M15x cpu volt mod. Extend the M15x's life :)

I have started to modify my 920xm for a volt mod. I have thus far measured the max voltage at full load at 25x my max stable multi in Wprime by hooking a multimeter to the chip. Having done various tests to understand which VID to jump to VSS (ground) tomorrow I will be completing this mod to add +200mv of power. I shall update with a full guide, pictures and of course results during the coming week.

This is on people Soon we can all enjoy 2860qm like performance and more The beauty of all this is that we don't need to use a soldering iron and nothing is permanent or irreversible. You just need suitable cooling before you attempt it.

 

Exciting stuff. What multipliers are you aiming for with the +200mV over volt? x27?

I've found no new games need more than about 3Ghz. OCing higher than that has extremely diminishing returns.

Also mantle promises game optimisation across lower clocked quad cores meaning any first gen i7 paired with a GCN GPU should pretty good for next years big mantle-supported game releases.

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Min frame rate should increase allowing for more fluid gameplay. Also I intend to go back to video encoding once I start rocking an internal 2TB drive.

My aim is exactly that. 27x full burn stable across all cores. 30x on 1 core. 25x is nearly stable so I think this goal is reasonable.

 

You'll need liquid cooling if you push any further he he

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This sounds interesting! Let me know how much you boys push you're M15x! Since having my GTX 680m and i7 920xm I haven't even had to overclock anything as every game I've played has just been running flawlessly at 60 FPS on high/ultra. Also note I have not experienced throttling once as well on my GTX 680m. Load temps on my 680m and 920xm is 65-70 degrees (both CPU/GPU) which is really good. Think i've maxed my laptop as much as I can in terms of upgrades apart from maybe getting a proper SSD, but don't think I need to for now as my SSHD is still really fast

 

Not needing it isn:t the point Trickster. This is for fun My 7970M can handle anything at 950/1450 clocks. Besides I am not playing any games atm. Nothing out there that catches my attention plus I am super busy..

 

Not a fan of the assassins creed series but the new one is very very very good. It also plays flawlessly on very high settings.

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What do you mean by 25x is nearly stable? I ran prime95 for 30 minutes on 25x and it was fine. Where would it show any errors that occur?
Tempted to try 26x but what tdp/tdc would you use? Going over 100/100 is scary!

 

25x brings up errors on core 2 every time for me. Usually after couple of mins shutting that core down. You have the 940xm so it is normal that you can push a good x1 extra. Maybe 2 if you are lucky.

Anyways too tired today and bust me knee up so just rested tonight. To be continued....

 

Well the mod is a success. It works. However I used cheap MX-4 paste and did a bad job putting it on. It is also too watery. Not surprisingly even with cooling on max temps shot up to nearly 100C before I quit Prime 95.

Now I know it works I can use proper ICD 24 paste and see how things are +200 mv definitely a go though. Also took photos so will do a guide soon!

 

Repasted. Wow +200mv is a little too much for the M15x cooling to handle. Just too much heat too quickly. Clearly the heatpipes are totally over-saturated!

I also will try having the fan suck air out instead of in. Might be more useful when so much heat is being created! Almost like forced air cooling over the entire cpu heatsink. Could be very effective but render the laptop fans very inefficient!

Going to see if I can do a quick reversal of the fan controller now. Unfortunately I stuck my Velcro over the screws

 

I told you you'd need liquid cooling.

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Indeed! It isn't that the extra cooling isn't enough it is that the laptop's cooling solution hasn't the capacity... I will try some other cooling methods. Almost had temps stabilize under 100C by having one fan blow (under GPU) and one fan suck (under cpu). My aim is to level out at 95C. I am pretty sure I can work out a configuration that will give optimal cooling to achieve this. With this done 27x should be attainable. For me stability must be Prime95 stable. Maybe unnecessary as no game stresses cpu so hard but still.

I don't give up easily... If all fails then I will try +150mv like the M17x R2 users.