*OFFICIAL* Alienware 15 R1/R2 Benchmark Thread

For the moment I'm happy with the BIOS A05 + 240W PSU, i got my best result today on 3Dmark Drive Sky Test : http://www.3dmark.com/sd/3170695
Hope it's going to handle like that for a long time.

 

star swarm test extreme

star swarm high

 

i am mad with those result so i oc'ed my gpu
clock +135 and memory +550

extreme

now i am happy
and my highest vddc 1.0120 on gpu z sensor log
core clock 1261.3 and memory 1527.4 on gpu z sensor log
windows 10 10162 180 power supply

 

firestrike performance version 1.1
core +135 memory +500
http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?file_id=97623236819634751522
http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?file_id=08518986322604793138
http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?file_id=77902316939657216185

 

Hi guys what is the best way to overclock the 970m?

 

Download nvidia inspector. Make sure you're on the latest nvidia drivers (or downgraded to 345.20 or prior).

Adjust your core clock and memory clock like a normal over clock.

Note: it is limited to +135 on core I believe. Custom vbios can override this. But it's locked on Alienware for the time being. But 135 is still a > 10% increase.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Hey guys, i have a 6720hq, wondering how may I overclock it? would anyone point me in the right direction?

 

Hello everyone, I have the 240W PSU...so which BIOS is the best to go with the PSU?

 

I have just posted my vBIOS Mod for this model, which a few user here have been rocking since quite some time now, for everyone on the blog (just click my signature).

ENJOY!

P.S.: If you want a GTX965M version, just send me a clean stock vBIOS dump.

 

Scared of bricking my machine like last time when i downgraded from a02 to a00. anyone tried to use this bios already?

 

Coming from Prema, pretty certain to be safe, so tested it - nothing harmful (as expected), but undervolting doesn't work using Nvidia inspector, and it yields lower firestrike scores in my case for some reason (hundred or two less compared to stock).

 

I made a new thread for you.

 

hi guys, I have alienware 15 with specs as below:
i7 4710HQ
GTX 980M 4GB GDDR5
Bios A00
240 Watt PSU

I've been trying to run 3D mark 11 and 3D mark firestrike for many times
I overclocked the GPU as high as it can, CPU at stock with -10 mV undervolt on core

however the combined score is always low whenever I overclock the GPU, regardless CPU setting
please kindly advice
here is my 3d mark 11 and 3d mark firestrike

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/10441855
http://www.3dmark.com/fs/6255679

 

you have a good score, base score is 8200.... you have like 1000 points more

 

yes but the base score would be much higher if the combined score is how it supposed to be. is my PSU not enough?

 

i want to say that this is my favorite OC profile http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/9105155
good temperatures, good performance, undervolted CPU, overlocked GPU but without increasing voltage.
gpu= +150Mhz on core clock; +400Mhz on memory clock
cpu= undervolted cpu, cache, and integrated gpu.
1 Active core= 35x
2 Active cores= 34x
3 Active cores= 34x
4 Active cores= 34x

 

@Mr. Fox @Prema This vbios is compatible with AW 15 R2 970M version correct? It is just throwing me off saying 980M 4GB doesnt mention the 970M dont want to brick my system.

https://biosmods.wordpress.com/aw1x-r3/

 

do not do anything before he says something

 

Nope!
If you want a GTX970M Mod for 15 R2, you have to send me a dump of the stock version.

 

Thanks for the info Prema! I will send the AW 15 R2 970M stock vbios your way when I get a chance.

 

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/9131869 (without increasing the GPU voltage and undervolting the CPU)

edit: here is the video

 

Hi Prema, I PMed you my bios dump for 970M @ techinferno let me know if you received it ok. Thank you.

 

Thank you very much sir.
Used the exact same values as you did and have good results
http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/9235203?

Temperatures are well below 80°C
Only when the fans are not completely kicked in yet when starting a game, it can peak at like 85-85 for like one second.

But for the rest it's all good. Thanks again.

 

I have no idea whether my sensors are faulty or I got lucky with my R2. I would say the latter as it hasn't blown up yet kek. Idle temp is 50C+, ambient is around 30C... Yet somehow max temp is <70C for my 970m even at +190 core and +495 mem (69C to be precise according to afterburner). Do note there was not any throttling and I even priortised temperature to 85C. And on a sidenote, using the premamod bios so thank you Prema! No voltage tweaking for either cpu or gpu.

Sydney is supposed to get to 40C today so perfect weather to run 4 benchmarks with the driver installation as the cooldown period.

Here are the results:
Firestrike

• http://www.3dmark.com/fs/6530810 970m +190 core +495 mem
• http://www.3dmark.com/fs/6530912 STOCK 970m

Just for comparison, my [email protected] + R9 290@1050 core 1400 mem

• http://www.3dmark.com/fs/6531121

Sky Diver

• http://www.3dmark.com/sd/3528076 970m +190 core +495 mem
• http://www.3dmark.com/sd/3528061 STOCK 970m

EDIT: Forgot to mention that Firestrike was run on 358.91 I think... Then updated driver for the Sky Diver benchmark to 359.00

 

@judal57

Hey bud, what is that gaming keyboard model you have to the left of your laptop in the video you posted? Is that a Logitech? Looks like one with that screen that's on it. I would like to check that out online. Thanks

 

How high are you guys going with the memory overclocks for the Gtx970m in the Alienware 15 R2 or similar laptops? I've seen a couple people say they have gone as high as +500mhz to the memory!! That's pretty high over stock IMO. I'm just trying to find out what is safe and what some of you have gotten out of it?? Others I've seen only going +200 - +250mhz on the memory. So far I have only gone up +200mhz as I don't want to kill any of the memory chips on my gtx970m , if that's even possible these days.

I remember back in the Gtx260 / Gtx280 days when those first came out. I was overclocking those quite a bit and ended up going through 6 of them in 1 week because as soon as you went a little to far with the memory, it damaged one of the memory chips and there was artifacts no matter what clock speed you ran it at afterwards. These newer cards might have some type of feature built in now that will save the card before letting one of the chips go bad like that, maybe not?? I don't want to be the one that finds out though LOL.

If anyone can chime in with how far they have SAFELY pushed the memory and core clocks on the Gtx970m, please share. So far I have gone +200mhz memory, and +135mhz core with Nvidia Inspector and this is with stock voltage. I haven't added any extra voltage at all so far and have been completely stable.

Thanks,
Hambone

 

i7 6820hk and 980m

looks like a pretty poor show from my machine out the box. any suggestions. bit of a noob to this

Firestrike - 4055
http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/9398900

Skidiver - 7563
http://www.3dmark.com/sd/3539876

 

That can't be right bud. I mean the score you got is what you got, but that's no where near the performance you should be seeing from that setup. Did you run that on the battery and not have it plugged into the wall? That looks like the score you would get on the battery bud. If I'm running a game that's getting say 60fps plugged in, then unplug it, it would drop to about 35fps on battery.

I'm getting Firestrike score of 6450 ish with all stock clocks on my 6700HQ / 970m , and then overclocked +135 core and +200 mem is getting 7112.

Stock with your 6820hk / 980 should be getting something like 7500 with no overclocks at all and above 8000 with a mild overclock, maybe even 8000+ stock clocks. Rerun the Firestrike test and make sure you are plugged into the wall. Another thing I do is use MSI afterburner, and make sure you install Riva Tuner when installing MSI Afterburner. Then you can choose to have the on screen display show you your gpu clocks and memory speeds while running the test and see that your gpu is staying at the right speeds. Just something to check and make sure that's going right to start. Try that out and see what happens and post up a new score. I bet you'll be way higher than what you posted earlier. I'll try to help you out if I can

Edit:
I just ran the Sky Diver Benchmark to see what I got for a score. This is the first time I ever ran that benchmark. I just ran with all stock settings on the 6700HQ / 970 ..
Link: http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/9403425
Score is 19,079 no overclock at all.

Here's running with +135 core and +200 mem on the 970m
Score now 20,459
Link: http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/9403531

And here is just for a reference to desktop performance.
Sky Diver 39,020 Link: http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/9403211
Desktop System Specs below:
-Core i7 4790K @ 5ghz 1.350v
-Asus Maximus 6 Formula
-Evga Gtx Titan X @ 1500mhz / 7750mhz (+112mv)
-32gigs DDR3 2400mhz (4 x 8gb)
-Corsair AX1200 psu
-6x 256gig SSD in Raid 0 (1.5tb OS/Game drive)
-Thermaltake Core X9 custom painted Red / Black case (ROG Theme)
-Everything on water cooling, Cpu, Gpu, Mobo
-1x 480mm Monsta rad
-2x 360mm XT45 rads
-10x EK Vardar F4-120 2200rpm fans on rads
-2x EK D5 pumps, 1x 150ml X-res, 1x X-top inline for reliability / safety
-1/2" Hard line Acrylic tube
-EK Supreme HF Acetal / Nickel cpu block
-EK Full cover Titan X Acetal / Nickel gpu block
-EK Nickel plated back plate Titan X
-Primochill Hard line fittings Red

My desktop is no slouch by any means, but DAME!! These Alienware laptops are very powerful these days. I can't believe that with the 6700HQ and gtx970m is more than half as fast. That's very impressive to me honestly. I didn't think it would be roughly 55% as fast as my 5ghz i7 / Titan X Desktop overclocked to the max all on water. These gaming laptops have come a long way in performance compared to what they use to be a few years back. I'm rethinking my desktop purchasing for the future since we have a toy like the Graphics amplifier that can be hooked up to these Alienware Laptops when at home. Might not need a desktop anymore really. As soon as I upgrade my desktop to a Pascal gpu in a year or so, my Titan X will be going into a graphics amplifier and be paired up with my Alienware 15 R2 to really bring out the power in it HAHA. That should be fun!!

 

got bored during uni to ran test again with power, same as the last post... this time i got 20k
http://www.3dmark.com/sd/3541728
go figure!

 

@Hambone07si : I like reading your posts. You have good info and a great attitude.

 

Now THERE YOU GO BUDDY!! That's more like it!! You should definitely be in the 20K area with your specs. Wish I had the same spec as yours, but I got a insanely low price on mine and couldn't pass it up. I'm happy as can be tho with it and just hope it lasts for a few years and then I'll really be happy

HAHA
Well I will try to continue to bring in good info to the thread as I'm now a happy Alienware owner myself. I've always wanted an Alienware laptop because they looked so cool and had great features and specs, but they were always so expensive so I continued to pass. I guess it was just me not going out and buying one tho as I have over $5K in my desktop LOL. I could have went with $3K in the desktop and spent the other $2K on a Alienware.

The wait is over, and now there's a 15" Alien glowing and running fast wherever it is in my house, LOL .. I'm very new to this forum as of a few days ago, but I'm glad to join another fun place to share info and try to help others if it is possible. I try to keep a great attitude as well because it's no fun when some want to be mean or harsh with words. I enjoy helping others when I can, if I can, and when I do, it just make me smile again

Hambone the happy owner of my 1st Alienware!!

 

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/9509663

9122 with NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M and Intel Core i7-6820HK
Very happy with this computer. Probably has more in it, im just tired of playing with everything. It runs Fallout 4 in 2556x1600 with dam near everything on ultra and spends most of the time at 60 fps and rarely drops into the 30's.

 

What overclock values are you using? I just picked up my 15 r2 and am beginning to get into the whole benchmark/OC scene lol. I received a score of 8976 with 100mhz Clock oc and 250mhz memory oc.

I have 980m, i7 6700hq. Wondering how I compare, and more specifically, how my overclocking gains compare. Thanks in advance!
=
EDIT: I only OCd the video card, never touched the cpu. Cpu temps are pretty good (almost never hit 84), and havent seen gpu over 77 yet.
http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/9779119

 

Forget overclock with i7 6700Hq. Unable to overclock

 

Awe seriously? Is this a definite thing lol. Cant be done at all? On that note, do you (or someone else) know what "cpu performance mode" in BIOS does? It seems to lower my Firestrike scores by about 100 or so. I have BIOS 1.2.3 (i dunno if thats A04 or what, Im relatively new to all this jazz).

 

anyone know why my 951 (stock from dell) 512GB SSD is only scoring at 180mb/sec sequential writes?

The 840 Evo in the same system is clocking at 450mb/sec writes...

 

8433
This is my first benchmark test ( tested on firestrike demo with everything set to default , high performance mode, Nvidia Shadowplay disabled )
http://www.3dmark.com/fs/6859190

8995 (GPU OC + 135mhz)
http://www.3dmark.com/fs/6860350

Temps : CPU max 84c , GPU 76c (with cooler master L1 notepad cooler) Bios A06 240W PSU
Cooling Trick : i tried using a game dvd box inbetween backpart of laptop and table, so it looks slanted from side view, to get more air, believe me or not my temps dropped from max 75 to max 68.

somehow I saw a guy running maxed out gaming on his MSI dominator with same config, his CPU and GPU temps were much better, he maxed around 62c. I believe MSI laptops have better heatsink, dissipation method I guess..

 

Those temps are...

Those are actually pretty hot temps even for the 15r2 which runs relatively cool.

Here is my run... http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/10184629?

I dont think the CPU broke 69c in the combined firestrike and the GPU never broke 48c. Am I just extremely lucky? I have fans maxed out in bios, maybe thats your issue.

 

But its an R1?!

 

new to the thread, but could definitely use some advice. my results doesn't seem to make any sense.

http://www.3dmark.com/fs/7246238

any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

@n0ob your score is correct with non oc GPU.

 

thanks for verifying. little misleading that the core clock on the GPU shows higher compared to when you OC it

 

need help

CPU temps as high as 93 when gaming and it turns my clock speed back to 2.6ghz or 2.0ghz, my gpu never reached more than 68c, FYI my cpu is 4720HQ running with BIOS A00 for fan profile sake, and my room temps around 20c, my old alienware m11x runs at 32c idle temps, I called Dell tech support, I felt so ******** talking to them, explaining them whats the issue, pooor quality thermal paste and poorly binned cpu, I asked him to send me a tech to replace heatsink. but instead he said first we need to know the cause and started pulling of some random test, run benchmark, forcing PHYSX on NVidia control panel, we all know that's not the cause, and he is bluffing 93c is normal, and the clocks will vary, its common.. any update when the new bios will be up, or why such high temps on this 4720HQ

 

New and much better paste + perhaps a new heatsink or require new laptop from Dellienware. Former Echo models are crippled... This will never be fixed by new bios. Only thing that can help a little is as said a better paste.

 

actually this is my second laptop, first had the same issue, I had to wait for 1month to get a new laptop under dell replacement policy, finally I got it, with little bit of backlight bleed on screen, but this new ones temps are worse, I doubt dell support guy would bring a nice paste like IC or artic silver 5.. is this only on alienware laptops or even MSI or asus with 4720hq having high temps. thanks papusan for replying..

 

I only know that the former Echo models have had this problems from the beginning. Never fixed... Probably bad binned processors + Dells useless bios/Ec. A bad paste in addition makes everything worse... Buy ICD, Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut or Gelid Extreme before getting Dell technicians or apply this yourself.

 

I don't think thermal grizzly and gelid extreme available in india, its hard to find those, mostly AS5 and IC diamond, Ill have to open my laptop by myself.. and yeah may be its a poorly binned processor, and dell bios gives extra voltage juice to produce more heat, and a sick thermal pipe share design..

 

I know I know... ICD is perhaps the best choice outside Clu aka Liquid ultra. Choose ICD because it is perhaps the best of conventional paste. Maybe similar as thermal grizzly or better.

 

Try to get it imported, GC extreme is good (I tried it on papusans advice , works like a charm), Kryonaut is new but seems like it's better than GC. ICD is also good but it doesn't go well with the die /HS , leaves marks and some have it scratched if not removed properly. And the new echo models are hard to disassemble, dell not only downgraded the mobo, BGA they also downgraded the chassis too...

CLU is on a whole different level don't bother it at all..

 

If you spend enough Isopropanol or similar to the removal of ICD, I think you avoid any scratches on die/heatsink. The important thing is to spend enough time and are careful with the cleaning. Scratches on die is more cosmetic and not dangerous if you get any at all.
Edit: @Ashtrix CLU is the best you can get. You know that very well