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

@Zero989:

I've tested the machine on it's side, the temps are about 14C lower across the board. I'm well aware that there are more optimal cooling setups than directly on the desk with obstructions nearby.

However, that will be my daily usage pattern, so what i'm interested in is how hot other people's setups get in a similar environment. I plan to pick up a cooling pad eventually, but for now i'll be using it on the desk only.

BTW: With the bottom cover removed and the laptop on it's side I tested @ 3.5ghz across all cores w/no issue. Higher and it shut down due to thermal protection (100c on CPU DTS)

 

Quick question / comment here.

Ok, the system I have now was ordered with the non oc-d 2920. All I have done is change the oc in bios to level 3. Have installed the intel TB monitor and shows 4.0ghz at times so im presuming that the only difference in the "factory OC'd" version is that Dell have selected level 3 for you and charged a premium for doing so.

Anyone notice anything else that may justify the "charge" for this? lol

 

on a flat desk, no overclock, using stress tests, my cpu goes up to 92C and my GPUs go up to about 82C. the other gpu temps like shader etc have hit 100C but i have seen no throttling. In standard use and gaming temps stay at 80C or below

 

Has anyone here tried replacing the thermal pads with something like This

That combined with some good thermal grease should significantly lower temps. Now if only I could get Bob Vila over to my house to help with the disassembly...

Copper foil tape is another option. This modification alone dropped my R2 temps by 2-4c across the board.

 

Good paste will always be better than pads, even on GPU memory chips. Messy though...

 

Is it safe to use a thermal paste on a memory chips? i mean they're made of pure plastic wouldn't it be harmful for them? so why the manufactures use thermal pads instead, don't like when it gets messy

 

I have tried those pads (got them from FrozenCPU) - it did not make a HUGE difference but did help some and also gave me piece of mind. (And dell completely forgot the pad on one bank of vram on one of my GPUs....)

Before:


After:

 

@scook9:
Not a bad difference w/the pad additions, dell didn't forget any on mine but they sure don't look very highly thermally conductive What settings was the CPU running at here?

@amosingh:
Thanks for that, right in line with what i'm seeing. What was ambient temp during your testing?

Re: Factory 2920xm overclock, I got a DOA system with this option and a system without the factory overclock for replacement. I have been inside both systems and there is absolutely no hardware difference, didn't notice any difference in the software loadout, making the only difference that they selected "level 3" in the BIOS.

Actually, my factory overclocked system did not have the partial heatsink blockage from the black plastic that i photographed earlier, maybe the difference is that they are less sloppy when assembling

The backside of the GPU is directly behind the CPU blower, so while it is designed to intake from the bottom of the laptop it is invariably picking up some incidental heat/transferring some incidental heat to the GPU this way. There is quite a noticable increase in CPU temps when the GPUs are fully loaded as a result. Also noticed that the GPU fan nearest the CPU kicks on when the CPU is under load and the GPU is not, while the other one remains off.

 

It's safe if you do it right, use non-conductive and non-bleeding compound. Some manufacturers been using paste on memory chips for years I have seen it on many Lenovo ThinkPads, HP Elitebooks, Asus gaming laptops, etc. At first I was surprised and mad, but after trying it on my laptops and noticing the difference in temps and long term stability, I have doubts no longer. In fact, my M18x has both cards repasted with Tuniq TX-4 and the load temps never exceed the core temp. I was hitting 100c with pads (no cooler and room 27C+) before repasting. Now it's never past 80-85C under the same conditions.

 

Whats the best thermal compound to use on the memory heatsinks, and the best for the GPU itself? In the past i've used AS5 and the EK pads, but if paste is the better option, i'd prefer to go that route.

 

There are plenty of good options but I would recommend either Tuniq TX-4 or Shinetsu. Joker uses MX-4 but I never tried it, so can't comment.

I'm using TX-4 both on memory and core. Keep in mind, that depending on the contact between HS and chips in your particular case you may have to apply quite a bit of paste. That's why it is very important to use non-bleeding and non-conductive paste. AS-5 and similar compounds are good for the GPU/CPU die but when a large amount is used it can bleed easily and make a mess.

 

Will this void your warranty?

 

Nope, as long as you don't destroy the hardware and do everything right, - the warranty remains intact.

 

Is there a significant gap between the vram modules and the heatsink like with the 5870m? Would it require a clip mod to apply the right amount of pressure?

Edit: Cancel that thought... I've decided to stick to thermal pads for the vRam just to be safe. Scook, did you use 0.5mm or 1.0mm pads?

Edit #2: "What some people did in the M15x forum is stretch the pads out so they're thinner. This provides better GPU contact and in turn memory contact as well." -5150Joker
I found that little gem of info in the M17xR2 internal cooling mod forum. I think I'll take that route and save some $. I hope the info helps out everyone.

 

Now that my gpu temp woes have been subdued... or so I hope.... back on topic. We've definitely had some records for cpu overclocking on the M18x, but I have yet to see anyone post 24/7 stable overclocks with temps. I'll be sure to post what I can come up with (if/when my system gets here) but in the meantime, does anyone have any input on a good starting point. Also, can you choose between overclocking the reference cpu clocks vs overclocking just the turbo speed?

 

My room temps were probably around 24-26 degrees.

 

I used 1mm pads but they are denser than the dell crap too. My core temps do not seem astronomical so I guess they were a good fit

 

Sick tip! I'm going to rip out my pads tonight and paste it up. 3rd 17xr3 gets here on Monday, but they shipped this replacement with a 6870 lol. Failures.

 

I noticed several people confused about their 4ghz factory overclock. Try downloading Intel's latest turbo boost monitor and check out your clocks in Windows. The overclock is for the 'turbo boost' and not for the actual base clock of your CPU, therefore it won't reflect in bios or even at idle in windows. Try opening a few programs and watch the clocks go up.

 

Hehehe...yeah, its a great little tool. I watched my non factory OC'd cpu whizz up to 4.1ghz before.....level 3 OC set in bios tho......

 

I am curious about everyoned CPU temps on stock paste, my 2920 (OC'ed) seems to be fine but every now and then it will shoot up to high 60's or even up to 70, just briefly. I amo not super worried as it goes right back down to high 40's or low 50's and in gaming its high has been 85ish. Wondering what everyone else is seeing?

 

Well, my Dell does behave the same way! I think the reason for this is one thread cpu usage which makes the CPU with turbo boost climb up to it's Max limit (in your case - 3,5Ghz) and then your temps climb high for a few seconds! I think it's normal...

 

mine will hit 90 in a cinebench run.

 

ok I'm going to buck the system a little bit here, first of all I think that overclocking is fine for those that want to expose their cpu/gpu and apply a big pile of nitrogen or dry ice and see what they can achieve, but I think there are many here that just want their system to run as fast as it will without the extreme measures, my advice the those that just want a normal fast system that they can use everyday - just take it out of the box and enjoy, there is no need for repasting or any other crap, just enjoy your machine.

and for those dragstrip queens that want the fastest 1/4 mile ...well you enjoy too with your super coolers and dry ice for a super 30secs

 

Mine was OC'ed right outta the box....No dry ice needed.

 

I agree with you to a certain extent Geoffxx. In fact, there are many that overclock their M18x just to get a better frame rate in some demanding games, such as Metro 2033, Crysis and Crysis 2, which without a little overclock wouldn't be able to run smoothly at high and very high settings. It's true, several others love overclocking for the sake of it, and I think it's a totally respectable enjoyment toying with one's own pc and see how far they can push it. I think that different people enjoy their pc in different ways and it's all good in the end. Personally, I believe that it's a good thing that there are people concerned with pushing computers' factory default settings to their limits to see how better they can perform. In fact, thanks to their effort we can enjoy better frame rate in the games that require heavy computing power. Just my two cents

 

Can anyone confirm that these temps are safe? I set my cpu to 4ghz in bios (40/40/40/40 instead of using level 1-3 oc) and I'm seeing around 85c in prime95 with a repaste and cooling pad. Should this be turned down or can the sandy bridge take the beating?

 

85C in Prime95 is pretty darnn good for an OC'ed 2920xm. No need to worry.

 

And remember no normal program will get your CPU that hot

 

Being a total noob to OC, I wonder if one of you "grand masters" would take the time to explain a few things regarding OC.

I have messed about a little bit with my cpu...not wildly but ive played with bclk a small amount and also multipliers.

Thanks go to Amosingh who explained a bit more to me about the multipliers....that the top figure is for one core in use, then 2 cores 3 and then all four cores and the fact that the cpu speed is this number multiplied by the bclk figure (stock at 99.80) ....this gives the cpu speed.

Ive ran a few runs of Cinebench 11.5 64 bit with the following mulitpliers with no bclk adjustment...

45
42
38
38

Score is 7.37 - hwmonitor reports max temp as 85c (on cooler, full blast)....now I dont know if this is good or bad lol so excuse my inept oc-ing info. - there was no visual signs of anything different - the bench ran visually as it did without the adjustments.....

What I would like to know is:

1. The multipliers in bios - do they have to be in a set ratio to one another? - if i increase one by a few, should i do the others in line?

2. How much is too much? - the most important thing I guess....how does one determine when enough is enough? - is it temps or other criteria too? - what is a maximum safe temp on the cpu....85c above seemed ok from what ive read....what is considered to be danger zone (as i dont wanna kill my £850 cpu)

3. Any other programs that you guys use to accurately monitor / OC these cpu's - wprime....super pi....???

4. I know each cpu will differ in capabilities for OC (as per gpu's) but what is a good set of multipliers to run? - i see 40/40/40/40 was suggested earlier......

5. As these multipliers ARE adjustable, up to 45 for each core.....woul dit completely melt the cpu if they were all set at 45? (im guessing that this is a BAD idea lol - but i wanted to ask anyway as they are adjustable to that degree, so why not?)

I guess any additional info on how to safely OC these cpu's would be great....from a newbie point of view.

Thanks in advance of anyone's input.

Stevie.

 

yeah, i think it will help some of us less experienced over clockers, if some of you guys can post your settings.

 

I have set every single multiplier to 45 and gained like 40 points in 3dmark11. The max BCLK is 10420. Anything higher and your bios will freeze after immediately applying settings. Honestly in 3dmark11 it's relatively pointless to run an oc cpu. The big difference comes from having 6970s that are graced by raptor jesus and can actually go past 810/1150.

 

im overclocking to get better rendering speeds, as i use cinema 4d alot.

 

Also, whilst on the subject of OC. Using Sapphire Trixx to overclock the 6970's seems to be the way to go. I did play with it a very small bit, no massive hikes in clocks because again, im new to it.

So, I see posts with gpu clocks of 850/1150 or maybe 840/1100...some 820/1000......again, when adjusting these clocks, is there any "ratio" that you should use? ... do you do one "as much as you can" to keep stable and then do the same to the other? .....surely, these arent just random numbers "punched in".... - should the core be adjusted first or vice versa?

So many questions, so little time LOL

 

im actually having troubles with saphire trixx. voltage always shows 1100 unless i keep closing and restarting then eventually it shows 800. setting 800/1000 causes laptop to crash on benchmarks. my only stable clock so far is 780/980.
i have crossfire sync on and disable ulps enabled aswell.

 

I have installed the 2920XM ES2 sample and it's fully unlocked in the BIOS. Tried level 3 OC and it works but the load temps are pretty high (single piped heatsink).


Funny, HWinfo64 and other programs see this processor as Intel@Core 2400 XE


I'm wondering if I can up to multipliers to let's say 3+GHz and disable Turbo to keep the load temps down? Has anyone try that?

 

i think i did that, but the overclock was not being maintained. also, mine shows 2920xm in hwinfo

 

because yours is the 2920xm and mine is an early ES sample.

 

Here's a screenshot of my everyday bios settings as well as a screenshot of the cpu set to 4.5ghz for benching.

 

Wow those temps look amazing

 

Those temps are at idle with at cooling pad. You should see what it looks like in my deep freezer lol..... 20c while running 3dmark 11.

 

Lmao Nice a true overclocker

 

Do you guys know what are the best performance settings for these and which values actually do something?:

Long Duration PWR Limit
Long Duration Time Window
Short Duration PWR Limit

 

Long duration = Turbo mode voltage preset 1
Short duration = Turbo mode voltage preset 2
These values are how much power in watts the cpu is allowed to use when in turbo mode. The long duration power window is how long, in seconds, that the cpu is allowed to stay over its max TDP before turbo is throttled back.

 

Stupid question:

So the 2920XM CPU comes with a dual heatpipe heatsink on the M18x. Do we know if the overclocked option for the 2920XM comes with a tripple heatpipe heatsink?

I'm referring to this heatsink here:

http://notebook.it168.com/picshow/index656034.shtml?

 

Well, mines a factory OC'd xm and I have the dual pipe heatsink fwiw.

 

Thank you, here is some +rep

Had I waited for your post I would have saved myself $79. I guess I'll be the guinea pig to see if they added 3 pipe heatsinks in their latest M18x iteration.

 

Thanks for the rep

Interesting to see what you get, dual, tri or maybe quad piped!

 

Even with dual pipes....still a monster of a cooling system. I know I was excited when I first saw the heatsinks in person. Made me not regret this at all! Easily comparable to clevo cooling

 

Yes, the cooling is very impressive, though I wish the GPU heatsinks had less gaps and the primary one had slightly better design (memory chips directly under heat pipes).