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

my desktop has the i7-990x overclocked to 4.5 also ONLY showing 7.8. The funny part is some AMD with a slower clock and much cheaper price CPU will easily go to 7.9 with very little OC.

 

I've read somewhere that you need 5.6Ghz cpu in order to get 7.9 WEI that's sick.

 

How do i Increase my Processor score??

With my old 3720qm I would get around a 7.8 score standard

This score above is with my new 3720qm and the level 3 factory OC

 

Both processors are the same and the only difference is that the new one is overclocked? or was that a typo?

 

Yes they are exactly the same processors.
I had replaced one mx18 r2 a few months ago and it had the same processor yet this one is getting a lower WEI score and its even OC'd

 

I don't think a 3720QM should be getting 7.8 on stock. My 3820QM was 7.7 on stock, Mr. Fox's 2920XM clocked at 4.5 GHz is "just" 7.8 so there's no reason to be alarmed by your WEI scores. If you superPI 1M is > 10 seconds though, something's probably not right

 

WEI is a rough gauge for how software will work on a computer. I say rough as it is meant for the layman who has no experiance with a computer. If you bought an Alienware, chances are you know more than average Joe and can disregard the WEI and go for real benchmarks such as SuperPi, SiSoft Sandra, 3DMark 11, etc.

 

Do you know how to disable the OC settings? If you do, try disabling and run the WEI without it, and then enable it again, and run the WEI again and post back with the results.

If you don't know how to disable the OC settings, let me know.

 

And like Arestavo said, I would also find CPU benchmarks that will give you real results on what the performance of the CPU is, because the WEI's standard is changed on every update, so if a newer processor comes out, the result will be relative to that processor, and not the real performance of your processor.

 

Im not worried about its capabilities, It just alarmed me that an OC'd 3720qm lost to a stock 3720qm ( in my old laptop )

Ya i know how to disable the OC and what not. Ill get on that

 

3720QM Stock



3720QM OC'd Hwinfo


3720QM OC'd

 

I have a 7.7 for processor on my 2920xm OC to 4.5Ghz.

And if I'm not mistaken Microsoft updates how the scores a determined periodically to compensate for new hardware.

Not sure if they update it threw basic updates or service packs.

 

The more I read about this, Larrythesimpleton is turning into Larrythegrumpyton...My 3920xm (not overclocked-that I know of) is only getting me a 7.7 WEI. I really need to figure out how to overclock this thing...

Anybody know where the Ivy Bridge settings start in this thread? I tried starting at the front, but the first 100 pages or so seem to be related to Sandy Bridge processors/settings.
Is this where folks would/could post their bios settings and I could just cheat and copy them like I was doing in my 10th grade history class?

 

Wrong.

Spoiler

Sillyness aside:

Don't be grumpy about that, my 3920XM at 4.3 GHz on all four core limiters is still getting 7.7.

 

Perhaps on windows 8 our 3920xm will show higher score on wei? I really think 7.7 is to low for this CPU.

 

Maybe, but I'm hesitant about Windows 8. Anyone know if it STARTS UP to Metro (ridiculous) or to normal desktop and have Metro on the side (like Mac's Dashboard or Windows 7's media center)

 

Larry, bear in mind that you guys have a new product and some of the veteran overclockers and benchers are still using the Sandy Bridge M18x R1. The results you see with the Ivy Bridge M18x R2 are from people that may be new to overclocking, and they are breaking ground with new tech. They are getting some pretty awesome results, too. So, we are all learning from each other as progress is made with the M18x R2 and the mobile Ivy Bridge product.

Go to the leader board at the start of the benchmark thread and look in the tables for the high scores from people with the M18x R2. Their scores are linked to posts in this thread. That would be the fastest way to find things as a point of reference.

You may need to ask questions if what you see in screen shots is not enough information. One of the M18x R2 owners with an XM CPU will most likely be happy to reply and share their OC settings with you in this overclocking thread.

 

Interesting to note, my 3720qm with 400+ multis is 7.7 too but will be surely outperformed by XM's

 

Mr.FOX your XM cpu is at 4.5ghz / 4cores (24/7) now? If yes, do you repaste it monthly?

 

I don't keep mine OC'd for everyday use, only at 40/40/40/40 with VID Override: 0, I don't keep it at 43/43/43/43 like I do for benching ^^

 

Yes... seems like the perfect setting for normal use for me. That has been my standard speed for probably 6 months. No need to repaste as it doesn't get that hot at 4.5GHz. Most of the time the CPU temps are in the 50°C to 60°C range. I don't raise it higher than that or disable c-states except when I am chasing benchmark numbers. I haven't needed to repaste for a while.

 

Mr Fox, does that problem you're using also work with M18x R2 - 3920XM or can it only be done via BIOS?

 

Did you mean "problem" or "program" I am using? I swear, I am convinced that this forum vBulletin software changes words I have typed sometimes.

Short answer is "Yes, but you need the newer version."

It actually works better with the M18x R2 from what I have heard. You need Intel Extreme Tuning Utility (XTU) v3.1 and it is not compatible with the M18x R1. On the R1 there are some things that must still be done in the BIOS. Based on what I have heard, with the R2 there are things that can be done with XTU that cannot be done in the BIOS.

 

How to OC i7 3610QM with bios ?

Which parameters change ?

 

I don't think you can change multiplier values with the 3610QM. An M18x R2 owner can correct me if I am wrong, but I believe you can do up to +400MHz OC with a non-XM CPU 3720QM or higher only. I believe the only Ivy Bridge CPUs that can go higher than that is the 3920XM processor.

 

Agreed. I've tried 110MHz BCLK ONCE, and it didn't boot.

103MHz is the best I've got it running for any length of time for. But with my CAS8 @1600MHz it gets bumped by x16 I think, and the laptop will blue-screen eventually.

Even at 101MHz, e v e n t u a l l y, the system will halt.

So, to me, so far, Ivy Bridge does not, a BCLK overclock, like.

I'd love to be proven wrong.

 

Thank you for your answer

 

When overclocking an xm cpu should I have Non-Turbo Flex Support enabled and if so what should the Flex Ratio Overide be set at? Is there a modded A07 Bios? When I set the multipliers over 44x4 I start getting messages saying this has stopped working or that has closed.Thanks

 

Today I was looking through my Bios and I noticed it does have overclocking abilities. I remember hearing about overclocking the 3720QM to match if not surpass 3820QM at safe levels. How much would you suggest going up and still remaining good in terms of temperature. Which parameters change ? It also has the option to select a level 3 overclock too. Would that be more logical? Thanks in advance.

 

There might be posts in this thread from others overclocking the 3720QM. Have you read through the pages from around May 2012 to the present? If not, that would be a good place to start learning.

 

Hello,


I am a new M18X R2 user,
Eventually, I am not new to desktop OC but I am a little bit struggling with this one,

I have a M18X R2: 3920XM, 7970M CF, 16 GB (4X4) 1600 MHZ CL 11, 2X240GB SSD Corsair Force in Raid 0 + 500 WD Caviar Black 7200 Rpm, Logitech G700

My Current Setting;

Non-Flex disabled
Level 3
42
42
42
42
Flex VID 10
80
28
85

Here my question is to what value to adjust the flex vid?
What is flex vid anyway?

In stress tests I see some 105 degrees and throttling at the same time, I tried flex vid 0, worked somehow good but with almost same temps, I am really curious about the temps,
What should be the optimum flex vid for both the temps and in terms of performance with other settings the same?
By the way I got 7.8 in windows index for cpu.






Best Regards,

 

I received my 2920 yesterday and have been playing with it trying to get max performance for everyday play and I've found that. The problem I have when I go fox max performance I can't get above 45 at all. Even when I use XTU to say raise one core to 46 I can't get the system to boot at; it just stays on the windows logo.

Any suggestions?

 

What is the best compatible cpu available for my M18xR1. I am not intending to OC anything. Does any of the new ivy cpus work in my machine? Currently using i7 2820qm cpu. And last question, is my current cpu any good at all?

Im not that into cpus, never been

 

You have the best processor made without overclocking abilities. No reason to upgrade and be happy with what you have. Ivy will not fit/work in the R1.

 

Mr. Fox, I tried your settings with the 2960xm and A04 unlocked bios, it seems I am unable to get Long Duration PWR limit to stick to 80 on the performance option tab and 99 to stick on the advanced cpu control tab, after reboot, the value is set at 0 under both menus in bios. the only numbers that stick is 0-80. anything higher will cause it to go to 0

 

Did you remember to disable the Turbo PWR Limit MSR lock on the Advanced CPU Control menu? I've never seen that behavior before. Try clearing the CMOS by disconnecting the CMOS battery and shorting the pins where the battery terminal connects. Has to be something simple causing your issues.

 

Checked and Turbo PWR Limit MSR Lock is disabled, also cleared cmos, and same thing in bios, I did boot up and check HWifo64, it says my CPU POWER LIMIT 1 ( Long Duration) is at Power=99.00 W, Time = 56.00 sec (unlocked)

seems like it worked but not showing in bios.

 

I think I may have found my problem why I couldn't overclock beyond 45...I was running BIOS A03 instead of the A05 unlocked version. I'm going to attempt to reflash now and see how that goes.

 

Not sure what's going on there. I have not seen that before.

Let us know how that works out.

 

I've been able to get all cores running at 46 now, but anything beyond that it won't boot up. Have any hints or clues that may prevent the system from going any higher?

 

Brother homank, I responded to your question in the benchmark thread. How did the suggestion work out?

 

I actually hadn't have time to try those settings yet. Soon as I do I'll let you know and thank you again for all your wisdom.

 

Hello,


I am a new M18X R2 user,
Eventually, I am not new to desktop OC but I am a little bit struggling with this one,

I have a M18X R2: 3920XM, 7970M CF, 16 GB (4X4) 1600 MHZ CL 11, 2X240GB SSD Corsair Force in Raid 0 + 500 WD Caviar Black 7200 Rpm, Logitech G700

My Current Setting;

Non-Flex disabled
Level 3
42
42
42
42
Flex VID 10
80
28
85

Here my question is to what value to adjust the flex vid?
What is flex vid anyway?

In stress tests I see some 105 degrees and throttling at the same time, I tried flex vid 0, worked somehow good but with almost same temps, I am really curious about the temps,
What should be the optimum flex vid for both the temps and in terms of performance with other settings the same?
By the way I got 7.8 in windows index for cpu.






Best Regards,

 

Mr. Fox, The max I can get is 46 across all cores. Any higher and the system just won't boot up at all.

 

Ozgur Yenimazman - flex is voltage. Your ambient temps may be working against you. If your working environment is greater than 70°C your overclock is too aggressive to work well and throttling will be unavoidable. Maybe tecrp7 or Postal Painmaker can provide some additional tips for your 3920XM, but it looks like you're on the right track.

homank - so what I suggested worked up to 46x4... Good deal. That was just a starting point. What flex and pri plane settings have you tried to get past 46x4? There is no universal setting. It took many hours to find the best combination of flex and pri plane on my system to find the max overclock and no two processors are exactly the same. When you say "won't boot" do you mean Windows freezes during logon, BSOD or truly does not boot (fails POST)? 69 flex and 1100 pri plane may allow you to load Windows at 47x4 or 48x4, but may not be the ideal performance setting. You'll need to spend time trying different settings to learn what your CPU needs to do its best. If those settings get you into Windows, try taking one and/or the other up or down until you find the setting that works best.

You may need to use a lower multiplier and increase BCLK to accomplish the same end goal. If you cannot boot at 48x4 no matter what settings you use, you may be able to use 46x4 @ 104.5MHz or 47x4 @ 102.00Mhz for example. You'll need to use trial and error with any CPU to get it dialed in. You're already 1GHz beyond the normal turboboost max, so you're making good progress.

 

Brother Fox,

What I mean by not boot is it gets to the Windows logon and freezes. I read some where that you shouldn't adjust the pri plane for performance reasons, but I guess I misread it. Also, what does C-state actually do? If I disable it I can set the processor to 49, but my clock speeds never go beyond the max base clock of 3.5.

 

I run with c-states disabled most of the time. Enabled, it allows your CPU to slow down when not under a load and cool down. You can disable it in BIOS and re-enable it in Windows with ThrottleStop by checking the PowerSaver and C1E boxes. If you want your screen shots in CPU-Z to show your max clock speeds without having to run a background app to create a CPU load, you need to have c-states disabled.

Look at the screen shots closely. The only thing I changed was checkboxes. The CPU max speed is the same regardless of the settings. The only difference is the CPU is not running wide open 24/7 with c-states enabled.	With ThrottleStop, you can also run your CPU at maximum overclock, then create up to 4 profiles to run it at different speed thresholds lower than the maximum based intended use. I have set macros with my TactX keys to shift between ThrottleStop profiles on the fly.
	The video below shows how programming the TactX keys with macros allows you to toggle through the CPU profiles.

| |

 

So do you use XTU or Throttlestop to make you changes? I'm sorry, but I'm getting confused here by all the programs one has to run...I know this stuff won't be easy...but damn.

 

Basically, I only use XTU to set multipliers higher than the 45x allowed in the BIOS. Other than that, there is no need to use XTU for anything. You can adjust flex (turbo voltage) and BCLK with XTU, but not pri plane (amps). XTU will mess up your pri plane (amps) settings and it will screw up your memory settings. So, set everything in the BIOS, launch XTU to set multipliers, reboot and check your settings again in the BIOS. (Just remember to stay out of the menu completely where the multipliers are in the BIOS or they will reset and lose what you set in XTU.) It can also be useful to change BCLK with XTU as a matter of convenience. But, once you do that and reboot, you will need to go back into the BIOS to set your memory voltage and bus speed because XTU will cause it to reset to defaults. If you are already running memory defaults, then it doesn't matter.

With an M18x R2 and the latest version of XTU there could be some things that XTU is more beneficial for than it is with an M18x R1.

Using my example above, ThrottleStop is useful to set limitations. Once you find your overclock max you can use ThrottleStop to "reign in" the CPU and tone it down to do things that don't require a massive overclock without having to touch any settings inside of the BIOS. In other words, there is no point in web browsing and playing games at 4.8GHz and doing so is just going to generate a lot of unnecessary heat and wear with no benefit realized. You can create a profile that enables c-states and clocks the CPU at 4.0GHz for gaming, and another profile that caps things off at 3.5GHz for web surfing and office productivity apps. You can switch between them with nothing but keystrokes. This is not a requirement, but it is a nice thing to have set up.

 

What would be the highest you recommend overclocking for "every day" use? I would like to run it at an even 4.5 GHz for gaming. So, I assume it will go from 3.0 GHz to 4.5 GHz, with turbo boost.

Edit: Perhaps I should leave it alone until I learn some more about overclocking, ha ha!