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

Could you be because I posted from my phone ...specs are 2920xm/8gb/dual 6970

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

Well, I'm noticing some other strange behaviour using this bios revision.

Sometimes the power button doesn't work (for switching off only), and just now, when upping the volume in MW3, the webcam light came on.

I'm going back to stock bios until another revision comes along, as I've no issues getting 4.4 x 4 cores using Intel XTU 3.1.

 

m18x r2 what settings for 3720QM 4.0ghz across all 4 cores, or 4.2 across 4 cores, i would like it to stay at those clocks, instead of it going from 3.8 to 4.0 or 4.2.

thanks in advanced.

 

Does this CPU run much hotter than the 3720qm?

And is it unlocked for overclocking?

 

I believe this is the thread that would be best for your question. I'm sure that owner's of the 3720QM and 3920XM will be glad to participate in discussion about your questions. You may also find information already posted that you are looking for by browsing the posts in this thread while waiting for an additional response.

 

I changed the settings in my bios based on the post showing how to do so, and I confirmed that the settings are saved and come up the same after a reboot, but according to HWINFO64 I am only getting 3794 out of all 4 cores, shouldn't core 1 be at 4000, core 2 at 3900 and the remaining 2 at 3800 when running a stress test like WPrime?

Can I adjust the settings any higher?

Current settings are
40
39
38
38

disabled

95

 

Nope. When running a stress test on 8 threads/4 cores - all cores will be @3.8ghz. If the stress test only uses 2 cores, the speed would be 3.9, and so on.

 

Exactly as Brother Aiki says. That is not the speed of the respective core, but the speed limit based on the number of cores employed. If you want 4.0GHz on all four cores, all 4 need to be set at 40x. You also must have enough power (voltage and amps) going to the CPU to support those speeds or they will run slower than 40x. Sometimes increasing BCLK will help with that, but the Flex (voltage) and Pri Plane (amps) may need to be raised to avoid a BSOD.

I don't know that the non-XM Ivy Bridge CPU is able to do that. You would have to try it to find out. Please post the results as there are a number of folks that are curious to know.

 

Ahhh okay, makes sense.

I tried to raise the cores above the 40-39-38-38 on level 1 and wasn't able to, BIOS wouldn't allow the change. Level 2 and Level 3 go above but when I ran Wprime I was seeing core temps ranging from 80 on core 0 to 90 on core 3 so I'm thinking that's not good. Considering a 3920 QS from Shirleyfu for $778 but honestly not sure I really need to waste the money on it.

On another note, only have a limited number of games out here, and none that require a constant internet connection to play thanks to the slow network..........and Far Cry 2 hard locks the computer when I attempt to exit it if I have Fraps (averaging 142FPS) and HWINFO running. Starting to think maybe I should have waited for a factory 680m setup to become available. lol

 

Well, 90°C as a peak temp is not really that big of a deal with a heavy CPU load at that kind of overclock. That is within Intel's operating spec. Unless you have upgraded it to a 3-pipe, you've got a somewhat wimpy heat sink, so 90°C would actually be very good under those circumstances.

How high can you go with a Level 3 with the 3720QM on all 4 cores?

 

Going from memory, the computer is in my room and I'm at work, I want to say 43, 40, 38, 37 going from Core 0 - 3, and it wouldn't let me adjust any higher. I haven't touched the flex settings, I think it defaulted to 15 on level 1 and went up from there but not knowing anything about them I left them alone. My best Wprime 1.55 time on the 40-39-38-38 setting was 8.457, honestly expected better than that with the chip, especially OC'd, but it's been a LONG time since I messed with any of this stuff and I never really did know what the hell I was doing in the first place. lol

 

With wPrime you often need to up the power to sustain clock speeds high enough for a good benchmark score, otherwise the CPU starts slowing down. But, you don't need a good wPrime benchmark to get good results overall. Plus, there have to be some limitations with a QM CPU or nobody would have an incentive to pay more for an XM processor. I think it is pretty dog-gone amazing that the Ivy Bridge QM CPU (3720QM and up) are able to have the multipliers adjusted. That was never possible with previous generations of non-XM mobile processors, so there's a lot to like about the processor you have now.

I'm not sure of it, but the ability to do that with the non-XM Ivy Bridge processors might be an "Alienware exclusive" feature. Even with the locked-down BIOS the Alienware laptops are able to do things that owners of competing systems from other manufacturers can only dream of doing.

 

Yeah overall I'm happy with Alienware, just can't decide if I should sell both my 17 and 18 and buy a new 18 with the 3920 and 680's or buy the parts and do it myself. Having some reservations with the outlet purchase after reading some stories on here like Trooper's.

Also worried that my 7970's are going to hop out of the computer and go on a killing spree at the local monastery given the bad rap they have with you guys. LOL

 

OK, I needed a good belly-laugh and that did it for me. Thank you.

 

Popped over to the chu during lunch and played with it a bit, can't go any higher on level 1 but you can get level 2 and 3 to go up a bit. No matter what though cores 2 and 3 can't be changed above 38. I did a run of 3DMark11 on level 3, 43 - 40-38 - 38 (think these were the settings) and scored slightly lower overall. In addition I saw 94C on core 3 so I didn't leave it there. Took it back down to 40-39-38-38 as advertised and am going to leave it there.

Started the 3 day process of downloading the drivers and AWCC and OSD for it so when my SSD arrives I can do the install.

 

Good morning Mr. Fox.

I don't see an option for Pri Plane in the bios. And I don't see anything else that it could be.

Also I believe I read a post from you saying that you adjusted your flex to 70, I'm only able to adjust to 50 on the ivy processor. You think this is limitation from Intel or the bios is still a little locked with the modded bios from slv7.

 

Hello tecrp7. Since I don't have access to an M18x R2 with an unlocked BIOS I don't know how to answer your questions. There could be some differences because of Ivy Bridge, but I have no way of identifying them.

 

There is a unlocked r2 bios around, and ppl are using them just got to find em

 

I am using the unlocked bios for the r2 but I never owned an r1 and right now at least it seems like they might be a little different when it comes to certain settings

 

Can you point me in the direction of this unlocked BIOS? I see you have the 3920, would there be any benefit to using it with a 3720?

 

It should... before I had the 2920XM CPU I had the 2760QM and the unlocked BIOS helped to a noticeable degree.

 

I don't have the link (on the road) but if you google slv7 techinferno m18x r2 bios mod you should find it. If you havent got it in a few hours I will post the link when I get home.

 

Thanks, someone had sent me a link after I posted. Unfortunately it appears I need to register and have 5 posts to DL and it's too much of a pain trying to do so from out here. It'll have to wait until I'm home in October.

Appreciate it though.

 

Nonsense. The download is public.


First and second link when I google "M18x R2 unlocked BIOS":

[M18x R2] - 'unlocked' BIOS versions

Downloads

 

svl7,

All I can say is that when I start the download, it runs for approximately 3 seconds, then states that it's complete. My maximum connection speed out here, on a good day, is around 350kb/s and it generally takes around 5 - 10 minutes to download a 5mb file so I'm certain that it's not completely downloaded in 3 seconds. I was told in a PM that there was a 5 post requirement, I did not sign up or register for the site to confirm this.

 

I'm very familiar with your connections out there and I don't think I would trust it if it was that quick. Don't want to risk the chance on bricking your system.

Also a little bit of a side note. If you are on a NIPR net you can use proxies. I know they block ones they see get used a lot but there I found this one guy who creates a new proxy every month or so.

This is his latest http://www.junkpilot.com/

When I was in Kandahar last year this saved me so much time as I was able to browse and download what ever I needed off of the NIPR net.

If your still at work try downloading the bios through the proxy.

PS. If you like using the proxy I would sign up on that guys list to receive an email when he releases new proxies.

EDIT: You might need to use HTTPS with the proxy

 

I apologize if this has been posted before but I just cant seem to find the answer even after reading all the overclocking / benchmarking sticky.

For those people who bought their m18x R2 with 3920XM and paid extra for the factory overclock... Could you post your exact Bios Configuration pls.

I just want to see the Bios setting and dont mean to start a debate about how to overclock or should read this and read that.

thanks

 

I have posted this previously in the Overclocking thread, but here it is again:

1 Core: 41
2 Cores: 39
3 Cores: 37
4 Cores: 36

Flex VID 15

Override Turbo Enabled

Long Duration Power Limit 85
Long Duration Time Window: 28
Short Duration Power Limit, On, 85

I believe you'll get these settings loaded if you do the 'load level 1 OC'

Note that it'll only run at 4.1Ghz on 1 core, it's 3.6Ghz when all 4 are running so you'll need to tweak the multipliers as you like.

 

1 Core: 44
2 Cores: 44
3 Cores: 44
4 Cores: 44

Flex VID 35

Override Turbo Enabled

Long Duration Power Limit 99
Long Duration Time Window: 56
Short Duration Power Limit, On, 99

 

This is all you get for paying the extra $250 factory overclock? I was expecting to see a more complicated or unique setup... thanks bro

Im afraid whenever i do 40 or more per cores on all cores in my 3920XM CPU, temp gets to the roof ( 95- 98 C at 40/40/40/40 prime95). my ambience is 78-79 F

 

And, that is the reason... ambient temps are too high. The ambient temp needs to be, at minimum, 70°F. Ideally, less than that.

 

im really beggining to accept NO OC for me bro fox sighhh... any water cooling solution mods yet lol?

 

No water... but this will work wonders.

 

Corsica 84°F

 

one word bro fox.... GENIUS :thumbsup:

with the $250 I saved from NOT paying extra for the factory overclock, I might have enough to buy me one of that portable AC unit lol.

 

I can't believe you have to pay for the 'Factory OC' You can just select to have the system overclocked or run at stock speeds here as a free option.

 

I think the idea behind the extra charge is to cover any damages to CPU for warranty purposes, even though they'd still warranty it otherwise, I THINK.

 

I think, too, you're paying for not only the warranty, but the guarantee that you're system will be stable at the paid-for overclock frequency. So, while most of us don't have any problems overclocking any of the Intel unlocked CPU's (both my M18xR2 and Aurora R4 run at 4.2 all cores nicely), it's possible some may get a CPU with not so much tolerance. I would never pay that much for it, but to some, the peace of mind is worth it. Frankly, if you pay full price for these systems, what's an extra $400-500 anyways!

 

Well I thought it was just part of the 3920xm processor, but in the Bios I ( and assuming You also ) have the option to factory overclock at 3 different levels.

If you want to know how.



1. Enter Bios
2. Scroll Right one to "Advanced"
3. Select Performance Option
4. Select Extreme Edition and Change to Bios
5. Then select the level of Overclocking you want

 

Neat ain't it? Just don't you go and fry it

 

Try changing the multipliers under "Level 3" and see if they are adjustable with the 3720QM. If they are, you may be able to overclock more than Level 3.

 

Mr.FOX, what's your WEI with 4.5ghz cpu OC? (i know WEI is useless, but its just my personal interest)

 

Are you able to adjust your BCLK?

 

I actually find WEI is a useful tool. It's worthless as a "benchmark" per se, but it is an excellent tool to use as an indicator of trouble. A condition causing a degrade in performance will almost always be reflected in the WEI score.

Yes, but I have an M18x R1 and I think that may be slightly different with Ivy Bridge, and it may not be adjustable from what I have heard. I have run it around 104.7 for benchmark scores, but normally leave it around 100MHz for normal use. Due you have the BIOS option on TDP or BIOS?

 

Yea I am set to BIOS. I had to reimage my computer back to an image I created last week and everything is good again. I'm starting to wonder if it was a windows update that was causing my issue.

I don't think we (IB) have that luxury to OC BCLK. Mine allows me to change the numbers to 11004 and 9968 I think but it doesn't take. It would be better to be able to adjust BCLK as well if it could be done in small increments.

 

It is unlikely that the system would even boot with BCLK at 110.04Mhz (11004). Would likely start beeping and need to have the CMOS cleared. They may have disabled it in relation to the PCIe 3.0 as BCLK affects more than CPU... it changes the speed of the PCIe slots, memory, even USB and that much would most likely cause major instability.

 

Is that how high it would be? Well I was just stating that I could only select those 2 and nothing changes anyway. I can't manualy enter anything in just use the +/- button to adjust it.

 

Can you push ur cpu to 7.9 scores?

 

No, even at 4.9GHz my CPU WEI rating is 7.8. My neighbor has a new water-cooler Alienware Aurora with the 3960X CPU and overclocked to 4.8GHz it is also 7.8.

 

Wow, I wonder how fast the processor has to be in order to get the 7.9 rating?