Overclocking Sucess With Vaio TZ-150

Hi all,
I've been successful in overclocking the Vaio TZ-150 from the 1060Mhz that it is shipped with to a "whopping" 1215Mhz, which resembeles the Vaio TZ-195N (Since I've also upgraded my RAM to 2GBs).

What I did was download SetFSB (latest beta) from: http://www13.plala.or.jp/setfsb/

After running the program I setted it up as depicted in the attached screenshot:

1. Select ICS954227CGLF
2. Check the SetFSB works by trying get FSB
3. The Mhz indicator at the bottom right should show around 1060Mhz
4. Click Ultra Mode
5. Setup the top slider or nudge it to the right until the dialog box shows 111/760
6. Press Set FSB... Wait between 1-2 seconds, and the dialog box should
show a value of about 1215Mhz

After SetFSB "finished" I ran the Intel CPU Identification utility which correctly detected the new CPU Speed (See additional attachment:

Additionally, to verify stability, I ran OCCT from: http://www.ocbase.com/perestroika_en/
and it completed the 30 minute tests without a hitch. During the test the CPU was averaging around a temprature of 70c which is a 3-4 degrees increase from the normally clocked mode.

I might try 1.33 or even 1.4 for the fun of it, but as things are right now the laptop is definitely snappier... I'm not sure if it's the CPU "increase" or the "RAM" one, but the whole things definitely feels better.

Keep you posted...

 

Wow excellent post. I'm going to try this now too. One question for you - do you have to change the fsb everytime you reboot or start up the machine or does it automatically do it like it would if you set it in bios ?. Thanks.

 

It must be going from 1 to 2gb of ram thats making almost all of the difference, especially with memory hungry Vista, don't think the increased processor speed would make that much of a difference.

I hear that ULV processors should be able to overclock nicely.

You sure you meant 70C? Seems very high for a ULV processor, my hot and noisy Turion X2 doesn't get that hot.

 

Fascinating!

Those ULV CPUs should be able to run faster. My U1500 won't go below 0.925V.

I suspect the heat will go up because there's only a small fan. Perhaps there's an optimum balance with some overclocking and some undervolting.

John

 

Running at 1202mhz right now (1064 stock). It doesn't seem though that setfsb has a autostart feature ?. That basically kills it for me as I don't want to have to set the fsb everytime I boot up. Any solutions ?

 

No autostart can be a blessing since it means you can't get the computer into a state where it crashes every time it tries to start.

The work-around may be my approach to starting: Do it once every week or two and then hibernate between sessions.

John

 

sucessfully overclocked to 1.2mhz like touge says no autostart features kills it nice tip damageboy. I remember using setfsb on my old t350 and overclocking it to 1.34ghz from the stock 1.2 before it ran unstable. Seems like the core 2 dual has more head room for overclocking. These chips amazes me sometimes

 

what about using softfsb?????

 

Hi...
Great hearing that other people got it working too.

The 2GB RAM Upgrade was done a few days earlier, and it definitely WAS a bigger thing than the OC.

The OC didn't make the computer scream or anything like that, but it was definitely felt. Stuff basically "pops up" faster, starting from the Vista Start Button / Menu and all the way to application launch.

Don't forget that there's also a Memory speed boost "hidden" there from 533 -> 600Mhz.

Anyway, I'll search for a feasible auto-start function. I know that SetFSB is written in HSP and has its source code available for download...

So I'll see how disgusting it is to add some functionality to it...

Happy hacking...

 

I've got the U1500 (1.33GHz) in my G11 running the long wPrime test at 1.5GHz @ 0.937V. The temperature oscillates between 73C and 76C. The test is at 23% at the moment. I did try going to 1.67GHz but it immediately BSOD'd. There is headroom to raise the CPU voltage to 0.962V. One step at a time!

John

 

Hi John,
I've read your comment re: autostart...
I generally tent to agree but I do have a simple a (time test solution)

Make the SetFSB (or whatever autostart) but...: Make it check if the Shift Key is currently pressed while loading, much like Windows will not run the autorun.exe in CDs when you insert the CD AND press the Shift key while the CD is being loaded.

I would do the same with SetFSB. Run it, but make it respond to the Shift key being depressed by doing nothing...

Just my 0.02 cents..

 

what are you talking about a memory speed boost?

 

He means when you OC a cpu as a side benefit the memory speed and fsb also rise improving performance further. This happens automatically.

 

thats what i figured i thought he meant sony had a hidden way of bumping memory to 600mhz

 

can't wait for the inevitable thread in the near future called, "Help!!! My TZ blew up in my face" lol just kidding. Does the benefit of upping .14 ghz on the tz outway the risk? doesn't seem worth the risk of a 2000 dollar notebook.

 

do not doubt the power of the almighty TZ

 

Is there another application we can use to set the fsb that has a autostart feature with vista/xp ?

 

Some updates re overclocking the U1500 on my G11 to 1.5GHz:

1. It went through the wPrime stress test (~40 minutes) without any problems. The maximum temperature was 76C. This was with the CPU undervolted to its minimum (0.9375V). I will also try a longer Prime95 Torture test.

2. The memory bus speed is increased from 533MHz to 600MHz. I wouldn't be surprised if it was the memory, not he CPU, which fell over when I pushed the speed up higher. SiSoftware Sandra's memory bandwidth increased from a low ~2100MB/s to a respectable ~2800MB/s (ie 1/3 increase) but Sandra's CPU benchmarks showed very small increases. When time permits I will run PCMark05.

3. Hibernation / resume lost the overclocking settings, but since I had left SetFSB open it was no great chore to press the Set FSB button.

John

 

mine is running stable at 1.33 right now undervolted with rmclock to .850volts the lowest

 

yah an autostart future would be nice

 

wow 1.33, nice man!

 

Yeap. I'm in 1.33 as well right now...

 

anyone knows how to find my cpu clock generator?

 

TZ21MN (UK model) currently running at 1307.8 Mhz and stable.
8GB SSD espresscard using ready boost. (4GB allocated)

Current FSB/DDR/PCI-E/PCI Frequency settings, (first slider bar) 140/760

Looking good. Speed when its needed. I'd recommend this to all TZ Users

 

Same here, UK TZ-150 running at 1307 mhz.

Actually makes a noticeable difference. I use it as a development platform when I'm on the road. It's already suprised me by running Visual Studio 2008, Netbeans and SQL 2005 quite happily.

This speed bump makes it noticeably snappier especially in Visual Studio.

I do think that there is a heat increase on the underside of the TZ at this speed however it seems completely happy as 1200mhz.

Thanks.

 

to make setting overclocking one click a fast i did the following

(1)Right click on the task bar and from the toolbars sub-menu selected links (this one allows you to expand the folders when used as a toolbar).

(2)Unlocked the taskbar and dragged it to the place normally occupied by the quick launch toolbar.

(3)Deleted all the files from it - I don't use Links myself but if you do then this might not be suitable.

(4)Right clicked on the toolbar and unselected the show text and show title options.

(5) Right clicked on the toolbar and selected open folder

(6) Added a new folder to this toolbar called setfsb and changed the icon from its properties dialog (right click on the folder icon) I choose the icon that looks like an IC, when it asked if I wanted to enable folder tasks I hit no

(7) Added shortcuts to setfsb in this folder called:

1.2MHz
1.06MHz

Also if you right click on the folder and go to properties you can change the icon I choose the chip icon from the default windows so it looks cleaner

And edited the target line on the shortcut properties so it looks like:

...\setfsb.exe" -w 0 -s153 for 1.2 ghz
...\setfsb.exe" -w 0 -s133 for the stock 1.06

(8) Locked the taskbar again

You can also setup hotkey on the shortcuts so you can change them via keypresses



heres a screen shot i couldnt capture it to show you my two shortcuts when you click on set fsb it shows my two settings

 

sorry i deleted photoshop so i couldnt zoom in

 

I ran a 9 hour Prime95 torture test on my G11 with U1500 @ 1.5GHz without any problems. And that is with the CPU undervolted (but the difference between 0.9375 and 0.9625 isn't much). I wonder if the RAM is tripping up when I try to go faster.

John

 

impressive imma have to see how far i can push my tz. Question whats the best ram to get Im thinking about upgrading my ram I know cosair is good but what timming and latency should i get

 

Hey Dany, good post. I used ur cmd line to make a shortcut and then stuck it in the startup folder, works like a charm!

Question, I notice it does select ultra mode like damageboy discussed ? is that needed and what does it do ?

 

i dunno really what it does but it still works for me so i dunno

 

Current FSB/DDR/PCI-E/PCI Frequency settings, (first slider bar) 170/760

Speed 1403.1Mhz and stable.

Performance is now excelent!

 

koo i think i can get it to 1.5 without a sweat if i wanted to

 

I'm conservative and am at 1.2, did you guys notice when oc'd if the fan seems to run more in normal use (surfing, emails, word, etc) ?

 

not really runs the same for me well maybe just a little bit but we are making it run a little hotter so its natural

 

Just noticed after sleeping it reverts back to stock speeds ? anyone know why ?

 

probably reverts back to the old fsb from bios

 

only premenant way to do it is through the bios which sony locks

 

damn sony lol

 

I'm happy with the temp speed boost when I want to run certain applications. The 2GB ram and ready boost on the express SSD card seem to be ok for normal operation.

The fan is working a lot more, but the heat has not increased that much. one to three degrees. I will montior over time.

No issues so far.

 

koo sounds good

 

I attach PCMark05 results for my G11 with U1500 at 1.33HGz (stock) and 1.5GHz (O/C). It is strange the way the transparent windows seems to drop with overclocking, but CPU and RAM dependent tests show a useful boost.

John

 

I noticed if if leave setfsb open then on resume from sleep it does keep the Oc'd settings, interesting..

 

Too bad there's no way to install a custom BIOS/unlock it, like installing custom firmware on the PSP.

I hope Sony can be more consumer friendly in their next models, stop locking and disabling features for no reason like virtualization.

 

i doubt it sony vaios have always had limited options in the bios they feel the more things you can modify to the end user the more things can go wrong so I guess they are just watching their back

 

At least they finally caved in and put up the XP TZ drivers after a while of waiting, surprised they even did that and didn't just stuck to Vista.

I hope they will eventually unlock more features now or in later models, these features are just about only used by experts who completely know what their doing, no excuse to lock out anything IMO.

 

yah its just because vista sux so bad and consumers were putting pressure on sony to provide the drivers like wise with other venders. Vista is the new Windows ME

 

does anyone wlan turn off when over clocking pass 1.33ghz?

 

mine:
using 0.8625v
setting performance in vaio control center: memory bus 400Mhz
upgrade ram 2Ghz, Kingstone (spd from 200Mhz to 333Mhz)
wlan & bluetooth off

U7500 (stock 1.06Ghz) temperature full load stress test (81c)
-OC 1.2Ghz (FSB:150): test stress ORTHOS PRIME, 36 minutes no problem, stable
temperature full load (85c)
-OC 1.33Ghz (FSB:166): test stres ORTHOS PRIME, 5 minutes error, not stable
-OC 1.4Ghz (FSB:175): BSOD

ORTHOS software for dual core:
http://sp2004.fre3.com/beta/beta2.htm

 

There is a new version of setfsb out, it now has a background mode, anyone try this feature ? Wonder what it exactly does...