Overclocking the : Intel® Core? 2 X7900 2.8GHz ? Extreme Edition

The reason this processor is so expensive is because you have the ability to overclock it to around 3.4 ghz without voiding the warantee. But. I hear that on the m15x this feature is absent from the bios. This concerns me. I figure it could be available later, but i want to know if there is a way around this. I know there is software out there that can do this. So if you know anything please give up some info. Thanks.

 

this processor has the multiplier unblocked! there is no function in the bios, but maybe tou can change (increase) it by a software program like RMclock, or Clockgen.
I'm guessing

btw, from some tests linked in another thread it seems to be that t9500 penryn (2.6GHz) override even this X7900! what do you think?

 

I wouldn't be suprised if the T9500 is faster than the X7900 at their stock speeds, but not if the X7900 was overclocked (which it can't via the BIOS in the M15x atm).

However, overclocking the X7900 over 3ghz does seem to be making many laptops have their fans on constantly, which people are complaining is unbearable.

The X9000 is 45nm (soon to be released), so if for example, the M17x does have Penryn (with the X9000), hopefully because of the smaller process in which it is made - when overclocked it will run cooler and won't need the fans on constantly to cool it as much.

Lets hope that AW allow overclocking with the M17x (I can understand if they never do with the M15x, due to limitations in the cooling design).

IMO, if AW want the M17x to get the crown, they are going to need some overclocking feature to beat the M1730. However, the M15x is in a niche market. That probably will mean, no overclocking will be made available as it already has a huge selling point!

 

I think the 8800M GTX heat a little bit more than a processor, even in OC! so I don't think the problem is the heat of the processor, if it can handle the 8800GTX.
btw, maybe using x7900 OC + 8800GTX together in full

 

Possibly, but I think that Alienware has no need to allow overclocking on the M15x.

There are no other 15.4" Laptops with the 8800 GTX, so a processor overclock isn't a deciding factor with potential customers (they would be looking for portability).

However, the M17x is a different matter because the nearest competition allows for overclocking, so without that feature - people who are paying megabucks might be tempted to look elsewhere, as they can gain a pretty decent amount of power by overclocking under warranty.

Therefore as I see it, M15x - AW probably won't release the ability for OC'ing (for now, whilst in a niche market) and the M17x might need some kind of overclocking option because of the competition (or offer something vastly better for the money, other than pretty lights and an Alienware plaque).

 

ITs not wather or not alienware allows it. There has to be some way to do it. The processor, is fully overclockable. Like I said. I am sure you can go through other means to overclock. I know a few friends who did not use the bios to oc thier computer but some kind of software.

 

as I told you, maybe with RMclock, clockgen, setFSB... many others! as far as you don't have it, you can't say

 

overclocking a gaming laptop? they run hot engough.

 

Ok so i got off the phone with a supervisor, who was super nice and told me that, it is possible to oc it, but, the reason they disable it was because in test runs, at around 3.4ghz it was running "too hot for thier tastes". He told me that you can do it through other means, but if it ruins any other components in the system it could possibly void the warantee.
He said that if in the future, they test, different speeds, and they tems are ok. They will give the go ahead to oc it to the specified speed.
so. cool.

 

Still disapointed I spent the cash for the processor and can't oc it.

Strike one for AW. Good thing I love everything else about this laptop lol..

 

Like I said, You can still oc it. You just have to use a software program instead of doing it through the bios.

 

Mmm, the reason A.W stopped it is due to the limitations a 15.4 chassis can have..

 

This sounds good news to me, at least they are testing ths processors, not just shipping them out for people to experiment themselves. I'd imaging that they will add something to the FX interface for speed or something.

Was the testing you talked about carried out on the M17 or M15?

I'm thinking that with the xtra space the chasis might have it will run a little cooler.

I think i'm right on this, the XPA1730 can run at 3.4Ghz but, the fans are enabled all of the time, it runs ok at that speed though as Dell have allowed it. I remember reading it somewhere that it was stable at this speed, just a little more noisy due to the fans running.
I must admit it would be alittle annoying but, not as much as melting a nice new notebook lol

Btw, has anyone tested a M15X at 3.2 or even 3.4Ghz, what were the results?

OB

 

I knew even the C2C 2.6GHz was an extreme edition, and allowed OC up to 3.2GHz (while C2C X7900 is up to 3.4GHz). it was called X7800. now there is a T7800.. anyone knows something about it?

 

Is 3.4Ghz (17x) the maximum that they can be increased to?
I know that there are cooling issues in a notebook, was just curious as the limits of the chip.

I'm hoping that the Penryn being smaller and more efficient will run cooler?

3.4Ghz, 880GTX Sli = +10,500 3DMark06 - maybe?

OB

 

Well I will test he OC with my system. Just need to figure out wich software would be best to use.

Any thoughts wold be appreciated.

I was looking for a 3.0 to 3.2 and possibly a 3.4 but I doubt it will be running anything past 3.2 actually.

May even have to do AS5 on the CPU heatsink..

Have my Zalman Cooler and I removed the PLASTIC covering over the HDD sapce. Allows alot more airflow with the cooler running to reach internal components.

 

I would think with that setup you could score over 14k easily. With the X7800 and a single 8800m gtx I cans score 10177 in 3dmark06 using the stock drivers 167.55.

I think the New Vantage will be the more realistic score to true gaming performance.

 

It appears that 3.4 ghz is the safe zone for the oc. They did the testing on the m15x and said it was a little too warm for their tastes. But I bet you can clock it to around 3.1 or 3.2 with a not too extreme temp increase.

 

Ok will try it with clokgen..RMclock I wasn't ale to..

EDIT CLOCKGEN doesn't allow for overclocking either.

 

so the multiplier is blocked.. you can't OC even by software unless you find the pll on you motherboard. by choosing the right pll, you will be able to increase/decrease your bus speed, but I don't know if it will allow even to increase the multiplier! maybe yes (only bacause we're talking about the X7900! you can't increase the multiplier with other processors)!
try to find it by removing the cover under the notebook, maybe you'll be lucky

 

I think Alienware should allways allow overclocking. Now how would they avoid increased warranty costs from owners damaging thier laptops? Simple Intel has protection already built in. When you overclock temperature rises, at a preset point the processor shuts down eliminating damage. Now some companies like Abit have taken it further, you custom set your alarms and shutdown points but Intel will always have the last say before damage is done.

My Alienware Desktop has an Abit Motherboard. It has an Abit Uguru device that plugs into the mother board. I has 3 preset overclocks and allows you to create 3 more custom overclocks. You preset temperature alarms to warn you of upcoming shutdown. If you ignore the alarms it'll initiate the shutdown on its own. A built in system such as this should be standard issue on a high performance laptop like the M15X. I've been overclocking my Alienware for 2 years straight and it still runs fine. See pics below of UGuru remote control.


Software monitoring temperatures & fan speeds

Display of current overclock (4.029 GHz on my 3.4 P4)

 

Might be right. The CPU is placed on the bottom of thie board wich means the board is upside down to every other laptop. I will take a look and see. But it seem the BIOS is locked down big time.

Another quick questin on OC the GPU. Has any one flashed thier GPU bios a little higher yet. I hope somebody can unlcok the GPU bios like on the XPS lines.

 

Wow that is a pretty neat kit ou got there. You think that would work on the M15x?

 

Yeah, I love it but only on Abit Mobos. I think this could be designed into high performance Laptops like Alienware.

 

Wow, that's impressive software, is there something like it for other motherboards?

So it seems that Alienware have stopped overclocking then, maybe it is a waranty issue, or maybe they could issue a statement saying that you can but anything different from there stats would void the warrenty if it goes wrong, therefore allowing a little overclock to gain a little more speed?

Anyone know how Dell manage to allow up to 3.4Ghz safely, or is the 1730 running a larger chassis than AW?

 

dell advertises on their webpage of overclocking theur extreme core to 3.4 ghz so I'm geussing its safe, it doesn't void warrenty and safe.

 

Yes.. The 1730 is a very thick 17" laptop, the m15x is a comparatively thin 15" laptop.

 

i bet you would have to troubles overclocking the cpu. I actually think you would be fine with around 3.1 or 3.2, which is crazy for a laptop. Sure the fans are gonna be on for a while, but just don't go crazy and run it like that all the time.

 

the question remains...

with no bios setting how can u possibly overclock the m15x ..? .. your left with your balls in Alienwares hands waiting for a bios update (which most of you prob don't know how to do) and i doubt they would release one unless enough demand comes out for it as it would in reality = more warranty returns .

this is making me lean towards the NP5973 ... alot cheaper and cooler and overclock able only down side.. 17inch and no smart bay battery


untill some one shows a over clocked peryn x9000 in a alien ware m15x running at safe temps .. im holding on spending big on the m15x

 

Perhaps Alienware ran into some problems implementing the overclocking, no one knows. If someone knew they would have posted it by now.

There is no reason to get the Extreme Edition processor with the m15x if you can't overclock it. Software overclocking is risky and less reliable than doing it in hardware. There is more of a chance that something can go wrong.

 

I'm going to wait until the M17X is released, it's got a bigger chassis and in theory gives more room for heat dissapation etc.

OB

 

BIGGER CHASSIS, agaahhhh, I hate huge notebooks, it always throws me off to see someone lugging a giant beast around with them. I always want to laugh.

 

if anyone knows somethink

 

I agree that the bigger chassis isn't as portable but, i'm buying the 17" for gaming and blue-ray watching, it's a desktop replacement for me really. You get nice big screen resolution, great hardware and built in speakers. i haven't got the space for the equivalent desktop set-up.
I probably won't be carrying my M17X anywhere, except maybe to work, for gaming (and a little showing off lol)

OB

 

yeah, i will just hook it up to my lcd through hdmi. So i don't need the huge screen, I already have a powerful pc, so i need something more portable.

 

Cool, this will be my first "Gaming" machine.
I'm hoping that it will last for a few years to come, SLI 8800GTX's should be able to play future games with DirectX10.1 support hopefully.

I'm still waiting to find out if 10.1 will be a software patch, or just hardware!!

 

My understanding is that it's hardware dependant. So no, they don't support 10.1. It's doesn't add anything ground breaking though. Unless something has changed Nvidia said they were going to support it, they are waiting for 11 before making a hardware change.

Mandatory 32-bit floating point filtering
Mandatory 4x anti-aliasing
Shader model 4.1

 

seing as the majoirty of directX10 cards are geforce8's and that geforece9's will not suport 10.1 (possibly GT200 will) i doubt any mainstream devs will use 10.1 alot.. and if they do... u can still run 10.1 via a 10 only card just with out the extra features/slight slow down.


crytek for instance have said they will not use Dx10.1 on crysis2 Cevat Yerli is saying its 2 to 3years away at best and crytek do every thing first (and badly lolololol) so i cant see any other devs using 10.1 alot till the very very end of the API 5years at least.

Also 10.1 is officaly the last update to Directx10.. Microsoft have said they are not going to let the shader model madness that happend with Directx9 which had SM2.0 2.0b 2.0a and SM3.0 continue as it pritty much killed the PC gaming industry and turned every one to WorldofWarcraft lawl tragic.......

 

Cool so whichever machine we get now, will be top of the games for a while lol

I'm not sure i'll bother with Crysis as it seems to be problematic to play at decent resolutions.

I'll try Oblivion first i think, at full resolution of course.

OB

 

Are there any news of overclocking the X9000 in the m15x?

Found some interesting article about OC the X9000 in a Clevo M571RU.
(its in french but the charts, especially temperature are interesting)

http://portables4gamers.wordpress.com/tests-from-p4g/x9000-page5/

 

Those are some rather good results, 14% more performance overall when overclocked to 3.2 Ghz. If the m15x can't be overclocked then I'm not sure why would anybody spend the extra dough to go from 2.6 Ghz to 2.8 Ghz. I just don't think there's any bang for buck in this case.

 

I think sooner or later AW must activate the OC function of the extreme processor! as you said: it makes no sense that they advertise an extreme processor and then cut the main feature. I think a lot of people should be angry. I would be

 

We did our own article on overclocking the M571RU's X9000:
http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=4248
And it's in English.

 

I agree with you.
Hopefully the m15x cooling system can handle a oc X9000, but I am not sure about that. And actually there is no information given from alienware until now.

Here are some charts about power consumption Merom vs. Penryn

 

I'm thinking there is some kind of heating/cooling issue, or AW would have surely addded the functionalilty to there FX interface along wiht the power options?

Would be cool to switch speeds like the XPS1730 can? They can go up to 3.4Ghz, all be it the fans are on all of the time lol

OB

 

A X9000 in a 12 inch notebook!?
Is the X9000 really that cool, or is this some kind of a heating device?
If it is that cool OC in m15x should be possible from that point of view, hopfully BIOS will support it.

http://www.deviltech.de/deviltech.p...7/anid/f4d45c665295ee323.70044050/Flame-1200/

 

Bad news from AW

Thank you for contacting Alienware.

While the Intel Core 2 Extreme X9000 processor is able to deal with overclocking the BIOS on the Area-51 m15x, it has this feature disabled. At this time, there are no plans on unlocking this feature.

As you mentioned, this has mostly to do with heating concerns due to the already (crammed) space inside today's mobile systems and the high power components they have inside. Not to mention that if overclocking is not done correctly this could cause stability issues or may cause damage to your system.

I must also mention that Alienware does not support overclocking and any damages caused by this practice are not covered by the warranty.

If you need further information, please do not hesitate to contact us.


Best regards,

Milton Sanchez
Electronic Support – Sales Department

 

I think it's not fair! if they disabled the main feature of this processor, they must advertise it, and make it cheaper than now! why have I to pay the same price like for example a sager customer, if they have a feature I don't have?

 

Well I guess it's time to return my lappy and get something else. Complete and utter BS. So far my impressions of AW have whent from good to bad. This will surely be my First and Last AW..

We need to start a petition with AW regarding the fact they didn't divulge this info when ordereing the X7900.

 

hi,
does anyone know a software to setup the multipler in vista?