How to Overclock ( noob edition )

Hi guys,
I have overclocked my M17x Q9000 up to 2.44 GHz and it is quite stable there.
However I need some tip.
I don't game every day; Only 3-4 times a week. But at those times, I play games such as Crysis and Left 4 Dead at HIGH settings.

But my main task with the Allpowerful M17x is for heavy duty Photoshopping, Video editing and Maya.


Will it be okay that I leave my processor Q9000 overclocked forever? Or should I switch it back to its' normal 2.0 GHz?

My Main concern is:
Is it fine that to leave it overclocked when I am doing normal stuff such as websurfing, word documents, listening to music or watching a movie?

Your help would be awesome guys. This is my first time overclocking an alienware system.

After overclocking my system, I ran 3dMark06 with 280M and this is my score below. How does it look? Can it be MUCH better or does it suck? My specs are in my sig.

Before overclocking:



----------------------------------
After Overclocking:

 

as long as it is stable, you can leave it at that overclock 24/7, it will do NO harm to your machine

 

yea what i said and what sook stands

 

i understand that there is 3 clocks in the GPU section. core, memory and shader. can you please tell me in what proportion and magnitude should i increase the clock speeds? thanks. Its my first time buying a laptop. i used to have a desktop(dead) but it lasted 7 years lol. sorry for being noob, i only want to learn. and is it possible to overclock the gpus in BIOS? also, with the cpu overclocking, is there a particular ratio i should increase the FSB and memory frequencies in? or should i just increase one of them? its ok to raise 2 right?

 

Over clocked my first computer last night thanks for giving me all the info I needed

 

Your welcome glad I could help

 

Quuick question here :

Why does my laptop failed on OCCT CPU Linkpack Test Type Infinte and Test Mode 90% free me Test While everything set at default from factory?

Is it suppose to failed at whatever rate your computer clock is or what?

Thanks

 

While running OCCT, your screen goes black for a while numerous times. Its not failing. Just let it run.

 

Moo, here's some suggestions to add for the GPU overclocking as it's honestly quite poor what you've put.

To find the max GPU overclock you will need to find the max clock of each part (core, shader, memory) individually. This helps in finding the max.

Start with core and raise it in steps of 10MHz. Download and run ATITool and stress test it to check if it's stable. (Don't be put off by the fact it has ATI in its name! It works perfectly fine for nVidia too, and the nVidia stress test sucks...completely useless) Once your computer crashes or ATITool starts to artifact (artifacts are graphical errors, often yellow spots in the case of ATITool) then you have gone too far, drop back down to the stable clock you were at last and stress test it hard drop it further if necessary.

Do this for each component (reset the core to standard clock when raising shader, and reset core and shader to normal to raise memory) and once you've found the maximum for all 3 parts, set that.

Keep a very close eye on GPU temps when overclocking. GPUs run hot (and even these in the M17x's excellent cooling system are no exception) and forcing them faster will only make them hotter. To test temps use some solid gaming (not sure if ATITool stresses temps well) and I'd clock down if you're hitting temps of 85C or more. If you're intent on getting the max speeds, it should be safe up to 95C but it'll wear down your graphics cards faster than normal.

There you go Moo, put that in your guide

 

No, its making sound like a duck twice and it shuts off.
I'm not overclocking or anything.

 

Great post, I agree that should be edited into the OP.

I experimented with OC'ing my GPUs for a while but then I decided to reset to stock since I wasn't getting much of a boost but I might just have to go back and try it the way it is posted here.

And how is OCCT for GPU testing? I didn't even have that when I was testing out my clocks, but it seems pretty good to me now. Before I would just test it by checking whether or not a 3DMark run would finish.

 

OCCT might work for stress testing the GPUs, actually. I forgot it could stress test nVidia GPUs...(as I've got ATi cards, obviously )

 

Need help. I'm trying to overclock my P8700 @ 2.53GHz to 2.8GHz in Bios. What should I set my Memory frequency and FSB frequency to?

Thanks for the help!

 

Just do 1250 for the fsb

 

Just curious.. how high are people comfortably raising their T9600 2.8? I've got mine clocked at 3.190 but I'm a wimp a little too nervous to go overboard on it since the machine is already performing great.

 

umm your not gonna fry or even be able to fry anything it will just restart ....

btw its up to 3.5

 

hehe thanks Moo.. Also thanks for the great guide. This helped a great deal.

I understand the ratio of Shader Clock : Core clock is ~2.4ish. What's a good ratio to consider for Memory Clock : Core Clock?

 

3.5 my laptop crashes at x12 and it crashes if i set the fsb to 1250.

any answers ??

 

Good luck trying to get the qx9300 at 3.5 It will be almost impossible to keep it stable without more voltage.

 

i thought they where using the qx9300 lol nvm

 

for GPU OC, 2.5xCore=shader

Memory is independent, but often people go between 1000 and 1100 (pretty 1100 hasn't been stable)

 

Thanks Moo...

How do I figure out the overall GHz my cpu is running at. I downloaded CPU-Z and the core speed is 1950 MHz, Multiplier is x6, bus speed is 325 MHz, and rated FBS is 1300 MHz

 

why does everyone say to overclock in increments to find the maximum you can overclock? If the QX9300 is the only chip you can overclock, why wouldn't its maximum overclocking speeds be the same for everyone?

So someone should have already discovered that 3.2ghz is the maximum core clock and around 1333mhz is the maximum FSB clock.

so around an 11 multiplier for the cpu. and the fsb should be around 333 which, times 4, is 1332.

 

The 1950 MHz is your stepped down CPU clock.

Start a application up and it should step the CPU back up to full clock.

 

Because ever CPU is different, even the same model and batch.
Some are more stable then others.

Extreme overclockers buy numerous CPU's from different batches ect to try and find the best chip for overclocking.

 

Figured out what I OC my CPU to simply by checking it in BIOS (2.9GHz BTW). But how come when you check your system info (right click my computer>properties) it still says 2.53 GHz?

 

that's what i was afraid of. Thanks for confirming.

so basically, someone who gets a really high stable clock rate is simply lucky??

 

Um Mandrake might have something to say about that!

There is still alot of tweaking involved with full overclocking, with voltages, cooling ect but for the M17x with QX9300 it is multiplier/FSB combinations and upgrading your BIOS seems to have helped some people.

 

I would say Windows is just reading the CPU information not the actually clock. Like a electronic label.

 

windows reads what the default for the chip would be

And yes, overclocking is partly luck - getting a good CPU that is. Mine seems to OC somewhat well to 3180 MHz which is above average, but still nothing compared to the 3.35 that Mandrake has gotten

And mine is an hour OCCT stable

 

I try to overclock my cpu by both bios and the nividia performance program. i try to up it to around 3.2 ghz, but my cpu crashes? the screen go;s black n such. why does this happen? i have the alienware mx17 dual 2.8 processor.

 

test, test and more testing. Get a stable OC through the bios before playing with NST.

 

Because all CPUs are not created equal .You might find the best you can get is 2.93ghz while others have much higher clocks . Its all luck of the draw when buying a CPU . The A02 bios has helped some get higher then there old clocks so if you have not already installed that one i would say give it a try .

 

yea but put those same cpu;s in a m17 and they would all hit 3.0+

 

Honestly, if we could tweak the voltage on these chips, we could probably get them to go higher. My Q9000 will POST at 2.5 but will not run Vista stable (if you can call Vista "stable") unless it is down to 2.4.

 

@Moo
Yeah ive been complaining about that since i first tried the Qx9300 in the M17x . I have not tried the Qx9300 in it though since the A02 came out so i may give it a whirl if im bored.

 

I keep hearing how it's the Chips and that's not true


These chips could hit 4 ghz if they were cooled right and had a good bios

 

Yes but it still is the Chips to an extent proven by the fact that some people IE Mandrake and Scook9 can hit much higher clocks then the average person with much less voltage . So in the end all chips are not the same .

 

They can't change their voltage on the CPU

and I'm not sure about the chips all I know is it's the m17x notthe chips

who knows ?

 

Chips have never been the same. I've seen one chip that can hit 4GHz on air and another chip from the same batch not hit 3.5 with any stability even with a core voltage bump.

Every individual chip is different... But I must say I am a bit disappointed that we can't push these further while the M17 seems to be able to overclock by a LOT.

 

Yea but .4 ghz overclock is not avrage most can't get over 3.0

Thebios is holding them back proof is in the fact the a02 bios helped so much

 

So you think Scook and I can only get higher clocks because we got lucky...here we go again.

 

Well the OCZ bios provided alot more voltage after it was modded so that certainly has something to do with it .

If someone could successfully mod the M17x bios to give out alot more voltage then im sure many people would get farther then they currently are although there will still be others who push past those people because of there "lucky" chips.

 

Why yes i do to an extent seeing as i tried every single suggested FSB/MEM combo on the planet and had 0 success meanwhile on my M17 i can hit 3.2 no problem .

 

You didn't even have a qx93000 did you?

 

Yea some chips do it

But the fact is it's the bios that is nxot letting it go furthur.

There is a decent vcore it's just going crazy ...These chips could hit 3+ ghz

My p8600 is proof .... My t9400 in my m17 on aw bios hit 3.2


The Chips can make it if Dell would fix the bios


Sorry i'm on my iPhone

 

Huh ?? I bought the M17 in my sig for that Qx9300 which went into my M17x 20 minutes after i bought it and then the testing began . I tried over and over night after night and the most i got was 2.93ghz no matter what . That was much of my reason for losing interest quickly in benching etc as i was not happy with the results.


I still have the M17x here and will till the end of October when said person pays it off so i may give it another shot soon.

 

Are we sure its the BIOS and not the chipset causing the issue?

 

The chipset is the exact same on every notebook ......