Alienware M11x OC void the warranty?

It is in fact entirely normal and within warranty to update the BIOS settings in your product.

What is not covered is likely, third party software to push the GPU or CPU harder than intended by Alienware.

 

I will contact our Alienware reps, but there is absolutely NO reason for me to believe that using the CPU overclocking utility built into the BIOS (and described in the user manual) would void your warranty.

Several Alienware systems (both notebooks and desktops) have built-in OC utilities and using those utilities as described in the Alienware/Dell user manuals will in no way void the warranty on your Alienware PC.

That said, if you attempted to overclock your CPU or GPU in some other way than what is described in the documentation provided by Alienware/Dell then you probably would be at risk of voiding your warranty.

Bottom line, we'll check with Alienware, but regardless of what a telephone support rep claims on the phone (someone who isn't familiar with every system and is probably being paid minimum wage) there is NO reason to believe that consumers risk voiding their warranties "if they follow the instructions listed in the user manual provided by Alienware/Dell."

 

Ah! This is more than I could have ever expected. Thanks Jerry! I'm eagerly awaiting your response!

 

I believe I answered this already in the thread Jannas:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=5913846&postcount=1868

If Dell states and provides the functionality, it will be covered

Thanks for looking into it Jerry...

 

I don't mean to disrespect a moderator, but the answer is slightly vague. I would prefer a black and white answer before I make the final decision to push that little button in the BIOS. Which logical, that its in the manual so its made to be used etc. etc. Life isn't always logical.

I appreciate the input though BatBoy. If you happen to come across a response from Alienware thats more reliable than their sales reps, please post here.

 

No worries - dont worry, nothing wrong with asking for confirmation. This is why I suggested contacting tech support (not a sales rep) - there is no reason you cannot ask to speak with the rep's supervisor for confirmation. I'll see if I can have one of our local resources confirm as well.

Also, just to clarify, the quotes I provided came from the Dell Certified Systems Engineer material for the XPS M1730 and as I mentioned in my post, while the information pertains to a previous model of Dell's, unless they changed their policy to not cover this, which I just dont see as its a feature they offer - then the thinking would be the same.

In any event, lets see what we can do in the way of confirming.

More to follow...

 

In an effort to maintain completeness.

This was posted on a differant topic with the same subject. The following is a post by RU1NOUS.

"Hi Guys!
This is my first post on these forums so i hope that i am posting this in the right place.

I ordered my M11X last week (im based in the UK) and currently have an EDD on 9th March. I was attracted to the M11X because of the quality of alienware products (currently have an M17), the form factor and also the potential to overclock te CPU. When i placed the order i asked the Dell rep if overclocking was covered and was told that it was.

After reading in different places that there was some confusion as to whether overclocking was covered by alienwares warranty i decided to give Alienware tech support a call and ask to see if they could tell me if overclocking was covered. The tech support agent told me that overclocking was NOT covered under standard warranty and only the Premium warranty would cover the overclocking of the CPU. I asked to speak to a supervisor to confirm this and he did infact confirm that only the premium warranty would cover overclocking as it covered accidental damage and that would be the only way to cover damage covered by overclocking.

This is a little worrying to me as I was hoping to overclock the CPU as after talking to the Dell rep and reading reviews came to a conclusion this would be covered by warranty.

I was wondering if anyone has heard anything different about this, or what can be done if anything? Also what are the risks of using the included overclocking feature in the BIOS?

Look forward to hearing what you guys think."

 

Don't overclock it. Is that clear enough?

You seem risk averse. So why risk the grief of fighting with AW support?

[Personally I would OC the heck out of it. But I don't use an AW for work, and I don't care if mine burst into flames.]

 

I don't think overclocking this processor will create THAT much heat and give you that much of a performance gain..

 

I'm going to post this once... any post which implies fraud will be removed. If there are repeats, then additional action will be taken. This isn't the place to discuss or mention lying to Dell to support your warranty.

If you are that concerned, then call and ask for a supervisor in the Tech Support Department and confirm - look, its a function in the BIOS - its fine. If you are still hesitant, then don't use the function in the BIOS. Pretty simple.

You also can wait and see if Jerry turns up any response from his contact. I will also pose this question to Dell.

Thanks.

 

This should go in the first post:

Read more: Alienware M11x Notebook Review @ HH - Page 7 http://www.hardwareheaven.com/hh-re...-m11x-notebook-review-hh-7.html#ixzz0gFN6fJzE

So overclock at your own risk.

 

I think more important and interesting is; Is there ANY way for Dell/Alienware to tell that overclocking is the reason for a friend processor?

Even if you toast your processor you can just change the setting back/reset the bios and return it under warranty. Seems like a 'non question' to me since as far as I know there is no way of telling whether it has been overclocked or just 'died of natural causes'.

 

Sure, the fried internals will give it away.
I 'm guessing what they mean is that its okay to do it, but they aren't going you cover you if you attempt to overclock the CPU to 2.5GHz or some insane amount, or over-volt the processor.

 

Considering most benchmarks thus far seem to show hardly any significant increase in temperature from a reasonable OC, I doubt it would even fry the thing.

@Jannas
That really depends on what's covered under premium isn't it?

 

Ya, the low temps plus great cooling have me excited really. Would be nice to have something with some power not cook my eggs.

 

I am looking into the OP's question for an official response. I will post back here when I find out the official answer.

 

Hi guys,
Been on the phone to alienware tech support and have have now been told by them that they will not support or guarantee the overclock on the laptop but will warranty it for overclocking if anything goes wrong on a standard warranty. This is completely different to what i was told a few days before that.
When i asked the tech support rep to e-mail me confirmation of what he had said that i have to wait for my M11 to arrive and when i supplied a service tag he would send me an e-mail, but refused to send one through to the details stored on My M17 support account.

Really want to get some confirmation on whether this is covered or not by warranty? Has anyone else spoken to tech support about this?

I will post on here I hear more.

 

Germany here.
Sent my Alienware support an email stating the here discussed topic.
Their response:

"If you are the owner of an Extrem Edition Processor, you have the option to overclock with full coverage of probable damages through warranty. There are exceptions but the M11x is NOT one of them."

Let's hope that they are just misinformed.

 

Hi Guys,
Just spoken to my Dell rep and he has said that he is going to look into whether overclocking is covered by warranty and if it is "possible" but he initially said that overclocking was not covered by warranty. Im very confused now he said he is going to email me as soon as he knows for sure.
ah well! i hope it is if not im going to wait and see when other have successfully OC'd!

 

Bill, we sincerely appreciate the effort to keep us informed. Thanks for your assistance in getting us an official answer. +1
We know that the reps are sales individuals, and don't always have this information, and at times, inaccurate information. We will be eager to hear what you find. Thanks again.

 

I'm sorry it took a few days to get a final answer from Alienware, but it the question had to go around to the Dell Support and Legal teams before they could give me a final answer to share with the forum users here.

Here is the official word from Alienware/Dell:


"A customer will not void his warranty for utilizing the CPU overclock setting in the BIOS of the M11x. If the customer calls in for support and has overclocked the CPU bus using the BIOS setting, support will ask the customer to return the clock speed to factory setting to eliminate any stability issues possibly caused by overclocking for the duration of troubleshooting.

Only in the case where a customer has utilized third party hardware to push the hardware beyond design specifications will a customer be in danger of voiding their warranty."

 

Thanks Jerry.

Kind of shady that Dell did not already have all their reps aware of this, as it could have caused consumers to assume they no longer had a warranty, which is pretty unfriendly on Dell's part - but kudos for them for finally giving a straight answer and for actually supporting the features they themselves designed into the product.

 

Thanks for confirming Jerry. This policy is the same as what they have always had in place on other platforms. Great to finally have an 'official' confirmation.

 

Jerry, thanks for the info, much appreciated. I'm going to quote it in the benchmark thread

 

In the bios on my m11x there is a option enable overclock and if yes it takes my cpu from 1.3GHZ to 1.73GHZ

So therfore theres and option to OC that means No it will not Void the warranty


Also at 1.73 this makes computer very fast Im very impressed by my M11x

 

Really appreciate the official answers. Special credit to BatBoy, Bill and Jerry.

I'd like to submit a request for a sticky thread. I'll update my original post with the official answers.

Thanks again.

 

We limit the AW forum to 4 stickies, so - sorry. This is linked in Post 1 of the M11x benchmark thread and I will add (if steven doesnt first), this info to the M11x OL Page 1 info.

 

I understand. It was only the benefit of other clueless like myself. the links work for this so... perfect!

 

So to understand correctly, it is the standard warranty we are talking about and not the premium or advanced, right?

 

apt2l,

Its whatever warranty you have. You have an active warranty, then its covered.

 

Thanks. Appreciate it.

 

Seems strange it wouldn't be covered since the computer shipped from the factory with an option built into the official bios allowing for overclock, without any modification needing to be made. There is no disclaimer in the bios stating warranty would be void, and if it came down to litigation I doubt alienware would have a leg to stand on. If you had to hack it to change it, that's a completely different story.

 

To sum up. You can overclock the following and stay within the warranty -
Intel Core2 Duo SU7300 (3MB Cache, 1.30GHz to maximum 1.73GHz)
Intel Core-i5 520UM (3MB Cache, 1.06GHz to maximum 1.86GHz)
Intel Core-i7 640UM (4MB Cache, 1.20GHz to maximum 2.26GHz)

Is there ANY way for Dell/Alienware to tell that overclocking is the reason for a fried processor?
* Yes. We can do this in the lab. But, the chances of us re-contacting you are none.

Only in the case where a customer has utilized third party hardware to push the hardware beyond design specifications will a customer be in danger of voiding their warranty.
* But in a no post situation, there is no way we can legally verify what was done to the PC to cause the CPU failure unless you told us. We would simply replace the failed hardware.

M11x
Mobile Intel GS45 Express Chipset
Intel Pentium SU4100 (2MB Cache, 1.30GHz) Y543F Motherboard
Overclockable Intel Core2 Duo SU7300 (3MB Cache, 1.30GHz to maximum 1.73GHz) K1PWV Motherboard
Integrated Intel GMA 4500MHD 384MB shared video card
Discreet GeForce GT 335M 1GB video card
8GB DDR3 1066MHz SODIMMs
Realtek ALC665 audio
65 Watt AC Adapter
Bios- Advanced- Overclock
(Default is disabled, 800MHz CPU bus clock)
(Enabled, 1066MHz CPU bus clock)

M11x R2
Mobile Intel QS57 Express Chipset
Intel Core-i3 330UM (3MB Cache, 1.2 GHz)
Overclockable Intel Core-i5 520UM (3MB Cache, 1.06GHz to maximum 1.86GHz) 1KK46 Motherboard
Overclockable Intel Core-i7 640UM (4MB Cache, 1.20GHz to maximum 2.26GHz) KH7R7 Motherbard
8GB DDR3 1333MHz SODIMMs
Integrated Intel GMA 4500MHD 1.7GB shared video card
Discreet GeForce GT 335M 1GB video card
Realtek ALC665 audio
65 Watt AC Adapter (Intel Core-i3)
90 Watt AC Adapter (Intel Core-i5 and i7)
Bios- Advanced- CPU Turbo Mode (Default is enabled)
Bios- Advanced- CPU OverClock
(Default is disabled, 133MHz CPU bus clock)
(Enabled, 134MHz and 166MHz CPU bus clock)
134 MHz
136 MHz
138 MHz
140 MHz
142 MHz
144 MHz
146 MHz
148 MHz
150 MHz
152 MHz
154 MHz
156 MHz
158 MHz
160 MHz
162 MHz
164 MHz
166 MHz

 

Is there any fix for the BSOD while OCing coming? I think it is voltage issue.

 

bittercold,
They are still investigating this.

 

Sorry for bringing this thread back up.

I'm about to buy the M11X with a 3 year accident (advanced) warranty, so I definitely do not want to void my warranty. I am planning on using the "Turbo Mode" and "SpeedStep". After seeing some benchmarks, I found that OC + Turbo doesn't yield much better results than just Turbo. So, I may or may not overclock it, but knowing that I can gives me a peace of mind. I read the thread, but I also wanted to be sure by getting the up-to-date information myself.

So, I used the dell live chat to talk with sales associates.
I wanted to know two things:
- Would overclocking (through the BIOS, not using 3rd party software) or Turbo mode void the warranty?
- If my processor (or any other part for that matter) became damaged from overclocking would it be covered in the warranty?

I talked with a few different sales associates and got contradictory responses from them. A few said you can overclock without voiding the warranty, but overclock damage is not covered. Another said that even turbo mode voids the warranty. And one person didn't know what speedstep or turbo mode was.

*sigh* I have no idea what the true answer is =/

Does anybody have an official statement from Dell or Alienware? In the event of a computer failure, I really don't want to end up losing my warranty and arguing with weak evidence from some sales rep that didn't really know what he/she was talking about.
"Sir, your warranty is void because you have previously over-clocked your processor."
"But - but, the sales rep said that I could!"

 

It won't void ur warranty OCing through the BIOS..

Turbo mode comes with Intel Core i5/i7 Processors.. its not like overclocking.. it shuts one core and boost the other to increase that one core speed..

 

Ok, thank.