m14x CPU Overclocking with i7 Extreme 2960XM

So I am wondering if anybody has experience running a CPU with an unlocked multiplier such as the i7 Extreme 2960XM on the m14x?

I've had this CPU in my m14x for a while now - many thanks to all those who contributed to the tear-down guides here, which were invaluable during the upgrade (Dell doesn't even offer this CPU as a factory option).

However, while I was hoping the BIOS would recognize this CPU as having an unlocked multiplier and would thus allow me to increase the base multiplier (an option found on, for example, the m17x), there is in fact no such option. And most of these mobile extreme CPU's easily run one stepping faster...

...which would bring my base frequency up to 2.83 or maybe even 2.96 without even TurboBoost or other overclocking methods stepping in yet. And when they did, of course, the CPU would run all the faster anyways.

Has anybody else installed an Extreme Intel CPU inside the m14x? Any thoughts on enabling basic multiplier overclocking via software or the BIOS?

 

I personally don't think its worth the money as you will run into heat issues even at stock speeds. Even the 2630/2670 should be enough for just about every game out. The 555m will bottleneck long before the CPU will. If you want to OC a CPU grab an m17x.

 

I can confirm this, since I own a M14x with a heat issue, for me I have the 2720QM version in the first few months of use, I twice used to reach extreme temp - between 96C-99C. And that's 2720QM, so if with the extreme edition, I dont think the laptop would survive that kind of heat, and like bigtonyman said, it is not worth it, in the end of the day the GT555M will just be a nuisance and bottleneck to the CPU. But it would be more suitable if it was a M17x/M18x.

 

From his post I understand that he already got his new CPU he just asks how should he OC it

 

ah nvm misread the OP. To overclock, you should use XTU and see if will allow you ajust settings. I'm sure your gonna hit the thermal shutdown before you get to far though.

Edit: here is a guide from widezu on overclocking the XM processors in the m17x r3. I would give it a read and see if it will help you out at all. just remember that a bunch of the numbers are prob gonna have to be set lower do to having heat issues. [Guide] Overclocking the 2920XM/2960XM CPUs in the M17x R3 with/without Modded bios.

 

Thanks

I have actually experienced the problems mentioned on other systems I've upgraded to Extreme CPU's - in fact the heating would sometimes get so bad that the CPU would constantly under-clock itself in half, resulting in a net performance MUCH lower than its non-Extreme counterparts, even without overclocking. So I am definitely familiar with this issue.

However for anybody else adventurous out there enough to try this, I am happy to report that on the m14x the Extreme CPU has taken very well; in fact I have been using this system upgraded thus since November, makes for quite a mean beast I must say. There are no thermal issues; of course your own mileage may vary.

That's why I am now confident to actually take the Extreme CPU one step further and increase the multiplier one more bit.

 

I was hoping for an unlocked sort of BIOS that would just let me up the multiplier one more bit - I take it one is not available then for the m14x?

I'll let you know what I find out with the XTU. If there's enough interest I could publish some benchmarks that there's demand for on the overclocked system.

The machine currently has 16GB RAM and 1.2 TB of Intel SATA2 SSD's, so it really is a speedy playground.

Sadly, no joy with XTU. All OC options are grayed out in the UI.

Apparently this happens when the BIOS doesn't permit certain hooks XTU needs.

Are there any XTU compatible BIOS's for the m14x that anybody here could recommend?

My system arrived with the v6 BIOS but I recently flashed it to v8. Stock Dell.

 

yea i guess you would need an unlocked bios I guess to overclock the CPU then. Is the modded bios available for the m14x unlocked?

 

I have been wary of installing a custom BIOS on the m14x - if it does get XTU to work though, I'd be willing to give it a try.

 

would only work if its unlocked. If its not unlocked, your gonna either have to find somebody to unlock it, or your not gonna be able to do much.

 

Well I installed the latest unlocked BIOS. Unfortunately, it doesn't work either.

I have also lost 2560x1600 display support now. Does anybody have an A06 BIOS, as that is the one which used to work for my dual link DVI output through the mini display port...

 

A gracious soul at Dell technical support has made BIOS A07 available at:

Drivers and Downloads | Dell [United States]

I can confirm that this BIOS DOES DRIVE the 2560x1600 30" display when used in conjunction with a mini display port to dual link DVI adapter (such as the one provided by Apple).

Thank you Adolfo Escalante! You have restored my system to operational order. It is people like you who make all the difference at giant companies like Dell.

Once again, thank you.

 

glad to here you finally got that fixed. Any dice on getting the XM overclocked?

 

You need to use older XTU software 2.1 not the latest version. Check out the m18x 2960xm over clocking forum. I had a m14x a even a 2670 was idling at 60c so I don't think you will be able to push it far if at all. My 2960xm in a m18x hits 90c+ easily at 4.2ghz at all cores.


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I tried XTU 2.1, the service doesn't start after installation at all with that version.

XTU 3.0 does start the service, but it doesn't do anything because all options are grayed out.

So no luck with overclocking.

However I have to stress that I am NOT worried about thermal issues AT ALL. Despite running what is technically an out of spec CPU on this machine, I have NOT had a single lockup, bluescreen, or other issue with this system due to heat.

In fact what I do is I leave the system running, close the lid (my power management settings disable Windows from sleeping or shutting down when the lid is closed), put the m14x in its red protective pouch, put the whole thing in my backpack, and then carry it around like that for 20 minutes or maybe even longer.

Sure, the fans are blasting when I take the system out, but I haven't had a single issue with the system locking or freezing to date with this (and sometimes, I'd even be running a CPU intensive task when I do this).

So trust me when I say I'm really not worried about the system overheating. Maybe its just my hardware combination that got me lucky this time round, but this system is really performing admirably.

PS: Don't try to walk around with your laptop running in a backpack unless you have SSDs - I did try that with mechanical hard drives and I learned the hard way that it kind of destroys the mechanical drives.

 

thats a good way to fry your machine if you aren't very carefull dude. why not just put it to sleep?

 

your fan will have a premature death

 

Because I run Server 2003 on this laptop, the drivers aren't perfectly working for some edge cases, such as sleep. For instance, when I try to sleep the system, it doesn't resume most of the time.

I'd power down instead, given that the system has ultra fast SSDs and should boot up very quickly; however again the AHCI drivers for Server 2003 (possibly due to some complications on my OS installation which is an image that has been migrated from at least 10 other systems cumulatively - in fact, I originally installed it in 2007 so its five years old now!) are buggy in that they delay the boot up to five minutes for no apparent reason.

Every once in a blue moon the system boots up very quickly (as in, about ten seconds) and I know that's a lucky day when the drivers didn't act up and stall the boot. But at other times, the five minute lag occurs with the HD activity light at full intensity (there's nothing that could take these SSDs so long at boot).

And if you're wondering why I'm running Server 2003 - in 32 bit mode it lets me use all my RAM (all 16 GB of it), and its basically just like XP when used as a workstation OS. I'll admit I'm not a big fan of the NT 6.x family as I find myself far more productive with the NT 5.x user interface; NT 5.2 also was the first OS to introduce the advanced disk cache (as seen in the disk properties window of the device manager) which does significantly boost performance (and is also available with Vista/7/etc.)

So until the fan dies...I'll keep walking

 

I guess that makes sense, Just is kinda crazy to torture the machine like that.

 

Oh that's not torture. Torture is booting up six or more VMs simultaneously, and running a 10 GB installation in each simultaneously; and then running a battery of tests on what was just installed on each VM as fast as you can click your way through them.

And the m14x takes it all without a hiccup, thanks to the 600 GB Intel SSDs which can handle all these VMs without even being in a RAID setup. What can I say - I need it for work