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

Will have results for you in the morning friday. Sleepy time.

Morning. Here are my results. Temperatures for all ran in the 60-Upper 70oC's. System runs stable at Zero Flex

View attachment 103824 View attachment 103825 View attachment 103826

 

I was reading through posts but I couldnt find clarification on something. Did we ever find out if we need a thermal pad at the top of our CPUs heat sinks to cover those silver voltage regulator things on the R2? Mine didnt come with one, but I was wondering if it was supposed to?

 

No, we don't use one and don't want one. It actually causes the system to run hotter with that pad in place. Alienware stopped using it, apparently for that reason.

Thank you for posting. That's a really good result for zero flex. Are you able to get a stable OC at 4.6 or 4.7GHz?

 

yea I dunno either, but since CPU heatsink had dedicated plate that seem to hover exactly over these reg's I have added 1mm ultra soft OEM green-pads , and as see Mr.Fox comment on that now I begin to realize why Im not getting such great temps with the best paste-job.

 

Yeah, Brother UltraGSM... get that pad out and I bet you will see some better temps. I hope so... look forward to finding out.

 

Having the thermal pad there will raise the plate slightly, so the contact is not as tight as you'd want it to be. It causes higher temp. I had some pads there but I removed them and instead I put some thermal paste there.

With the pad in, I was reaching 100C on the CPU in Cinebench 11.5, with CPU at 3GHz (underpowered due to BIOS, and overheating even though underpowered). It was the most perplexing thing for the longest time. After a few more times of no POST, I had enough and decided to remove the pads, as well as putting 4 washers at the back plate. With the heatsink screws tightened I bet the backplate would bend somewhat, but I'm fine with that.

Now with the same exact underpowered settings, I am seeing 75C on the CPU in Cinebench 11.5. A whopping 25C difference from removing the pads and re-pasting (with spread method instead of line method which I have always used).

 

took the pad out, although I didnt see any higher temps with it, but i trust you guys. Random, my computer has a mind of its own, a few days ago i was able to run 4.4 with 6 flex.. Today I cant run it even with 25 flex without a bsod. !!!

 

Quick overclock on the 3840qm with modified bios and xtu. Switching over to the 3920xm

http://valid.canardpc.com/ff51bd

 

Sample Overclock Settings - 3920XM

---

4.3GHz

Spoiler

4.5GHz

Spoiler

 

I got me the new Alienware 17" R5 for 1200 cash

 

Quick question, my brother has my m18r4 and he says the integrated Intel gpu is not in device manager or in bios it mentioned no integrated video detected. I could have sworn it was there before, anyone know what can be causing this? It currently has the gtx 675gpu

Sent from my SM-N9008 using Tapatalk

 

Did you mean M17xR4 or M18xR2 (there is no such thing as an M18xR3 or M18xR4) with 675M? I can't answer the question directly until you confirm which machine he has because it will not be the same answer for M18x and M17x... they are made very differently.

If he has an M18xR2 you will not be able to see the Intel IGFX in Device Manager or the BIOS unless you manually switch to integrated graphics. When you do that, the IGFX will be visible and then the discrete graphics will be disabled and hidden, not visible in Device Manager.

With M17xR4 you should always see the Intel IGFX because that system has Optimus. If you have an unlocked BIOS you can manually disable IGFX. If you have an M17x with 3D-capable 120Hz display there is no IGFX... ever... because that is incompatible with the 3D display setup.

 

yes sorry i meant the Alienware M18xR2

 

Ah, OK. See my answer above. If you want to see the Intel HD Graphics you have to press FN+F7, answer yes to the prompt to reboot. Then the discrete video cards will disappear from Device Manager.

 

Hi guys , i have a inssue OC 2960xm 4.5ghz Unlocked BIOS A05
45
45
45
45
Vid 5
99
56
99
pri plane 2400
playing BF 4 , clock drop to 800 mhz , any one know how to fix it?

 

Sounds like throttling, what are your temps?

 

It might be throttling from overheating. Try lowering Pri Plane to 960 or or 1040 for 45x4. You can put it back to 2400 if you need to, but running it lower will be better as long as the overclock holds.

It could be a situation where your CPU is acting normal, being a good boy and doing what you are telling it to do... but telling it the wrong thing to do. Might not hurt to double-check your Windows Power Profile to make sure nothing is goofed up there. You'll need to use "High performance" and max out the minimum processor state to 100% if you don't want the CPU to clock down to save power.

Spoiler

 

there will, with throtlestop, the game followed getting slow after a while, but now the clock has not dropped to 800mhz at least the program I use to monitor followed 4.5GHz but the game slowed down exactly the same way when the clock falls, but , when I alt + tab the game is in window and is'' unusual'' (fast, clean, fluid), I thought'' Normal'', so do alt + tab to return to the game, and was still slow, as when lowered the clock again and gave alt + tab in the window it was working fast and fluid, I will test now with the new AC charger as you suggested to see if the fox any difference, photo attached with temperatures / clocks etc.

throttlestop the clock does not seem to change, I change eg for 30, 40 or 45 multiplier and he does not seem to be changing the processor ...

 

You have to open the "TRL" button and change profiles 1, 2, 3, 4 for the multipliers to work correctly. You can also set different Flex VID for each profile based on what works best for the multiplier you have set. The YouTube video I have for using ThrottleStop should show this. Also click on the "Options" button and change the "PowerSaver C0% value from 35 to 100. In the unlocked BIOS, find the settings for Watchdog Timer and BDPROCHOT and change them to "disabled" and that should help.

 

I changed the charger and followed the same changed to disabled, Watchdog Timer and BDPROCHOT, same thing the game is still slow after a while

 

My CPU goes up to 88 degree by playing video game. Is this time for new repaste?

 

What are the temps doing when the core speed drops? Has this improved at all, or everything has stayed exactly the same?

Hi bro. Well, 88°C is kind of high, but it's not "hot" yet. The CPU shouldn't even think about throttling until it hits 90°C or higher. If it is hot where you are (and I bet it is if you're where I think you are) it may just be a symptom of your working environment. If the ambient temperatures are above 70°C the system is going to run a little bit warm. Do you already have a 3-pipe CPU heat sink, or still using the stock 1-pipe that came with the 2670QM? If you're using it in a warm or hot environment, you may need to manually crank up the fans a little bit to help compensation for that situation. Re-pasting certainly will not hurt anything, but it's a little bit of a hassle to do it if the results are a symptom of something else that re-pasting will not correct.

 

with the last 2 disabling the clock stopped decreasing (fluctuates very little, it is not fixed at 800mhz), but the bugfield 4 has still been slow, the temperature fluctuates a lot but stays around 80-92 when he's slow, but the most strange that window is fast, full screen is slow,
which changes the VID? it goes up to 27 if I'm not mistaken
is it not the video card now that makes the game slow? Nvidia has some economic way? how to put it in MAX ...? does anyone know? is a GTX880M

 

I'm not sure that I under your comments. CPU clock speeds are holding now, or they are not? CPU performance is going to begin dropping above 90°C.

 

Now it's perfect processor clock does not fall but is fixed = D, I hung up the BD protocol and watch dog (not sure of pronunciation), 45x4 x100.20mhz vid 0, 900 pri plane, idle is 4.503mhz 60-70 ° C when I run the game the video card is 954/2500, (the original maximum clock rate), but after a while the clock falls, as if I was not playing, if you have some way of letting the clock fixed video card is solved the problem, could understand?

 

Clocks fall on CPU or the video card? If it is still the CPU, try using XTU to change the Turbo Boost Power Max and Turbo Boost Short Power Max values to 125 (both set the same) and see if that helps. (You can only go to 99 in the BIOS.)

If you are talking about the GPU clock speeds falling as if you are not playing a game, this is one of the problems the special vBIOS will fix. But, you cannot fix it otherwise. Unfortunately, NVIDIA made it do that on purpose, as stupid as that might seem.

 

the processor is stable at 4.5, everything ok, do not fall further to 800, now the problem is the video card during the game it starts with all gas 954/2500 after a long fall to eg 300/2000 there is unplayable = (

 

I saw a program called nvidia inspector, now I want to know how to do a command for him to 'force' the GPU to keep in 954/2500, you know how to do this fox?

 

OK, awesome... CPU problem is fixed. Me likey!

This other problem is normal for the stock vBIOS. I don't think you can fix it using NVIDIA Inspector. You can try setting Power Level 1 (P5) to use the same core and memory clock speeds as Power Level 2 (P0) on both graphics cards and see if that minimizes the problem. Keep the clocks speeds for P1 to match stock for P0 because the voltage is not adjustable and it might become unstable if it is trying to run too high core and memory clocks on P1 without enough voltage.

 

both ??? hahaha i have only one,i almost have to sell my girlfriend to buy it '-'

 

Of a force, will have to be in step-by-step because now you left me a little confused

 

The video cards have three performance levels... low power, 2D performance and 3D performance states. We used to have to set the 2D reduced performance state to match the 3D maximum performance state on GTX 580M SLI to stop symptoms of throttling. The GPUs would still drop into the reduced 2D performance state, but because the clock speeds were exactly the same it made it appear that no throttling was taking place.

Here is a detailed explanation of how that worked: http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...-overclocking-no-vbios-flashing-required.html

What I was suggesting is maybe try that same concept on 880M to see what happens. It may not work because voltage is not adjustable for the 2D performance state and the stock 3D clocks speeds might be too high for the lower voltage associated with the 2D performance state. You would have to try it and see what happens. The settings applied with NVIDIA Inspector are temporary and will reset to default values upon reboot, so it can't hurt anything. It may not work at all, but it would be interesting to find out if it helps 880M work better while waiting for the modded vBIOS to become available.

You have to set one GPU, apply the changes, then change the drop-down menu to select the second GPU and implement the same changes on that card in an SLI setup. You also have to click the button in the upper right corner to unlock the maximum for that 2D performance state on each GPU because the sliders do not move until you do that.

 

Then Fox did the following uninstalled the beta drivers with DDU, and installed the link from upgrademonkey (Ebay seller that my GPU), with the drivers it did not give the issue of falling GPU clock, and ran the Bugfield 4 everything on ULTRA with scale resolution at 150%, was giving BSOD (VID was 0 in the BIOS for the CPU) increased to 15 gave no error blue screen BSOD, I believe the problem is definitely in the Nvidia software, I had installed the last beta 335.81 if I'm not mistaken, ahhh before I forget game runs with 30-65 FPS with these graphics settings

 

Then Fox did the following uninstalled the beta drivers with DDU, and installed the link from upgrademonkey (Ebay seller that my GPU), with the drivers it did not give the issue of falling GPU clock, and ran the Bugfield 4 everything on ULTRA with scale resolution at 150%, was giving BSOD (VID was 0 in the BIOS for the CPU) increased to 15 gave no error blue screen BSOD, I believe the problem is definitely in the Nvidia software, I had installed the last beta 335.81 if I'm not mistaken, ahhh before I forget game runs with 30-65 FPS with these graphics settings
but with drivers upgradeyourlaptop score was 9809 in 3dmark, already with the beta drivers was 9715, I think now, I can already give me temporarily satisfied, until leaving the new VBIOS that you mentioned and stay compatible with the new NVIDIA drivers because to install the drivers is full of improvisations, I'm still thinking about re-installing Beta drivers and do what you advised with NVIDIA inspector, as I believe the scoring for a 10k in 3dmark, but vlw the help! : D
if you know answer me:
what the VID (eg 0,5,15) Bios changes in the processor?

3DMark score with drivers for the alienware M18XR1 provided by upgradeyourlaptop
http://www.3dmark.com/cg/1757298 if anyone knows why the score of'' physical'' is so low, the processor clock with Stephen Fry: I thought it was supposed to be much higher ....

 

What do you get in fire strike and did you direct download or go through steam?

 

3Dmark program was in compatibility mode W8, uncheck compatibility mode to score more than doubled, already send you the link with the outcome of Firestrike, but I'm still having problems playing, GPU clock fell dramatically getting unplayable = /

 

With oc 4.5
gpu stock
http://www.3dmark.com/fs/2160100

i have steam version

 

Result not found.

 

now Generic VGA video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-2960XM Processor,Alienware M18xR1

 

Graphics Score 5873 < this needs to improve - vBIOS mod and maybe better temps if yours is too hot
Physics Score 11007 < this is a very good result - save those settings, because they work well

 

Generic VGA video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-2960XM Processor,Alienware M18xR1

 

I have came back my home for vacation which is in Vietnam, it's really hot and humid here. My CPU can go up to 90 now while GPUs only go up to 76 at the most. I'm not sure if I have 3-pipe heatsink. Anyway, how to I manually crank up the fans?

 

Just use HWiNFO64 and wind 'em up. The images in this album might be helpful if you haven't used it before.

HWiNFO64 Configuration

Spoiler

<iframe class='imgur-album' width='100%' height="700" frameborder='0' src="http://imgur.com/a/UYC3s/embed"></iframe>

 

Decided to crank up the old M18xR1 and bench the CPU tonight... set a new 2920XM record without even trying hard, LOL. Didn't even need to turn on the AC cooler.

I forgot how well this Sandy XM rocks... still better than Haswell, ha ha!

Still looking for a blown/busted up M18xR1/R2 for spare parts that I can buy real cheap so I can make this one complete.

 

What are you looking for ?

Sent from my SM-N900T using Tapatalk

 

I'd like to buy a complete unit that is basically junk. (Should be cheaper than buying individual parts.)

It's a fairly short list. The only good parts I need are:

• Complete display assy (don't need the lid necessarily, but everything else)
• Speakers and subwoofer
• ODD cable and bracket (don't care about ODD itself)
• GPUs and fans (don't care what GPU, old/slow is OK, using IGFX for now)
• Battery (can be worn out and weak as long as it holds 30 minutes or so)

I have tons of spare parts already, but these are what I am missing. I just borrowed the display from the R2 to tinker a bit with the R1 this evening.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/wan...1-r2-broken-beat-up-non-functional-ideal.html

 

I will undervolt a mobile i7-3940xm. I think the only way is a Pin Mod.
Where can i find a How To and can me anyone help to install Pin Mod?

 

Bios not enough?

 

You cannot "undervolt" as far as I know. You can only add voltage (Flex VID), but the default minimum is set.

I'm not understanding the rationale for buying an XM CPU if you're going to under-volt it. That's kind of like buying a supercharger for your car and leaving the drive belt sitting on your tool box, LOL.

 

LOL... At 4am in the morning it's hard to get a LOL but you just did