How to Overclock the Alienware 18 and Haswell CPU (or actually have it run full stock Turbo Speed)

Interesting, never knew pushing single core speed would require that much more voltage. Then again I rarely bench so what do I know. Yeah not sure what's so special about XTU 4.4, seems the same as 4.3 to me.

And hang on, are you telling me you don't all keep kangaroos pets, and talk like Crocodile Dundee?

 

I'm using XTU 5.1.0.23 with the 3920XM and 4930MX, and I cannot see any difference at all between it and the 4.4 version. Who said the older version is better? I wonder what that comment is based on?

 

Awesome will have to pick up the liquid ultra then. Though first I will have to do a recover on my rig it seems. At start up quick flash of bsod then to the windows recovery screen. Not sure what the hell happened. Set HDD to defrag came back and on reboot well been playing with this for an hour now trying not to have to start from scratch. Damnit. Under problem details unknown/ no root cause.

 

Well this is new. The system doesn't see my recovery disk nor does it reconize the USB drive. Looks like back to factory time via respawn. Pleas pardon spelling typing on phone.

 

hi can you post some screens of yours xtus settings for me please ;;;

 

do you use xtu last version ? i have win8.1 ... in the bios i have oc level 1 should i change something ?

 

Shouldnt matter which version of XTU you use if you download my XTU profile from HWBOT it should work,be warned it will make your AW18 run very hot,im not responsible for any damaged caused,use at your own risk......

 

ok my version dont allows me to change the processor cache ratio and until now 3dm06 33500 pnts ca1500more ,,,now i m running vantage 37k ,,,,, and 11..11300pnts
i m wondering if the new ram 1866cl10 will give some more performance
xtu 932 marks

 

My particular cpu is really good up to 4.2Ghz but doesn't scale very well beyond that...us Australians must be the only country that actually eats their coat of arms lol...and no I haven't thrown a shrimp on the BBQ lately...we call them prawns not shrimps..

 

edit,,,
i find all

 

Hmm...I am going to have to take a closer look at that on the 4930MX. I haven't used the Alienware 18 much for the past few weeks and I don't remember looking at that. If that settings is gone, I'll have to downgrade to the previous version on the Alienware 18. I don't see any difference on the M18xR2, but I use it about 10 hours per day compared to maybe 10 hours per month that I use the Alienware 18.

 

hi ....how can i load a profile in xtu ,,,i have set my oc profile and saved it but now i dont know how to load it ?
....ok findout ;-)

 

Click the profile you want to load (select the line) and then "Show Values" to see them populate the settings preview pane on the right. The changed values will be yellow. Click the "Apply" button, rebooting if necessary.

 

It is better that you enter the profile manually in xtu. There may be some bugs with xtu if you loaded the profile automatically.

 

So it is now September 2014. Did Dell ever release an updated BIOS that fixes the issues with the EC fans and/or the power settings? I'm assuming not, but there are so many threads and posts all over the place I figured this would be the best place to check.

Bite

 

I don't think so. That would be BIG news.

 

I've been combing various boards and doing google searches. Looks like A05 and A06 offered up some fan control and power current changes back in July of this year. They are now up to A09.....

I'm curious, can anybody speak to the current state of affairs as far as "unleashing" the m18 and reaching the "advertised" state of at least 4Ghz OC without having to use XTU, etc.?

Bite

 

Unfortunately, the stock BIOS doesn't have adequate support for meaningful overclocking and proper CPU control. Using XTU and/or ThrottleStop to disable the turbo power lock and adjust the CPU to where it functions correctly is unavoidable.

As far as the fan tables and manual fan control, no complaints. I am using A09 and it does what I want it to with HWiNFO64. Other than the fan speeds being capped below their maximum speed/CFM capacity, I have zero complaints about the fan tables or cooling system. Manual fan control works better on the 18 than it does on the M18xR2 because you can control each of the three fans individually.

 

It's just that I want the fans are running at the speed they are supposed to be. Also when I want to adjust them at full speed manually.

 

Yeah, I really wish we could do that, too. It is a shame that we cannot. No excuse for not being able to other than they pretend to know what is best for us instead of giving us what we want.

 

But we have really slick lights and a light up keyboard, so that makes it all good.....right? RIGHT?

 

Christmas will be here in 3 months, and than we can hang it by the window and show off those pretty lights. G-d Bless us everyone, here's to you Tiny Timmy.

 

Hey Fox I was hoping you can help me out with an overclock im attempting. It keeps crashing about 20 mins into gaming. I have an Alienware 17 with a 4910mq chip. Trying to get it to 4.2-4.3. Here are the pics of my settings... i know im missing something here with the values so if you could tweak it please I would be very appreciative. Note that even before it crashes it seems to throttle here and there during games.

[/URL][/IMG]
[/URL][/IMG]
[/URL][/IMG]


One last note... without any oc I run at 3.9 even though the card is rated boost up to 4.1. My temps are usually between 58-72 (fluctuating) while gaming unless its a really cpu intesive game like arma 3 then ill see low 80's. I should be able to get at least 300 extra out of it. I am on the A13 bios.Thanks for your help!

 

Ty to disable Extreme edition core ratio limits oc lv 1

 

I actually already did that. Ill show you my current settings. In no benchmark does it ever stay clocked at a steady rate.. in games it seems to have gotten better but not perfect. Fluctuation from 3.9 to 4.2. I'm trying to keep it steady so let me know what I should tweak.

[/URL][/IMG]
[/URL][/IMG]

 

For God's sake, turn off adaptive mode of the processor, it should run at full speed all the time. Basically, I think you have too high a voltage on your processor. If you have the adjustment processor integrated vr faults and processor integrated vr efficiency mode under other in xtu, it should be disabled. I see that you are using + 25mv under dynamic CPU voltage offset and + 25mv under processor cashe voltage offset. These values should be decrease. I do not know if you have a good or bad processor, but maybe the totals on the volt is too high. Long duration time windows increased to 128 sec, instead of 28sek. Do you experience instability, maybe lower CASHE core ratio down a notch. You should test your laptop with Cinebench 11.5 and Wprime 1024 (with 8 threads). Use hwinfo64 and check temperature, CPU package power and see if the CPU Throttle (follow the processor frequency goes down from 4.2ghz during the tests). feel free to post some pictures with the results you get. (Get with the CPU package power graph in hwinfo on the pictures) :thumbsup:

 

I'm tweaking stuff now but that 1.2v is my stock voltage. I have the 4910mq. Thoughts? For adaptive to disable do you mean in my second pic because that's what I did. I turned in on static but still seems to fluctuate my overclock. I also downloaded cinebench and it crashed my computer every time I ran it. Like within 10 seconds.. yet the benchmark in xtu does not crash it. Helpppp lol. Just wanna get the running well. FYI it has not crashed during a game yet.. since I changed it to my second set of pics. I am definitely missing something here... :/

 

Hi
It can be heat issues due to high voltage that makes you crash during this test.
I meant to put the power options in Windows to max performance instead of balanced performance.
You can film the test of Cinebenc and hwinfo with a mobile camera. create a picture of the result just before the test crashes. and post it in the thread. So we can see the result on the picture and maybe give a conclusion. You can also do the same during the test of Wprime 1024 (8-threads) since this test lasts much longer. Or you can snap many pictures of hwinfo under test and then select the image for showing the result just before the crash. just remember and show the most information of the most important in hwinfo.

 

Ok so I haven't had much time with work and jury duty to do much lately. However I will say after the High performance setting change I seem to get the right speeds in games. Granted they are not in benchmarks because I get super throttled due to heat. In games it seems to run around 80c or less and gives me full speed consistent. My question is... I tried going from 4.2 to 4.3 and then it crashes. From my pics what could I adjust to see if I can keep it stable at that clock?

 

Run the tests and monitor the temperature as I told you in the previous post. You can not do much until you fix the heat problem. (what thermal grease do you use? You should use Liquid Ultra) Remember that the processor never goes fully under gaming, only benchmark tests. Run the tests and update the thread so we can see what temperatures you get during these tests. There is no point in overclock the processor if it must Throttle all the time due to a high temperature and high clock frequency.

 

I am going to do a re-paste. I forgot when I had done my GPU I never did the CPU so it's still stock paste from Dell. I have Gelid GC-Extreme which lowered my GPU's temps by a solid 10 degrees. I will do the same for the CPU and see what the results are.

 

Yes it's not such a bad idea :thumbsup:

 

It seems with the release of AW 18 A10 Bios this thread has come to an end. The new bios allows all the overclocking levels to work (at least on my PC) without the aide of XTU or Throttlestop. :thumbsup:

 

NO
What good is a high Overclock on only one core?
It's just an unlocked bios that matters and intense fan profile.
This is only half done by Dell.

 

I've been playing with the new A10 bios for a couple of hours and I love it. I have used all three OC levels with no crashing or freezing. I have been able to change all cores to the same level with no problems. On OC level 2 I can make all the cores 4.5GHZ and all is well. The same is true for OC level 3, I make all cores 4.7 and it runs without difficulty. I tried the bench marks of XTU, and my 3D Mark program and I get scores similar to what I was getting when I used XTU and Throttlestop programs. I'm using OC level 2, and set all my cores to 4.4GHZ. That's what I'll be using for casual use and gaming. Anything above that will be for chasing OC numbers. I can game for hours (usually 3 max) and my pc never goes above 85c, and I always turn on my fans to max with HWiNFO. I feel as though I have been taken back in time and this was supposed to be how my pc should have worked when I took it out of the box.


So, I still say for people like me, casual OC'er, the new bios is like OC for dummies and the detail in this thread will gradually be less important. It is a great resource, and with this thread and people like Mr. Fox I would not have learned about, or used the XTU and Throttlestop programs.

 

I'm wondering what settings i should use to either get 4.4 GHz on all 4 cores or possibly even more(as much as possible) on my intel i7 4940mx CPU. I should mention i dont think cooling will be an issue...
also what setting could i use to overclock my GPUs 880m SLI and possibly disable throttling if thats possible as my performance isnt very good and my temps dont go over 75C.

 

For OCing the 880Ms well you need the modified vBIOS over at TechInferno's forums

For OCing the CPU, your best bet is using Intel XTU and Throttlestop. Best idea is to ask Mr. Fox or another experienced OCer for settings.

 

I was hoping Mr. Fox would see this thread since I see no way of PMing him...
also, I couldn't find an 880m bios just a 780m one will that work?

 

No, a 780M vBIOS will not work. 880M vBIOS should exist there.
NVIDIA Kepler VBIOS mods - Overclocking Editions, modified clocks, voltage tweaks
880M is right there.

Also, you need 5 posts minimum on this board before PMing works. But he'll show up eventually I think.

 

oh ok thanks a lot!
this laptop is pretty much ruined so im getting a new one so I want to really push it to the limits so im not worried about hardware failure or anything so if I can get it to 6 Ghz Id try it )

 

LOL.

Good luck sir.

 

You and I seem to have the same parts 4940xm CPU, and twin 880s. Using XTU the highest I got mine was 4x48. That was using XTU program and a lot of BSODs. I did not use any modded vbios , only because I'm to lazy to go join another forum (LOL) Unfortunately it seems every system is different, in that you probably would crash your system if you tried using the settings I used. I tried to follow the settings Mr. Fox posted and all I would get was constant BSOD. Whatever you do be careful, because you could run into the crash where your pc no longer turns on. That's a whole other conversation.

Here is a look at my XTU settings, I've lowered it to 4x46 because that's where I keep it when not chasing numbers and everyday use:

 

your attachment is invalid also, would u mind also posting your 4x 48? id like to try and see if it works

 

The XTU profile I've posted is my overall one. Those settings work for my system. I can run it up to as high as 4x48 any higher and it BOSDs, and I go down as low as 4x43. Here it is again, hope this one comes through:


View attachment 116671

 

i couldn't get it to run anywhere with those settings lol ) hope mr fox has some ideas considering I saw he could overclock his CPUs well past their advertised limits )

 

There is absolutely no advertised limit for a XM CPU. Never was, probably never will be.

 

That's exactly what I meant. When I started I copied Mr. Fox's setting and BAM, BSOD. I got to my settings through trial and error. Good luck in your quest.

 

Every chip is different so you will have to tweak and test to find what yours is capable of.

 

And the higher the voltage needed, the hotter it gets