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

Personally, I'd increase the TDP/TDC settings sky high to 100/100 to make sure that they were not interfering with me getting full turbo boost, all the time. Setting these really high will not hurt anything. These UM CPUs are so limited that I don't think you will ever see any benefit going beyond the 30/30 setting but you might.

A fully loaded Core i7-620UM has a maximum turbo multiplier of 13. If ThrottleStop is showing you something close to that when testing then you are doing good. Play around with the TDP/TDC values and watch how that changes the average multiplier while the TS Bench is running. You can also adjust the Force TDP/TDC value in the Options window while the benchmark is running. In previous user testing, setting this down to about 8 seemed to maximize performance.

Just keep an eye on the average multiplier being reported. Use the 1024M test so you have lots of time to play with these settings while monitoring the multiplier. No need to run the whole bench. Just hit the Stop button in the top left corner at any time when you get bored. You can then do some reasonably quick 32M tests to see how your system compares to when you are using default settings.

Vidaluko: Congratulations. I've never done a 1 thread 1024M test. The 32M test is usually good enough to see if your CPU performance is getting better or not. Thanks for posting that. At least other users will have some numbers to compare to.

 

I have mine set to 100/100, get max multiplier at full load 100% of the time, and have no heating issues. It probably doesn't have to be set that high to get max TB, but I couldn't be bothered to test lower values to see where the threshold was.

Edit: 1min too slow...

 

Since your CPU is working correctly roxxor, can you post a couple of 32M benchmark scores from the new TS Bench benchmark in the latest version?

ThrottleStop 2.90 beta 6
ThrottleStop.zip

I'd just like to see some data so users will have some numbers that they can compare to. Include your CPU model too.

 

It's actually 14.

 

The fully loaded maximum turbo multiplier is 14 for the Core i7-640UM but only 13 for the Core i7-620UM.

 

I'm not too sure what score I am aiming for but I thought I'd provide you with a bit of data.

My set-up: i7-640UM, OC-162 and TDP/TDC set to 100/100. The multiplier stayed around 13.75 during the test.

Thanks again for all your work unclewebb

 

More data is a good thing. For comparison, Vidaluko's Core i5-520UM ran the 4 thread 32M test in 48.276 with the bus speed set to 162.3 MHz so Rypac, you have the fastest UM CPU so far.

Did you try playing with the Force TDP/TDC setting to see if that increases your average multiplier a little?

 

Setting the TDP/TDC to 200/200 yields a 32M bench of 39.492secs. Not a very substantial improvement but an improvement none the less, 0.116secs to be exact.

Yay!!! For having the fastest UM CPU so far

It would be interesting to see the score of an i7-640UM at 166 OC.

 

Not sure whats wrong with mine, TDP/TDC settings @ 30/90
i7-640UM, OC-162. TS is bring down the time on TS bench but only from 90secs (approx) to 82.499

CPU usage was 100% on Task Manager and multiplier seems permanently on x14

Any ideas Unclewebb?

 

I'm not sure what's going on for you but in your throttlestop window, there is only 2 lines showing the info on the active threads. If you look at my screenshot a few posts up, there are 4 lines showing the active threads. Maybe that has something to do with it?

 

Core i7-640UM @ 166Mhz, TS 100/100

My first 4 threaded 32M run was 45s. After seeing Rypac's result, I was like . So, closed firefox, shutdown as many background services I thought I could.

Best run so far: 39.597

An interesting observation, the lower I set the "Force TDP/TDC" value, the closer the multiplier got to 14.00. Here's a quick avg:

TDP/TDC = 4, avg multiplier = 14.00
TDP/TDC = 6, avg multipler = 13.97
TDP/TDC = 8, avg multiplier = 13.90
TDP/TDC > 8, avg multiplier = 13.78-13.98 (jumped around a lot)

Not surprisingly, the closer the multiplier stuck to 14.00, the lower the time was. Having other things running in the background drastically affect the results. There are things I still have running that maybe Rypac doesn't (ie/Razer configurator, aliensense, alienfx, intel rapid storage and a few other services I didn't bother turning off).

edit: would love to see how Rypac has optimized his system.

 

Good observation Rypac. A hyper threaded Core i7-640UM should be showing 4 threads in the ThrottleStop monitoring area. M11Ash only has two threads running which is why his benchmark score is hurting.

M11Ash: Open up msconfig and see if you can find your two missing threads. You're only using half of your CPU. I think one core is completely disabled. Go to the Boot -> Advanced Options button. Try unchecking the Number of processors box and then reboot to see if Windows finds a couple of more threads. You might want to have a look at CPU-Z too. It should be showing 2 cores and 4 threads. I'm guessing it shows 1 core and 2 threads or maybe 2 cores and 2 threads which means hyper threading is disabled.

roxxor: You found out the secret to a good score in this benchmark. You need a lean and mean system with as little crap as possible running in the background. Thanks for the results.

 

roxxor Yeah, I don't have most of those things running in the background. I've got a few things though, like: AlienFX, AppleMobileDevice, iPodHelper, etc.

I've spent quite a bit of time optimizing my little beast. Everything I've done has been inspired from these forums, turning off any programs running in the background which I find unnecessary.

I'll give the bench another shot and see what happens if I turn off anything else that is running in the background.

m11ash Let us know if you have had any luck improving your result and getting those other 2 threads up and running.

EDIT: Turning off those services had no difference. Mine is as optimized as it's going to get.

 

Woops! My bad. I didn't catch the 620 there.

 

K, I tested again and again. I am oc at 167, tdc/tdp 95/100, multipier stays at 13.82 mostly, best test score 39.142
I have an I7 4 ram

 

cla1000: Based on what's been posted, it sounds like your CPU is running at the speed it is supposed to be. You can play with the Force TDP/TDC option in the Settings window too. Lowering that increases your average multiplier. That might improve your scores another little bit if you haven't lowered that setting already.

 

My best score in the 4 thread with the 32M (with my i5) is 47.10, but still, with all the default stuff in the background that a normal m11x starts with...

 

You ought to be getting in the mid to high 20s actually. Make sure you have your power plan set to High Performance. You might also want to drop your OC down to 164 just for grins. As unclewebb suggested, lower your Force TDP/TDC to 6 or so too.

EDIT: Belay my last... I thought we you were talking WPrime times. Never mind me.

 

If you have lots of background stuff running on your computer maybe try running wPrime instead. Better yet, go play some games and enjoy your M11x R2.

Don't worry about your times too much. Just adjust ThrottleStop so your average multiplier is not sagging down when fully loaded. When overclocking, as delivered from Dell, these UM CPUs might not give you any turbo boost unless you increase the TDP to a more reasonable level like 30 or greater.

 

Jaja, yeah, I should play something...

Something weird, at 164 OC, the internet dies, takes ages to load google.com but at 166 or 162, everything works great (using TS)

 

Other users have had internet disconnect issues when overclocking to the max while using ThrottleStop but this is not a problem for everybody. If everything is good at 166 then you better run it at 166 MHz.

What value are you using for the Force TDP/TDC option? I don't know yet if going too low with that setting might be causing the internet problem for some users.

Have you done any stability testing like Prime95 at 162 or 166 MHz? Not all of these UM CPUs are 100% stable when you start getting up to this speed.

 

TDP/TDC is 30/30, and I´m gonna do some more benchs or use those other programs some of you talk here...

 

ok. tested again at oc 166, tdp/tdc 80/70, force tdp/tdc at 6 and now multiplier stays at 13.98 mostly, and score was 38.693
Thanks guys.

 

Guys, brilliant that sorted it right out. Getting 38.069 on 32M now its picking up 4 threads

 

If you post a screen shot of ThrottleStop with TS Bench open then you can be the new world record holder for the Core i7-640 UM class.

I plan to add this information to the first post in this thread so new users will have some numbers to shoot for.

Your computer should run a lot better with 4 threads working compared to only 2. I wonder how long that has been like that?

 

Ha ha. What are your settings? Let me see if I can beat that
I had mine oc at 166, but after like a half hour of plaing bfbc2 the game just closed on it's own. I tryed again after that and it closed again. I am now oc at 164 and its working fine. I am playing bfbc2 at high settings with aa off and getting 38 fps avarage with lows at 19 or 18 fps and highs of 70 or more.

 

cla1000: Now that you've got ThrottleStop working for you, how about an in game FPS comparison when overclocked with ThrottleStop running and without.

Some people like to see some FPS numbers to make sure that running ThrottleStop is something worth doing. I know it is but some users might need their arm twisted a little.

 

Here you go Unclewebb, for some reason cant replicate the first score - didn't make it up though honest gov!



I know it's late in coming but I owe you a few beers by now mate. I'll make sure to put that through as soon as I have full time work again in the new year. Apologies that it can't come sooner.

 

K. Here is some bfbc2 FRAPS results:
I7, OC at 164, Ts on bfbc2 setings on high with AA off, and Vsynk off
Frames, Time (ms), Min, Max, Avg
1898, 60000, 18, 57, 31.633
Frames, Time (ms), Min, Max, Avg
442, 19882, 16, 38, 22.231
With TS off
Frames, Time (ms), Min, Max, Avg
1691, 60000, 18, 52, 28.183
Frames, Time (ms), Min, Max, Avg
634, 24627, 16, 48, 25.744

 

Bump, this Is just amazing on my i5, really great work guys.

 

i5 straight out of the box (default drivers config etc) results and questions:

i5 @ 166

throttle bench = 45.225
3dmark06 = 7239

I would like to know how to get my multiplier to stay @ 14?
it seems to fluctuate between 7-14 according to throttle stop but according to cpu-z its constantly at 14?

I have adjusted tdp to 30 and tdc to 30
force tdp/tdc = 8


What am i doing wrong? also how do i get it to load at startup?
just move to startup folder or is there more to it?
Thank you

with new nvidia drivers and gpu overclock: 3dmark06 = 8211

 

Try tdp/tdc 100/100 and force tdp/tdc 4. That does the trick for my i7.

 

How do you get 14 multiplier? I was geting 13 but for some reason (without any settings change) now never goes above 12 (is always 11.80-11.95)

 

actually I looked at it under load and the multiplier is 12x
and you say yours is 13?
?

 

Used to be 12.80-13.50 aprox. with heavy use

But just for a few days, without any setting change, now is below 12 always...

And I ask because we have the same CPU, and your TS bench is 2 seconds lower and the 3D mark test is around 1,000 higher

 

under load mine does not budge from12x

 

The maximum full load turbo multiplier for a Core i5-520UM is only 12.0. You can't compare different CPU models to each other. These maximum limits are set by Intel and there is nothing you can do to go beyond that limit. Without ThrottleStop helping out, a fully loaded and overclocked i5-520UM might not give you any turbo boost and will leave you running at the default 8.0 multiplier. 12.0 is definitely better than 8.0.

I asked the programmer of CPU-Z to explain what his program is saying about the Core i CPUs. Here was his response.

You can trust ThrottleStop. It tells you exactly what the average multiplier is on each thread of these CPUs whether you are idle or at full load. CPU-Z has decided to report a high multiplier for consistent validation purposes.

To start ThrottleStop with Windows either drag a link into your startup folder or use the Task Scheduler method.

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showpost.php?p=3970161&postcount=3657

You have a Core i5-520UM. You are getting the exact full load turbo multiplier that you should be getting. The only time the multiplier in these CPUs goes higher than 12 is when one core is asleep. That's never going to happen when running a benchmark like TS Bench that is fully loading both of your cores. When one core is awake and one is asleep, you get the 14 multiplier. When both cores are active, you get the 12 multiplier. When running a game that is not well threaded, the CPU will constantly be switching between the 12 and 14 multiplier. ThrottleStop reports the average of that. If you run a log file that's what you'll see. It's impossible for these CPUs to run continuously at the 14 multiplier regardless of what CPU-Z has led some people to believe. There are usually 500+ background threads running on the typical Windows system that will be constantly waking up both cores to be processed. This immediately reduces the maximum multiplier from 14 to 12. If you run a single thread of Prime95 and lock it to a single core using the Task Manager Set Affinity..., you might average a multi in the high 13 range but during any 1 second sampling interval you will never see the full 14.

 

yeah, i realized 12x was the correct multiplier at full load.
anyway...
all is good except i would like to know how to effectively utilize this tool?
as in how do i have loadf at start up?

I must say I'm really impressed with this laptop.
I literally pulled this out of a box yesterday and have only adjusted fsb in the bios to 166 and installed the latest 265.90 nvidia drivers. and I managed to crack 8k on 3dmark06
I'm using 30/30 and interval of 12 on ts btw..
PLEASE SEE ATTACHMENTS AT BOTTOM.

 

and here is my TS Bench
44.834
completely stable

fsb: 166
TS: 30/30/12

 

Unclewebb already explained - drag n drop to startup folder, or if you have UAC enabled (which you should tbh), then using the Task Scheduler. Instructions are provided in the link in the post you quoted yourself.

 

my bad. i didn't see that link i guess.
done deal now and it worked great.
time to game now

 

Is it safe to do 100/100 ? doesn't that mean that it will try to activate turbo boost as soon as there is any load on the cpu? potential overheat?

 

No problems, the max I've ever had is 76'C on CPU and 67'C on GPU - this is after hours of heavy gaming with both components being OC with TS and EVGA.. These temps are well, well below the safety threshold. The M11x has a fantastic heat distribution setup.

 

I saw little to no change in going from 30/30 to 100/100 so i'm just sticking with the lower 30/30.
I'm very pleased with my xr2 performance..

 

100/100 is just as safe as 30/30 or 200/200. Once you've raised TDP/TDC limits enough to give you max multiplier under load then there's nothing going on beyond that.

 

then whats the point in raising it past 30/30?? lol

 

When no one knew what the magic threshold was, we started using values that were very high in order to see if it had any impact on battery or heat. Some people simply kept using those values and it really doesn't matter one way or the other.

 

I sometimes don't get max multiplier at 30/30, which is why I run it higher.

 

Also keep in mind that the Force TDP/TDC setting plays a big part in maintaining the max multiplier. For my system 5 keeps it at a rock solid 14, whereas anything higher gives me 13.xx.

 

Another thing to keep in mind is that as a CPU heats up, its power consumption will go up a little. A TDP/TDC setting of 30/30 might be good enough when you start gaming but an hour later, maybe this setting will start to limit the amount of turbo boost you are getting. Setting it sky high to 100/100 should guarantee that the TDP/TDC setting is never a limiting factor to how much turbo boost you are getting.