[Guide] Upgrading P150HM with 2960XM....and overclocking it!

When I'm doing both my cpu and gpu every couple months, it takes me 15-20 minutes to do both. That's with extensive cleaning of both the heatsinks and the glass. I never take the gpu fan off, but the cpu fan I do, in order to leave more room for my fat fingers to place the cpu heatsink.

Also, after you paste, you're free to power it on up. I personally use IC Diamond and the curing time is close to 2 hours I believe.

 

I hate to be a bit of a new guy around these high-tech parts, but would this upgrade work on the P151HM1? I realize it has basically the same innards with just a slightly different exterior. Does anyone know if there are any internal power problems supporting the 2960XM (OC'd) with the greater power supply.

 

Yes it should work no problem assuming the only differences are exterior with the HM1 series.
Await a rep to reply. They would know if this model allows the xm cpu to be used with 100% certainty.

 

I step out for one measly hour to pick up my daughter and that´s when ups decides to knock on my door, go figure. An hours drive later and I have my 2960XM

My 2 year old IC Diamond applied by the reseller was really dry, it took some good rubbing to get it off. If I didn´t have the Isopropyl it wouldn´t have come of. All in all it took me an hour to install, mostly due to the cleaning.

Some sweaty moments during boot but everything went fine, cpu-z shows the correct cpu, 42 degrees at idle.
Ran a quick 3DMark11, physics score went from 6732 to 8117, max cpu temp 84 degrees.

So far so good Will try some Planetside 2 and see whats what.

 

Very nice! Glad to hear you got it and the install went well.

 

Damn PS2 is a hogger. I got somewhat improved framerates but nothing major. Guess Ill have to oc it to see some real improvements in that particular title.

Well Im more set now for a gpu upgrade, BF4 and so on.

 

7970m has great performance in HMs. I highly recommend it!

 

I´m not sure about the temps. I ran 3DMark and got 85 degress max but a halfhour of Dragon Age while recording hit 92. It´s on a cooler on a table.

I really dont want to be above 90, is 92 ok? While editing the video it was 88-90, when done it plummeted quickly to 50.

So, is 92 ok, or could I have done a bad paste? I will try and pick up some alu tape for the fan and heatsink.

Edit: Some more testing:

Planetside 2, cpu temp 85, fps 35-40 up from 25-30.
Battlefield 3, cpu temp 92, avg fps 39 up from 36.

 

That's about as high as you want to be hitting temps wise.

 

Thanks, barely on the safe side then. Ill watch it closely and try the foil mod.

 

Worth looking to see what you can do yes.

 

I´ve logged the speed during some BF3 runs. Not a single time does the multiplier go above 34, the speed sits at 3.4 GHz.
Is this some sort of behaviour because of multiple threads, or is it throttling due to heat. Temps are the same: 90-93 over four cores.

Edit: Those are max temps. Looking at it live, even at 87-89 degrees the multiplier is glued to 34.

 

That sounds like power limits then maybe?

 

Because of my 180w adapter? Well that's not good, I thought it should be more than enough to power the xm and a 6990m at stock.
How can I check that? Do I have to measure by the power outlet?

 

I mean what TDP did you set on the CPU again?

 

I´m not that skilled. Can i set the TDP? It´s 55W as far as I know. And CoreTemp reports it as 55.

And now it´s getting weird. Earlier it was jumping between 34,36 and 37 out of game. Ingame stuck at 34.
I´ve applied some aluminum tape, now it´s stuck at 27 all the time and I get 68 max temp ingame. Wth did I do Sure lower temps but not exactly what I wanted.
I have Throttlestop open but thats just to log the cpu, and making sure Prochot is disabled.

 

Right your CPU can either temperature throttle or power throttle, 55W is not enough to let the CPU run faster, you could try 65W. As for what you did, I have no idea

 

SOLVED: See final edit.

I have to figure this 2.7 GHz out..
But how can I increase the TDP to 65W? In Throttlestop? Or Bios?

Edit: Found this:


It explains why I get 3.4 GHz since all cores are active (presumably) in BF3. Wonder if I can raise it to 37 across the board.
Seems as the Turbo is not kicking in since I am stuck at 2.7 GHz.

Edit 2: I unplugged the laptop and it dropped to 8 multiplier. Plugged it back and it went back to hopping between 34-37. So, back on track.
New round of BF3 showed a multiplier of 34 and max temps of 88-89, a decrease by 4. Happy now, that's a nice and easy foil mod
Next thing would be trying to up the multiplier to 37 for 4 cores, but I suspect that will increase the temps again.

 

Lol yes you can ignore the single core frequency for instance since it hardly ever happens. Concentrate on 4 core speeds.

TDP settings on the next menu I believe to the side of the mutliplier.

 

Contact Prema about 70w/80w/32s bios, you'll get 3.4 across all cores minimum, usually I'm at 3.8. Anything higher and I've dealt with too many heat issues.

 

3.4-3.8 is going to give you a great experience with any card though

 

I agree, I've had great results and gaming performance.

 

The temp seems to have gone up again, 93 in BF3 and I hit 94 while recording Dragon Age. Not critical, but not fun :/

Just to make sure here, is there any way to oc the 2960XM in a P150HM without changing bios?
I´m on stock bios right now, according to Jaybees op I have to flash it into a P170HM in order to oc with XTU. Why can´t we just oc with Throttlestop? I tried increasing the multiplier but nothing happened.
On the other hand, since I´m on the verge of overheating on stock, maybe I´m forced to get an undervolted bios or similar if I want to oc.

 

Temps seem a little high for stock. What paste did you use and what method of application?

 

- MX-4, line method as in op. It was my first repaste though, I will probably have to take it off and see what it looks like.
- The heatsink was discolored from the old paste no matter how much I scrubbed with alcohol. There shouldn´t be any residue left, anyway I can´t make any more there.
- The cooling pad near the top was a little bit displaced. I´ll try and correct that, if it can be an issue at all. Can I completely remove pads or wont they stick back?
- I applied foil as in the op, bot on cpu and gpu, and had it go down the sides as well. Initially saw several degrees improvement which has since steadily dissapeared.
- CPUID is 0x206A7. As far as I can tell that´s OEM, no ES that may be overheating.
- Core #1 is always 2-3 degrees hotter than the others. Normal or missreading?

Only thing I can really think of is the paste, thought I did good though.

 

I've never used MX-4 before, so I'm not sure about the curing time. I'd recommend just taking off the heatsink and seeing how your spread went, won't hurt anything to look, just a little bit of your time. Better to have a little too much than not enough.

 

MX-4 is pretty much instant.

 

Ok, I did a repaste of the cpu.

Old paste here. Looks like I put a little too much, but this shouldn´t affect the temps, should it?
http://i.imgur.com/BBigIKM.jpg

I tried to apply a little less, but tbh I think I almost took as much this time.
http://i.imgur.com/A5854lZ.jpg

Besides repaste I realigned the cooling pad at the top. Also, my cooler has two movable pads to raise the laptop. The only place I could put them that didn´t obstruct any vents on the laptop was in a place where they didn´t help elevating, so I removed them completely as to not interrupt any airflow.
Preliminary max temps after 30 minutes of Battlefield 3: 89, 91, 90, 91. Ambient temp 25. Former max was 93 with same ambient temp. This is ok, I guess, but I´m still at stock clocks and was hoping for some better results. Don´t know what else I can do. Running with Fn+1 helps of course, but that´s not how I want to game nor should I have to.
I will keep monitoring but the only way the temps might be moving is up, not down.

Any suggestions?

 

I run with Fn+1 whenever I'm gaming. But you shouldn't be seeing those temps regardless at stock. I'm at 3.8ghz x 4 with 70/80/32s and still don't hit those temps. My max is about 87-88, only with prime95. I'm not quite sure what you should do next. Me personally, I'd probably just buy a new heatsink and see if that's the issue. They're relatively cheap if you contact a reseller or sager directly.

 

That is too much paste both times, every degree helps with XM CPUs.

 

Really? Even without it's quite loud and I can hear it several rooms away. Fn+1 here is like a jet, I can't imagine my wife coping with that for more than 10 seconds

Thanks for that feedback! So that amount can actually raise the temps? Didn't think it was that sensitive.

Another thing, I've never repasted the gpu. Judging by the crumbling residues on the cpu it may be overdue on the gpu. Even if the gpu is not overheating it might be raising overall temps?

 

I repaste every 5-6 months normally. I live in Florida, gets really hot and humid here. I'm used to hearing fans all the time, guess that's why it doesn't bug me or anyone else around me.

 

Another repaste with much less paste. Did the gpu as well with a peasize dot.

BF3 test, no Fn+1:
Gpu max temp 85, same as before.
Cpu max temps 86, 88, 87, 88. Down from 90-91. It wasn´t a flymap though so I´m not cheering untill I´ve done more testing but it´s looking good :thumbsup:

 

I have Clevo P170HMx with 2860QM CPU
I will want upgrade to 2960XM
Now my BIOS V 1.01.10 EC_KBC V 1.00.09
I will use Intel XTU
I have insatalled Intel XTU 2.1

I understand what..... only does Prema mod BIOS allow the CPU to reach higher clocks (especially when putting load on to more than 2 cores), and lets the Turbo Boost last longer than the predefined 16s.

Question.....
Where can I take this Prema mod BIOS for my Clevo P170HMx ???
OR !!! Enough Intel XTU 2.1 ! Without Prema mod BIOS ?

 

You could try using throttlestop and XTU on your current bios.

 

While on that subject, is the only way to oc my 2960XM in my P150HM to flash the bios to a P170HM as described in Jaybees op?
Or is there another way that doesnt involve bios flashing? Ive tried raising the multiplier in Throttlestop, didnt stick.

 

No the 150 bios has none of the xtu part in it.

 

No as in I have to flash the bios because I need the xtu?
(or no its not the only way )

 

You need P170HM BIOS for XTU and my Mod for raised TDP or that XM goes waste in an HM system...

 

Ok, thanks. Right now Im enjoying the power of my stock XM and new 7970M. Will look into this when Im feeling bold and it could use a boost (never messed with bios before).

 

Well it has been done before so as long as you avoid the usual pitfalls of bios flashing you should be good.

 

do i need to touch the 'core current limit' and 'additional turbo voltage'?

 

Depending on how far you push it.

 

Is there a never exceed/"instant death" voltage for these XM chips? I know this will vary by chip, but how far can you "safely" push these XM CPUs before you have to really start worrying about frying it? All I can find is that 1.5V seems to be the recommended limit for desktop Sandy Bridge chips, but no mention of mobile chips. Same question for Ivy Bridge and Haswell.

 

i want to push ONE core as far as possible only.

 

Then good luck and try not to break it.

 

Hello,
Сan you send me the P170HM 70W_80W_32s bios please?
I have p150hm If the 2920xm inside, I flashed the bios to the p170hm bios.
My email is: [email protected]

Thanks

 

Did you check the bios thread?

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sager-clevo/556299-clevo-bios-older-models.html

 

sending u an email with the download link netanel

 

Hello to all.
Can you send me the two modded BIOS you has used in your computer?
I have an Clevo P170HM with a 220w PSU and I need it to try more overclock.
My email is : [email protected]

Thanks you