Overclocking on an Alienware M9750

Alright, there doesn't seem to be any actual explanation on how to overclock laptop processors and GPU's. Well, I finally managed to overclock mine, so I'm just going to share what information I have scrounged up, hopefully it will be of some use to someone.

I can only vouch for this working on the Alienware m9750 with the T7200 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 processor.

Always remember that overclocking can void your warranty, it can cause your hardware to fail, it can cause cancer, AIDS and indigestion, etc... Use any of this information at your own risk... I am not responsible if you screw up your electronic baby. Okay, now that I have covered my behind from any potential harassment, here we go!

1) Download ClockGen, I got my version from
http://www.filecluster.com/download-link-0/53639.html
If for some reason that link doesn't work, go here and just click a mirror
http://www.filecluster.com/downloads/ClockGen.html

2) Unzip the file to a location of your choice and open up the program. You will be greeted by a little four-icon menu. Click on Options and make sure "Apply Current Settings at Startup" is UNchecked. Yes, unchecked, as in... Not checked. This is very important... Why? Because if you screw up and you lock up your computer, a simple hard-reset will clear what you've done with ClockGen, if somehow you check this, when you screw up, your screwup could result in needing to format, though in theory safe-mode would be plenty to delete the program and get things going again, no reason for that though, just make sure it's unchecked. Once you've made sure it's unchecked close the options window and open PLL Setup.

3) Alright, fantastic, you have ClockGen and you're ready to go, right? Not so fast, now you need a little piece of information called your PLL. This is basically the ID number of your clock chip ( This is independent of your processor, it is based on your motherboard. ) Well, how do you get that? Good question... It's not an easy task. I lucked upon the one for the m9750 about 10 pages deep on a google search. You can look for it yourself on the actual motherboard, but I wouldn't recommend that. My suggestion... Fire up google. "M9750 PLL" and a few minutes browsing through the results gave me my PLL.

So, if you've managed to scour the world for your PLL, skip down to step 4, if you're stuck trying to find it, there IS always the hard way. Pick a random clock option from the drop-down menu on the PLL Setup page, then click Read Clocks. Did your computer freeze? Then you're not a lucky person and you need to reset your computer and try again. Eventually, you will guess your PLL correctly and your computer will not freeze upon clicking Read Clocks. You may now proceed to step 4!

4) Close the PLL Setup window and go to PLL Control window. You should see a series of clocks with their corresponding settings under them, under that there will be a slider. Well, it slides. Slide it! Just a little bit! Preferably to the right, in order to increase clock speed. Raise your speed just a few MHz and hit apply. Did your CPU clock speed stay at the new setting you chose? If so, congratulations, now all you have to do is set it where you want. Again, be careful, I'm not going to go in-depth into general overclocking, if you don't understand how to safely overclock, please forget what you've read, because it really can be dangerous to your system if done incorrectly. Did the number bounce right back to default when you hit apply? Well, move on over to step 5.

5) **This portion might be specific to the PLL of the m9750, it may not be, I make -no- promises, folks!** Head back to your PLL Setup window. At the bottom of this window should be some hexadecimal code. Look at byte 9 on the top row. It should say 7E. If it does, click it. This will bring it into the little edit box. Make it 7F instead of 7E. Apply the change and make another attempt at changing your CPU speed via the PLL Control window.

Alright, I think that's really all there is to it, gonna make a little list of tips/random info/stuff I think you should know/etc here real quick, just in case I forgot anything.

-Make sure to uncheck the 'Apply Current Settings at Startup' under options if it got checked somehow.
-Once you adjust your CPU speed to where you want, you can close the program and the settings will be saved. They will stay applied until you have a crash or something similar. Resetting or shutting your computer down normally will not cause the settings to revert upon startup, they will stay active until you crash or something similar happens.
-The PLL for the m9750 is ICS - 950405
-If you cannot get your CPU overclock to apply ( i.e. it keeps instantly reverting to normal when you hit apply ) and you have already tried changing byte 9 like I mentioned, i would GUESS that you can look for 7E in other locations. Or possibly look for FE and change it to FF. These are just GUESSES, I have no experience at ALL with non-m9750's.
-If you screw anything up using ClockGen ( changing the wrong hexadecimal byte, picking the wrong PLL, etc ) your computer WILL lock up. You have to do everything right in order to not lock up your computer. Yes, it sucks to reset your computer that much, but it's also nice to know that if your computer doesn't freeze, you did things right!
-I overclocked my 2.0GHz T7200 to about 2.25GHz, slight temperature gain, rock-solid-stable through dozens of benchmark tests, as well as the nVidia stress test. All computers are different, even if you have an m9750, I cannot promise that you can achieve the same settings.


Quick note about overclocking the 7950GTX - Don't bother. It can be done by using the 169.04 drivers using nVidia's nTune overclocking page, the best I managed without artifacting was +5MHz GPU clock, and the overall benchmark scores were NOT improved enough to warrant the additional 10+ degrees of heat that were generated, using the 169.09 drivers resulted in a much cooler and more stable experience with no noticeable loss on benchmark tests.

I do hope this came out at least mostly clear, I've been up for a while and I'm rather tired, I will try to answer questions if people have them, but I don't have as much free time as I'd like. I hope this helps someone out a bit ^.^

-Possum

 

This has been written about already but search feature does not seem to find well. Good instructions and is fun to do. Now the next quest you need to go on is "undervolting" that will lower you temp. Good luck and have fun. I can get my 1.6Mhz Turion up to 1.9Mhz with clockgen.

 

grats ive done the same way before, 2.25 very stable, planning to go somewhere near 2.4 when my cooling pad arrives

 

nice guide, may try this later this week when i have some time.

 

So I have an alienware m9750 with the same processor as you. I followed your guide, but when I slide it the cpu is only at like 997MHz. If I put it at 1025 will it be at 2.25GHz? Do I put it all the way up to 2025MHz? Thanks

 

in clockgen you'll notice the the cpu will jump up to the 2.0 ghz range (like 1995 mhz i think it reads). when its running at 997mhz it's not running at full speed, so don't go from 997 mhz to 2025, or you'll be clocking to 3+ ghz and probably ruin your processor. just watch to see when your cpu will jump to 1995 mhz. otherwise, yes, take the processor from 1995 mhz and set it to 2025 mhz (or whatever you want).

 

Ok here is a screen shot of all of my stats. What is wrong?

 

I uninstalled SP 3 and it didn't fix anything. Should I reinstall windows? It says that it is clocked at 997.5MHz, but it jumps up to like 1995.7MHz occasionally when I open a program or something. I clocked it to 1080.00MHz and it seemed to work for awhile and it would jump up to 2160MHz occasionally. I left the computer though for 10 minutes and came back to see the computer frozen.

 

Hey Possum

What benchmarks did you use to test out your new CPU overclock? I have a Sager 5760 with a T7200 and this ClockGen mod works!! (As long as you have the correct ISC # for the 5760 and perform the 7F from 7E change). I'd like to give my CPU a thorough run-through to see if the CPU temps are stable and the system does not crash, so please post up some (free) software that will give me the green or red light

KockM - The jumping is fine. It's suppose to do that. It only utilizes both duo cores in heavy load applications. If your system froze with the 2.16 OC setting, I'd think that may be too much for your specific notebook. Have you cleaned out your vents/fans with compressed air? Made sure your vents/fans are getting proper airflow? Fans on their highest settings?

 

Ok, I clocked my computer and it worked! I put it at 1077MHz and when it jumps around like it has been it goes up to like 2.5GHz. I did a CS:S stress test and get 196 FPS from the original 172 FPS. Not to shabby! I have one of those zalman coolers so it should help a lot too.

 

you sure it's not jump upto 2.15 GHz, not 2.5GHz? It should be exactly double the lower frequency.

 

Yeah, I meant 2.15 sorry. Missed the 1 key.

 

haha no worries man, I was just scared your CPUs were spiking for some reason

 

Hello,

i got my m9750 2 day ago and want to know some things about overclocking.
Is the ICS 950405 for all CPU-Models correct ? Because I got the T7600.

Is it possible to lock all other RAM/AGP/PCI and just overclock the FSB CPU ?