M11x clock generator ICS9LPRS387BKLF

You'll have to remove the heatsink to be sure.

 

What's the default voltage for your CPU?

 

The default voltage is .9625v.
EDIT: Do I disconnect VID 1 and 0 for 1v?

 

Looks like that would work, but you might need to connect vid 0 and 1 to GND, not sure...

 

davy could you find the voltage regulator for the GPU? how do you know which voltage regulator you are looking at, cpu, gpu, memory?

 

Below we see what the jumpering of VID pins would do. The left values being the original voltages, the right being the modified voltages. TS would still show the original voltages after the mod.

VID1+Vss AND VID0+Vss

0.9625 - 1.0000
0.9500 - 0.9500
0.9375 - 0.9500
0.9250 - 0.9500
0.9125 - 0.9500
0.9000 - 0.9000

VID2+Vss

0.9625 - 0.9625
0.9500 - 1.0000
0.9375 - 0.9875
0.9250 - 0.9750
0.9125 - 0.9625
0.9000 - 0.9000

333Mhz FSLx PLL pinmod for a [email protected] at bootup

Would suggest the VID1+Vss and VID0+Vss mod since it achieves your intended CPU overvolt as soon as you boot your system. Could then do a FSLx PLL pinmod to 333Mhz which could do away from requiring setfsb to overclock. Set your PLL to 333Mhz by connecting the FSLc pin7 to 3.3V via a 10K resistor.

Actually, you can confirm if the system runs with stock voltages at the 333Mhz PLL speed. So then the only benefit of the VID1+Vss and VID0+Vss mod would be extra headroom to go past the current 344Mhz PLL overclock wall you have now. That's if the CPU is the wall.

 

No, I did not find the voltage regulator for the GPU. I think it's under the backplate. Not interested in GPU voltmodding atm, as CPU power is what I lack.

I can tell which regulator is which by:
a) Identifying their name and purpose. IE: The 6261 is described as having: "A 7-bit Digital-to-Analog Converter (DAC) allows dynamic adjustment of the core output voltage from 0.300V to 1.500V." Plus, it has all those VID pins. It's not hard to put 2 and 2 together. I hope.
b) It's close to the CPU, closer then RAM.

 

Thanks, I'm a complete newb when it comes to volt modding but I am also very daring when it comes to these type of things, with usually much success. Just trying to gather as much as info so that I when I am looking for my voltage regulator which may be different I am not picking the wrong one. I hope you can get this volt mod done and I the same way with my R2 so we can be the first to volt mod the R1 and R2 . Keep us posted!

 

So I don't connect anything to ground? That means I'll have to buy a conductive pen or try my luck with a pencil .

I don't intend on doing a FSLx PLL mod, as I will still be using SetFSB to increase FSB to 344 or beyond.

Same here, this is my second notebook mod. We walk a thin line between bravery and stupid.

 

You'll have Vss pins near the VID0/VID1/VID2 pins which you can jumper. Vss is a logic 0. A conductive pen or blob of solder will do the job.

 

I'll check if the nearby pins are connected to VSS (pin 19). Since VSS is 0, wouldn't connecting to ground have the same effect?

 

Vss is ground, so yes.

 

Okay tomorrow, I'll buy a conductive pen.

Today, I'm going to keep trying to clock up the memory. So far I got 6-7-7-21 at 590mhz. Strangely, it is more stable then 6-8-8-24 at 580mhz.

@moral hazard: You said earlier that a voltmod for RAM is possible. What do I have to do?

 

Something like this:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/har...137-ram-volt-mod-anyone-done.html#post6450080

 

Okay, I got my conductive pen. Do I draw a line from pin 28 and 29 (pins 28, 29) to VSS (pin 19) or can I draw to a random spot in the PCB near the pins? Reason I'm asking is because pin 19 is so far away from 28/29.

I'll be looking for a ground point. What is the value of ground? Should be nothing on the multimeter right?

 

so juicy i hope this works, sorry i cant offer any help

 

That's ok. Btw, my backplate fell off, so I had a look. The voltage regulator is not there.

EDIT: I found VSS (pin 19) is connected to VSSP (pin 25) as the multimeter shows 0 Ohms. Should I use it? It's much closer then pin 19.

 

hey davy can you see if you can spot the GPU voltage regulator while you have everything open? i think i am refreshing every 10 minutes to see if someone helpful can lend you a helping hand so you can get some results.

 

I can't find the GPU voltage regulator. I checked every component I could read and I got everything, from fan controllers to HDMI multiplexers and MOSFETs, even the GPU clock crystal, but no voltage regulator anywhere near the GPU.
I found only one chip i couldn't read and it looks something like "PLZ1". The WWAN cover only has a component related to battery charging and the WLAN cover has nothing.

The only area I haven't checked thoroughly is the Southbridge area.

I had a look at the datasheet for Pin 25 (VSSP) and it's described as: "
The return path of the lower gate drive". The schematic shown it leads to ground, so a picture really does say a thousand words.

 

damn, thanks for lookin i appreciate it... have you mustered up the courage to do the pin mod?

 

I already mustered up the courage to do the same pin mod, twice as the first attempt failed to increase voltage. Now testing the second attempt, but temperatures got cooler (IntelBurnTest loads at 54C instead of 58C) so it doesn't look successful.
EDIT: Tried it again a third time. Temperatures are still abnormally low :S

Btw, Tassadar898, how are you going with your CPU voltage regulator mod?

EDIT EDIT: The instructions say allow 45min for air cure. D'Oh.

EDIT EDIT EDIT: Failure. I need to rethink this...

 

damn i was hoping when i chekced back i would see some crazy R1 benchmarks. i havnt opened up my laptop yet im waiting for my arctic silver 5 and conducting pen to arrive on wednesday.

 

This question is for DavyGT unless someone else knows but I noticed in you're sig you have the cpu OC'd to 2.07 GHz. How?

 

Oh....they've only been discussing it for the last 10 pages or so. I suggest you start there.



Considering you'll probably want shorthand.....he pinmodded his M11x to unlock the TME....which allows him to set his FSB now. Tho, he's hit his (stable) limit now & is looking for voltage mods & RAM timing mods to help him get higher.

 

2.07Ghz wasn't the problem. The problem was the insane amount of bloat I had. Now that is fixed, I managed to get performance very close to an R2 i5.

I mean check this out:


Uploaded with ImageShack.us

58s, a bit too close to 65s for 1.6Ghz SU7300.

Now fixed:


Uploaded with ImageShack.us

52s, just by removing the high idle CPU usage. (I was idling at 10% with spikes to 25-38%, in the same pattern that cause my game stuttering. )

All the games that I tested previously that did stutter, don't stutter now (Bad Company 2, Just Cause 2 and Black Ops.)

 

And my CPU idles at ~zero so I have no way of getting any better than ~65sec using TS Bench on an M11xR1 SU7300 1.6Ghz. Maybe a second or two if I paired away all non required processes.

Well done Mr DavyGT

You know what's going to happen now. You going to have to write a White Paper on how you did it.

Or I could read through 28 pages ... and actually learn something for myself

 

WOW i am shocked. your score is close to my i5 OCed and at similar clock speed frequency. people could get a cheap core2duo for $500 pinmod it and get R2 performance with better battery life.

 

That is great news, could you maybe provide some game benchmarks if and when you get a chance?

 

Hats off. Great work!

 

I don't need to write a white paper, Nando4 and Dufus already done it. All I did was implement their work into my M11x, so props to them.

Sure. What games and settings would you like?

Thanks everybody.

 

Honestly whatever games are easiest for you to test. Would just like to see games that you think show a great increase in performance (CPU intensive games) and/or games that went from not really playable (~20fps) to playable >30 fps.

 

It would be cool if you wrote a little guide showing how you did everything with pictures. I'm hesitant to try it right now, but i feel like if you made a little step by step guide with pics on the whole pin modding thing that would be amazing

 

Right, I stopped clocking up but I still have to work with booting- it will boot at 1.6Ghz and I'll have to load SetFSB, set all the registers and then use the system. Not very practical in the long term. So I hope I can make a SetFSB PLL profile to automate the overclock.

While I'm here, I better run over the Pros and Cons of PLL overclocking:
Pros:
1. It's faster: I gained more speed then with the system's Overclock mode. It's pretty much a low end full voltage Core 2 Duo now.
2. It's possible to use the M11x as it was sold: at 1.73Ghz with SpeedStep.
3. It doesn't run any hotter.

Cons:
1. Cannot clock down: Once I set register 14 to 87 (for 2.07Ghz) the system will crash and reboot if I set it back to 68 (1.6Ghz).
2. Cannot reboot: If I reboot with the overclock applied, I will get a blackscreen saying "Operating System not found". SetFSB does something funky with the SATA clock.
3. Not automated: Must keep using SetFSB or buy the shareware version to automate the overclock during startup.
4. Unknown effects on battery.
5a. Needs a good VID chip to clock further (Only applies if Overclock mode is enabled): The CPU is still receiving .9v with SetFSB, so obviously, one must have a good quality chip to keep increasing clocks. In my experience with desktop Core 2 Duos, a lower VID meant it could clock further at the same voltage so I think it applies here too. YMMV.
5b. Needs good RAM to keep clocking up (Only applies if Overclock mode is disabled): The chipset sets the RAM divider to 1:2 during Stock 1.3Ghz speed. By default, the M11x is shipped with 1066mhz RAM with timings of 6-6-6-15 (457mhz) being applied. This means if the FSB is increased beyond 228mhz, the RAM is being overclocked and YMMV. I can't comment on using Thaiphoon Burner or CAS7 RAM as I haven't been able to boot with it. I only got to 293mhz with 6-6-6-15 timings.

Ok, here's a set I just prepared:

Just Cause 2
Stock 1.6Ghz:

Overclocked 2.07Ghz:


Far Cry 2
Settings: 1366x768, NoAA, Ultra High Preset
Stock 1.6Ghz:

Overclocked 2.07Ghz:


Dawn of War 2
Settngs: All high, some off.
Stock 1.6Ghz:

Overclocked 2.07Ghz:

Dirt 2
Stock 1.6Ghz:


Overclocked 2.07Ghz:


And for good measure, Cinebench 10
Overclocked 2.07Ghz:

According to NotebookCheck's CPU Chart, it's in close to a 2.26Ghz P7570.

As you can see, graphics heavy games show very little or no difference. Only CPU bottlenecked games show an improvement.
EDIT: But the improvement scales with the increased clockspeeds: Dirt 2 and Dawn of War 2 both run ~30% faster then 1.6Ghz, in line with the ~30% increase in clockspeed.

That guide has already been written by Nando4 and Dufus. It would be disrespectful for me to make a guide and call it mine and receive credit for their work.
But all it is, is just connecting 2 points on the motherboard- TME pin to Ground through a 10K resistor. You don't have to solder if you really don't want to- cutting the pin works too.

 

still, i suggest you delete cdkey from colin shots

Please, make GTA 4 test. Its really THAT game which is very laggy on all settings on m11x

 

That guide has already been written by Nando4 and Dufus. It would be disrespectful for me to make a guide and call it mine and receive credit for their work.
But all it is, is just connecting 2 points on the motherboard- TME pin to Ground through a 10K resistor. You don't have to solder if you really don't want to- cutting the pin works too.

We really need some HQ photo guide here

 

DavyGT,

Have you considered buying better RAM?

And why do I still see some people refering to 1.6 GHz overclock? I thought it was confirmed by Alienware themselves that the overclock is 1.73 GHz?

 

Nope it's not 1.73.

 

I'll have to clear some space for it. I doubt it can play it well, my 3.2Ghz E4500 couldn't play it without lagging around every corner a car turns.

Alright, post some HQ photos and I can draw what I did. I doubt my camera can take HQ photos even if it's working, I mean, it's only 6 megapixels and doesn't support much outside the preinstalled presets.

I have not considered buying new RAM as I can't see myself replacing a perfectly good 2GB stick with another 2GB stick. Also, I don't know for sure the M11x will boot with any RAM other then CAS6 :S.

Here is the thread that dispels 1.6Ghz vs 1.73Ghz.

 

Ya i saw that post but it kinda confused me a little. Wheres the ground point that you have to solder it to?

Heres a ram kit on newegg if your interested in overclocking further:
Newegg.com - Kingston HyperX 4GB (2 x 2GB) 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1066 (PC3 8500) Laptop Memory Model KHX1066C5S3K2/4GX

Since it'll run 5/5/5 @ 1066mhz, and i dont think the m11x supports xmp profiles so it bumps up latency to 6/6/6. That means if you bump fsb to 355 you'd be running 2.3ghz and ram would be running 1066mhz @ 6/6/6, which is too fast for stock ram and most other ram because at that speed cas latency is supposed to be 7, but with this ram you should still be within specification. Not sure if it'll actually work, or is you wanna spend $100 on an overpriced 4gb kit, but thats just my 2 cents.

 

Wow. Thanks. I remember an Alienware rep on this forum confirming it was 1.73 GHz, but it is apparent from that thread it is only 1.6 GHz. How embarrassing for them. False advertising as well. Jeez.

 

@Davy- Now give Battlefield Bad Company 2 a try. Simple test is to...
Stock - connect to an empty 32 man server with fraps running on Atacoma conquest. Hit f11 to start logging. Drive 4 wheeler, capture each flag, shoot and blow stuff up. hit f11 to stop logging. Then log out, close game. Overclock and do the same thing again. Post Results. If I had to guess maybe 6-8 fps higher on average?

Congrats again. The darn forums wont let me rep you yet. Outstanding work sir!

StevenX

 

Ok, will do. BTW, thanks for compiling all the tweaks and optimizations for Bad Company 2.

The ground point can be any screwhole, it counts as ground. I know because when I put my multimeter to voltage regulator pin 19 (VSS, ground) and a screwhole and measure the resistance, it comes back as 0Ohms, which means it's connected to ground.

The problem with the HyperX kit is that it's rated for CAS6 1066mhz. When Overclock mode is on, the RAM has more headroom as the limit here is vcore and the ratio is 2:3. I ran out of vcore before I did RAM speed in this mode. EDIT: Hence, 2.07Ghz.

With overclock mode off, another ratio is applied, 1:2, which makes clocking hard- I reached my RAM's limit despite being able to clock further on the core. That is the problem: The latency is too low for the fast speeds. What we need is a 1333Mhz kit with CAS6 and I don't think there are too many of those. That HyperX kit may or may not clock any further then stock RAM as both are rated for 1066mhz operation.

Has anyone got any success booting with non-CAS6 RAM?

No problem.

 

Thanks a lot for the benchmarks, rep to ya! Curious to see the results of BFBC:2 as well. If I had to request one other game it would be Metro 2033.

 

@Davy - Also.. My average in bfbc2 on an empty server was anywhere from 41-44 fps. Low was around 29-32fps. The low is where you would sit if the server is full. This is just my experience with the m11x. I look forward to seeing your results. Again great work. StevenX

 

I don't own Metro 2033 and the benchmark tool is only included with the full game. How about some STALKER COP? They look alike.

Where are the logs stored? I did my first run but I can't find the logs.

 

frapslog.txt under the c:\fraps (if this is where it was installed)

 

I uninstalled FRAPs. Looks like I need it again.

 

Metro 2033 is massively GPU limited on the 335m, heck it's GPU limited on my overclocked GTX460's in SLI (to the point that I was seeing sub 30fps in certain areas (running Very high @ 1680x1050).

It is so GPU limited that even a mild GPU overclock can lead to improvements.

 

I plan on trying this mod sometime in the future (just bought an R1 with today's sale) and have read this thread the whole way through and am wondering; you state above that you can't reboot with the overclock applied since it messes with the SATA controller, let's say you do reboot and get the "operating system not found" msg, does a hard power on/off cycle fix it or do you have to do something else to recover?

 

Okay, got it. Here are the results:
1.6Ghz:
2011-01-12 11:14:25 - BFBC2Game
Frames: 3217 - Time: 97374ms - Avg: 33.038 - Min: 24 - Max: 54

2.07Ghz:
2011-01-12 11:32:08 - BFBC2Game
Frames: 4451 - Time: 101193ms - Avg: 43.985 - Min: 30 - Max: 73

I ran it at Atacama Desert with nobody. At A, I sprayed into a white building, at B, I just waited in the Humvee and at C I used my tube and grenades. The only tweak I used was +allproc. Settings were all low, NoAA and 1366x768, DX10/10.1.

EDIT EDIT: Looking at the results, I gain ~30% performance for ~30% increase in clockspeed. So we now got 1 game (Just Cause 2) showing no increase, 1 game showing little increase (Far Cry 2's min FPS is +30% but not max or avg) and 3 games (DOW2, Dirt 2, BFBC2) with increases in scale with the rise in clock speed. Seems good to me.

EDIT:

I have to hard reset to get it working again.