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

Everyone uses 64 bit Windows nowadays. Windows 7 provides a higher processor performance in most benchmark tests. I think it is in either 3DMark fire strike or 3DMark 11 that is the difference very big in physics test (processor test) Up to 1000p. Otherwise I guess 2-5% difference in performance in favor of Win 7. It is also a big difference in tests such as As ssd and Crystal Disk Mark ssd / hdd benchmark tests in favor of Win 7 ..:thumbsup:

For God's sake, do not invest your money in the new Alienware 15 or 17r2 that is launched with soldered hardware. It is simply garbage ...

 

Pfft. I think I value garbage over the new Alienwares. At least it has an easy secondary use as biofuel. The most I can do with a jokebook is a good doorstop, but it would probably break as one of those too.

 

I actually dual boot. In most things Windows 7 comes out in front of Windows 8, but especially things where CPU performance is important. Fire Strike favors Windows 8.

The last 32 bit OS I ran was Windows XP, so I have been 64 bit since Vista.

 

If it had been possible to overclock the GPU and processor in the new Alienware 17 with more volts and watts, would both motherboard and the mini180w power supply exploded in the air. Whether it's exploded garbage or garbage that works does not matter. Garbage is garbage anyway ..

 

Is it so that you get a higher physics score with win 7 in the 3DMark fire strike not the total score ? Always better physics score with win 7 anyway?

 

well dell replaced my motherboard for another problem an guess what!



also now when i press power to get the post screen is much faster ....

my old motherboard was defective i guess ....

 

Dell has certainly enabled fastboot on your laptop if you use Win 8. http://winaero.com/blog/how-to-disable-or-enable-fast-startup-in-windows-8-1/ Remember to Disable the "Package Turbo Power Lock" and reboot. That will unlock your TDP sliders. Your CPU will never perform well with that stupid thing enabled. I don't understand why it even exists. It never should have been enabled in the BIOS by Alienware. After you reboot it will be gone. Cited Mr Fox

 

Don't forget to use XTU to disable the "Package Turbo Power Lock" (I see it enabled in your screen shot). That critter being enabled in the BIOS really tanks CPU performance.

 

yeah now i disabled it, it the first time i have all this control over the cpu it was not available before with my old mtb...

 

You could post a bencmark score of Wprime 1024 and Cinebench 11.5

 

working on o/c now ...


will work on wprime1024 and cinebench .. probably going to thermal shutdown ... unless i open the windows (its -2.2F outside hahaah)

 

It feels nice doesn't it? After several months (culprit the fact that I have a piece of silicone that's very susceptible to minimal change in voltage/frequencies) I now enjoy a stable 4.2x4 24/7. I know that with more tinkering it could reach 4.3 or 4.4, but that would require more trial/errors and tons of reboots, considering that an error usually translates into the expected BSOD or shutdowns. But it's nice to see that more and more people are finally able to take control of their beast and have it run at decent Ghz.

 

Set up Hwinfo64 so you can follow temperature and wattage during bench test the first time. You can turn off the test if the cpu temp reaches 99 degrees.

 

yeah i already have hwinfo64 and throttlestop and xtu installed

 

What is the 2.10 in reference to in the image I attached? I'm pretty sure it my clock speed is supposed to be higher than 3.0 but I can't find my alienware order form.

 

That is the base clock and has nothing to do with the overclock. no matter how much you overclock that will always be the same, it's like the hardware embedded name / speed of your CPU at stock speed (without Turbo Boost)

To check your overclock, hit F2 while booting up to enter BIOS, then go to the performance tab, then 2nd option should be overclocking, if it wasn't overlocked, that would show disabled, if it was overclocked, you'd see all the overclocking parameters.

Take a screenshot of that screen using your phone and post it here.

 

No i7 Hotwell processor have a base clock on 2.1 ghz ¡!!¡. If you overclock the i7-4930mx, then you see processor speed of 2.1 ghz in System. You can also see processor speed 3.2ghz in Windows safe mode if you have overclocked the max non turbo boost ratio to 32. Under the task manager (Performance - Processor) also states that processor runs at 2.73 ghz speed even though I'm running full clock speed of 4.2ghz. Therefore you can see on the event list that the processor is not running at full speed. In the result list in 3d Mark(Futuremark.com) after a benchmark test (under cpu) it is also listed processor on 2.1 ghz. This is a bug in windows. Use Hwinfo, cpu-z, xtu then you can see the right clock speed of Your processor.

 

Oh thanks for that info! I did what you said and the BIOS says L1 overclock. Just for fun, I tried L3 but my computer froze at the desktop and then the computer restarted.

After that, I used Mr. Fox's settings and got about 4.27GHz but it froze after about a minute when I tried to launch the Steam store page and then the computer restarted.

Is there a way to see what setting caused it to crashed? I'm very new to this so I don't understand many of the values but it was fairly straight forward to copy and paste Mr. Fox's settings. Thanks Mr. Fox!

 

Increase Vcore a little bit. Hotwell processors are of variable quality. Some overclock well on low volts while others need a little more.

 

My M17X R3 got a bit old, so I decided to replace it and was planning to get the 2015 Alienware with a GTX980M on board but because the CPU and GPU are soldered I decided to go with the Alienware 18 (2014). I took two options into consideration - the 780M SLI and 880M SLI, but cuz these are the same cards (well, the 880M only with higher clocks and more mem), I went with the dual 780M version.

Now, to keep things short . What is the most you can get from this setup: i7 4900MQ, 32GB RAM and GTX 780M SLI? I know that this model has the old AC adaptor with limited power so the question is - would I be able to push these two cards a little more if for example I put just one drive and remove some unwanted stuff from the casing to save a bit power or it doesn't matter at all? Or maybe there's an alternative adapter on the market with more power (can be Chinese, I really don't care )?

I know this setup is quite old so maybe the community came up with some kind of solution or improvement? What's the absolute max you can get from this setup?

And one more thing - Alienware 17 (R5 let's say) is not a perfect product and I read that many of these laptops died. Don't know the exact stats, but is the 18' model better in matter of quality?

Thanks in advance for your feedback guys!

 

Old AC adapter? It's 330W just like all the other 18" Alienware models. You will be able to overclock the 780 a little bit, and the CPU as well. Uninstalling some components might help, but it's not worth it.

 

By "old" I ment that it wasn't designed especially for the new models and this is why it limits OC. Anyway was hoping to overclock it a bit more than a little bit . Just wonder if it's possible to get the same results as on the 880Ms.

And what about the quality of 18 compared to 17's - should I get an extended warranty or 1 year is ok? Never had any problems with Dell or Alienware, so I just wonder if it's wasted money .

 

If you have the opportunity I encourage you to extend the your warranty. I've had Alienware 17 Ranger for over 1.5 years now but have not had any particular problems with the laptop. Extend your warranty so it is easier for you to sell your laptop if you want to sell it earlier than expected .. If you do not have a powerful overclocking on the processor you have some room for this on your graphics card ..

 

Wondering - does the system matter in some way if I want to overclock? I have Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit, but would Windows 8.1 be better? I don't have a problem with W8, but reinstalling the system would be a pain . I was planning to wait for Windows 10, especially that Microsoft will update W7 to W10 for free, but if I'll get better results on Windows 8, I'll go with it .

 

If you're into overclocking, better to stick with Windows 7. Windows 8 and 10 both suck for performance enthusiasts. They both cripple CPU performance. The only benchmark that does better with Windows 8 is Fire Strike, apparently because it was designed to work well with it and you don't need a stout CPU to get a good overall score in Fire Strike. It places most of the emphasis on the graphics score when calculating the overall score. Just about everything else, Windows 7 pretty much emasculates Windows 8.

 

Anybody tried running windows 8.1 64-bit on the Alienware M18x (Early 2011) ? I could not find any drivers on the dell website for that combo. Sorry Mr Fox , I know this has notjing to do with OC but I am prepping the Ivy Bridge machine for some OC testing ;-)
Rgds/Gunnar

 

Howdy, Mr. Snellman!

I dual boot Windows 8.1 on both M18xR1 and R2. Most Windows 7 drivers work fine on Windows 8.X.X versions.

 

The thing that firestrike is most sensitive to I have found is VRAM clocks, it can't get enough bandwidth.

 

What about 3Dmark11 (extreme) ?

 

I'll replace my 4700mq by 4740mx soon, it needs some special care or change the original cooler or just a good paste will do the trick?

 

4740mx ???? Use Liquid Ultra..

 

LOL... I didn't realize the mistake when typing. Thanks for the reply.

 

Hi all, I use a AW18 with a 780m SLI system.

I've test with skydiver and the crew some overclocking settings.
On stock = 21800 points.

Between 850 and 930Mhz = arround 20000 benchmark points.

The clocks was tested with GPU-Z (settings was set successful) ingame performance was around 3-5fps lower.


I hope anyone can help me (maybe mr. fox)

 

Monitor with Hwinfo64 and RTSS during all benchmark tests for control of throttling problems when overclocking the hardware .. 3DMark Sky Diver uses up towards + 25w vs Fire strike. Test both see if you see the same trend.

 

Hi, I know it is old but I have found a solution for this delay. Like you said, Intel XTU automatic delayed waits 2 mins before kick in. Other automatic start causes hanging to some apps (etc. RealTemp, HW Monitor). So I decided to lower automatic delayed start time down from 120 seconds to 10 (you can lower or increase but 10 sec seems to good for me) and that way it works a like charm.

To do this, open your regedit, go to "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SYSTEM > CurrentControlSet >Control". Add a new "Dword (32 bit) Value" to "Control", then change its name to AutoStartDelay, type delay value (10 stands for 10 sec) and set it to "decimal". It should look like that http://i.imgur.com/1LuDpsL.png

Hope it helps

 

New version of ThrottleStop is now available...

 

Hi All this is my first post in this forum, and I am new to over clocking and benching... I just installed the slv7 v bios mod in my AW 18 and the GPU's are now working as expected at 993 MHz core clock speed, however my 4910MQ CPU just went from 3.9 GHz to a measly 3.3 GHz under load! Earlier it used to constantly clock or hover in the 3.7 to 3.9 GHz range.

Also I am not able to save my preferences in the over clocking menu of the A10 bios which i have currently in my laptop Whenever I enable over clocking and click on save my preferences it just gets stuck and the laptop restarts!!

Any Ideas as to what the problem might be? I also monitored the temps of the CPU, it went up to 84 C under load which i believe is alright.

 

Hello and welcome
Start to run a Cinebench 11.5 and Wprime 1024 (8 threads) version 1.55 stability test with monitoring software so you can see the temperature and the clock during test. Post results in the thread. http://www.wprime.net/
http://downloads.guru3d.com/CineBENCH-11.5-download-2475.html

 

Thanks for the info Papusan I just ran the wPrime 1024 with 8 threads(v2.10 hope that's fine) I am attaching the screenshots of the same. I used MSI afterburner to measure the CPU temp, and Task Manager to measure the CPU clock speed(please advice if I should use other monitoring software)

As you can see when the test was executed the clock is at 3.4 GHz


I am also attaching screens from the test




After the test, without load the clocks climb back to 3.7 GHz, the temps reached a max of 90 C as you can see, I am from india and it was a hot day


The CineBench Test scores are also attached :




Do you think this has to do with the temps, I just repasted the cpu and the gpu's with Artic Silver 5 last week...

 

I also ran the wPrime 32M test and this is what i got, it almost ran at 3.7 GHz, I guess it didnt get a chance to throttle down...

 

Artic Silver 5 is out of date in year 2015... Gelid extreme or IC7 thermal paste is the best standard thermal paste nowadays (especially good for laptop processors and graphics). Liquid Ultra is the best if you dare to use it (highly recommended). Also recommend that you use Hwinfo64 http://imgur.com/a/UYC3s#0 so you can run the fans manually at maximum speed under heavy load or benchmark tests. Install and use Hwinfo64 and (RTSS) as monitoring software for your laptop (set up Hwinfo64 like the picture). All your benchmark scores is quite normal for a i7-4910mq but a little too high processor temperature. But it is not normal that the processor clock speed have changed and become lower under load than it was before. Try bios A09 which some believe is better. Can you post a screenshot of the bios settings in advanced menu (overclocking menu)? I posts a few guides you can follow for overclocking the processor and use of Liquid ultra - Hwinfo64. It is slightly different overclocking settings in xtu and bios for i7-4xxxMq processors but quite similar Mx processors anyway.
http://www.guru3d.com/files-details/hwinfo64-download.html
http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...e-in-benchmark-with-on-screen-display.655138/
http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...-liquid-ultra-any-tips-before-i-start.741745/
http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...ly-have-it-run-full-stock-turbo-speed.734696/

 

There seems to be a few other problems, installed HWinfo64 and followed Mr.Fox's steps(Thanks a lot, it was very helpful!), I did mention that I recently flashed slv7 vbios recently right, and I never removed the laptop from the power, it was always plugged in. Today I just took it off the mains and the display driver just kept crashing(and then recovering). But it was happening like 15 time in a minute to the point you cannot use it off the mains I flashed the default ROM back on and BOOM, the CPU core is back to nearly 3.8 GHz. The throttling down under load issue is still there though.

Does slv7 bios force the GPU to draw more power, so much so that the CPU is starved? (Sorry if this sounds stupid) I am just trying to understand why it would just crash the display driver on battery when the stock vbios seems to work all right.

I will post the screen shot of the overclocking menu as well Papusan in a while. The thing is I cannot save any changes to that menu if slv7 vbios is flashed, and I am stuck with the default vbios which is crippled to say the least.

Any Ideas to get the slv7 vbios working without issues? Also I will try the A09 bios tonight, and see if that works better. As to artic silver 5, it was the only legit thermal paste that i could find in the Indian online stores Gelid extreme or IC7 thermal paste neither of them are available. I will have to ask my brother to get me those when he comes back from the US, but that is a couple of months from now, and I am stuck to the artic paste for now.

 

Oops forgot the pic,


Thats the core clock after flashing the stock vbios, it immediately jumped 100 MHz. As to the fan control, I dont have the option to set them to 4300 RPM, My max limit is 3700 RPM, is that normal?? Or do I have to get myself better CPU and GPU fans?

 

I use a little google translate so it's not certain you understand everything I mean. But a guideline perhaps
I put together your two posts Don't think your Aw18 have a lack of enough watts using slv7 vbios (only with serious overclocking of GPU and CPU with increased volts). Buy a kill-a-watt meter so you can see maximum wattage under maximum load in the benchmark tests. You buy them very cheap. I don't know how slv7 vbios works with your gtx880m so you should ask about this problem (display driver crashes) on Techinfeno or anyone on this forum. But it is known that gtx880m in sli is not a good graphics card (much problems with heat and throttling).
It is a known fact that the fans in Aw17R1 and Aw18 not go at the speed they are intended for so you have to live with crippled max speed of the fans. Put all the fans on the maximum speed when running benchmark tests/using your laptop at maximum load. Take a screenshot of overclocking menu in bios anyway !!! Nice to know what you use. There should not be such that you can not save any changes in OC menu in bios if slv7 vbios is flashed...
Edit: 1.251v is very high for a normal 3.9ghz clock speed (1.200v is normally more than enough). You can fix this "high voltage" with Xtu and Trottlestop so that it will be lower. Try to fix your processor issue while using stock vbios. Read through the oc guide first in this thread.

 

I am attaching my OC menu in bios, I am able to hit 4.0 GHz and the wPrime scores are also showing minor improvements.


And the OC menu:



However I called the Dell Technical Support and they are going to replace my heat sink assembly for the CPU and the GPU's. They do charge a whole lot for those warranty extensions, thought I might as well use them. I am thinking of getting a better thermal paste like the ones you suggested and get the Tech(I am crossing my fingers here for someone who is knowledgeable) to repaste it with the paste I provide when he's at it. I hope that fixes the heating issue.

As to the real problem of throttling I still have no clue I am attaching the HWinfo during the idle, you can see all the cores at 4.0 GHz(Notice how the core voltage is at 1.2) :


As soon as I run the wPrime benchmark the core voltages go down along with the clock speeds :S (Notice how the voltage level goes down!!)



ANY Clues??

P.S : Thank you so much for the effort Papusan, your english is more than fine!! I just hope I am not eating too much of your time, I really am new to all this and this is the first time I am using these monitoring software to access system performance.

 

Wprime 32M is too weak to stress the processor. The test is too short...
Stop using OC profile in bios. It has crippled ( incorrect power settings and to high voltage). Apply your own power settings in bios and continue adjustment in Xtu. Learn to use Xtu and Trottlestop. Start reading from 1 post in this thread. Mx and Mq processors are quite similar but with slightly different power settings and how far you can overclock. It's also not a lot of software that only use 1 core. Maximum Overclock on 1 core is simply nonsense from Dell (increase only volt) Better with all 4 cores likewise.
Here is some reading material. Read the first page of Trottlestop thread, the rest from post #1540 which is more intended for Hotwell processors.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/the-throttlestop-guide.531329/
http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/guide-to-haswell-voltage-adjustments.742522/
http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...-8ghz-using-intel-extreme-tuning-help.766864/
This is with a i7-4700mq http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...rk-thread-part-4.561350/page-381#post-9583404

 

Running my 4930mx with Liquid Ultra. I made the overclock based on the Mr.Fox tutorial and I got these numbers:

 

@dimobr - Nice Cinebench score. Looks like you fared better than most have in the Haswell silicon lottery, bro.

 

It looks like most of i7-4930mx are binned better than the newer i7-4940mx. The results of overclocking is better and with less trouble. Otherwise the majority of i7-4940mx processors I've seen until now, must been of a less favorable batch

 

Yes, I agree. I have not seen even one good example of a nicely binned 4940MX that overclocks as well as the better 4930MX CPUs yet.