Some questions while Overclocking

Hey everyone, new M11xR2 owner here. I'm completely new to overclocking, so please tell me if I say anything that doesn't make sense.

So I decided to experiment a bit with OC'ing to see if I notice any in-game performance improvements. I did the following:

- OC'd to 164
- Disabled Intel TurboBoost
- Disabled Intel SpeedStep

I ran CPU-Z, and it's telling me that my core speed is 1479.4 MHz (Multiplier of 9.0). Did I miss something? I was under the impression that disabling SpeedStep will prevent the processor from downclocking when the extra power isn't necessary, unless 1479 Mhz is my max.

What's the highest you guys have achieved for core speed with overclocking? Does anyone know where I went wrong?

 

The 164 sets the base speed of the CPU (164x9 = 1476)
The TurboBoost mode allows it to increase the multiplier when needed (upto x17)
Speedstep allows the multiplier to be lowered when the CPU is not under load

So for OCing to get a static CPU speed do what you did
To get extra power enable TurboBoost (eg 164 x 14 = 2296)

Real world effects may vary due to many factors such as load, heat, power.

 

Thanks. After re-enabling TurboBoost and SpeedStep, I was able to see up to 2.8 GHz (briefly), although I got a BSOD after about 10 minutes of normal use (chrome + pidgin + cpuid). I'm testing 162 MHz right now, and so far it looks normal. Processor has reached a max temp of 60 C with normal use, and seems to be mostly hovering around 52 C.

Has anyone gotten 800 MHz with their RAM? According to CPU-Z my DRAM Freq is 487.1 MHz (it was 493 earlier, but never higher, regardless of core speed), and the ratio is 4:12. I haven't seen an option in the BIOS to change this..does anyone know if I can?

 

so when overclocking that would in turn increase energy usage correct? Does anyone know how much that would affect battery life?

 

BSODs indicate that the bus frequency you've set is not stable. Drop it down to the next lower frequency and then stress test your system for an hour. If things appear to be stable then leave it.

 

Ok, 162 seems pretty stable. Just finished playing Mass Effect on Ultra/Native Res/etc. with 30-60 FPS. My max temperatures seem a little high, though (74 C for CPU, 71 C for GPU). This is while using an antec usb notebook cooler on high. :/

 

Sorry to interrupt, but I just overclocked my processor. I turned on turboboost too and I right clicked "my computer" and went into properties to see my cpu speed.

I ran some cpu intensive apps... but I didn't see it falter from 1.2ghz. It just sits there. Is there a way to determine what my cpu speed is?

 

There are many things that do this but I use:
1. CPU-Z for CPU info for, speeds etc..
2. HWMonitor to see temps (CPU, GPU etc..)
3. Prime95 to stress test the CPU
4. FurMark to stress the GPU
5. Also Real temp which does temp and also CPU speeds

With FurMark and stock settings I have seen temps of 72C (68C with the back slightly raised)

 

I like using HWinfo32 for monitoring my cpu/gpu speeds and temps

 

Just as a note (incase you weren't aware) the actual speed that the RAM effectively runs at is twice what CPU-Z reads. So in this case, it'd be 974.2MHz.

Not sure if there's an option to change it in the M11x, but I don't think there is.

Yes, it'd increase energy use, but theoretically not by much if the voltage remains the same. If you've left SpeedStep on then battery life shouldn't be affected by much if you're not running processor-intensive applications (even if you are you're not looking at a significant reduction)

That looks fine. As long as they aren't going above 80C, it's perfect, and the danger zones are only above 90C. Yes, it's a little hot for the M11x's standard, but it won't make a difference.

 

So uh, I can only get a stable overclock at around 154, and I don't even know if that's stable because I haven't tested it yet.

But my main concern is that core speed without anything ocing goes up to x16 multiplier at ~2.1ghz, but when I go into Assassin's Creed 2 it throttles down to 1.8 and even 1.4ghz sometimes!

This seems to also cause stuttering in games. Is there anyway to ensure my speeds stay at 2.2ghz?

I'm running in high performance profile and have my cpu min and max at 100% in Windows 7 power options.

Reposted in this thread:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m11x/496720-m11x-throttling-issues-4.html
Because it seemed more fitting.

 

Thanks for the replies, everyone! They were helpful.

However, now I have another issue. According to CPU-Z, whenever I do a complete shutdown + restart, my FSB resets back to 133 Mhz. Whenever I go back into the BIOS to change it, it shows the FSB as already being 162, and after rebooting again, CPU-Z shows 162 as well. Anyone have any idea why this happens?

 

I have the same issue, any ideas???