M17 General Information Thread

nvm...im a ...i didnt even realize you can manipulate the FSB in the drop down,....my bad.

 

You could FSB overclock (now the BIOS didnt use to support this, it might do now, if they dont it can still be altered with XTU/SetFSB) but not multiplier overclock, as these are locked on all but Extreme or ES/QS chips.

Different methods of reaching the same result. Multiplier overclocking is appreciated as it only affects your CPU, meaning if you overclock, there are less factors to take into account.

Like for example, I could [and did with my M17] up my X9100's multiplier to 12.5 (3325Mhz), without needing to touch the FSB/RAM from the 266 standard rate, now providing my CPU was stable with its standard voltage with those clocks, I didnt even need to then take into consideration things like RAM which you'd need to normally consider, because multiplier purely effects the CPU internally, nice and simple really.

Nowadays you have XTU with a hell of a lot of control, if the chip ran cool enough, or you were daring enough, you could then up the FSB and voltage and tweak the RAM timings, to say 280x12.5, which if stable would give you a more powerful overclock than the default 11.5x280 you'd be stuck at otherwise.

Multiplier clocking is just another tool in the clocker's arsenal (actually in some cases people lower it so they can ramp the FSB and RAM up, to boost performance at the same clocks )

 

ok i was hoping to be able to manipulate the multiplier, so i didnt have to touch the FSB. i like the idea of reducing the multiplier and upping the fsb now that i consider it a but more, since i have the 1333 ram it shouldnt hurt it to run at 1250-1333 right?....

 

im running orthos right now to check stability & temps for oc to 2.93 & 1.2v, temps started @50going to see what i can squeeze out of it, im using a wal-mart cooler til my other on gets here from ohio(i left it at the hotel)

 

Nope, as long as you set the timings correctly so they dont cause issues. Remember each board has its own FSB tolerances as well, so its a bit trial and error, but as long as you have access to FSB, timing and voltage control you've got a good set of options.

Unfortunately multiplier *down* rather than up is the only control you have with a non extreme/ES/QS processor, which is one of the reasons they get away with charging so much for the Extreme Processors (they tend to have had more extensive testing/binning and are marketted as overclockers/performance chips).

Its all fun and games, before I came to laptops I was primarily a desktop clocker, so although I haven't paid as much attention for a year or so, every desktop Ive had since my first home build has been overclocked *and actually some factory ones before that*.
You kinda get used to some of the habits once you've played around a while.

Also for stability I'd recommend IBT/Linpack over Orthos. It gets MUCH hotter. Survive an hour+ of that at maximum stress and your CPU is generally good to go, most machines that are unstable flake within 15 Can save a lot of time.

 

how do i know which timings to use with the memory, im afraid im green on memory timings. they are set @ 7-7-7-20

 

If you load CPU-Z and check the SPD tab,it should give you some idea of what your RAM is rated to at certain speed combinations
The memory tab will tell you what combo you're running right now.

Some RAM is also certified to run higher than stock speeds, if you slacken the timings considerably, it depends on your RAM and what its been rated for (SPD ratings generally use stock volts, so you normally dont have to worry about RAM voltage if you're using SPD timing speeds). I know mine have a SPD entry for approximately 1500 rather than the 1333 I'm running right now, although its a pretty slack 10-10-10-28!!

Mine generally runs 666 @9-9-9-24. Not great, but I dont have as much control, or I'd be running it at 533 7-7-7-20 or the like (alternatively I'd have been able to push the FSB as I know my CPU is capable of 3.3+ on stock volts and would have tried to set the timings and see whether I could manage to get closer to that 1500 entry, rather than the 1333 rating they're running on right now)

 

right how do i know which one is best to use as i drop voltage or raise voltage, and FSB? thats what i don tknow i dont really know anything about memory timings other than they are there =)

EDIT: i was able to get orthos to run for 20 mins with the cpu @2.92 & 1.150v. ran as high as 86degress but stuck around 78 when the fans kicked up to 4250, i cant beleive we dont have fan control on these........ anything higher than the 2.92 it BSOD unless i bump the voltage up to 1.225 then i can get 3.125, but anything higher and the temps jump intpo the 90's and i just turned off orthos

 

Check what FSB you're aiming for for a start. Your RAM might have an appropriate timing set. If it does, set those, then go for it. I'd say leave voltages for now until you've got a better feel for what you're doing.

SPD timings are based on default voltages, so generally they're quite useful (although they aren't always 100% accurate).

If you check out the memory tab it'll tell you your RAM divider. I dont know if XTU allows you to alter this, but again thats a useful option to have, because it allows you to alter how your RAM runs parallel to FSB.

Hope this is making a bit of sense

FSB*Multiplier = CPU speed
RAM divider is fairly self explanatory
If I wanted to run 533 with no changes elsewhere, my divider would need to be on 1:2 rather than 4:10 for example (which nets 666).

Its 1am in the morning here, and I've got to get up early (on my day off damnit!) because the satellite guy is coming round to sort me out some new kit so I need to get some sleep, but if you've got any more questions, post them, and if no one else has helped by the time I can post tomorrow, I'll do what I can to answer you

PS. Leave voltages til last in this game. Heat and Voltage are the main things that can cause long term issues with overclocking, so they're usually best reserved til later in the game when you know you cant do what you want with stock voltage etc, and have found the limits of your kit elsewhere (as each board, RAM SODIMM, and CPU have different tolerances... if you're lucky you can get great overclocking kit, othertimes you can get appalling kit!)

In some way Im actually quite envious you guys have XTU now, we didnt have anything as versatile 6 months ago, or I would have given this X9100 more of a lashing to see what it could have done with different voltages, and other combinations of FSB/RAM timings etc!

 

heres a screen of what im looking at


the rams running at 1:2, and its not adjustible by any means that i have seen, i can bump the cas? to 8 from 7 but thats it

 

makes me wish I still had my whitebook.

 

where can i get all those blue heat spreaders? i want to try that out to keep the temps down while i try to NOT burn my M17 to the ground

 

????
what do you mean???

on the gpu memory cover?

i havent looked at project freeze in months.

 

shame on you

just joking^^

I am quite interessted in what you get out of your M17 (cleverpseudonym) ... I have the T9400 as well

good night 03:39 am

 

To up the memory speed, just boost your FSB, the memory is a multiplier (4 in this case) of the FSB

 

yeah i saw the pics from project freeze i couldnt finish looking throught th ewhoel thread as it got off topic for a bit, but i saw that you had a mixture of aluminum & copper heat spreaders, i want to get some of those to put in this thing....

@ julian, so far the best 3d06 run i have gotten was 13161. with the cards @ 715 & 1035 and the T9400 @ 2.92 1.175v...using XTU, not set fsb,im hoping to be able to get a bit higher but i dont see how im going to be able to get into the 16k range without the 4850's

 

im not necessarily trying to get more per say im just trying to understand what i should look at to determine what i should be using as far as the Cas# its set 7-7-7-20, and in xtu i can change it to 8-8-8-20, but what does that mean and why would i change it. thats what im trying to figure out at this point.

 

ignore the latencies...they will set themselves to what they need to be, just focus on the FSB for the CPU, the ram can handle more than the CPU will, so it is not your bottleneck

 

anyone running 10.2 or 10.3 AT drivers (or for that matter, the original dual 3870's?)

Wondering if anyone has been running any of the newer drivers and has any impressions of them Seems like the m17x crowd own the boards now =/

 

A bit of topic but still wanted to show lol, found a game that really stresses my GPU's (Alien vs Predator) .

 

sorry 4 ot but it's was a long time ago when I asked this in vain and hm ... it isn't realy ot

Is there a tool out or did sb find a way to control the fans? I want them to go max all the time

Thanks

Greetings
Julian

 

Speedfan or NHC MIGHT do it, but I really cant remember.

 

Pretty sure the only way to make them go fast, is to get it hot!

We had this problem (Me and mandrake) when taking our systems outside to bench them, we could never get that as cold as possible cuz fans wouldn't kick in haha. Something the Clevo folks all get to enjoy

 

Btw is it normal that my GPU Clock & Memory clock are at 250/400 when not running any apps?

It goes to 500/800 as soon as i start a game for example.

Cheers in advance !

 

Yep, that'd be powerplay saving you battery.

 

Yeah i guess that makes sense ...but isn't this supposed to be turned off when you are running on maximum performance and your machine is plugged into power?

 

Nope, it'll generally leave it on to lower heat and prevent waste.

 

Ahhh alright...fair enough .

Got a bit paranoid today after seeing my GPU temps hit nearly 90 while playing Alien vs Predator haha.

Cheers buddy.

 

in the M17 that will happen...the GPU cooling left me much to be desired

Your best bet is running the system on a cooler like the Cryo with the bottom panel of the laptop removed to allow massive airflow onto the components. Doing this with additional heatsinks added on to the GPU sinks will further increase the cooling gain from the Cryo with the panel off

 

Have the cryo, ocz freeze on all, and drilled holes at the parts where the NB, CPU and GPU's are.

However i am going to manufacture something else:

Gonna remake the botton cover and cut out the entire middle part only leaving the bits where you can screw it into the bottom board.
In the cut out part i will solder/glue a metal grid plate so that the entire bottom is open but still a bit protected.

Hope that's gonna help me a bit .

 

To bad we can't overwrite the temps^^ this would help aswell

Or can we?

Greetings
Julian

 

That bottom should work well DHC, sounds like the M17x bottom

If you want to override the fan control it will need to be done at the BIOS level, making zFactor the man to talk to

 

Aye, that was my entire plan, to make it just like the M17x !

Going to the hardware store tommorow to buy the grid/mesh and start working on it this week.

Will post results when done .

 

Thanks and be sure to include pictures

 

i was thinking about doing this, mine came pre-drilled, but i wanted to do something along the lines of creating a metal screen where the cpu & gpus sit so that i dont have to remove the bottom cover when gaming. i cant seem to find any of those little heat sinks or spreaders i saw in project freeze =(.....


@ misterE, i was using the 10.2 drivers untill last night, iwas getting decent performance gains over the drivers that came with the M17 (9.9 i think), i installed the 10.3 beta earlier its about the same, but it has built in mobile support. i dont see any gains right away but im going to do some vantage runs in a llittle bit ill see if that that has any improvement

 

All of the stuff I had in freeze was just the ram coolers meant for gpu memory in watercooling

from Swiftech, Enzotech, and Zalman

 

cool, just found some on ebay for $20. will post pics & results for any interested.
edit :ran vantage 6898, seems low...... also i just noticed that when i look at my GPU in device manger it says i have 514mb of memory shouldnt it show around 1gb with the X-fire?

 

my media button started working for 5 seconds and stoped when i rebooted ....

 

anyone know if this will work in the M17?

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=462192

 

Do not bother with slot load drives in the M17. I looked into it on my whitebook and was sadly disappointed because the bezel for the drive in there is a cm wider than the actual drive, you will have a very ugly gap if you use the slot load. You will also have the problem that the front endge is slightly sloped while the front of the slot load is straight up and down, further making it ugly and stand out.

 

im tired of my gut popping this damn drive out though =)...looking at this cover me & my dremmel tool can make this cover work i can cut a slit in this thing......

 

I'm sure they probably have a software app that locks the drive button. You should look into that.

Also you only have 512k cards (3870s) they dont get combined, each one still only has 512k, just like my 1 gig cards combined are still 1 gig crossover cards.

Its not telling you about total ram, its telling you about the individual card, and its only the master card that uses the ram, the other card is 'helping' it.

Jon

 

hahah i was only kidding, i just like the sexy-ness of "slot load" drives.........makes sense about the 3870's, thanks Jon!...hey did you still have a spare 4850?

 

I have a spare slave and a crossfire cabe now that my m17 is sold with single master 4850. pm me if you're interested.

 

that should sell well, you would have done well though to flash it to master, then the whole clevo community could want it too lol (you can still CF master-master)

 

Managed to create a new bottom cover, tell me what you think about it!

Bought an aluminum plate:


Cut the middle out of the original cover:


Cut the plate a little bigger then the middle from the previous step:


This is how they fit together:


Glued them together and painted it black.


End result:


Helps dropping temps around 10 degrees.

Tools used:
* Dremel
* Aluminum grated plate bought at a hardware store. I believe this plate is used for vent holes in buildings.
* Workbench
* Superglue. Must be heat resistant.
* Black spraypaint
* Marker for marking the lines where to cut.

If anyone needs help with making a custom M17 cover you can PM me for tips .

 

VERY NICE. this was my exact idea. where did you get the Aluminum grated plate?

 

Do you take orders?!

That looks awesome!

congrats lol

 

Thanks!

I bought it at a random hardware store. They had all sort of shapes and sizes. Found this one the best due to its tiny holes.

It was fairly easy to make with only a dremel, though i made the mistake of putting it together to fast, the paint wasn't dry yet, so got some blank spots, i'll make those black with a marker.

 

Wow, that's one hell of an awesome back cover. Are you serious about it dropping temperatures by 10C?

My only criticism would be that the black doesn't match up perfectly with the stealth black of the case, but few people would see anyway.

I might consider whipping together something like this myself once my warranty's up in 4 months or so. (And if my father lets me...he's a joykiller when it comes to tinkering with computers )