much identical. If you look at other screen shots posted in this thread (for the R1), you will see that is the case. A ton of us are using an unlocked BIOS, so there will be some screens you cannot see (yet) until someone unlocks the hidden menus for the R2. That is one of the reasons a separate thread for the R2 would not be very useful. What you learn in this thread from R1 owners should carry over to the R2 conceptually, and navigationally.

 

can someone with a 3920xm tell me if it will hit 4.5ghz+ on a single core?

 

The answer to this question was already posted yesterday (see below). Perhaps you posted the question without noticing the existing thread content. (Don't worry, that happens to all of us now and then.)

As you can see, 45x is possible on all 4 cores simultaneously. Once an unlocked BIOS becomes available, I fully anticipate the 3920XM will be able to run right along side the 2920XM/2960XM at higher clock speeds than 45x on all cores as long as temps don't get in the way.

 

thanks for that info Mr.Fox i just didnt know if it was possible because the temps were so high with the guy that posted 4.3 across the board with temps of 95C

 

Possible and practical sometimes are at odds with one another. But, don't get too worked up about the 95°C temps. It that is merely a peak temp under extremely harsh benchmarking conditions that rarely exist in gaming or other ordinary uses, it's not a big deal. If sustained 95°C temps were to result, that would definitely be something to be concerned about.

 

Even the non-xm's have better support for overclocking - according to the Intel Product Brief on HM77 chipset. If you look throught the brief, it mentions that the cores can be altered with Ivy - something that was not available on Sandy if you didnt have an XM.

Have a look guys - look for the paragraph titled "Unlocked flexibility and freedom"

 

Good info, Stevie! Thank you for sharing it.

I wonder how many of the Ivy Bridge procs are unlocked? I skimmed through the article and did not see where they identified the specific procs that this will be possible with.

The HM77 chipset seems to be "da bomb" with the extra features and backward compatibility with Sandy Bridge processors. It makes me want to order an M18x R2 mobo for my R1, LOL.

 

Any work being done to try to get ME 8.x firmware on a R1? Supposedly then the Ivy Bridge CPUs would work on a Series-6 chipset. IVB is after all electrically pin compatible with a SB CPU.

Can use the ME_Firmware_7.1.20.1119.zip fptw64.exe to flash just the ME 8.x component from a R2 to a R1 to test. I propose the same idea may allow my 2560P to use a IVB CPU: Ivy Bridge CPU retrofit for 2560P?

 

I'd love to see this happen, nando4. I was momentarily temped to attempt to flash the R2 BIOS from support.dell.com, but I really cannot afford to buy a new mobo right now if I destroy something by taking an unwarranted risk, LOL. Do you know if this would provide all of the functionality of HM77 chipset? I'm not all that interested in an Ivy Bridge CPU, but the other features do interest me, particularly the Smart Response Technology5, but I'm not sure if additional circuitry is needed to support that feature set.

 

Fox, I just presumed that as Intel's brief didnt mention specifically the XM cpu, it would be applicable to all Ivy cpu's...maybe that's why we are seeing bios screenshots of people with non-xm's that show the potential to adjust the cores individually.

Just a shame that the HM67 didnt have "forwards compatability" to drop an Ivy cpu in....then we WOULD have been laughing lolol

 

The way it is worded in the white paper is not very clear. It refers to "unlocked Intel Core processors" which seems to imply that some are not unlocked. I'm not sure if all Ivy CPUs are unlocked or just some of them.

 

Going from jywang's shots from his post for the 3820qm bios screens, they seem to have unlocked multipliers and level 1-3 OC-ing ability, which is hugely different from SB non-xm's. Maybe we can get someone with a 3720 or 3610 to post some shots to compare....

 

So I tried 43x overclock on all cores with 0 Flex, and I was staying around 90C peaked at 95C. Was using CPU Stress test from Intel Extreme tuning Utility, should i use a different program to test for stability?

 

Hey, that's great, Quontum. If you had those temps with the XTU stress test, you're probably good to go. That's going to heat things up pretty bad, so I'm betting you will have no issue with temps running benchmarks and playing games. I cannot pass those tests at 4.7GHz+ but I can play games and run 3DMark11 without overheating issues even though the XTU stress test fails due to test.

Vantage is another story. The CPU tests run too long for me to OC at 4.7 to 4.9GHz. So, run Vantage and if both CPU tests complete without a thermal shutdown, consider it a done deal.

 

Did you try to OC your 3820QM? I tried to enable these features, but when I save and quit, they reset to disabled after reboot.

Can you try to OC it?