M15x FSB Overclocking (not only 920XM!)

If you really want to geek out on multipliers and understand your processor clocking try Tmonitor

http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/tmonitor.html

(to show all threads, start it with the -T command line option)

 

Thanks pras, but will it allow me to up the multipliers?

Ok it wont let me change anything CPU wise, but it really gives a great overview. and it says that my cpu´s idle on 9 multipliers. but again is there ANY way to up your multipliers or clock speed, via a program or Bios?

 

No, the multis are locked hardware wise, only the extreme processors have unlocked and adjustable multis. (As well as TDP, TDC values... at least the first gen i7 extreme CPUs)

Btw, you know there's an "edit" button?

 

Yeah i do xD sorry for the many posts.... well anywho the processor seems to be running on 9 multipliers even when i play games such as Bulletstorm

 

Hi, no apologies for posting like crazy haha - it's a good thing

What I do is set up throttlestop with 3 modes - one forced to turbo with power saving features disabled. Second with Turbo disabled and the third forced to low power.

Leaving it in MAX mode (1) makes sure you get the best performance - Also check that you haven't got the machine in the low power windows profile.

 

There was a discussion on XtremeSystems a while ago with the developer of T-Monitor and it was shown that it is some sort of load modified multiplier that it reports. When a CPU is lightly loaded, what it reports has nothing to do with the actual multiplier the CPU is using.

Here's an example of my T8100.



When EIST is disabled in these Core 2 CPUs, the multiplier is locked. RealTemp and ThrottleStop correctly report that both cores of the CPU are locked at the 11.5 multiplier but TMonitor sees that the CPU is lightly loaded so reports that the multiplier must be at its minimum which is only 6.0. That's not accurate at all. 6.0 has nothing to do with the actual multiplier this CPU is locked to. TMonitor also reports similar information for the Core i CPUs. It's a nice graph but has nothing to do with the CPU multiplier being used.

Here's where that discussion starts if anyone is interested in seeing some more examples.

TMonitor Discussion

 

Thanks Pras, and Unclewebb those should sure help, especially the throttlestop modes, gonna give those a try first thing in the morning ; ) ill write back with the result

Hey Pras, those Throttlestop Modes really helped out it seems. Throttlestop seems to take my CPU speed up to 2,5GHZ more often. it still doesent quite get it up to the 3,06GHZ which is the top but its getting closer

 

Great, I'm glad it helped. I can't live without throttlestop - thanks UNCLEWEBB!!!

Well I haven't tried it, but I think that it would run at 133MHz but then when overclocked to 160MHz should be more stable than the normal ram at 1600MHz. I guess!

 

Does anyone have any confirmation on an 840QM working? I've read through here and found out that the 820 works, but I haven't seen any confirmation of an 840 OC'ing properly

 

It's not CPU bound, doesn't matter what CPU you have, if you have an older version you can overclock. Newer motherboard version are a hit and miss.

 

I got my Alienware in December, so I'm figuring I've got a newer MoBo?

 

Yes you will have - Does anyone know what the option is for the newer mobo option is on setFSB> I need to update the first post!! Please PM me!!

Thanks

 

So...sorry but setfsb not working i7 q720s?

 

Should be working, read through the thread for more info. Currently it's working on all mobo revisions and mostly with 720QM (but I think all CPU are working with faster FSB.

Can you give more information, perhaps we can help you get it working - please read through the thread first since the solution is probably in there already.

Good luck!

 

Did but when I donated to abo and went through the steps and stuff he was like its not currently working for 720s

 

I am currently trying to overclock my 720. I have FSB and it worked fine the first time I tried it. However now when I overclock it and I try to play a game such as Starcraft 2 I get bluescreens. I use throttlestop because otherwise I am stuck at 7x multipliers. I also have to use custom fan control because my computer does not use them when needed. Any help would be appreciated I can look at my event viewer and tell you the exact bsod error codes I have. I also have my gpu overclocked but that never seems to be the problem.

 

If you have your multipliers locked at 7x you probably have EIST disabled. Go to the BIOS and enable Intel Speed Step Technology. This should solve this issue.

As far as I know, Starcraft is rather CPU demanding. How high did you set the BCLK? Adjusting it makes the system generally less stable. Try lowering it. And also try it with EIST enabled. Then you shouldn't need Throttlestop.

The fans aren't working as they should? Are they not spinning up? Make sure your system is clean inside.

 

Also, if you're fooling with ThrottleStop, be sure you didn't inadvertantly turn off EIST by unchecking the EIST box on the main/opening screen.

 

Okay, I will go turn EIST on right now. I read somewhere that it would make my computer faster if disabled. I must have read it wrong. My fans havent been working for quite a while, I cannot remember exactly when I noticed. It may have been the last BIOS update to A09 but I am not positive. I may redo the thermal paste again because I dont think I did a very good job the first time( which was also my first time applying it ever).


Edit:
I turned EIST back on and you are correct. I am no longer stuck at 7x Multipliers. As for the fans I will try leaving the control to my system and play SC2 to see if they ramp up when it starts getting warm.

My BCLK I had set to 150mhz as was suggested in the beginning of the thread. I will try it now without throttlestop and with EIST enabled.

 

That's written in the M15x manual, and it's wrong, as you see.

About the fans... make sure they're plugged in properly and also that the system is clean of dust.

 

When I use my custom fan control I can get them to work at any speed I like. Would them not being plugged in properly affect the way the bios, or whatever it is, normally control them?

 

Hmm, if I think about it... not having plugged them would probably prevent the system from booting.

But something's definitely wrong with your fans. Like I said, did you check your system for dust?

 

I checked my system for dust, there was not very much in there. I did clean the fans out and the vents too. I dont think my fans are the problem because I can get them to ramp up with the program I use. I also tried changing my FSB speed with EIST enabled but my computer just froze up.

 

Yep, that's setFSB, welcome to BSOD-heaven. You'll have to try it a couple of times until you find an overclock that is stable for you. You're going to see some more freezes and BSODs until you find out what's good for your system.

About the fans... I have no idea. Aren't they spinning up when the temperatures increase?

If you still have warranty on your system, it wont hurt to call Dell, they should be able to fix it.

 

Guys, please don't cut me up, but, I have a few dumb questions, I'm really a newbie:

I still didn't donate, so is that why there are no blue numbers what so ever under PPL Control Registers?

Also, how can one know what their clock generator is?

Finally, going back to the first question, I followed an old guide on this site, only to get this:

I'm running an HP dv6 with 6GB memory and i7 720qm. Thanks so much for all the help.

PS: Some one really should do a video tutorial .

 

The 720QM works. What about the 740? o.o

 

@Gunnerheadboy: You need to know the PLL, and I'm not sure whether the PLL of your mobo is supported...

You have a couple of possibilities to find out your PLL:

- Take a look in the HP forums, chances are that this has been discussed there.

- Check out the setFSB homepage and see whether you find your notebook listed.

- Try every single PLL in setFSB, one by one...

- Disassemble your Notebook, take a look at all the ICs on the mobo and search for the clock generator.




@dhruv300: It doesn't depend on the CPU, it depends on the clock generator on the mobo.

 

Well after donating and getting my activation codes I moved that baby right to 492/150 and it worked for awhile.........then BSOD : (. Tried it again and BSOD, so I missed around and seems I can go all the way to 480 and it seems to work. I try to move it a lil more to 485 but goes to 486 and BSOD : (. So I am happy with my 480 spot I guess. Everything is running cool nothing nowhere near the 80 degrees. Even My OC GTX 260m is at 670/1100/1600 and the highest it got was 74 degrees. I have tried to push the video card to 700/1100/1700 but the driver goes to crap then have to restart and go from scratch.

 

Nice! That's not too bad, maybe it's the RAM which is causing the crashs, so you might go a bit higher with more overclockable RAM, dunno.
___

off topic:
About the GPU, the VBIOS of the 260m allows a slight voltage increase, this should allow you to go past 700 on the core. I flashed my 260m to 700 core, 1150 memory for daily use.

 

Do you overclock the RAM in the Bios? How do you go about that?


____


I will have to check that out about the Volt issue with the 260m I havent heard that. Will try now and see if it works. How much should I increase the Volts on the card is the only so much the bios will allow. Guess I am asking without looking be right back haha.

Ight so OC the DDR3 to 1600 which was in the bios left the volts the same at 1.5 and setfsb to 492 and ........BSOD : (. So set it back to 480 and seems stable for now.

____


My Vbios is greyed out where u can adjust the volts for it. I am running the nvidia tool.

 

You misunderstood me... I meant that the RAM may not be able to handle the overclock and causes the BSODs, it's possible that different RAM lets you overclock the BCLK a couple of MHz more, though that's not guaranteed.
If you use SetFSB you change the Baseclock (BCLK) of your motherboard. This Bus sets is an important part of the whole system, the CPU speed is determined by BCLK x multiplicator, the QPI uses the BCLK as base frequency as well and the RAM too. So if you change it, the RAM gets overclocked automatically.

About the GPU... you'd need to modify the VBIOS to change the voltage and flash it to the card, there are several threads here about this, and since it doesn't belong in this thread I won't go into details here.
Check out some of the old overclocking threads, and just make a post or start a new thread in case you can't find the answer or need help. I'll be able to help.

 

Hi

I am in need of a little help concerning SetFSB, i cant figure out how to find the SetFSB ID number, or work out how to send a captured image back to Abo, i click capture but then cant find the captured image.

I have donated and have received a message to forward him the information.

Thanks for any help.

Please ignore previous post,

Brain now engaged.

 

Was just told by Abo that my clock generator is ICS9LRS3197AKLF and he doesnt have a solution for it yet! :cry:

 

I have a favor to ask. Can someone Email me SetFSB cause im currently deployed and cant download it cause so much is restricted on a government computer. Just PM me and ill send my email address out.

 

Great thread!

 

Hi does this work for 820qm and also how effective is this to use for increase performance in gaming?

 

Hi,

Does this work on an Acer 8943G i7 720QM?

 

just oced my crappy i5-430m, went from 2.2 ghz to 2.7ghz, already seeing great performance.

it will do until i get my 920xm

 

Wish it would work on 720s >_>

 

It does, it only depends on your clock generator.

 

Its the one that Abo said doesnt work ( rather he cant find the solution for)

 

how big are the performance increases in games?

 

If your CPU is running 20% faster for example - you can probably expect anything between 0% and 20% increase from overclocking. Depends on the game and how CPU dependent it is.

Erm, it does. In case anyone didn't notice - I have a 720. In the earlier days of this thread - IT DIDN'T work with all chipsets. Now it does apparently.

 

Apparently abo said he doesn't have the solution for a particular clock gensome months back, meaning there's been an update ?
Edit s clock gen is ICS9LRS3197AKLF AND tried using setfsb again but computer crashes after 135 mhz :/

 

yeah, it still doesnt work on my 720 because of my mobo chipset =( ..

it works for some 720s because those people are lucky enough to have a mobo with a chipset that works

 

Was almost happy there for a sec lol
Tempted to fit a 920xm off of eBay

 

Ah. thanks for the info I didn't realise there was another mobo in the mix..

 

It works with my 720QM

at 1st try it give me BSOD, then i realized that i supposed to quit 1st the setFSB after 1st launch before do the OC.

and i did it. on 2nd try, it give me Graphic Error, only to notice that i use wrong PLL

3rd try, with correct PLL n step, it run well!

Thx Mr Pras, rep for u & Credit for Abo =D

Note :

GeekBench Performance give arround 1000 points increasement. Not bad, but seems time to change my paste to shin-etsu.. never hit 75 degree though, i still can breathe normally, LoL

CPU-Z :

 

you lucky devil! ... Abo told me it didnt work with my chipset ... sob sob =(

 

do it!

first laptop cpu that has the feel and snappiness of a desktop pc.
combined with throttlestop, the thing is a power horse.