2920xm stuttering during benching.

Hello everyone. I've had my m18x r1 for a year now and this forum has been a huge help getting my laptop upgraded and i'd like to thank everyone who's helped. Well my issue is this. During benching in 3dmark 11 my cpu seems to stutter and my fan spins up suddenly and the test seems to go by in 1 sec increments rather than being smooth. I realize that the benching is very strenuous on cpus but the fact that my fan ramps up and the screen freezes for about a second then it moves for about the same time and the fan drops speed during the movement makes me think that I may have a cooling issue or a heat sink issue with my cpu. I've also noticed a slowdown on occasion in cpu intensive games like Star craft 2. It's just a bit of a slow down is all but it happens often and breaks up game play a fair amount. I'd like to know whether upgrading from a 2 pipe to 3 pipe heat sink would make a difference. Also whether i should replace the cpu heat sink fan. I believe my cpu is functioning properly as it doesn't have a problem booting and doesn't freeze during standard operation. My game play doesn't freeze either. The frames just drop very low for a second and the cpu fan ramps up then it goes back to normal.

My cpu temps spike high under load but due to the fact that it bounces so regularly it's hard to say what exactly it's at. My cpu is overclocked to about 4.2 ghz and set at that for normal operation thanks to Mr. Fox's guide but it did all this before I ever overclocked it so I believe it's an issue that had already been there. The idle temps are from 55c to 63c and xtu tells me that during benching it gets up to 100c at max frequency 4.39 ghz. My xtu score is 805.

I'm also running unlocked A05 bios. Thanks guys for any help and I hope i explained everything well enough. It's kind of hard to describe. and if this is normal function for laptop cpus please excuse my ignorance I'm new to it.

 

Your CPU might need slightly different settings than mine, so do not hesitate to experiment up or down with the power settings.

If you are not seeing a BSOD, then they should be close to what they need to be, but using the lowest power settings possible will help manage temps.

What you are describing is very strange. It might not be related to the CPU. Try resetting the BIOS/CMOS and do a power drain to see if it helps. Leave the CPU stock BIOS defaults (no OC) for testing and see if the behavior is exactly the same as what you are seeing now. It would be good to know if this is happening with no CPU overclock.

Also, what tests are you seeing this in 3DMark11? Across the board? Tests 1, 2, 3, 4 are heavily GPU bound and not CPU dependent. You can run the first 4 tests with the CPU clocked down around 2.8-3.0GHz and have very little effect on the performance or scoring of those 4 tests. Only the Physics and Combined Tests (last two) rely on CPU performance, and they weigh heavily on your overall benchmark score in 3DMark11.

805 is not that bad for XTU using an old Sandy Bridge CPU at 4.2GHz. The XTU benchmark favors Haswell and Ivy-E more than Sandy and Ivy, and it's a poor indicator of what you can accomplish in real-world use of the system. It seems to test computational efficiency more than brute force. (Having a good XTU benchmark score doesn't mean your system will do good at other things that may matter a whole lot more.)

 

it's only during the cpu tests in 3d mark 11 that it seems to stutter and it did it before i ever overclocked or changed to an unlocked bios.

 

OK, that's helpful to know. Still try resetting the BIOS/CMOS and do a power drain to see if it helps.

You need to understand what the CPU is doing. If you are using the free version of 3DMark11, buy the $19.95 Advanced Edition version (non-Steam is preferred).

On the "Results" tab uncheck the box to automatically view results at 3DMark.com. Click to the "Advanced" tab and set everything like you see here. Have CPU-Z or ThrottleStop open. Move CPU-Z or ThrottleStop over to the lower right corner of your screen and watch what happens with the CPU clock speeds during the test. Let us know what see taking place. CPU clock speed should stay put and not be moving up or down. If you're not already using ThrottleStop, you need to be.

 

ok when i run that with cpu z open and windowed 3dmark 11. my clock speeds go up and down in time with me fan ramping up or down. Its set at 4.3ghz before test then during test it will bounce between 3.6 ghz and 800mhz. I have throttle stop but i have very little understanding of it. new to it

 

OK, now we're getting somewhere and we know what needs to be fixed. I am assuming you have an unlocked system BIOS as you mentioned you have already applied some of my settings. We need to confirm a few things. Turbo PWR Limit MSR lock, Watchdog Timer and Bi-Directional BDPROCHOT# should all be set to "disabled" in the BIOS.

ThrottleStop needs to be running and turned on. The PowerSaver C0% needs to be set at 99 or 100. This ThrottleStop video I made may help you get a feel for how to use it. Set it at 1080p and watch full screen so you can see everything well. You can also use the ThrottleStop benchmark for testing CPU behavior.

<iframe width='853' height="480" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/xb2HPbk_O1I" frameborder='0' allowfullscreen=""></iframe>

 

Ok I adjusted the things you suggested and the cpu no longer stutters when throttlestop is on and i run the physics test in 3dmark 11. but my clock speeds still go up and down and my max clock frequency has gone down from 4.39 in xtu to 3.69.

 

even though i have my multiplier set to 44 in bios it bounces between 33 and 30 on throttle stop and cpu-z when i am running the 3dmark 11 physics test.

 

I had similar issues with my 2920XM (ES) until I redid the thermal paste. Using Coolabratory Liquid Ultra (not pro) brought my temps down a lot, which was causing the CPU to throttle from 4.3 to 3.3GHz. After repasting, it throttled only 120 MHz instead of 1000 MHz. Well, that combined with what Mr. Fox posted.

 

Well xtu is telling me that there is no throttling going on at all. It just appears my multipliers are not behaving. Still though my system is already running better

 

Glad to hear it is running better. What are the temps?

If the CPU is not overheating, try using XTU to change the Long and Short Duration Turbo Time Windows values (called Turbo Boost Short Power Max and Turbo Boost Power Max in XTU) to 125 each and see if your clock speed fluctuation stabilizes.

 

the idle temp is about 56c and under load its between 86 and 92. xtu shows max temp hit during bench at 98. that's after changing those values you suggested. the clock speeds fluctuated the same after as well

 

OK, well it sounds like you're definitely getting better results, but those temps are going to cause thermal throttling. If you have not recently cleaned out the fans and heat sink radiators, that may help a lot. Unscrew the fans to get direct access to the heat sink radiators for cleaning. If they are already clean, then you may want to repaste the CPU with an extremely high quality thermal paste like Liquid Ultra or IC Diamond. You can also use HWiNFO64 to force the fans to run full blast during benching and that might help. In fact, the HWiNFO64 sensor table will show a "Yes" for thermal throttling if that is happening long enough for the sensors to catch it. Look in the BIOS CPU Thermal Configuration menu and change the critical thermal trigger and throttling points. Set them to maximum values (90°C for throttling and 120°C for the thermal trip point). This will not alter the CPU TJ max, but it will help circumvent throttling due to temps. You CPU will still shut down the system at 100°C, so it will not cause any harm... but it should minimize clock speed slow-downs at 90°C and higher.

 

Above 90C your CPU will throttle down to protect itself. Using better thermal paste or application methods can help reduce temperatures to curb throttling.

 

If you are running exact settings that I had posted in another thread, also try lowering your Flex VID. The 2920XM QS CPU I had ran like a scalded dog, but it needed a lot of voltage. At 42x4 you might be able to get away with using a lot less Flex VID than I was able to, and if so this will help lower your temps. It would not surprise me if you could run somewhere between 0 and 5 on Flex VID at 4.2GHz, but you will have to try it and see what values are stable.

You'll know if you drop the voltage too low because you will start getting lockups running 3DMark11 or 0x124/WHEA BSOD errors.

 

I think i will try the re paste and the 3 pipe heat sink. I found a new one on ebay for 99 free shipping. decent price? and will i see a difference?

the flex vid in throttle stop is set to 0. is there in option to drop it in the bios?

 

Yes, check in the BIOS to be sure it is set to a lower value than what it currently is. Dell sets it at 25 by default, which is just insanely high for a OC LV 3 (where between 0 and 5 is generally enough). You might need 25 for flex at 43x4 or higher, but can likely use less that 25 even at 45x4.

ThrottleStop will not lower what is set in the BIOS. It will only "add to" that value.

You can change it in Windows with XTU, but it's easy enough to just press F2 at POST and change it in the BIOS.

$99 for a 3-pipe CPU heat sink? No way, that's positively insane if you're talking US Dollars. You can buy it directly from Dell brand new for about $25.00 LOL.Will you see a difference? Yes, you sure will. It should run about 5°-10°C cooler under full load.

 

Thank you! I almost bought it. Well I checked dell parts and even when i entered the part number I got nothing. Can you give me an idea of where to buy the 3 pipe heat sink? Thank you

 

This appears to be the cheapest I've found. Dell Alienware M18x Cooling Heatsink DP/N: 0MXJ5, 00MXJ5, AT0MI0070C0

 

Actually I just bought the heat sink from dell for 20.99 but that shipping cost was high. still though its pretty cheap. Mr. Fox I seem to remember that you decided to upgrade your heat sinks for your 780s to the heavier duty ones from the M18. Were you ever able to get them and do you have part numbers? I tried to buy them from dell over the phone but he said that they still weren't able to sell them since they are offered on current models.

 

If you mean the Alienware 18, no. I don't have GPU heat sinks for 780M in the 18. I bought new GTX 680M heat sinks for the 780M cards in my M18xR2. DumbDumb is the person that bought 780M heat sinks for the Alienware 18. The parts list for the Alienware 18 is on the first page in the Alienware 18 Owner's Lounge (same as M18xR1/R2 parts).

Confirm with DumbDumb that these match his invoice, but I show the part numbers are:

TJ6G8 - GTX 780M GPU Thermal Module Right 100w
HTXFC - GTX 780M GPU Thermal Module Left 100w​

 

Thank you once again Mr. Fox.