A few questions before I completely wipe my HDD

So after about a year, I've decided to reinstall windows 7 due to long boot times. Before I do this though, I have a few questions

1. I intend to change my ram timings by installing 32bit windows 7 after the wipe (I will then revert back to 64bit once I have changed the timings). I have read the page on thaiphoon burner, however, I just wanted to know what was the slowest speed I can set my ram too (hopefully allowing me a higher over clock). Also, once I have installed windows 32bit, will I need to install any programs/drivers to allow thaiphoon burner to run correctly (I will have it downloaded onto a usb).

2. Do I need to re-enter my windows 7 code when I reinstall windows 7 64bit, or does my laptop remember it?

3. Once I have reinstalled windows 7 64bit, what do I need to do. I know I will need to install drivers, just not sure which ones (i.e. do I need a driver for every single piece of hardware inside my laptop?) Also, will I need to reinstall the bios?

4. I am using a usb to install windows off, by using the windows 7 usb tool (from Microsoft). Should I make an iso file of the windows7 disc I received with my laptop (by using power iso or another program), or should I just download an iso file of windows 7 home 64bit?

5. Anything else I need to know?

Well thats all (for now ). Thanks to anyone who can help .

 

You should save the drivers that you need on a usb stick before you reformat. The ones that Windows will not install are the wifi card, on screen display, free fall sensor, and the JMicron card reader driver. You should also download the latest Intel HD graphics driver and audio driver as well as the latest Nvidia driver. If you use the image off of the Alienware Windows dvd, you won't need to enter in the Windows 7 key. If you use a generic Windows 7 Home Premium dvd and not the Alienware, you will need to enter the key.

 

1) I have never heard of changing RAM timings inside of an OS. To my knowledge, RAM timings are controlled in the BIOS, and not the Operating System. And even if you could change RAM timings, you are not going to get any real-world improvement in performance. The impact of RAM timings on real-world performance are so small, that they are insignificant.

If it were me, I would skip installing Windows 7 32-bit, and just go for a clean Windows 7 64-bit install. Installing 32-bit seems like a waste of time. But to each his own.


2) Yes, you need to re-enter your Windows 7 64-bit product key after you reinstall. You do it inside of Windows 7 --> Control Panel --> System.


3) All drivers you need are on Welcome to Dell Technical Support. Yes, you need to reinstall drivers for all of the hardware on your laptop. There are some programs on the Support site that you do not need. But if you do not know which ones you don't need, then just reinstall them all.


4) Ideally, yes, make the ISO and then create a bootable USB flash drive from there to install WIndows 7.

Technically, you can re-download Windows 7 install disk somewhere off the internet, and it should work just fine. The correct version of Windows you need will be on the label on the Microsoft Windows 7 sticker on the bottom of your laptop. You need to make sure you download the correct edition (Home Premium or Ultimate), and the OEM version. If you somehow download the wrong version (e.g. you accidentally download the Retail version instead of the OEM version), then your product key will not work. Creating your own ISO off your original install disk will be faster, easier, and lower risk of error than re-downloading.

5) Yes. Don't forget to re-partition your drive during the install process, to wipe out all of that Dell Recovery / AlienRespawn stuff that Dell puts on your hard drive. You can reclaim a few dozen GB of space back by doing this.

 

RAM timings are done in the BIOS, they have absolutely nothing to do with the operating system... I have no idea where you heard that from.

Also, the M11x R2 caps your RAM frequency at 800MHz so i don't see what you're going to "overclock".

 

Thaiphoon Burner is able to change the ram timings. I think it's the older, free version that he is referring to that allows you to change the timings in a 32 bit OS. It won't let you change them in a 64 bit OS unless you buy the newest version.

 

OK, Thaiphoon Burner is a program. You failed to mention that and were making it sound like people we doing it some other way from within Windows.

Honestly, i don't think you're going to see any performance gains -AT ALL-, not on an M11x where the RAM is stuck @ 800MHz. I also have no idea specifically how the program works, so there's no guarantees that the timings will remain the same once you've formatted.

I don't think it's worth the hassle or the amount of time it takes to do it. If you really want to give it a try then go for it, but i personally wouldn't waste any more than 2 minutes of my time on something like that.

 

Interesting. I never heard of a program like that before.

But regardless, I think it is a waste of effort, unless you are running competitive benchmarking. RAM timings do not give any real-world performance benefit. If it were me, I'd pass on that, and just do a straight install of Windows 7 x64.

 

The point isn't to increase the timings, it is to lower them. Ram is usually the thing holding people back from being able to overclock their R2 higher. He wants to slow it down to potentially overclock the cpu higher. The new timings stick until you flash it back to stock, even if you change back to Windows 64bit.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m11x/576475-how-update-spd.html

 

Of course you lower the timings, where in my post did i say anything to the contrary?

No offense, but this is coming from someone who was asking "will I need to reinstall the bios?". I am well aware of the affects playing around with RAM does, hence why both myself and other people here have already stated that there won't be any noticeable performance gains.

 

You stated that the m11x ram was capped at 800, which is incorrect. Once you overclock the cpu, the frequency the ram is running it is also increased, so the ram will run faster than 800.
What I was installing the 32 bit windows 7 for was so I could lower the ram timings, so that when the cpu is overclocked the ram frequency will be closer to the 'normal' range. This should allow a larger stable OC than my current 166. Hope that makes sense.
And no offense taken I was just wondering if I reinstalled windows it would replace my 0.95V mod bios with the generic dell bios - I assumed that it was tied to the hardware and not the harddrive, but was just making sure.

Thanks for info and +rep - also about the ram overclock, in basic terms, I am reducing ram speed to hopefully gain a higher CPU speed.

Thanks for info and + rep