AW M15x Throttling Issue Investigation - Stock clocks and overclocked.

but wait, what are you trying to figure out?

riva tuner is for 2 things, help with the gpu throttle problem, and to overclock your card once you have flashed the video card bios.

If you did not overclock your card, your performance will be exactly the same in the game whether your have riva tuner installed or not.

If your computer didn't throttle before you installed rivatuner, it will not throttle with rivatuner either....but that has nothing to do with your gaming experience....you are not going to get more or less fps unless your video card clock is constantly at a higher clock than 550 or at a lower clock than 550.

 

i get that but how do i make it so that my gpu acts like it was when brand new with it fluctuating depending on what i was doing

how big of a diff. do u get when overclocking. btw worth it?

 

http://www.fileden.com/files/2008/3/3/1794507/ThrottleStop.zip

I added a monitoring panel to ThrottleStop so users can keep a better eye on what each thread of their CPU is up to. The picture is of a desktop chip and it's easy to see that the third thread from the top is working the hardest and using the full 21.00X multiplier.

The log file has also been expanded so if you're gaming, you can go back and have a look at what the multiplier on the hardest working core / thread was up to.

If the download link doesn't get you the latest version then clear your cache in your internet browser.

 

i want to take my comp back to how it was before riva tuner so i can test to see if mine even throttles, cuz it wasn't throttling on crysis, though i was using throttle stop. should i just do a system restore???

 

As long as Rivatuner is not installed then it shouldn't have any effect. No need to do a system restore.

 

so just uninstall

 

Very nice job unclewebb. I'll update the link on the first page.

 

nvm got the riva tuner problem figured out just gotta restart a couple times. thanks for your help guys, one last question, how much can you overclock, and is it worth it, how much of a performance jump can you get???

 

Also, when you alt+tab out of the game, and your comp downclocks to 200 or whatever lower clocks it sets, thats most likely powermizer working. Powermizer is supposed to downclock to save power when its not necessary to use maximum performance. But once that power is needed, its supposed to jump the clocks right back up.

 

I'm having trouble with FileDen today so you can also try this link.

ThorttleStop 1.77
http://www.sendspace.com/file/gnkg7e

 

mine doesn't downclock according to gpuz, not with riva tuner, it used to before i installed it though, i was asking because after i installed then uninstalled rivatuner my cpu wasn't clocking up or down at all according to gpuz though i could be wrong.

anyone who overclocked how much of a performance increase do you get, thinking about doing it just wanted to know what others experience with OC was.

 

I am going to try overclocking for the first time, i hope everything goes well.

 

let me know how it goes

 

I think Joker has overclocked our card to like 650 if I recall correctly, but you have to flash your video card bios in order for rivatuner to be able to overclock our cards. if you try to do it with the stock bios, then it's not possible.

At that speed, I'm sure there is a significant increase in performance, once i'm more comfortable doing the bios flash (have never done a video card, only regular computer bios), I'm definitely going to overclock my video card.

 

yeah i'm a little scared of doing that, does it void my warranty if i do it, since i'm considering getting the m17x refresh with core i7 to replace my m15x, just got it yesterday. i didn't realize it was so big, if i had known i woulda waited.

 

I had overclocked mine at 610/1610/950. It's very stable and the max temperature I got was 77C. At default I got a max temperature of 67C so it a 10 degree different. I use nvidia system tool to overclocked mine and that what Joker use too. If you using the throttle fix you can't overclocked your card unless you did a video bios flash. After you done that you can only use rivatuner to overclocked instead of NST. Joker clocked his at 675/1675/950 I belive, I couldn't get mine that high because i didn't overvolted mine.

 

I found that by default Powermizer only manages clock speeds while on battery. Sitting idle at the desktop I was always at full clocks, so ALT-TABing out of games did not result in fluctuations.

Now, it is possible some people's systems have Powermizer enabled while plugged in. Adjusting those options were a bit buried (unless I missed something) so I would suspect many people have not adjusted them from the default settings.

Dell's rep tried to say the same thing and I called BS on it earlier in this thread already. It is sad they couldn't man up and fix this for us, but many many kudos to Joker and unclewebb for providing us with some solutions!

 

Well guys it's been a fun ride. My M15x will no longer be with me after Monday and I'll be jumping on the M17x refresh as soon as it's made available. I will continue to update this thread with any new developments and I'm fairly certain the M17x refresh will probably have the same throttling built in so there's a good chance this thread will be incorporating M17x refresh info. as well. Hopefully with the fixes we have in place, the M17x refresh, even with a crippled bios, will not have the same growing pains.

 

Joke, you had the Sager NP8690 too, right? I remember that maybe you didn't like it as well, but it dosn't actually have any issues, does it?

At any rate, I hope you have better luck with the M17x :-/

Hopefully they will have fixed both the USB and throttling issues by then :-/ (Supposedly that Sager shipped with no USB issues to begin with)

 

The 8690 doesn't have any major issues as far as I know aside from loud fans. I haven't been following it's development and I only owned it for 2 days so I didn't spend much time with it. I would have kept the M15x after the throttle fixes and the only reason I got rid of it is because I want a bigger display, especially if the rumored RGB LED is true.

 

Well thanks for that info! Out of curiosity, why did you get rid of it? If the M15x didn't have its issues though, it would be my obvious choice, since I kinda sorta trust Dell (versus random little shops), and it's not TOO huge, etc... Oh well :-/

 

Like I said, it's only because I want the M17x's bigger display (and possibly RGB LED). Plus I think I'll go with SLi and/or crossfire. My first choice is always Dell/Alienware for performance laptops although this throttling issue did disappoint me along with Dell's response in handling it. Hopefully the M17x refresh doesn't have the same issues though I suspect it will.

 

yeah joker i'm thinking of doing the same thing, but only if the make the refresh happen within twenty days or so, since i received my system on the 6th. i really like it tho, i just wish someone would tell me if i can upgrade the gpu on my 15x later on with certainty, cuz if i can i might keep it, it performs pretty well, and now i'm gonna try overclocking, hopefully i don't brick it.


by the way does anyone know if u return it because of throttling they won't charge u the 15% restocking fee as it is a problem with the system???

 

They will probably charge you a restocking fee. The M15x is Mxm 3.0b so it should be able to upgrade to a 5870 once Dell issues a bios update (which they might have already done with the A03 bios you have). If you don't need a bigger display, keep the M15x, it's a fantastic system.

 

Well my system somehow has powermizer always enabled. I can't find anywhere how to disable it. I can find nothing in Win7 that even identifies it. If there is a place, please let me know.

 

Google powermizer switch.

 

i don't need one, i would only switch for the dual graphics, unless the 5870 is good, what are the scores for that card, better than the 260??? and thats if it gets a screen upgrade i hear the current one isn't that good compared to the m15x. i also have an external hd 24 inch i got with a desktop a while back, so screen size is meh. it's power i want.

 

I've been down that route. The switch works fine, I was just hoping for something integrated into Win7. Thanks though

 

We don't know yet-Anandtech did an article, but doesn't have real hardware yet. ATi's charts claim it's roughly 25% faster than Nvidia's current gen in most games. Probably will be better, but I won't consider one unless ATi actually starts supporting their mobile parts. (Best they've done so far is off the record whisper to them that they're looking at doing that...well, DO IT!)

 

i tried to OC my desktop (non-alienware) with Nvidia System Tools, and i ended up having to reinstall windows. Im not sure if i want to do it to me AW do to this fact. if i try to do it and it doesnt work and i get the same results as i did on my desktop (black screen after booting) would i need to take it apart and take out the battery or could i just reinstall using the disks?

 

Just a warning to those that haven't read the other threads: Don't bother with the A03 update for now.

 

Hey i was wondering can i just use the throttle stop without the gpu fix? I'm asking this because i want to overclocked my card. Thank!!

 

hey joker quick question, when i disable rivatuner my gpu doesn't go up and down stays at specific clocks. does it only go back to normal if i uninstall rivatuner? sorry i been having problems with it.

i uninstalled riva tuner and my gpu is statying at 383/301/767 why is that, i want it to go back to how it was when i first got the comp so i can run tests, how do i do that.

 

Download and install the powermizer switch. Enable it and reboot your system and it should reset it back to normal 2D clocks if that's indeed the cause.

You could but then you'd still get GPU throttling so it would be pointless.

 

hey joker throttlestop just stopped working for me when i try to run it it says "could not open WingRing0.dll" anyidea what that is.

also is flashing the gpu in your instructions the only way to overclock, or are there other ways??? cuz i can't get NST to work. i mean overclocking without the fix wanted to see if i could without having to flash my card.

 

I just read through this whole thread, which took like 4 hours. I will be receiving my m15x today (720, 4GB of 1066, 260m). I was wondering if you still want people to test and post results (I realize you are ditching the m15x for the inevitable m17x), to see if the A03 bios fixes any problems with throttling, or just to get another data point. Also, since you are ditching this platform, is someone else taking over the fight? I would, but I am not technical enough to understand everything. I just understand enough to be dangerous to systems I own

I can't find anywhere what A03 fixes, so I don't know if it is even a possibility.

Also, did I make a mistake ordering 1066MHz ram? I read an article about how you won't see any real world gains from 1333MHz ram on this platform, but it looks like I'm the only one in the world that didn't order it

 

Ok. This may have been mentioned somewhere in the 74 pages. But throttling issue (When talking about the M15x) is that when the cpu is under the clock it is suppose to be (Underclocked). Or Did i get it wrong?
Also is it only the CPU or also the GPU ?

(Sorry for the maybe avious to some question)

 

anyone on y throttlestop isn't working???

 

ThrottleStop and the WinRing0 driver stuff need to be kept in the same folder. That driver isn't perfect and sometimes Windows isn't perfect but it generally works reliably. Download TS again and see if that changes anything. If you have Administrator priviledges, it usually works OK.

 

did that still no dice, idk y was working just fine, could powermizer do anything to throttlestop???

 

Thanks to joker and others dell is aware of the problem at this point. I'm hoping they are working towards a fix. Some of us from the nbr community just need to keep on dell so they dont try to dust this one under the carpet.

 

Yet another powermizer problem

 

somehow powermizer was on, i shut it off, and throttlestop now works. yay

 

hey just wanted to let you guys know i figured out a way of overclocking without having to flash the card but while using the throttling fix, if anyone wants to know just ask.

 

ok i'm asking.....what is it?

 

well i can't take all the cred, it just happened to work for me combining two different methods, mind you i can't guarantee how stable this is or if it's stable at all. still testing. anyway here we go. also this may have been done before or tried and i have no idea just found it and figured i'd share.

first of all u need to read this http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=408230 and do what he says for the gpu, download NST 6.02 and only install the performance utility, link is in his thread if you need it.

keep following his instructions and do what he says to overclock the gpu using NST i moved my clocks to 600/1000/1500. u have to be using the rivatuner fix for this. once u set the clocks in NST look at gpuz. above where it says NVIDIA SLI it has two things gpu clock, and default clock. where it says gpu clock it should have what you set your clocks to in NST. but if you look at the sensors tab they are still running at whatever u set them at in rivatuner. so far so good.

now go to rivatuner and u can change the clock speeds to anywhere between where they are at and where you set them at in NST go back to gpuz to check and see in the sensors tab if your clocks did in fact move. i suggest not going over 600 on the core clock in rivatuner, crashed my drivers.

i literally just did this cuz i was messing around and stuff so do it at your own risk. but so far so good imma keep testing. make sure you go up slowly in rivatuner and test it to find whats stable. start at stock and go up by ten.

 

not sure if this deserves a thread or not. also it seems that the only thing thats sensitive is the core clock, mem and shader seem to be ok.

 

cool thanks, but i'll wait for you to finish all the testing first
i think its good enough for new thread.

 

heheheh lawl well testing to me just means playing games that are intensive and making sure it doesn't bsod my comp by causing the display driver to crash repeatedly. i guess i should run 3dmark 06 and 3dmarkvantage

 

this is odd i ran 3dmark06 at stock clocks and it says i have a gtx 170m am i missing something???

12214 on stock clocks 3dmark06, and it won't run 3dmark06 when overclocked, i wonder why.