How to Supercharge the M11x with Core i5/i7 UM CPUs

Thanks man!
Running better all ready

 

I also did a WEI before and after, and in the CPU it went from 5.9 to 6.5

 

First off I just gotta say thank you unclewebb for an awesome program I will be donating.

I just got my m11x r2 yesterday from the dell outlet, Core i7 4gs ram, exclusively to play Starcraft 2. Overclocked cpu at 166- TDP/TDC 100/100- force TDP/TDC at 8 and it runs on ultra perfect. I was playing a full 3v3 in full battles with no lag whatsoever! I played for 6 hours straight cpu temps stayed around 65 at all times. Wow. Not even my friends other alienware can run on ultra. Who knew such powerful potential was sitting in this little thing? Thank you to unclewebb for unlocking it!

 

my m11x won't go past 14 multi with two threads of folding@home cpu client. I have the i7. Shouldnt it go to 17?

 

14 for 2 cores. 17 for one core.

 

If you are running 2 threads and each thread is running on a separate core and keeping each core fully active then you will be limited to 14. If you manually locked your 2 threads of folding@home to a single core then you would get the 17 multiplier whenever the second core was asleep. You need to use the Task Manager Set Affinity... option to lock these 2 threads to a single core. If you have nothing else running on your CPU, the second core should be able to spend a significant amount of time asleep so you might end up with an average multiplier up around 16. Anytime the second core needs to wake up to process a background task, you will immediately drop back to a maximum multiplier of 14.

 

That network throttling issue is related to audio, but the problem I am encountering is related specifically to throttlestop. I've tried the experiment multiple times, and it seems that the extra heat generated using throttlestop is tolerated by the CPU but not tolerated by the WiFi card. I've tried replicating the problem using prime95 plus wifi use (instead of starcraft ii on battle.net) and the WiFi does disconnect after ~30 min to full CPU load with throttlestop on max settings. I am using Dell 1520 WiFi that came with my m11x R2.

Nobody else seems to have this problem, so I wonder if my particular WiFi card is just defective in terms of heat tolerance.

UPDATE:

I replaced my Dell 1520 Wifi mini card with an Intel 6200 Ultimate-N Wifi mini card (came in the mail today) and this solved my problems. I am also getting stronger signals even though I am still using only two antennas (the 6300 can support up to 3 internal antennas). I played several hours of starcraft 2 with Throttle stop at 200/200, TDP=8, and BCLCK= 164MHz with no more WiFi disconnects.

 

Yeah, I am just not having this problem. I was just playing L4D2 for over 2 hours on my i5 with max OC (166MHz), with ThrottleStop on, 1920x1080 HDTV, using wifi to connect online the whole time. No problems at all.

 

mcham: What core temperatures are you reaching when your WiFi card loses its connection?

How much are you overclocking the BCLK?

 

At the time I was having problems, the BCLK was set at 164 MHz.
Only the WiFi was getting affected. If I fully load the CPU with Throttlestop and play starcraft 2 using the wired ethernet, there is no internet disconnect problem. Right after a starcraft Wifi disconnect, if I exit the game and try to manually re-connect the WiFi, it will hesitate connecting until after about 30 seconds after exiting starcraft, which suggests that the temperature is no longer too hot for the WiFi card at that point. When web surfing, there are no WiFi disconnects. Prime 95 also triggers the WiFi disconnect.

I posted an update - my new WiFi card (Intel 6300 Ultimate N Wifi mini card) has solved the problem. I can now run Throttlestop, load the CPU, and no more WiFi problems. I don't know if my problem is specific to Dell 1520 WiFi mini card (came with my m11x R2). I am suspecting the Dell 1520 WiFi problem was heat related, but I do not know for sure. The laptop fan works fine.

Thanks again for your awesome Throttlestop software. I love it and has really improved the gaming experience on the m11x!

 

Thanks mcham for thoroughly testing and isolating this problem. I think I'll go add a line or two to the first post in case anyone else runs into a similar problem.

 

I do not experience such disconnect even overlocking to 166mhz with TS enabled. GPU is overclocked as well. And I can go on and on continously over 6hrs straight without wifi dropping a single time. I always game on wifi with this lappy since my router is outside the room and I cant be bother to pull another wire into the room just for it. I am on the stock wifi card btw.. so it look more like system specific rather than a common or widespread issue

 

Is your stock WiFi card the Dell 1520 (made by Broadcom)? I hear that some people get an Intel brand Wifi card as their stock minicard, and it is luck of the draw - no option to choose WiFi brand when ordering m11x R2.

I do agree with you that this must be an isolated problem because I haven't heard other people experience this problem.

 

Not sure if this is due to Throttlestop or simply settings currently being too high but so far Star Craft II has crashed twice, once randomly in a skirmish with A.I and once when I clicked the score screen at the end of a match. I need to do a few more tests to see be sure but if anyone else has had this issue I'd like to know.

It may also be due to the new patch as one guy on the Blizzard forums has been getting the same errors since the newest one went live.

 

You might want to drop your CPU OC down a notch to see if that helps with stability.

 

Did some toying about with the OC and the settings everything seems fine now from what I can tell.

 

I think I should have Broadcom. As far as my drivers properties shows. Driver provider = Broadcom

 

This is somewhat relevant to the thread. I have heard webb mention using throttlecharge to help increase battery life by setting the ratios further apart. However no specifics were given, anyone tried testing if throttlestop will really limit the cpu enough to increase battery life? and at what values? I have searched this thread but it is hard to find the information. I do know that TS will disable turboboost which would be helpful. But do i need to click disable Turboboost option and then turn on TS for that to work?

 

I use the Windows Performance Monitor and monitor Battery Power Consumption when testing.

The default turbo TDP/TDC for the UM CPUs is 10/30. If you reduce the turbo TDP from 10 to 5, your maximum power consumption should decrease. As the load increases, you will get less turbo boost.

Run a program like Prime95 Small FFTs to create a constant load while testing. This program lets you choose how many threads you'd like to run from 1 to 4.

Prime 95

Disable Turbo works in Monitoring Only or in ThrottleStop Enabled mode. After you Disable Turbo, you should be able to turn ThrottleStop off and your turbo boost will remain disabled. This might be your best shot at increasing battery life at the expense of performance.

You'll have to do your own testing to see what, if anything, can be gained. My testing on a 45nm Core 2 mobile CPU showed that often times you don't gain anything. Slowing a CPU down only makes it inefficient.

In the Core i design, when an individual CPU core is idle, its core voltage and power consumption drops to zero. There's a lot to be said for running a CPU fast so it can get its work done quickly. This allows the CPU to enter and spend a bigger percentage of time in the C6 sleep state where the real power savings are found.

 

unclewebb, does this apply only to UM procs?

This is the default on my i5 430M ES:

 

Septimus you can try to change the tdp/tdc settings on your i5 if you would like, I did some testing on my i5-540m in my m15x and showed no gains that were worth the risk of bumping the tdp/tdc settings, I showed absolutely no gains whatsoever until I more than doubled the settings. Some cpu's will also have a locked tdp/tdc setting on them where you can't change them at all. If you're going to try it out do so at your own risk and make very small increases on only one at a time(tdp -or- tdc, not tdp -and- tdc) let's say increases of 5 per testing round. Always test after you change any settings with a program such as wprime1024 or prime 95 to ensure stability and see if it nets any increase in performance, while doing that also make sure you monitor your temps with something like hwinfo32 to be able to decide if the increases in performance(if any) are worth the temps and battery life. And as always ask questions before if you have them.

 

An i5-430M has a default rating of 2.26 GHz and the screen shot you posted shows 2.13 GHz so it's definitely not a 430M.

Intel® Core? i5-430M Processor (3M Cache, 2.26 GHz) with SPEC Code(s) SLBPM, SLBPN

If it is an i3 like I think it is, they don't support turbo boost so playing around with the turbo TDP/TDC settings won't do anything for you.

Because your CPU is an early ES CPU, it's possible that it is a hybrid with characteristics of two different retail CPUs. That happens sometimes when Intel is playing around at the early ES stage. Post a ThrottleStop screenshot while running a couple of threads of Prime95 to see what it shows.

 

Copy. I'll do that when I get home. In any case, wPrime shows 4 threads when I run it, but that is probably because I set 4 threads. Any particular version of P95 you want me run?

Edit#
-----
Dane, does current scale as I set higher limits? When I increase clocks with SetFSB, it jumps around by about 100~150MHz before getting stable. If I run a bench, CPU clock seems to drop. Now, if I use TStop with EIST C1E off, CPU freq is lower at the same value on SetFSB. In other words, CPUz reports a larger CPU freq when SetFSB alone is used.

 

Wow! After setting the value to 30 from 10 on my M11x, my benchmark time was cut in half! Thanks a bunch!

 

Does the throttlestop work for the i7 640LM (Not M11x),

Sorry just curious...

- Philo

 

No reason why it should not. I am running an ES and that is why you see some weird stuff going on in my case.

 

MrPhilo: ThrottleStop will work for your CPU. Maybe start up another thread for whatever laptop you are using or go to the ThrottleStop Guide thread and post any questions you have there. PM me a link if you would like me to look at your results. The value you use for the Force TDP/TDC option might be a little different for a different laptop but other than that, everything should be pretty much the same as outlined in the first post of this thread.

 

Hey, I was looking on youtube to see how other M11x users were doing on black ops. I have all my setting completely low, and still lag on single player and multi. Anyways, I got here somehow and downloaded ThrottleStop, however your instructions say to "Right Click" an open area to get a pop up menu. Well mine does not have any options for "Turbo Power Limits". I believe I have the M11x R1, as I made the purchase around May. Anyways, any help would be appreciated!

 

The M11x R1 does not have the same processor as the R2 models, I'm not sure if Throttelstop could help you in any way but you don't have Turbo Boost on your computer.

 

The title of this thread is,

How to Supercharge the M11x with Core i5/i7 UM CPUs

You likely have an older generation, Core 2 based, SU7300 CPU which does not support the turbo boost feature that the newer CPUs have. That's why there is no right mouse click Turbo Power Limit options for your CPU.

ThrottleStop can monitor the performance of one of these older CPUs but it won't be able to improve performance any unless your laptop has a throttling problem. I haven't heard of any M11x R1 owners reporting problems like that.

 

Hi,

I have the M11x R2 i7 processor. I downloaded and used this program about a month ago, and my wPrime 32M scores improved from ~31s to ~27s. However, at some point in the last month, it stopped working; now, the scores remain around 31s no matter whether Throttlestop is on or not, or what values I change the TDP or TDC to.

For what it's worth, I use the TurboBoost monitor. Previously, when Throttlestop was off, it showed 1.86 GHz turbo boost, and when Throttlestop was on, it was around 2.2 GHz or so. Now, it shows 1.86 GHz turbo boost even when Throttlestop is on, so it doesn't seem to actually be improving the turbo boost ability anymore.

The battery plan is set to High Performance and minimum processor state of 100% as it should be.

Does anyone have any ideas as to what may have caused the program to stop working? I really wish I had more helpful detail to provide, but I don't know what else to mention.

 

How about post a screen shot of ThrottleStop about half way through a wPrime 32M benchmark so I can see what multipliers are being reported and how you have ThrottleStop set up.

Another thing to post would be a log file of an entire wPrime32M run so I can have a look at what the multiplier is doing during the run. Use the More Data option so I have lots of numbers to look at and you can upload it to Free File Hosting Made Simple - MediaFire and post a link here. Upload any pictures to ImageShack® - Online Photo and Video Hosting

The other thing to check is what do you have Force TDP/TDC set to? This value is in the Options window towards the bottom right.

Have you changed the BCLK / bus speed frequency in the bios? If you are not overclocking in the bios then ThrottleStop usually doesn't show much difference in performance on the M11x R2.

 

This thread needed to be bumped ^^^

It is such a valuable tool for R2 owners, it should never be at the bottom of page 5. I know there are only 4 sticky posts allowed, but IMO this should be one of them.

 

I just started using it today, with OC of 162, I went to the bios and put 164 just to test it out, and it works, but blocks my internet, I can´t connect to my internet, restarted, still the same, did a fix problems with windows, the same, so I restarted, got back to 162 and now works again....

BTW, there are to many pages, is there a way to TS to start with windows? I click an option in the menu of the program, but after the restarts I always need to start it....

 

Here you go:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/6788321-post119.html

 

Thx

BTW guys, I´m having the same problem, it goes back to 133 in the TS program, even when I have it 162 in the BIOS, I dunno if I still have the 162 and the TS program shows 133, or I get real 133...

The only way to got back is to restart, bios, change the OC to like 164, then it shows 164 in TS; but after a few restarts, or sometimes just one, it goes back to 133, then I need to go to 162 again...

 

I'd try 160 and see if that is more persistent. Maybe anything higher is choking and it's reverting back to stock BCLK.

 

Vidaluko: If you don't trust ThrottleStop, run CPU-Z to get a second opinion of your overclock to see if it really did get reset to 133 MHz.

Have you done any stability testing like Prime95?
http://www.mersenne.org/freesoft/

An hour of the Small FFT test and an hour of the Blend test would be the minimum I'd run after overclocking to make sure a CPU is reasonably stable.

It sounds like if your overclock is not stable, the bios dumps your overclock setting and uses the default 133 MHz setting instead. A lot of motherboards have a fail safe feature like that built into them so at least they boot up rather than just sitting there and hanging with a black screen.

If the overclock you are using is not 100% stable then there is a good chance that sooner or later you will corrupt Windows and will have to do a re-install at some point. Overclocking is not guaranteed. Most users can not run the full 166 MHz overclock and have to settle for less. It's often times their memory that is holding them back.

 

Oh, so if the OC is not stable, it goes back to 133? I get it now, because yes, even in CPU-Z is the same:

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b245/VIdaluko/Sinttulo-11.png

I´m gonna try a lower OC, thx, and sorry, this is my first machine that has some gaming power (console owner all my life with laptops with integrated cards)

 

would this work on an envy 14 with standard voltage core i5 560? Would it make a difference with the envy 14 like is its cooling good enough to where it always turbo boosts when needed anyways?

If this program does work what should I set the numbers at for a standard core i5

 

I just added a new benchmarking feature to ThrottleStop so it will be easier to get some quick feedback to how your overclock settings are working for you.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/6946306-post65.html

laststop311: Download the latest beta version posted above and do some testing. The first post in this Supercharge M11x thread should tell you the basics. If you are running 4 threads of the new TS Bench, see if your multiplier is steady or is drooping down. If it's going down then try increasing the TDP/TDC values and see if that makes a difference. Cooling is not usually an issue that determines how much turbo boost you get. CPU core temperature can be an issue but not until you get up to the thermal throttling point. It's mostly power consumption that will limit you. ThrottleStop should let you adjust your turbo TDP/TDC values higher but I haven't seen any i5-560 tests yet. On most of the standard voltage Core i5 CPUs, increasing TDP/TDC only makes a small difference to performance. The UM CPUs are much more restricted so increasing the turbo TDP/TDC values makes a much bigger difference to them.

You'll have to do your own testing to see what TDP/TDC values are appropriate for your CPU.

 

nvm cant do it.

 

Sorry guys but I lost my nerve with reading this thread. 80% of it is foreighn language to me. Is there any simple instruction on how to overclock the I7 and then the gpu. I never done none of that so I need help at troll level. Thanks

 

Go into your bios and overclock the CPU to about 160 MHz. Download ThrottleStop and follow the first post in this thread. It's not that hard to overclock your CPU and get ThrottleStop set up correctly. To be honest, it doesn't get much easier. At least give it a try and if you have any trouble, ask specific questions.

The latest version of ThrottleStop has a benchmark built into it so it will be easy to see if your overclocking is providing any dividends.

ThrottleStop 2.90 beta 6
http://www.mediafire.com/?jdal8a26utytlum

 

unclewebb did you get my donation?

 

thank you. I did mannage to oc at 166 I bilive. As for ts I adjusted turbo power limits to 30/30. Am I missing anything?

 

I did the bench with my m11x R2:

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b245/VIdaluko/Sinttulo-13.png

 

tassadar898: Unfortunately the NBR rules prohibit any talk about donations so all I can say is

Vidaluko: What average multiplier does ThrottleStop show during the middle of a 32M benchmark test? You might have to increase TDP/TDC some more if you are not getting close to full turbo boost. Unfortunately, you are the first one to post any results from the new TS Bench test so I don't know if your numbers are good or bad for your CPU. Hopefully another user or two can try this new benchmark and post some numbers. You can also try running wPrime. Just watch your multiplier when the CPU is fully loaded. Tell me what CPU you are using and I will tell you what multiplier you should be getting during this test. It looks like you have not increased TDP/TDC yet. Can you try running a 1 thread and a 2 thread 32M test just so I can see some numbers?

Edit: A fully loaded Core i5-520UM should be showing an average multiplier approaching 12 if the TDP/TDC is set high enough. Maybe an average multiplier of 11.8 or 11.9. At the default TDP/TDC settings of 10/30, an overclocked 520UM will probably not be showing any turbo boost and will be running at the default multiplier which is only 8.

cla1000: Same as above for you. When fully loaded during a benchmark test, make sure you are getting close to full turbo boost. You can go back to default TDP/TDC settings of 10/30 for a baseline test and then increase TDP/TDC and see if your benchmark scores improve. You should see much quicker times and you should see a much higher average multiplier during any full load benchmark test.

 

I´m getting a multiplier of 12.5-13.5 fully loaded with those benchs, but the 1and 2 thread benchs are taking forever (the 1024M), I moved to TDP/TDC 30/30, temps are 65-70°

I´m gonna post the results of 1/2 thread in a few minutes...

Edit1:

It did, the first test of 32M with a 9 multiplier, I got 61, with a 12-13 I got 49

Edit2: tests done

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b245/VIdaluko/Sinttulo-14.png

 

Thank you again. I have a few other probably dumb questions. How do I know if I am getting close to full turbo boost? And the TDP/TDC wallues how much should I increase each? Sould I increase them separatly or proportionally together?