M15x FSB Overclocking (not only 920XM!)

Thanks for the info Mandrake. I would have thought that each of the different speeds would OC by the same percentage (relative to the FSB change) and I thought that the 1066 RAM wouldn't be able to OC as much..

Also in benchmarks, of course timing helps in some cases but raw throughput helps in others right? Or not? Does the higher bandwidth of 1600MHz outperform 1066MHz in some cases?

 

I'm currently actually looking at the G. Skill 1333 mhz ram. Anyone got any experiences with that brand?

 

wattos is using the g skill.

 

Just order 8gb 1333mhz gskill

 

geez dttran now you officially have the most powerful M15x right now, congrats.

 

Hehe thank!!! But I'm not the one with the highest vantage score

 

Most cases it doesn't make a difference. You will only see it in memory specific benchmarks.

 

Anyone seen any improvements in WoW by doing this? That would be the deciding factor for me .

 

It's been over 24 hours since I emailed him and haven't gotten anything back. How long does it usually take to get your activation code?

 

He must be busy, took just 1 hour to reply to me.

 

I think he's a little overloaded at the moment, did you receive it yet?

 

is the pll on the CPU or the motherboard. What decides if your system will overclock or not. i have a rev 11 motherboard with newest bios. i7 720qm

thanks

 

It's on the motherboard, at the moment we aren't sure if it will work or not.

I think you can try in shareware mode, select the Asus N61JQ pll and click get fsb.

If you get a result of 133.2/266.5/100.0/33.3 then it should work.

EDIT: Actually it turns out this is not a guarantee, you have to register and try it to see if it works.

 

ok on my motherboard replacement seems like it does not work
it shows the correct fsb, however after i change it, the changes are not occuring. confirmed with cpu-z. it seems the ram fsb is changing however not the cpu.

both are rev.11

 

Okay, thanks - good to know.. Sorry I gave the wrong advice before

So I guess the only way to know if it works is to try it!

Abo is working on it, I hope at some stage there will be a fully working version.

After a while testing the overclocking, it's not so beneficial when running the GPU. I think because of the power requirements the overclock is only beneficial to CPU-oriented apps. You guys wanting to improve your gaming performance aren't losing out so much.

Those of us wanting faster video encoding, 3d rendering (offline), compression and other such CPU intensive tasks are in OC heaven.. Or at least, I am

 

Sweeeeet. If that's true, I can OC.

 

I should edit it, because apparently it's not necessarily true.

The only way to find out is to register and try it

 

For some reason I can't get this to work. Whenever I hit setFSB it will either freeze my computer or it will flash the montior like a continuous strobe light. Any ideas?

 

It's hard to help without more info

Did you set it to 492? That worked for me, but might be a bit extreme in some cases. Try a lesser value. 407 was the default for me, try 420, 440, 460 etc. If changing it to 410 crashes your machine then it's just not going to work I guess..

 

@ Mr.Pras

Just to let you know, I already sent the clock generator data sheet for the other PPL on the motherboard and abo replied back to me saying that the motherboards with PLL ( ICS9LRS3191 ) which happens to be mine does not have the function to change the FSB.

so those people having trouble might not just be able to O/C at all unfortunately.

 

damn dell and their revisions wish i got one with revision 11....

 

Thanks for the info.. Sad news indeed.

There are revision 11 boards that don't work too, and revision 12s that do. It's not down to the mobo revision, but some other reason for different PLLs..

 

weird how dell cant stick with the same piece of equipment

 

I have that one too.

 

I've been looking around for a sure way to benchmark. Since the timers are changed too, some of the benchmarks go all awry.

For example using fraps maxes out at 53fps instead of 60fps. This is because the method Fraps uses to time the fps has also changed.

I've learned some interesting stuff about the timers from unclewebb and hopefully soon I'll find a good way to benchmark and find some reliable results for gaming benchmarks.

Currently, you will probably find that many benchmarks give you the same or less (even though they are performing better).

If anyone knows of a visual benchmark or fps counter that is not affected by the setfsb method, that would be a great way to find out how the games are performing with an overclocked FSB.

 

Here's a little application I wrote called WinTimerTester to help Mr Pras understand the timers within his computer and what happens to them when overclocking using SetFSB.



WinTimerTester.zip

QueryPerformanceCounter is a common Windows function that is designed to be able to measure time extremely accurately. Unfortunately there is a bug in this function on some computers when using SetFSB. When you overclock your computer, this timer can also get overclocked so any benchmarking software that depends on this function to accurately calculate time and FPS numbers, might not be accurate anymore.

This issue has been around for years and it was supposed to have been fixed a long time ago but this bug still exists in Windows 7 that Mr Pras is using.

The testing program above uses two different Windows functions to measure time. If your computer is working correctly, both timers should run at the same pace and there shouldn't be any significant difference between them.

If your laptop has this timer bug, when you use SetFSB and overclock your BCLK by 10%, the QPC function to measure time will also get overclocked by the same amount. You will then see that these two timers are no longer running at the same pace.

This can cause very inconsistent benchmark results in any program that does not correct for this error. I have no idea how many benchmarking programs have this problem when using SetFSB.

burebista on TechPowerUp told me that the Aliens vs Predators benchmark he was using had this bug. If you want to try that bench, you can download it here.

Aliens vs. Predator DirectX 11 Benchmark Tool download from Guru3D.com

Edit: Here's an example from Mr Pras. When he overclocks using SetFSB, the high performance timer within his computer gets overclocked too so programs that use that timer to accurately measure time, no longer work correctly.

 

It works for me. I have a rev 11 motherboard.

On another note, I had to put the memory on Unlinked (and to 1333) in the BIOS , otherwise I would BSOD very early on. Probably because of the memory not handling higher clocks.

I cannot get to 150Mhz, but 147Mhz is good enough.

Finally, I wonder if the bug described by uncleweb (also happens on my machine) affects gaming. Games also use time to properly advance physics etc...

 

hahaha remember the good ole 486DX with turbo, needed to switch between 16mhz and 66mhz. some older games designed for the original 16mhz would go super fast if turbo was enabled... good way to skip credits.

ack i'm getting old.

 

Lol, I must be ancient then- I bought my first computer (The Vic-20) back in 1981 and I programmed my own games, since game titles were rather scarce back then.

 

Hello,
I'm sorry if this has already been discussed but I was wondering if I have a shot at overclocking with an i7 620m? Or is it just completely random depending on my pll?

 

i have the 620m and i cant overclock at all so it is all luck of the draw really if you can overclock or not.

 

Just curious.. what does the topic say "not only the 920XM"? That proc can't be overclocked standard. I ask because I heard that the very first rls(s) did indeed have the ability from the factory but it was removed.
Just curious.

 

The 920 can be OC'ed with the turbo mode multipliers instead of the bclk. In fact it's more stable to do it that way.

 

yeah, I got excited at first, but then noticed that some application started to behave weird (e.g. the volume control on my keyboard was really unresponsive) and therefore I stopped using setFSB.

 

the other day i got a BSOD after OC'ing my 720qm to the previously thought "safe" fsb of 150mhz or 492 on the slider. First time it happened, not sure why though. I had a slight OC on my gpu also.. 800/1100.. but i've ran benchmarks in the past with a higher fsb and my gpu oc'd to 990/1190 and it never happened.

Bope.

 

Ahh Abo said it's a no go for me, with da i7 620m >.< Oh well lol

 

I never had a problem at 150 (492). Been running at 158 (532) regurlarly and had pushed it to 160 (542) but had a couple of blue-screens. It was nice to have the Ram running at 1600MHz Not stable though...

 

What are the chances on this becoming free in the near future?

 

dude, its only 5 Dollars. The person who was working on it obviously spent a lot of time on setFSB, so donating 5 dollars isnt asking for too much. If you can afford the M15x, you probably also should afford donating 5 dollars

 

didn't work for me either, 720QM, rev 11. darn.

 

Yea i just saw he had a free version so i thought as he updated he might make the older versions free. I can wait and save a few bucks if that's what he does.

Another question though. when Mr Pras says his 720QM is OC to 3.16GHz is that turbo or is that constant on all the cores?

 

that would be with turbo on one core but still .3 extra Ghz on top makes a difference.

 

ok thanks for clearing that up for me.

Another question i see MR Pras has his ram oc'ed up 1500MHZ is he doing that with setfsb or is that another program? i have 4gb of ddr3 at 1333mhz is is possible for me to get up to Mr Pras's oc with that?

 

You can use the BIOS to set your RAM to run at 1600Mhz, thought the processor won't allow it to run that fast, so you'll end up with 1333Mhz ram anyway. But when you overclock the CPU, your ram may hit 1500Mhz.

 

i managed to get mine running at 1600MHz for a while. It was a bit unstable. I wonder if putting in DDR3 1600MHz Ram would allow that overclock to be more stable?

 

I have a quick question. I haven't overclocked my M15x yet. Its running 720qm. However if I do overclock it, does the overclock still stay if I reformat the system. Also do I need to bring the clocks back to normal before reformatting?

 

The clocks will only be maintained until the next restart of your system. So you need to set the clocks everytime you boot the OS

 

Actually they stay through warm reboots. You need to set them if you turn the machine off. Sleep mode doesn't work while overclocked (at least not for me).

The overclock stays until you turn off the machine. It's DEFINITELY NOT a good idea to format, install an os etc while overclocked. There will be no real benefit but you are risking crashes during essential installation processes.

 

Mr Pras.

Wooo. It worked! Running around 2.9 - 3.1. Im a bit concerned on the temps tho. Did about 30mins of gaming and CPU temps maxed out at 82c and GPU temps at 75c. I also OCd the GPU at 650,1600,1100. Are my temps stable or a bit high?

What are the stable temps? Max temps?

Thanks

 

Great news!!

Those temps are the same as I get.. 75 is fine, 82 is a little warm (the fans get quite loud) but it's not dangerous. 85 is pushing, 90 is too much..