AW M15x Throttling Issue Investigation - Stock clocks and overclocked.

hahah j can't wait to see what your golden key will do,lol.
congrats bro

 

Do you also live in the U.S. ? I'm wondering maybe there are different policies for us in the U.S. . They clearly told me they couldn't change it out to the 5850. Thinking of giving a few more calls till I get the right person that can take care of it for me.

 

yeah i live in US. they are telling me the same thing, so i just took the 260m for right now, then prove it will still throttle, hopefully that will get me the 5850. they know of the issue but i guess they are playing dumb atm. i'll keep you posted should get new 260 tomorrow.

 

HMMMM... now does the tech that installs it actually follow up on your problem or do you have to give dell a call again? Maybe I should just get mine swapped as well.. just worried about everything taking too much time, leaving the county for a few months next week.

 

well pretty much as soon as its in, i will start testing. if throttling shows up then i will gave dell a call right away.

 

I see, now from the time they told you they would replace it.. how soon could they show up to get it installed?

 

OMMMMMMMMMMMMMGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!


DELL GAVE ME A 5870M BY ACCIDENT!!!!! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!


HOWS THAT FOR A GOLDEN KEY! LMAOOO THEY ARE SO DUMB.

only prob is.... its installed with 5850m drivers right now... What should i do? what drivers should i use? I heard of systems with Dell 5870's get bricked somehow or something? Mandrake you know what im talking bout! I'm so happy i can't think! Can ya help me out?

here's the pic to prove it! (it is a 5870m right?)

 

normally they show up next day, but i'd called after hours so i had to wait an extra day.

hahahha dude that is awesome, congrats bro. don't worry the driver works for both cards.

 

ok so which drivers do you recommend? i just ran BFBC2 and maxed out at 70C! awesome temps so far! frames 40-60! Im loving it

 

you can try the 10.6 if you wish.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/6388616-post18.html

 

I still can't believe it.... LOL im in shock Im gna try audio over DP just to make sure everythings working

Ok i'll try those out

Then i'll run a benchy (stock)

and then i'll move on to Oc'ing and flashing

 

The benchmarks I posted were with that card. Have fun!

I'm going to bed hope I see some new scores in the morning.

 

Hehe alright buddy hope i can get this thing to OC nicely... but i'm not sure if i feel like it just yet. want to see what its made out of stock first

 

Thanks to everyone for all the detailed analysis and insight into this issue – your posts here have been very helpful. I’ve compiled this information and shared with our engineering teams, who have been able to reproduce the issue in house. They are working to identify a solution. I’ll let you know when I have more information.

Thanks Adriana
Alienware Quality

 

Thanks for the update, Adriana Alcantara.

Let's hope something comes from it. This might be due to my call today when they asked for the forum url once again and I showed em this thread and posts. I thought we already passed this on a while ago?

Either way, I was told the next bios release would take care of the problem and that this information hasn't really been made public

And that the other technician made a mistake by trying to replace it for the same gpu

 

May I ask what will happen if no solution is found? I mean, I hope that a solution is found, but at the moment, I'm getting incredibly bad throttling OC'd and somewhat badly with Stock clocks. I'm not entirely sure as to why it has become this bad, as before it would only throttle at around 88% of the test. Now it is throttling for 6 seconds after running properly for one second (or less).

This is based on furmark, but it is also noticeable in games (to a lesser extent, but still prevalent enough as to be a major annoyance).

 

just had the 260 replace with another 260 and guess what? yup throttling is still there hahahahah. they are going to call be back hopefully gave me an ati card to finally fix this issue.

 

lets move that to the benchmark thread - thanks.

 

Sorry bro

This throttling issue has been around for almost one year... why has Dell Neglected it for so long?

 

ok so i was finally able to log so cpu data while playing borderlands stock gpu clocks and stock cpu clocks no forced modulation at all. this was at 1600x900 windowed while throttlestop was in the background recording what the cpu was doing.

 

Anything new? This throttling is really freaking annoying...

 

call dell and demand a 5850m dnt take no as an answer. takes some effort but well worth it

 

The 260's more powerful though, I don't want a 5850. And I want PhysX. Is it so much to ask that my GPU function properly?

 

well a fix is supposedly on the way. A07 is gonna be magical.

 

It had better be^^
On the phone begging for an exchange at this very moment - can't take it anymore. AAAARGH

Edit: "We can not authorize an exchange yet, please wait for the technician to contact you", two months later. What to do... wait for A007 to solve all problems.

 

Well you guys might still want to check your CPU for throttling even with a 5850 / 5870.

I've noticed that my CPU tends to throttle down when gaming on just about anything. I noticed it when i was playing TF2 the other night.

 

After your post last night i did some tests... ram prime, then fur, then crysis with prime95 in the background (brutal right?) and nothing. zero cpu/gpu throttling. So i'm not sure why/how you're experiencing this... post some pics of when and how it happens, and how it throttles ( randomly or in a cyclical manner)

 

Does anyone have any ideas as to when A07 is supposed to come out? I just got my Alienware M15X yesterday and am experiencing the throttling issues with video. I am currently using the A06 BIOS.

 

you have the 260m?

 

I tried Furmark again, to see how bad throttling was (it used to engage instantly). This time, without changing anything in the system, it cranked all the way up to 70 degrees celcius, throttled, then went up to 72 degrees celcius, throttled again and then crashed completely (within the space of around 10 seconds). In games, I can play for hours with no crashes, but still some throttling. And really, it's detrimental to my experience.

 

Erroneous. The GTX 260m is not more powerful at all gaming wise. It comes down to one simple factor. GDDR3 vs GDDR5. PLus the 5850 can be oc'd to above 5870m stock clocks. So again, it is in no way superior. All it has is PhysX and CUDA ... which are overrated in my books...

but that last part is just my opinion...

This sounds like a case of A06, am i right ?

 

A05. I do not see any reason to upgrade to A06 for now. I will just wait until A07 is out.

 

aw ok. i said that because throttling starts getting worse with A05, and even more so with A06. So yeah no reason for A06 really.. just wait for A07. Want my honest opinion though? i don't think throttling will be solved by A07.

 

I know it wont, but it'll make my case stronger when I complain to AW and get a 5850

 

If you are going to complain to Dell, you'll need to upgrade to A06, and use all their drivers on the website, or they'll dismiss what you're saying with a " we aren't responsible for what other drivers do other than the Dell certified ones on their website"

If you want to save about 20-30 mins of you're time while you're on the phone with them. Do it now.

 

Since this thread is for posting investigation related material and to discuss the actual issue as it relates to throttling, please move the posts concerning replacements to the replacement thread.

Thanks.

 

In line with what BatBoy just posted, i would like to issue a proposal. Could someone who's been with the thread from the start, and have somekind of overview, make a brief recap?

I'm asking because i recently ordered my M15X and though i do enjoy trolling a forum like this, 165 pages seems like overkill

I would like to know if this is an issue for all or only some M15X's with 260M?
I've read elsewhere on this lovely forum, how to spot throttling through testing, but i'm also eager to know if any fix is out?

I'm sorry if any of my questions have been answered elsewhere, it's been only 10 days since i discovered this forum and im reading like a madman every day, but it just seems to grow!

 

Welcome to the forum Stylfan... I wouldn't worry as AW has updated the thread and stated they have reproduced the problem and are investigating.

I'm not sure if this impacts ALL configurations of the M15x - will let the more versed forum members chime in on that topic...

 

These 165 pages are people re-asking the same question you are over and over That being said, i'll gladly answer.

Yes this issue is only current when the M15x is configured with the GTX 260m graphics card . If you haven't yet bought a system, get the ATI 5850m, as it performs better, and is cheaper.

There's ways to test for it, and ways to fix it, which all can be found on the first page of this thread by 5150 Joker. Read that first page, on how to solve it using two programs called Rivatuner, and Throttlestop

Hope this helps.

 

I just uploaded the log of a small session of TF2.

It's really weird because TF2 isn't demanding for this system at ALL. This is in just about any game i've played so far... It's really odd.

 

tell me about it. tried to play tf2 with the 260 the other night and was a huge fail. so sad, i have a whole 2 hour gpuz log of it.

 

Also, after the recent patch i've noticed a HUGE FPS drop ingame as well.

So the game is pretty choppy due to the low fps AND the CPU throttling.

It makes me sad... i want to play T_T

 

well lately i have been play with throttle stop enabled and that makes a big difference.

 

somehow miraculously, my new 260gtx hasn't been throttling without any help from rivatuner, cpu still needs throttlestop to keep it in check however. the old one would throttle like crazy and had to be clock locked with rivatuner.

 

well dell has mysteriously done something to your new 260m

 

Code:

07/16/10 20:35:10  18.24   30.1  100.0  100.0   43
07/16/10 20:35:11  18.42   30.4  100.0  100.0   42
07/16/10 20:35:12  18.49   30.3  100.0  100.0   43
07/16/10 20:35:13  18.08   32.9  100.0  100.0   43
07/16/10 20:35:14  17.56   33.9  100.0   50.0   42  start chipset clock modulation
07/16/10 20:35:15  18.05   24.7  100.0   50.0   45
07/16/10 20:35:16  18.02   19.7  100.0   50.0   45
07/16/10 20:35:17  17.95   19.9  100.0   62.5   45
07/16/10 20:35:17  17.78   21.8  100.0   62.5   45
07/16/10 20:35:18  17.79   24.6  100.0   62.5   45
07/16/10 20:35:19  18.20   22.9  100.0   62.5   45
07/16/10 20:35:20  18.43   22.1  100.0   75.0   45
07/16/10 20:35:21  18.28   25.6  100.0   75.0   44
07/16/10 20:35:22  18.47   25.5  100.0   75.0   44
07/16/10 20:35:23  17.94   27.0  100.0   87.5   43
07/16/10 20:35:24  18.12   28.3  100.0   87.5   44
07/16/10 20:35:25  18.18   29.0  100.0   87.5   43
07/16/10 20:35:26  18.32   28.2  100.0  100.0   44
07/16/10 20:35:27  18.44   28.4  100.0  100.0   43
07/16/10 20:35:28  18.23   32.1  100.0  100.0   44
07/16/10 20:35:29  18.13   31.9  100.0  100.0   43
07/16/10 20:35:30  18.66   29.2  100.0  100.0   43

ArchNemesis: Your log file shows a few incidents like this where chipset clock modulation gets turned on and instantly kills performance. A reading of 50.0 in the CHIPM column means that you have just lost half of your CPU's performance due to throttling. In this case it only lasts for 10 seconds but in more demanding games it might last longer. When this happens the frame rates can drop suddenly and then slowly recover. That makes for jerky game play.

This type of throttling is happening in many Dells due to power consumption. The bios reduces the performance of the CPU to instantly reduce power consumption which protects the power adapter from overloading and shutting down. Sometimes Dell sets the throttling point on the conservative side so throttling will start even though the power adapter still has lots of head room.

As long as you are not going beyond the limits of your power adapter, ThrottleStop can usually help reduce these incidents so games are more playable.

inap: Have you played with the ThrottleStop TDP/TDC feature yet? That's where the fun is hiding for 920XM/940XM owners as long as you don't get too carried away.

 

I'm just surprised because i haven't overvolted or anything like that with my 5870m, yet those that HAVE overvolted and such don't get this situation.

Any particlar reason this might be?

 

yeah throttle stop tdp feature has turn my 920 into a real beast, been to busy for major benching. but i notice the difference in the games i play, smooth as butter. really awesome program, can't rep you enough.

i think my cpu is too powerful now and it taking power away from my gpu. my cpu's scores sky rocketed but gpu scores fell.

 

These laptops are built on the edge of throttling. It doesn't take much of a difference to go over that edge. Your multipliers are staying fairly high compared to a Core i7-720QM so that means it will be using slightly more power. That combined with the 5870 might be enough to push you over the edge and start throttling sometimes.

I'd buy a Kill-a-Watt meter or similar and keep a close eye on it while gaming. You might be able to see a direct relationship between throttling and slow downs while gaming and power consumption as measured by the Kill-a-Watt.

inap: You're welcome. The ThrottleStop TDP/TDC feature finally puts the Extreme in the 920XM and 940XM CPUs. Now you just need more power and better cooling and a bios that lets you get away with this madness.

 

Alrighty, thanks for the help. I'll see what i can do to get to the bottom of this.