AW M15x Throttling Issue Investigation - Stock clocks and overclocked.

Congratulations. Glad it's fixed.

Forum guru Wattos created the utility Stealth Mode Indicator to help manage Stealth Mode and to avoid its failures. Very useful addition for any M15x.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/att...th-mode-indicator-stealthmodeindicatorbin.zip

 

I have M15x i7 820QM with nvidia 260m and when playing SC2 in ultra its very slow and sometimes crashes. I have to set it at medium to be able to play it properly. I have updated Bios to A08 and used ntune to OC GPU but medium is the best setting that works. Is there anything else i can do to be able to play SC2 in ultra without any performance issues?

Please help.

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ALIENWARE M15x (Nebula Red) ~ i7-820QM | Nvidia 260M | 1080p LED | Patriot 8GB 1333Ghz | Patriot Inferno 200GB SSD

 

Just to make sure... have you checked whether stealth mode is on? (It should be off)

 

Yes it is off. Am using this tool from wattos.

 

monitor your temps to see if it not thermal throttling. also make a gpu-z log of your clocks during game play, and a throttle stop cpu log is a good idea too.

 

ok in GPU-Z log it is throttling from 550/950/1350 to 383/300/766. how do i stop this from throttling like this?

 

do you mind up loading the log, so i can see whats happening.

what bios are you on???

 

already up to date...

 

Speakers got replaced today.
Speakers = No more distortion but now the alienfx on the right speaker is all EFFed up. Before it was almost perfectly even and brightly lit, now it's dimmer and 1/3 of the speaker doesn't even light up...

 

Thanks, can't believe i missed it, hahaha

still would like to see a log file, did you notice any high temps or anything strange?

if your not satisfied then get them replaced again.

 

LOL! I thought this was the problem thread. xP
That's why I couldn't find my post in that thread to see if there were any replies. :S

 

Hey guys anybody gave a try of the new Intel® Core™ i7 2820QM 2.3GHz (3.4GHz Turbo Mode, 8MB Cache) since i am planning on upgrading my CPU i wonder what is the better choice i dont want to experience throttling i guess there wont be any because the 2820QM enables 45 Watt juice lower than the i7 940XM so what do you guys think which one should i got for

 

Doesn't work for the M15x. You need a new mobo.

 

It's working fine now. Followed the guide in the first page of this thread and no more throttling.

Thanks.

 

3. Download the bios .rom files (I've included the original oldbios.rom file and modified newbios.rom files) + nvflash files here: Download flashfiles.rar from Sendspace.com - send big files the easy way

it seems the like the file expired, can anybody upload a new one ?

It's in the video bios flash on the first page

 

Hey guys! So im a little confused here with the new BIOS update and all...is the throttling fixed? I mean, i plan on buying a m15x with i7-740 and maybe 5850 or 460m (still havent made up my mind...), would it still throttle? Or will it only throttle on the m15x with the 260's?

 

I haven't heard of a throttling issue with the 460m, and since Bios A08 it should be solved anyways. I don't know whether some systems with Bios A08 and later still have serious throttling issues... most people who post here about experiencing throttling haven't updated the bios.

 

I guess so, but i heard not many people have done tests on a m15x with a 460. I'm worried it'll still throttle...

 

when are you planning on buying? sandy bridge has been released for the M17 r3 so i'm guessing the M15x won't be too far behind.

 

I need it somewhere within early February. I dont really mind not having sandy bridge...would the performance difference be huge? Oh and back to my original question, im assuming it wont throttle with 740qm and 5850 combo?

 

the throttling issues has been fixed for the most part. so you shouldn't worry about it too much. on sandy the cpu is faster and has a better battery life. but for some battery life is a non issue.

 

Hey Gys...my M15x has been fine for the games I play, but recently my FPS drops LIKE CRAZY and my ping skyrockets. I am still stock on bios and everything and my internet connection is flawless. Is this cause by the throttling issue (idk what that means). Also, where do I find instructions on a fix?

 

First of all make sure you didn't activate stealth mode accidentaly... this would explain the fps drop (no idea about the ping if you say the internet connection is flawless...)

 

not sure if throttling is your problem without any additional info, but flashing to latest bios is still recommended.

 

where are the instructions to do this?

 

the rev explains this better, so i stole it, hehehe
there is more info in the a09 thread that is stickied on top of the main M15x thread.

 

Where in this thread does it actually say how the throttling problem was fixed?

 

I think just through a BIOS update. Zero throttling on a 1.86GHz Core i7 with Geforce GTX 460, even with both running at 100% for a long time.

Rock solid system...except for the awful static-y audio through the headphone port, which is why I sent mine back

 

I have an M15x with a i7-820QM, 4gb of ram and a nvida gtx260m for video card. I'm an architect and use autocad and 3dsmax a lot and the computer is pretty damn stable with great rendering times. But when I try to play Starcraft 2 online (4vs4) in medium settings my fps drops from 45 to 2fps during a battle. I updated the bios to the A09 version long before I started playing SC2 and the throttling still exists. I'm only on page 32 out of 238 but the bios hasn't fixed anything for me. So who in here has found a fix through bios update? Help! I really like to play my games in medium setting at least.

 

I noticed my AW M15X Gets laggy while playing games when the temp reaches 60c and above. The frame rate will then drop to 19 fps. It also gets even more laggy when in-game cuts scenes take place. (not with CGI though, it runs fine on those) When those In-game cut-scenes start, the frame rate drops to 19 25 fps and the sound is stuttering or stutters and slowly fades out. I fixed the over-heating problem with better thermal paste and thermal pads, also with modded heat sinks at the copper ends. (I just made ones that were a little bit longer, but enough to still fit in the case) Now it stays below 60c even at the in-game cut-scenes. However, the sound stuttering is still there, although, the lag is not as much as it was before, and the frame rate is now at 24-29 fps.

 

So I finally figure out how to play my games smoothly. The problem was not the bios (or maybe that was one of the reasons), but the 3d settings on the nvidia control panel. So if you have a gtx 260m on your system and your fps drops during a game to the point it becomes unplayable even after the bios update, try this:

- Download the drivers fro the video card from Dell. Right now the most updated version in the site is 257.38. This fix probably works with newer versions from the nvidia website but since the 275.33 version made most computers unstable I'd try to stay away from them.

-Open the Nvidia Control Panel by right clicking on your desktop.

-Move to the 3d Settings tab and switch the energy settings from adaptable to maximum performance.

That's it! My computer was only able to play SC2 at 15fps on medium settings and dropped to 2fps during big battles. My guess is that when the processor was maxed out on certain situations, the video card suffered from a power dropped somehow. After changing these settings I'm able to play with high graphics with a fps ranging between 55 and 60fps even with mother ships cloaking units in 4vs4 battles. I monitored the gpu temperature during gameplay and it only gets up to 72 with only half of the video memory being used so SC2 is probably playing in ultra-settings with no problem.

Good luck!