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    Picked up a M15x R2 dirt cheap, few issues possibly?

    Discussion in 'Alienware M15x' started by Velislide, Jan 10, 2014.

  1. Velislide

    Velislide Notebook Guru

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    So I picked up a R2 m15x for 200$ the other day, came with the i3 and 240m. I took that out and swapped in a i7-720q and 5870m from my m17x r2. I currently have some mismatched slow ddr3 ram (only 3 gigs total) in it, and under 3dmark 11 I am getting P2184 for my score. Seems normal maybe? Except when I look at the cpu clocks during the benchmark, reported Turbo clock is only 931 mhz. The hell?

    ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5870 video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-720QM Processor ,Alienware

    Could it have something to do when I power on the laptop, I get a "AC adapter is not original shipped with laptop, blah blah" error message. I went through the whole soldering a new AC jack ordeal, on my m17x to get it to run right, but was a totally different message and this one shows 240watts in the bios.

    Also Core Temp shows 34c idle, and only got to 46c during full load during 3dMark11. Seems pretttttty chill, lol.

    Logged gpu-z temps, max temp on 3dmark 11 was 69c for the 5870m. A lot cooler then my m17x!

    I ran Intel Burn test and it wont even break 47c, with 931mhz on each core. Doesnt throttle up at all, no matter what I try. Its on High Performance power settings also.

    Installed Throttle Stop, works fine now. Locked multiplier to 13T. Scored P2250 in 3dmark11.
     
  2. fatboyslimerr

    fatboyslimerr Alienware M15x Fanatic

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    What PSU did you use to get it to work?
     
  3. Velislide

    Velislide Notebook Guru

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    PSU it came with, and my m17x psu both work the same with it. Both slim 240 watts.
     
  4. fatboyslimerr

    fatboyslimerr Alienware M15x Fanatic

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    What physics score are you getting in 3d mark 11?

    Sent from my One S using Tapatalk
     
  5. Alienware-L_Porras

    Alienware-L_Porras Company Representative

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    Have you tried disabling the Stealth mode?
     
  6. Velislide

    Velislide Notebook Guru

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    Yep, wasn't on. Another thing I notice is the fans are on a constant speed, don't know if they are on full speed, but they never change speed. I never had any issue with this i7 in my m17x, so don't really know what the deal is. I don't see any thermal settings in the bios on this A09 revision either, which is odd for any bios. I'm just glad it works now, installed Skyrim and silky smooth, basically I only really planned on the girlfriend using this laptop to game on, so for 200$ I'm pretty happy even with the strange issues.

    Also, physx score before I installed Throttle Stop, was 2312. I'll run a new benchmark after work.

    Now if only I could find some replacement rubber feet. This m15x is missing all of them, and even my m17x is missing a bunch.

    Hmm 1st overclock attempt. Not bad for stock voltage?

    http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/7801406
     
  7. khetik

    khetik Notebook Deity

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    Easiest way to replace those rubber feet is to take em off an old keyboard, or strip em from work keyboards
     
  8. King of Interns

    King of Interns Simply a laptop enthusiast

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    Not bad now time to put a modern GPU inside!
     
  9. artixalpha

    artixalpha Notebook Enthusiast

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    Use throttle stop and set the multi to turbo. Then press turn on I had this problem but throttlestop fixed it. Hope this works for you

    Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk