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

Anyone has the EON 2960XM OC setting to share out? that'd be great ^^

 

do you have one?

 

Been searching around forums, but still no clue so far

 

as far as i can tell...there is one person with a 2960xm qs, but have no clue who that person is.

 

What difference does this make with changing the short and long limits?

 

4.8 GHz is most likely a single core speed...expect closer to 4.2-4.5 for all 4 cores

The single core turbo boost is making marketing departments everywhere go crazy since it allows them to "lie" about the core speed by several hundred MHz

 

woot! the 2960XM OEM's have arrived. Will post some results tonight, stay tuned!

 

cool! can you post some unlocked bios runs like wprime at 4.5ghz on all cores?

 

Will do at some point, but I barely have the time to install it, unlocked BIOS is a project on its own, hehe. Let's start from stock benches, then see how the beast behaves when OC'ed. Will also test a new HS soon

 

Can't wait Aiki! It will be interesting to see if the thermal barrier is the same for the Extreme cards or if the 2960 can pull harder when OCed.

 

It can go about 200-300mhz higher on all 4 cores. Temps are better than with the 2920ES for sure but I'm still unable to go above 4Ghz on all cores without messing with voltage, TDC, Bclk, etc.

 

it seems to me that your having the same exact problem you had with your 2920xm. you should be able to run a min. of 45x on all 4 cores. on both chips.
the problem...97 amps isn't enough to run all four cores higher.

 

I'm not having any problem, I can run 3.8ghz on all cores all day without any extra cooling, and the temps are same as with a stock clocked 2920es. That is about 500-600MHz higher . The extreme overclocking you are talking about is a totally different story and I far from there to draw conclusions. My initial goal was to check the thermals and see how far can the cpu go without any extra cooling. That is playing crysis2 all day long @ 77f room temp. And I'm very happy with the results. Next step will be the new hs testing and hopefully I Can get it to 4.5ghz on all cores under the same conditions. It will still be useless for benchers.

 

For reference Aikimox.....my 2920xm is running 4.5 GHz on all cores air cooled.....nothing special/extra at all. I have been able to bench or do whatever I want with those clocks and have not been able to make it crash.

What I am getting at is besides the obvious bump in the stock speed, does this chip offer anything over the 2920xm. So far that answer is looking like a no. It is just like the 920xm/940xm where nothing of any substance was changed.

Please do understand that comparing to your ES 2920xm is not really fair to OEM 2920xm as there are clearly differences in the way they behave (John can provide more detail on that)

 

Scook, are you using the unlocked BIOS? is this possible to achieve with the default A02/A03? I have gone 45/45/45/45 25/80/56/99 and and Bclk@ 100 to 104 and while I can see 4.5 even higher at times, it seems to max out @3969.99 or 39x (in Vantage CPU or Prime95)... is there a sweet setting to be able to go above that during benchies?

 

The is the top speed that you can hold while staying under the 80W threshold. I have mine bumped to 99W and am using about 95W of that at my current/voltage settings

Under stock dell BIOS 80W will be your limit which will put you at 3.9 GHz

 

as far as extreme over clocking..residualvoltage isn't using anything but fans as well. he posted some outstanding numbers with a stock bios.

but i guess that's the rush syndrome in me. . we shall find out soon enough what this chip is capable of... so take your time.

Xeneize:
you need more amps. you will never be able to hold 45x on 97 amps.

 

That's the thing guys, we are mixing different methods and scenarios.

I remember when both of you were having the exact same problem with the stock BIOS and stock 2-piped HS. Many things changed since then. Scook, didn't you do the HS retention mod before you could get those temps? Also, you can say air cooled but your stock air cooled and my stock air cooled are two different things Like I said, my max with the 2920ES was 3.7 that is with the stock bus and no rerolls, no cold runs or any other tweaks and tricks. Now, I'm sitting comfortably @ 4GHz. Again, stock BIOS, 77f, laptop is on my desk with no elevation, no cooler pad and no open windows behind me. In fact, with these clocks I can safely put the system on my lap and game (that is safely for the system, lol).

There's no real difference between the 2920 and 2960. For me personally, the extra 200-300MHz and cooler temps is one thing. Another will be revealed when we go into HS testing. I was gonna grab the XM OEM anyway and would go for the 2920 but for the same price might as well get an extra 200mhz, hehe.

 

I have not done any mods. Just repasted/reseated the heatsink (stock 2 heatpipe one)

 

nope. my problem was "user" error. once that was out of the way...i made my gains. then flashed to the modded bios and made substantially higher gains from there.


also..to be clear...flashing the modded menu bios is the same as flashing the dell a03 bios. all he did was unlock the hidden options. nothing more.

 

Thanks guys so more power/amps is only feasible from the unlocked Bios... correct? (just to be 100% sure)

 

You get about 200-300mhz more on stock and I assume same for the unlocked but I need a better cooling to be able to prove it.

 

So......2920xm=2960xm when both are OC'd under the same conditions (No crazy, outlandish Jonksss stuff) is the early conclusion? AKA 920xm/940xm II.

 

correct

the jury is still out on that. it was a time when people said the 920xm was partial on par with the 2920xm.. ....which is now...not the case. the 920xm/940xm basically the same as well..but older tech. time to see if SB makes any difference what so ever..

electrosoft...allot of the stuff you see us posting now...is based off the desk over clocking with just high fans. residualvoltage and nickrusso both stressed this.

 

If you set the maximum processor state to 99% (Advanced Power Options in control panel) the CPU will be locked at 2.7Ghz and while the performance is only slightly better than a 2820QM, the temps are under 65C in Prime95, lol. Nice option for those who need to quickly switch from a crazy OC' to gaming and have an ice cold machine.

 

Looking at the Intel ark specs and CPU-Z screens, like the 920xm/940xm, this is definitely just a bin jump and with all OC conditions being equal, I'll bet they are identical in OC conditions outside of stock spec (2.5/3.5 vs. 2.7/3.7) and it comes down to the chip itself to find a peach.

That's my theory.

 

but if your paying the same price..better to get the 200 extra mhz as aikimox suggested.

 

Oh, absolutely; price being equal, I'm all over what has the nifty new number on it.

 

just checked ebay....more qs models are starting to show up....a big 2! haha

 

Hey guys, I'm a newbie in OC field, but kinda interested. I have just done reading about tweaking with FSB, Mutiplier, etc..
I'd like to give my 2960 a shot (really wanna try it) but now I think I'm stuck with those fancy turbo boost setting. It'd be great if somebody could provide me some links that tutor about this (or anything needed to work with a SB XM CPU). Thanks for the responses fellas ^^

 

Hey Johnkss, I'm, about to flash to the unlocked A03 bios.... any gotchas to avoid bricking it? (not sure what went wrong with yours, but like to avoid that)

 

what do you mean...your stuck?
if you havent already enabled the over clocking feature in the bios...then go ahead and start there first. use thier already ready to use over clock settings. that way you dont get your self lost.
once you feel comfortable with that...then we can talk more about you getting "fancy".

i flashed that experimental bios like a big dummy! this menu bios barcode posted is legit and works perfectly fine. i can cosign on that.

 

Roger that, that's good enough for me.

 

ok, im here

 

Ok. With the Unlocked BIOS. My goal is to be able to hit higher speeds obviously and as confirmed by some 45x on all cores it's actually possible with more power.

This is what I've done:

Performance Options:

45/45/45/45 Flex Vid 25
Override Turbo Settings maxed everything

Advanced CPU Control (power)

Everything Enabled by default
Long Duration PWR Limit set to 99 (for some reason after saving it defaults to 0)
Long Duration TimeWindow: 56
Short Duration PWR Limit: 99
Pri Plane: 0
Sec Plane: 0

Thermal Configuration (advanced)
Changed throttle to 90c from 85c

That's about all I changed/touched. I did not notice a better performance at all in fact less, but I know I'm doing something wrong. Specially because the PWR is resetting to 0, I suspect there's a conflict between the Performance Options settings and the Advanced CPU control?

Anything else I should be doing/recommendations?


Edit: Ok Raised Primary plane to 900. Any other suggestions?

 

Change the throttle temp to 100 or 110

I have vid at 15 and primary plane at 900

Both TDPs at 99 and the time window at 56

If that don't work that I don't know what to tell you, guess it is bad luck

 

Throttole On Temperature options end on 90 (under Platform Thermal COnfig.)

And why 15 over 25?

 

Too much voltage will make you hit the TDP limit and will limit your top speed. These chips do not need as much voltage as you think to hit high overclocks

 

Thanks, what's your Bclk @?

 

100.10 (shows as 100.0 in windows)

My CPU has not liked me messing with bclk while multi is at 45 unfortunately. Still working on that

 

Ok so very weird, but with this unlocked BIOS I noticed that everything does run 44 or 45x however after 2-3 runs with WPrime95 (the short one) the speeds locks at 900mhz and It's only restored when I reboot. Is this normal?

I do score 5.4 seconds though. The temps do climb way up in the upper 90's if I run the long test.

 

now you need to turn the fans on high using hwinfo

 

But the fans are on? does the BIOS fan control not work? in any event they seem to go full throttle in a hurry during benchmarks.

 

you want them already on so they keep things a tad bit cooler.

5.4 huh, that's a very nice jump in.

side note:
set it to 43x 4 cores and do a vantage run at your safe clocks...this should help to show your true vantage score.

 

Sorry not 5.4, 5.8 actually. The long test was crippled by temps

 

as far as Vantage goes... unimpressive



Clearly need to work on the CPU.

 

Run wprime on all 8 threads while monitoring using Throttlestop. Watch the TDP and multipliers. If you are at the max TDP and the multipliers are not at the whole value you specified, you either need more TDP (Assuming you are less than your threshold) or more current but not voltage. Or drop the multiplier as you are at the limit of that TDP. Do not add voltage until you get a BSOD with a 0x00124 error (correct me if wrong here John).

 

you are correct.

and it looks like he was not even holding a 39x...

 

I ran 2 monitors and while it did hit 43x once the temps escalated it down throttle to the 20's then back up.

 

if temps are too high try only running 2 sticks of ram not 4 and try dropping VID