Strange cpu frequency problem of I7 920xm! m15x

I bought a m15x last week and I found a real strange problem of I7 920xm which effect my gaming experience with m15x seriously. The cpu frequency drops frequently when I play a game!

For example, when I play gta4, with turbo mode on, the cpu frequency rises to 3.2ghz, and game runs pretty good, but, after 1 or 2 mins, the frame rate drops, then back to normal within 30s(about), and drops again, back again........

Due to the readings from cpuz, I found the problem is caused by the "turbo mode" of I7. If the turbos mode is on, the cpu will overclock automatically up to 3.2ghz(for 920xm), but like I said, unstable, not good for gaming. If I turn turbo mode off, the cpu frequency reading is 2ghz and very stable, but the frame rate is lower than the turbo mode, and it feels awful........

Any m15x user has the same problem with me? Is it possible for me to make my frequency stable in turbo mode? Thanks!

update!
Ok, here is the thing! Everything is cause by the turbo mode, it force my cpu to work in 3.2ghz which caused overheat then cpu decreased the cpu frequency for protection. The max temperature was 78 degrees, but average temperature was 71, is that high for cpu?

 

by the way, it's definitely not cause by overheating. The temperature of cpu when I play a game is 73 degrees max, even lower for gpu.

 

The problem I think is GTA4 is one of the few games that uses all four cores sometimes during gaming and the CPU is having situations where the game requires one core and Turbo kicks in, then the game calls on multi core and it has to drop down to compensate for the quad or 2-4 core situation.

How does it play with other games? Did you try turning HT off so the game uses 4 true cores for playing and perhaps not a mish mash of real cores and HT cores?

Some games and apps run better/faster with HT disabled.

 

I tried nba 2k10, crysis, warhead，risen....and they all got the same problem, so I guess it's not the game's problem, but your theory sounds reasonable. By the way, how do I turn off ht?

 

The BIOS would have the option for disabling HT.

You do have it plugged in and power profile set to performance?

@ 2ghz stable, not sure why your fps are suffering so much. Do you have the latest Nvidia drivers installed?

Are you using the stock cookie cutter install from AW/Dell, or did you reinstall the OS?

 

nop! there's no option for HT in BIOS. Of course it's plugged in and is set high performance all time!
I do have the latest driver for my graphic card from the dell offical site.
The system was vista hp 64 sp2, and I tried win7 ultiamte 64, problem remains......

 

turn off turbo mode ?

 

if I turn off turbo mode, the cpu frequency drops to 2ghz, well, back to normal indeed, stable, but the frame rate drops too! If turbo mode is on, frame rate is better sometimes, but very unstable(because the cpu frequency unstabe as I said).
Is there a way to force the cpu frequency to 3.2ghz?

 

The problem, even if you could "force" it to 3.2ghz, is that GTA4 is very multi-threaded. It is one of the few games that runs better on a slower quad core than a faster dual core.

@ 2ghz in Quad core mode, I'm not sure the fault lies entirely with the CPU, since a Q9000 (2ghz Quad core Core 2 Quad), handles GTA4 nicely.

There must be something wrong with your system (via software or hardware), since GTA4 loves i7:

http://www.pcgameshardware.com/aid,...ead-of-Core-2-Quad-in-CPU-benchmarks/Reviews/

Hmmmm, what kind of framerates are we talking about in non-turbo mode?

 

run fraps for 5 mins of game play

then run fraps with turbo off for 5 mins

 

Try setting your affinity in task manager to force your games to use a lower number of cores.

 

These two pics should tell you everything. Trubo mode on all time. The first one with frame rate 35,cpu frequency was 3.2ghz. Then after a few mins the frame rate droped to 13, and I could see the cpu frequency droped to 1.5ghz(from cpuz), I did not even move my mouse! This is what's happening in my m15x

 

Well, I did try that, and indeed the cpu frequency beccame more stable than before, but the problem remains. Thanks anyway.....

 

if turbo mode is off, then the frame rate won't vary like that! But the max frame rate will be a little lower.

 

You dont have stealth mode on? Don't know if the M15x has that, also I'd probably goto Nvidias offical website and download their drivers, first get a program that fully removes your old drivers then reboot, then install your updated ones. What's the key you have to tap to get on the bios?

If worse comes to worse call AW and get your computer fixed since it's still under warrenty. Sure it sucks but once it's all good you should be fine, plus it's an ALIENWARE

 

stealth mode is off for sure! and i use f2 to get on the bios.

 

definitely not the video card's issue, here's the thing, is the single core turbo [email protected] really faster than quad @2.0ghz for GTA4?

 

Does the M15x BIOS allow for regular overclocking when turbo mode is disabled? I'd personally disable turbo mode in the BIOS and overclock the CPU to get a higher constant clockrate on all four cores, if that was indeed possible.

 

hay! that is the point! There's no option about overclocking in bios if the turbo mode is disabled. Can you tell me how to overclocking the cpu? Like which software should I use? (using win7 64 now). I just want to force it to 3.2ghz...thanks!

 

well...., I do not know if the cpu is runing in single core or four cores, what i know is if the cpu frequency reading in cpuz is 3.2ghz, the frame rate is better!

 

setfsb will overclock your FSB in windows.

Let me know if you want some help with that.

EDIT: I just realised that it may not work because of your CPU.

Still worth a try.

Otherwise you could pin mod the clock generator.

 

Thanks...but I will contact dell tmr first.....don't want to try this way so early

 

Sorry I forgot what this thread was about, lol.

 

The mobile i7 is a newcomer. There's a lot to be done both by Intel/Dell and game developers to optimize it. I bet, there will be patches/bios updates soon. But on the other hand it was kinda obvious that unless you have a complete control over the Turbo boost option, you'll always have those fluctuations of freq. and as a result fps drops while gaming.

P.S.: A friend of mine (not the last person @ Intel's R&D) said that it was never even meant for gaming. If you visit Intel's website they put it in a sneaky way "Get a 25% improvement in artificial intelligence for game characters and realistic physics for game worlds.‡6 You’ll be blown away by the amazing 3D graphics too." There's nothing on overall gaming performance comparing to C2Q .

 

Is any one else using M15x on i7 have the same issue??

 

yes! a Chinese friend of mine has exactly the same problem! He bought the m15x with i7 920xm too! We are still looking for solutions......

 

I have a i7 Q720 and I have not seen that problem. Did you try to set your power plan to "high performance" ??

 

The i7 does not have an FSB so setFSB is useless. My M15x arrives tomorrow so I will see if I have similar issues. However, I have not heard of this as being a common issues so either:

A) You need to do a clean install of windows and play with different graphics drivers (sorry, cutting edge tech is finicky)

or

B) Talk to dell and see if you have a defective GPU or maybe another component that has gone bad

 

Can you play GTA 4 and confirm 100% that there is no fps drops due to cpu freq. drops? This is important. I don't know if there are too many games that make full use of four cores so if you play other games you might not have this issue at all.

 

Hm, that's bad. I was expecting a way to manually overclock the CPU on the M15x, since the M17x has the option, too. Oh well.

 

So basically, the problem is when you try Turbo mode which isolates 1 core to 3.2ghz?

When you disable turbo mode and have a normalized frequency across all four cores at 2ghz, the problem disappears but you're unhappy with the overall fps performance?

Like I said, I would greatly expect turbo mode and GTA4 to poorly mix, since GTA4 is one of the few games that, due to its craptastic, straight port from the 360 and its parallel architecture, actually runs better on a quad core than a dual core. You may initially experience better fps, but the game wants to use 4 threads. Forcing it to 3.2ghz will actually lessen your performance in GTA4, since it isn't meant to be run on a single core. Beating your head against the wall on this will result in pain and agony. Accept it was meant to and wants to run in full Quad mode. It probably explains the degradation in performance too as the game progresses and more threads want to be created and used.

So focusing on the game running like it wants to, which is in actual quad core config (2ghz x 4), what exactly is the problem besides being generally disappointed in performance? Like Moo suggested, run fraps to get an idea of your avg fps running the game like it was meant to be run, with the 920xm in quad mode.

What resolution and settings are you using? Perhaps someone with a M15x could run GTA4 and see what they experience, because as that link shows, i7 and GTA4 love each other. It is just that turbo mode is a no no for this type of multi-threaded game.

 

how come my i7 Q720 is being reported as a single core and not 4 cores by CP-Z and CPUID.

 

cpuz may not have been updated to recognize the m i7

 

That IS odd, however it may be a power saving feature, if you're running idle it might shut 3 of the cores off to save power. Or if you were playing a game then it most likely ran using one core, causing turboboost to kick in and shut the other 3 cores off.

 

I think it could be the root of your problem.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=439546

Could you try out jokers test, this could be a big problem for all M15x users

 

So I got 1 Question??? New I-7's arent ture Quads then??? more like when ever it wants too..kinda like hybrid cars??? (Over Rated)!!!!!!!!!

I'm glad I'm still with the M17x then!! Someday QX9300!!