M17/Ocz Whitebook Quad Problems

I saw that post myself, but noone ever states in there that their stuttering/lag/sleep issues are completely, utterly, and totally gone, so I never installed it...derrr.

 

Well I've just emailed Alienware saying that if it can definitely be repaired by them and they can 100% assure me of this then I will go along with a repair, otherwise I want a refund. Because I've had nothing but problems with Alienware, which includes all the problems I've had with my desktop.

 

So you confirm that your stutter is back irishhenshin?

 

Sadly yes, 100%. The system froze, then the picture and sound was shuttering. It went on for several minutes, I logged off, back on and it shuttered for several more minutes and then stopped.

 

i have some ideas that i can shoot at you. i am going to post them when i get home later tonight. try them and let my know if it helps. i am reinstalling os's like crazy but i am staying with x64. right now i have vista on it but i am considering installing 7 7100 x64.

 

i am not going to be home until late but since your have problems again what where you exactly doing when this happened?. also what did the customer support tell you to do.

repeat my steps on the first post. also set the system to 45 percent for the cpu min instead of 37 on high performance profile. plus can you take off the alienware video driver and the realtek audio driver. also use ccleaner and clean your registry. install a driver of your choice. i recommend 8.10 8.12 9.1 9.4. these are the driver i switch between constantly. i would use e-wrecked for 8.12 and 9.1. but others you are better modding them. for audio right now, i am messing with different drivers. i find that not using any drivers on the system is alot better then the realtek ones. but there has to be a driver out there. this is for vista. i find that both os's are picky on what drivers work with them. for 7 i find that realtek 2.22 is the best for vista nothing is the best so far. i am still doing research and testing different options.

 

spoke with some people and it is for sure not the hard drive it self. we are pretty sure this is a heat issue. not entirely in the cpu itself but in the system's chipset. and that is a reason why when raid is disabled it helps the stuttering a lot because its taking some of the heat away from the systems chipset.

we are going to try to cool down the chipset a bit more and see if the issue goes away. after some testing it does not seem to be as voltage related as we first thought but more of a heat issue. and the qx9300 is basically a "space heater" and generates A LOT of heat. i have tested a q9100 and even at stock speeds it runs smoother than the qx9300 did but def did not make the scores of the qx9300

 

ok zfactor thanks. i can say that my north bridge is alot more hotter then my cpu. maybe a 2-5 degree difference. so i am going to try a copper mod on it. the southbridge however, i cant tell the temps and how to cool it. i am going to take the back off of it. and i may buy a cooler in the next two weeks. i am saving up for something big right now so i can't spend it stupidly.


question. if i was to disable acouple of components the use the southbrigde do you think it it help? (usb, hdmi, sound, etc)

 

yeah if u look at the cooling on the chipset its horrible....however i dont think its heat....why would it stutter during normal windows use and not while playing games sometimes...and what can explain crossfire dropping to one gpu in 3dmark06 RIGHT WHEN IT STARTS? not heat...it happens even one second after booting the computer sometimes

 

yeah i am on my computer right now and as soon as i booted into windows it started. this computer is confusing. but however i am still not trying to give up because it is a monster. it stands out form the rest and no game isn't gameable (lol playable) on it. (even though i am more of a benchmarker.)

 

When i start to shutter i unplug powercord plug back in real quick and shutters are gone its a power issue in my eyes 110%

 

i have not tried that solution. but i will.

ok i have some power saving ideas. i will post results after i run some benchmarks and see if there is a difference.

caskey there is some things about plugging out the powercord that may resolve the issue. i will tell you if you don't get me.

 

yeah unplugging it and plugging it back in does work....or switching from high performance to power saver to high performance again

 

as the chipset heat increases it starts to cause the cpu to throttle back automatically is what we found whether you have it set to that or not in the bios.

also the voltage of the chipset will be unstable if it is being overworked. which is why when removing raid from the hdd's helps some because the chipset is also resposible for that as well. the voltage seems fine on the cpu end after doing some testing to which ocz agrees. and even in desktops the chipset voltage does have a lot to do with a stable overclock along with the cpu settings. with these notebooks we dont have the control like you do on a asus or dfi type mobo for these extreme overclocks. it took me weeks to get my system 4.5 stable on air on my desktop running a e8500. every last setting has to be tweaked just right to keep it stable and safe. what sucks is these dont offer that kind of control and ill bet if they did we would be so much better off

imo it is a combination of both heat and voltage but the issues seem to be chipset related more than cpu..

 

ok what is the recommended temp for the northbrigde?

 

im waiting for arima to send me the ratings so we know..

 

ok i am installing dmc4 and farcry2. i will run them and post my temps. i want see how far are we from each other. unless someone can think of a easier quicker program.

 

is everyone else getting massive drops when running 3dmark06? and a very unstable framerate?

 

i am. but mostly in the first two benchmarks. also my cpu score is very low.

 

Dondadah88, i tried running 3dmark06 3 times at 3,2 ghz by ocing the multiplier to 12x and it always crashes at cpu test 2 near the end.. program encountered an unknown error so it had to close.. there was no stuttering it just quit at that test.. i set the multi back to 11.5x and it ran perfect with the usual score of 15564. Than i used setfsb and bumped the fsb up to 3,22ghz and ran 3dmark again.. it crashed again at cpu test 2.. so i dont have an idea how to bench it at 3,2.. it used to work fine.. i just dont get it.. any idea?

 

possible cpu degradation. this happens a lot with the 45nm desktop chips...

 

Cpu degradation? But everythin works just fine.. from crysis, supreme commander to wprime.. 3dmark06 is crashing not anything else.. i get the message.. send error report or close program.. if i choose not to run cpu test 2 i succesfully complete it though but without score.. and it always crashes at the same frame.. so i really doubt my cpu is acting up here..
anyway what degradation are you talking about? first time i hear about it.. i fried a cpu but never had any other problem..

 

are you running any power programs? cpuid rmclock with a bad undeervolt?

 

Nothing. Only HWMonitor.. even turned that off..

 

To be quite honest, we shouldn't have to do any of this. I've paid for a 3 yr repair and return policy. I shouldn't have to anything in regards to fixing my system. Now I study computers so I have a fair idea of how to fix things. But...and there is a major but, the system shouldn't have shipped faulty. Their testing is clearly inadequate, 4000 Euro for a faulty system, no thanks. What you guys are doing trying to fix this, you shouldn't have to do it this way, in fact its promoting their faulty workmanship. Now I know they don't actually make the parts, however they manufacture the system and are responsible for it.

 

Yes i do.. so tired of it.. And alote of people, plus me are working on it and doing tests but can't find any solution i'm getting så tired of this gaming rig from Alienware..

 

Whell i dont think we can do anything about it now.. I can tell you that Alienware will NOT take the systems back and refund us. So were left to ourselves with this problem. I still dont have any stuttering so im a happy camper right now.. but you never know.. it can start again anytime. Anyhow im goin a long time problem-free now so im building up confidence in my system.

 

we have to wait for flextronics to make a bios

 

We can only hope they do.. they are selling successfully so why bother right?

 

well they do know about the problem. their sells have dropped alot now because of the msi gt725. the w90 the sager and alot more.

 

Whell ya.. i also wish i waited for the w90.. well see.. keep us informed will ya

 

well i thought about selling this and getting one but there are some stuff i don' tlike about that rig. the size is big. 18.4 is very big. they skimmed the resolution to 1920*1080 instead of 1920*1200. i tryied that resolution and i didn't like it. i don't like how you are forced to flash the cards in order to use different drivers. i don't like how you have to use software to overclock instead of going threw the bios. i can safely run on 12x all day everyday. but if i were to use setfsb the fsb raises. the temps raises. everything does. and some more.

but i am going to try to get my rig working again. i have to play with drivers. i am stuck at 45fps on farcry2 instead of 59 average. i am installing visual studio to see if the .net fixes it.

 

I knew about the drivers and software oc but the resolution is a killer.. didnt know it was that wide.. i already dont like widescreens much.. my m17 is already a bit wide for my taste but even wider? Sucks. They just keep making em wider and wider.. I like a big screen but not a overstretched one.. I was most impressed that they made seperate heatsinks for each gpu.. i want that in my m17!

 

Well I was sold a faulty system so I can assure you I will press them till I get my refund.

 

They wont admit it.. as far as they tested it it works ok.. dont you think i tried getting it (prolly others too)?

 

yeah i wish it hade better cooling then the 4870 would have been out.... but this fans alone is a bad boy to cool to gpu's.


right now i am almost finish at testing this voltage issue. i will post my results in a few. i am be on the road but i will try to post screen shots of it so it is easyier to understand.

 

i am having issue installing 9.4(my benchmarking driver) on x64 vista. i didn't have so much problems on win7. i just want to test it and then go back to 7.

 

Whell i get great results from E-wrecked`s 8.12 drivers and they work on vista and windows 7 with full scaling.
Why do you use 9.4 anyway? Do they scale in windows 7 for you?

This guy also has an idea: M17 water cooling (i want!)

 

that's a d17 (desktop17 not mobile17)

i use 9.4 because i get the best results.

it is a little funny but 9.4 does scale in vista but not win7. 8.12 scales on both. i am installing 9.1 e-wrecked to see what happens. that is the 2nd best driver i use.

for me in order i use 9.4, 9.1, 8.12, 8.10

 

For me scaling counts more than a few points in 3dmark.. i just hate to see those black edges

 

oh i see what you mean. but why do you scale your resoulitions?

 

Cause i hate seeing black edges when running 3dmark06

 

ok understandable.
download CPUStabTest if you can't find it let me know and i will send it to you
run it for 5 mins.
edit use hwmoniter and tell me your temps.

 

Just reinstalled 3dmark06 and ran it on 12x multi.. just for you..
Wasnt as much more as i expected (had better runs on this) but more than enough.
Than i rebooted to 12.5x multi and it booted into windows but bluescreen came shortly after. Tried to up fsb but also got a blue screen at 3,35ghz.
So this is my max i guess without ocing the 3870x2.. perhaps ill do that later to come close to E-wrecked`s scores

Isnt that the same as orthos? Ran that for an hour and it runs just fine..

 

i want to see your temps. i am going to post results. it lowered my temps by 2-3 degrees. it is worth noting.

but since your fine. i don't think you need it. plus since your rig is fine i don't want to mess it up.

 

i will edit it later but i am off to school and i can't finish my test can someone else test this. download rmclock if you know how to use it just edit two settings. in it after. if you don't just post and i will explain.
before



after




please test and post. i have to run out now. but i will be mobile.

 

Here is the CpuStabTest result:



Can you post yours too so i can compare temps?
And can you explain exactly what you did there? Undervolt if i see correctly? Did this just lower your temps or did it also help with stuttering?

 

ok i will. just give me a bit. i got so mad with vista. every driver crapped out. i stuttered as soon as i went in games. it was horrible. so i just installed windows 7 7100 x64. and i am installing everything now.

but i noticed that my stuttering starts when the fans start to spin up.

 

Have you tryed updating your raid controller drivers intel has a new one dated 2/11/09 that seem to help me out quite a bit if you havent i would give it a shot
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/con...70&DwnldId=17412&strOSs=&OSFullName=&lang=eng

 

yeah but i am not in raid. i wanted to be. but i have less problems with it unraided.