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

by advertised limit I meant whatever intel/dell said the max was )

 

A couple of guys here have told me my CPU has been throttling heavily during my benchmarks and to try throttle stop.

Today I took their advice and I scored my highest score ever on firestrike!! I wish i could thank everyone , but dont remember who it was who pointed it out to me. My firestrike was 9772, physics 11669, and combo 3640. This was my first try and saw a immediate improvement. But I really have no idea what options i should be checking off ect. here are some screen shots of throttle stop. Please take a peak and let me know what i should change. thank you for your help.

Oh yeah almost forgot, system is i7 4930MX, two 780M's SLI, 32GB ram, and Raid 0 set up.

 

Intel actually advertises Extreme and K CPUs as being unlocked and unlimited. The only limits are a combination of the rest of the system the CPU is mounted in and user skill, or the point of failure, whichever comes first. There is also the unofficial limit that is represented by a roll of the dice in the silicon lottery.

 

No, the voltage is way higher than necessary for 4.3GHz and the other screens do not match the screen shots I posted in other threads.

Please save these links for future reference:

• Throttle Stop (4930MX Profiles)
• HWiNFO64 Setup and Settings

As a matter of etiquette, please ask questions in an existing thread that has a topic of discussion that relates to your question rather than starting a new thread..If you wish for a specific person to respond and they have not seen your post within 24 to 48 hours, you can always send a PM with link to the post.

 

In your throttlestop photos , the first 4 are in the bios and you show how the settings are still terrible, but what did you eventually set the bios at before booting into windows and then using the intel extreme utility to overclock?

 

Yes. I generally start by setting the BIOS overclock values equal or greater than what I plan to do with XTU and ThrottleStop. After flashing the new BIOS you need to open up XTU and disable the stupid Turbo Package lock thing.

Click on the little gear icon in the upper right corner of each photo in the album to view it at full resolution in a new browser windows. The numbers are too small to read looking at the images in the album view.

 

Yes, i actually printed out both links to your posts with all your pictures of setting up hwinfo64 and intel xtu. The only thing is in those posts the only bios screen shots you have are of the ones you say are horribly messed up. lol

Should we set up our bios like you had it in your post before you went into windows and changed everything?

These are the settings from the photo, please let me know what to turn off or on so i can use your settings from xtu and hwinfo64.

CPU turbo mode = enabled
overlocking feature= enable

non turbo flex support = disabled
flex ratio override = 32

extreme edition = bios
extreme edition core ratio limits = disabled
core ratio limit = 43, 43, 43 ,43

override turbo settings = enabled
long duration pwr limit = 32767
long duration time window= 128
short duration pwr limit = enabled
short duration pwr limit options= 32767

new frequency in 10khz increments = 10034
dmi/peg ratio = 5:5

apply new bus clock frequency = apply settings immediately
GT overclock frequency= 16

memory frequency = auto
memory setting = default

 

The performance is messed up, not the settings. The settings are correct, but the system malfunctions no matter what values are set in the BIOS. Disable the stupid turbo lock thing with XTU and you will be fine. After doing so, the BIOS settings will actually work.

 

just curious , where did you get the numbers from? for example long duration power limit = 32767? I remember with my i7 990X , i had one multiplyer that I changed for all 6 cores, and one qlink speed or whatever the hell it was called. it was pretty much simple , i even just set my ram to its xmp profile which lots of people told me not to and i never had a problem. it was my first overclock and my 990X was running at 4.4ghz at all times and rarely ran into any problems. That being said, i started off with a i7 965 Extreme edition processor and that $1k chip at the time sucked major balls. i was able to get the 990x and drop it right into the same motherboard and what a difference that chip was. My computer crushed games. Whats funny now is I compared some of my 3dmark scores to my older one and believe it or not my 4930MX even handicapped beat out the 990 is tons of benchmarks!!! So i'm thinking the CPU isn't total garbage, its just that its not in the best situation it could be in. hopefully it eventually changes

 

This is converted in watts, if you are looking for it in the xtu.
Each generation processors, increasing performance per clock frequency. This means that the processor performs better at the same clock frequency than the previous generation processors. The only major drawback with Hotwell processors is that it is much warmer than previous versions of processors.

 

I have read different answers on this but wanted to ask you guys what your opinion on the matter is. Currently , thanks to the help of members if this board, I run my 18 (i7 4930mx) @ 4.3ghz round the clock. Using throttle stop and hwinfo to control temps I finally run my games at the speed that was promised at purchase.

My question is do you think I'm taking lots of life off the CPU by doing this? What temps would you consider safe to have a 4930mX running at while gaming,benching ect?

Also what is the lowest volts you have used with a 4930 running at 4.3ghz?

 

If you're sitting at 90 degrees or higher all the time, you're not helping your CPU at all. If your temps don't cross say... 85? You're definitely in the clear.

 

I have seen Mr Fox has run its [email protected] with voltage of about 1.1602mv. But his processor is of good quality. The norm is around 1.1750 and up to 1.220mv by @ 4.3ghz. All volt above this means that it becomes unnecessarily high heat on the CPU if you are running processor under benchmark tests. :thumbsup:

 

Ok thanks guys. Wow, then why does Alienware have the volts so high in the bios overclocks? I guess they have to make settings with the crappiest CPU in mind?

 

Dell turns up the actual voltage because the worst processors must have some more volts than the best processors, but they have screwed it up too much in the bios profile. Intel has basically also screwed up the actual voltage too high on their Hotwell prosessor.Dell should of course followed up the overclocking profiles with a better fan profile. If Dell does not fix the fan profile, it is no wonder many people have problems with that many fail to execute benchmark tests such as for example Cinebench 11.5, and the laptop crashes. :laugh:

 

CPU silicon is very resilient. While it's ideal to keep it below 85C, the reality is that as long as it's not hitting 100C you're in the clear. It's certainly not desirable to be running your CPU in the 90C-100C range for hours every day, it's unlikely to ever cause the CPU to fail - at least, not until long after other critical components are likely to have failed through normal use anyway. It's the significantly higher voltages that many overclockers go to that can tend to kill chips rather than temperatures.

'Course, lower temperatures are always more desirable. Finding that sweet spot of clock speed and voltage can take a while but is worth it. The stock voltage on a CPU is almost always far higher than what the chip will actually need, because the voltage is set so that the vast majority of the CPUs that come out of the fab - even the worst few percent - will run stable at their rated clock speeds. Unless you're unlucky with your silicon, you can often drop the voltage quite a bit, even when overclocking. And voltage has a larger effect on temperatures and on power consumption than clock speed does. Someone correct me if I'm wrong here, but I believe that the heat produced scales linearly with clock speed but scales with the square of the voltage?

 

I just received my 18 with 4940mx and before startup I switched all storage devices to samsung SSDs (mSATA 1TB 840 evo and dual 850 PRO 1TB configured as RAID0 with 2TB storage). At first startup I went into BIOS and selected OC LV3 and the computer is still running smooth, fast and cold after win 8.1 64 plus installation of all drivers. I am not easily impressed but this time I have to say the machine is awesome. This is the fourth Alienware 18 mid 2013, and the first one working out of the box. The other ones were sent back to Dell. For the moment I am a happy owner of a Alienware 18.

 

That's wonderful news, Gunnar. I hope it continues to be excellent and trouble-free. Congratulations.

Such a fantastic machine deserves to work well, and the owner of it deserves the same.

 

Thank you, Mr Fox. The machine is still working well but it seems impossible to run 45:45:45:45 without freezing or BSD. Might try to start off with a clean install again to find out if that helps. I Installed an application called bluescreen viewer or something, but I do not know how to interpret the data displayed. BF4 and BF3 are running sweet. Will try to do some new performance tests with some UEFI overclock settings -- not as good as your achievements, but merely a way to find out the practical overclocking level of my system. Will keep you posted.

 

None Processor is equal (some overclock better with a low voltage while others need more volts to be stable under the same clock frequency). Do not use overclocking profile that are in the bios, it is useless. Follow Mr Fox's overclocking guide. :thumbsup: http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...actually-have-run-full-stock-turbo-speed.html

 

Hello again Mr Fox :hi2:,

I thought I´d start out using the Dell stock OC settings for a performance reference level in prior of tweaking. please find the out of the box results with stock factory overclock settings below.

My rig is the one and only famous Dell Alienware 18
- Intel Core i7-4940MX
- 32GB RAM
- Dual NVIDIA GeForce GTX 880M (2x8GB) in SLI
- mSATA SSD SAMSUNG EVO 840 1TB
- Dual SATA SSD SAMSUNG EVO PRO 850 1TB in RAID0 configuration

New system out of the box where the 80GB mSATA and the spinning HDDs were exchanged to SSD devices in prior of turning the system on for the first time.

A clean install with Windows 8.1 Enterprise edition was made including the office SW and SQL Server 2014 software.

I have also gathered latest versions of performance testing software, including Intel XTU (not installed as of yet. I have tested versions 4 Through 5 earlier, but the software Always crashes when clicking on the [settings] link at the top right of the window. Are there any major differences between v4 and v5? Shall I stay with the latest version v5.1.1.25?), ThrottleStop and some other famous gadgets.

In prior of gathering the Performance reference results, I changed the Bios High Performance Setting to Dell Stock Overclock Level 3 (OC LV 3) with the factory settings as of below (btw these settings were also used from the beginning of life during installation of all software now present in the system.):

Extreme Edition BIOS
Extreme Edition Core Ratio Limits OC LV 3
1-Core Ratio Limit 46
2-Core Ratio Limit 45
3-Core Ratio Limit 42
4-Core Ratio Limit 42

Override Turbo Settings ENABLED
Long duration PWR limit 71
Long duration Time window 28 (This is actually set from factory. I have seen that 128 is sometimes used, and thought that it might be an error from factory, but it is working well.)

Short duration PWR limit ENABLED
Short duration PWR limit options 85


Reference test results using FUTUREMARK 3DMARK
------------------------------------------------
Fire Strike Ultra - Score 2445 ( NVIDIA GeForce GTX 880M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-4940MX,Alienware 0FT9KT)
Fire Strike Extreme - Score 4558 ( NVIDIA GeForce GTX 880M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-4940MX,Alienware 0FT9KT)
Fire Strike - Score 8447 ( NVIDIA GeForce GTX 880M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-4940MX,Alienware 0FT9KT)
Sky Diver - Score 23664 ( NVIDIA GeForce GTX 880M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-4940MX,Alienware 0FT9KT)
Cloud Gate - Score 25903 ( NVIDIA GeForce GTX 880M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-4940MX,Alienware 0FT9KT)
Ice Storm Extreme - Score 159063 ( NVIDIA GeForce GTX 880M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-4940MX,Alienware 0FT9KT)
Ice Storm Unlimited - Score 136652 ( NVIDIA GeForce GTX 880M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-4940MX,Alienware 0FT9KT)

With this configuration the system is rock solid and cool - perfect for Daily use, even though I would like to have some more CPU Power for Heavy development and database use.

Fans are spinning up fast enough to take care of the heat for this moderate Performance profile test. Not top-notch performance, but I will come to some tweaking further down the line.

And by the way, the system has not yet been repasted, but I have all the tools (liquid ultra) and printed disassembly manuals ready. Just need to take a deep breath before I jump into Work, if I ever dare to do it.


Rgds
Gunnar

 

In case anyone is looking at a memory upgrade for Christmas, here is some information to consider...

 

Dear Mr Fox, I just installed XTY latest version and performed a first benchmark using dell stock OC LV 3 in Bios A10.

This is what came out:




Intel Core i7-4940MX CPU @ 4600.0MHz - 846 XTU marks on HWBOT





Rgds

Gunnar

 

:thumbsup:

A too low xtu score even if you use the win 8.1
Stop using dell stock OC LV 3 in Bios A10. Adjust rather settings in the bios and enter the correct values in Xtu.

 

Dear Mr Fox,

with some tweaking using XTU I performed another benchmark, now looking better. I am decreased the multipliers to 43x43x43x43.

I am touching 100 degrees Celcius with the XTU settings used for performance test so the CPU will not take no more. I need to repaste if I shall continue this or my pants will go on fire. The system runs stable (one hour now - will let some 3DMark11 run continously with fans on high speed. Temps around 85-95ish.

This is what came out at first:


Intel Core i7-4940MX CPU at 4300.0MHz with an 0FT9KT motherboard - 930 XTU marks on HWBOT.


Rgds,
Gunnar

 

Run a Wprime 1024 (8 threads) and Cinebench 11.5 benchmark test also. This gets better and better. :thumbsup:

 

Hi Papusan,

Yes, things are playing along with me .. but I will have to repaste if I want to increase the numbers...

I tried to install wPrime 2.10 but the exe crashes all the time ... not 64-bit compatible ?

Cinebench R15.0 works fine ... CPU test just finalized ... BANG ... thermal shutdown ... can´t get the heat away from the CPU.


Rgds
Gunnar

 

For your information ... my XTU settings below:




Rgds
Gunnar

 

All versions should work. Use HWBOT version 1.55 of wprime that all tests with: Download | wPrime and Cinebench 11.5
download from Guru3D.com

 

well i cant open the laptop mr.fox , i have little or no information on how to open up the laptop dont want to screw it up , what about gpu over clocking - whats the max i can go on it can the voltages be unlocked for the gtx 880m .

 

Take a look at this.. NVIDIA Kepler VBIOS mods - Overclocking Editions, modified clocks, voltage tweaks

 

Hi Papusan and Mr Fox,

A question that concerns me is the XTU recommended value of Turbo Power Max and Turbo Power Short Max of 4095W. Is this really correct? I feel it will burn the CPU to ashes?!

Rgds
Gunnar

 

Hi Gunnar. No, that's not like using too much voltage, which can cause damage, especially if the excess voltage is sustained or repeatedly applied. The amps/watts are not static like voltage. That is removing the lid, so to speak, and letting the CPU run wild and free, drawing as much power as it wants and needs, or as much as the motherboard will allow it to. Worse case scenario is the potential for a drop in performance instead of being finely tuned, but if the motherboard imposes power-handling limits all you are accomplishing is providing ample power to the extent it is usable.

 

Hi papusan and Mr Fox,

I was wondering how I could reduce the energy, i,e, the heat, in the processor by reducing voltage, and still maintain or increase the clockspeed? How far can I go in reducing voltage for the 4940mx without bricking my system ? Have you tried reducing voltage?

Does reducing voltage make any sense at all ?

Rgds,
Gunnar

 

Dear papusan, now I am tweaking all there is via XTU and wPrime and CineBench causes thermal shutdown on 43:43:43:43. i have not been bothered to try with lower values as they would not show any meaningful performance figures. I may summarize these tests by quoting my earlier technical reports -- The Alienware 18 with 4940mx is not overclockable to 4.4GHz during load for a "normal" consumer user. Dell has sold the system with the marketing message that the Alienware 18 with the Intel i7-4940mx is overclockable to 4.4GHz. Now one has to ask, does Dell expect me as a consumer to dismount the laptop, repaste CPU and GPUs to achieve the system specifications in the marketing brochure. Nope! Won't happen! I have had two identical systems to test the overclocking during the last 4 weeks and they do not fulfill the technical specifications. Yes, I know. Mr Fox will say, what did Intell you, and I am convinvinced that if the systems were repasted with Liquid Diamond Ultra or better, the 4.4 GHz would not be a problem. Can Dell expect their customers to do a repaste? It did not say anywhere in the Dell configurator that I had to, it did not even say in the order confirmatuon, and not anywhere in the documentaion either. Both systems will most certainly be returned to Dell with the already approved RMA. I find it sad that Dell in such a highend system does not use the best heat paste available on the market to make sure that everything has been done to support the high performance processors. I love the Alienware 18 and would like to keep them, but I just do not dare to dismount them and repaste myself. After discussing with Alienware technical support in Texas, the also advice me not to repaste. Well, that summarizes this overclock session.

I have been receiving a lot of help from you guys, and I am very thankful for that. Maybe I will be back with two new systems to test very soon again.

Any comments on this? Anyone?

Regards,
Gunnar

 

Ya one thing, the 4.4Ghz claim is for single core, so technically while not advertised, it should be set for 44 1 core, 43 2 cores and 42 with all 4 cores.

That's the scheme Intel uses with their Turbo Boost and Alienware just follows.

 

Hi
You must use LIQUID Ultra with Hotwell laptop extreme processor and overclocking...
4x4.3ghz is no problem on these laptops with a much better thermal grease. The main problem With Alienware 18 is that the motherboard has a watt limit so you do not have the opportunity to a hefty Overclock on both processor and graphics card. This laptop has simply not enough watts to processor, hardware and graphics cards.
The new Alienware 18 was a downgrade compared to previous version (Alienware 18 r2) Intel has a share of the blame since they mounted Fully Integrated Voltage Regulator on chip (fivr) so Hotwell was warmer than previously Ivy processors. Dell on its side has cut the fan speed as the fans are estimated to have, and that they have a useless fan profile in all their new Alienware laptops. On Alienware 18 you can not mod a power supply with 2 power supplies due watt limit on motherboard (Max watts = 1 power supply). In array is all power settings in bios totally wrong whether you use OC profile or standard clock in bios. Dellienware goes backwards into the future. Everything becomes now just worse and worse. If possible, try to obtain an Alienware 18 r2 or the hottest Clevo with desktop processor.

I hope we meet again in the tread or forum.
Papusan

 

Hi again:hi2: papusan,

Maybe I will go through with the repaste on the dellienwares ... As I have never tried this Before I wonder if will last if I do it once or will I have to repaste over and over again ... ?

Now I have one of the Machines running on 44:44:44:44. It has been running 3DMark 11 Extreme since yesterday afternoon without overheating ... Processor temp is between 70 and 92 .... The GPUs are between 65 and 75 degrees running 930-970MHz.

If I load the system with wPrime 1024 or CineBench 11.5 or R15 .... BANG ... Thermal meltdown ......

I'll Place a note here again to let you know how things went....


Rgds
Gunnar

 

If you use Liquid Ultra and do it right you won't need to repaste for a very long time.

See this post for examples and application tips: [Death Match] Thermal Paste Showdown: IC Diamond vs Noctua NT-H1 vs Liquid Ultra

 

I have used Liquid Ultra in 10 months without the temperature has increased. The temperature has increased 0 degrees Celsius ... This is the best investment you can make if you own a extreme Hotwell processor.
As I said; All Hotwell processors are boil hot during benchmark tests with an ok Overclock. It does not go without Liquid ultra. Follow the guide of Mr fox about applying Liquid Ultra then this becomes very good. Mr Fox has also created a tear down video of Alienware 18.
Good Luck :thumbsup:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...y-liquid-ultra-any-tips-before-i-start-5.html

 

You managed and write a comment while I sat and wrote about the same

 

Hi Mr Fox and papusan, I was wondering which thermal paste is the best available? I have read alot about different paste compunds and most of theme for a clear reason contains fluid metals of different kinds. Fluid metals that, like liquid ultra, turns hard and difficult to repaste after long time hard overclocking, I believe I read about someone that after a year wanted to repaste, ended up scratching the liquid ultra off using a knife. Now, that we do not want to do so after some market research I found the Gelid GC-extreme ( GELID Solutions > Products). Have you tested the Gelid product? It seems awesome if I should believe all the tests posted on the net.

Rgds,
Gunnar

 

Gelid GC Extreme, IC Diamond, Notcua NTH1 or something are the best non liquid metals. Liquid Ultra is in a league of its own but can destroy aluminum .

 

I used Gelid extreme right before I switched to Liquid Ultra 10 months ago. It is the best standard thermal grease I have used outside Liquid Ultra. Mr Fox used ICD before he went over to use Liquid Ultra and have good experiences with that thermal grease. Both Gelid and ICD thermal grease is the best you can use if you do not want or dare use and applying Liquid Ultra. When it comes to Noctua NT-H1 thermal grease, I have also tested this paste with bad experience with this paste and overclocking. This paste will not last long if you run overclocking with some hefty processor usage. Have or will you run overclock of your processor, you have no choice but to apply Liquid Ultra. Anything else is unwise. You can not use an overclocked Hotwell extreme processor with a standard paste, it is meaningless. I have used Liquid Ultra now in 10 months with an increase in temperature of 0 degrees centigrade. Had I used a standard thermal grease, I'd already had to applying paste 3-4 times already. Select Liquid Ultra not listen to others just go ahead. :thumbsup:

 

I am using Gelid GC Extreme on my GPUs right now and it's doing a nice job of keeping them cool. It's also super easy to clean up if you need to repaste. IC Diamond has always served me really well, and it is truly an excellent product. But, nothing can touch the durability and cooling capacity of Liquid Ultra. It's awesome. With a Haswell MX blast furnace CPU, nothing else will do.

 

Hi Mr Fox,

I just picked up the delivery at the local post office with liquid ultra and liquid ultra pads. Might go for the liquid ultra but the pads seems interesting too. Not so greasy to deal with. Guess I am just a little scared of that the fluid liquid ultra will damage any components if I screw up.

Well, I am awaiting Gelid Extreme as well, and I have already an IC Diamond kit. Might be going for Gelid for the GPUs and liquid ultra for the CPU, as the GPUs does not really reach the high temperatures yet, due to lack of knowledge to overclock them.

Rgds,
Gunnar

 

Mr Fox and papusan,

I read somewhere that the BIOS lockes down the available power for the CPU to 55W. Does the usage of XTU override this lockup? I mean, I am running XTU right now and have followed your exquisite tips entering max power usage settings in BIOS and XTU to 85W. Might be a silly question, but I have learned that this overclocking business is twofold, and there seem to be only one place to get accurate information -- Mr Fox and papusan posts. So please bear with me for a while, while I am getting the hang of it ;-).

Rgds,
Gunnar

 

Mr Fox and papusan,

Just ordered a new Alienware 18 with the 4940mx and dual 880m cards. Yes, I know that I should know better, but I need one system for overclocking lab tests and one reliable system for work. Seriously, this is fun and that is what it is all about.

I noticed that Dell released two new models of the 13, 15 and 17 inch laptops, but no news about the 980 configs for the Alienware 18. Sad, but it seems inevitable that the Alienware 18 will be phased out. This is another story.

Rgds,
Gunnar

 

Yes, XTU will override it. Also, use ThrottleStop and set it to start as a Windows Task during logon. It will apply the settings when it starts so you don't have to use XTU every time to implement the settings.

<iframe class='imgur-album' width='100%' height="850" frameborder='0' src="//imgur.com/a/NN4vg/embed"></iframe>

 

Mr Fox,

I can see that you are still using Windows 7. What would your best guess be in performance degradation, using Windows 8.1? Are you still using 32-bit or have you started using 64-bit OS?

Rgds,
Gunnar