M14x BIOS A05 released

[svl7]

Dell just put a new BIOS revision for the Alienware M14x on their download site, A05.

Only thing they say is about fixes and enhancements is

Improve fan noise.

Let us know if you flash it and see any improvements.

Also I guess you want to have this BIOS with the increased GPU voltage as well, so I quickly repacked it with the modded VBIOS, the whole package can be found here in the M14x volt mod thread.

[Stevenxowens792]

Decreases Fan Noise.

Drivers & Downloads

Choose bios and then download accordingly.

Best Wishes,

StevenX

[Stevenxowens792]

I assume this still has the "battery fix" so once again I am sticking with bios A01 or updated bios A01 with voltage increase. I use mine for gaming mostly so I want the loudest fan possible that provides the coolest temps possible.

[svl7]

Sup Steven? Didn't see my thread? LOL

I can't test it of course, but some people report that it seems to change the fan speed smoother, instead of only a few different levels there seem to be now several more, which makes the transition less noticeable.

And since I already made a thread about A05, I merge your post into my thread

Edited August 24, 2011 by svl7

[Stevenxowens792]

Im sorry SVL.. I honestly didn't see your thread. Android browsing is not as robust as pc. 3G (slow speeds) take forever.

[Ninjahunter]

YES!! Finally bios update worth getting! (not counting the volt mod )

[Ninjahunter]

I did some testing with these bios, it definatelly adds more fan phases, but i seem to be getting a 4 degree increase in temp while gaming. (from 78 to 82 celsius)

[mmskate13]

@Ninjahunter, i'm seeing about the same results.

I might flash back to A01 and use Hwinfo32 to set my own phases like i've been doing. Either that or just the fan speed to max in hwinfo as a little pre-cursor to playing, and leave it like that while playing.

[mmskate13]

Okay. Here's my summary on BIOS a05.

For not so tech-savvy people, it's great! It really does quiet down your system and only makes noise when it needs to. Cooling isn't as loud.

For almost everyone here: It's basically worthless, and actually quite annoying. It does make the system quieter, but in doing so it doesn't cool as well. My cpu used to sustain very low temperatures while playing games, but after an extensive 2 and a half hour gaming of Borderlands, i was reaching 98 97 97 93 celsius on my cores. GPU hovered between 67 and 76 celsius. I find this too hot on the cpu for a game like Borderlands, even though it was for an extended time.

My recommendation for non-tech savvy people: Keep it, it does its job.

My recommendation for tech savvy people: Set a power profile for when you want the system quiet (There's a tutorial for that ;P), and use high power settings when you want the max performance and the fan to be roaring. Also, you can use HWinfo32, created by the awesome Mumak, to control the m14x fans. I've been using that and experienced NO PROBLEMS with the new Beta version.

[svl7]

98°C is crazy, 100°C is shutdown if I'm not mistaken...

[Ninjahunter]

Lol, bios A01 continue to be the best choice for us tech savvy foke. mmmhm

[mmskate13]

98°C is crazy, 100°C is shutdown if I'm not mistaken...

Yeah it's absolutely NUTS. i managed to reach 99 celsius on 3 out of 4 physical cores. New record? lol.

Anyways, looks like i'm flashing. This A05 bios doesn't even kick the fan into more than 4000 rpm when i get to 99 on 3 out of 4. It's unbelievable how Dell is so concerned about limiting the gpu on battery, but doesn't give a rat's ASuS about the CPU at all. BIOS a01 ftw.

[coolguystan]

but doesn't give a rat's ASuS about the CPU at all. BIOS a01 ftw.

I like what you did there lol

[mmskate13]

I like what you did there lol

Haha yep, i try to keep it spontaneous

[n3ocort3x]

I experienced a random shutdown on A05... don´t know why (i keep thinking it was the temp, someone other worked on my notebook)... flashed back to modded A01... think its the best choice

[mmskate13]

I experienced a random shutdown on A05... don´t know why (i keep thinking it was the temp, someone other worked on my notebook)... flashed back to modded A01... think its the best choice

LOL, any chance you were playing a game during this? If so you may have reached TJD (100 celsius). I did the same thing. The new Bios caps the fans at 5300rpm i believe. A01 lets you go to 7000rpm if my info is right. The lack of fan speed may have caused your core temps to rise.

The same exact thing happened to me. Played borderlands for 2 and 1/2 hours 2 days ago, got temps of 98 98 97 95, played again for 2 and 1/2 the next day, got 99 99 99 97, freaked out thinking my computer was going to explode. Then last night i played for a half hour, BSOD and shutdown. Finally hit that 100 celsius on the cores. .

As for me, i'm not worried because i am awaiting a replacement computer. As for you, you can either keep A05 and just use HWinfo's manual temps/auto temps, or just flash back to A01 and let the cooling and mobile gaming commence.

[darkfame]

Don't blame the A05 BIOS for your CPUs hitting tj. max (100 C). It's your fault as you are using ThrottleStop, which basically prevents the thermal protection from working correctly. You can load all your cores at 100% with the fan running at 3000rpm if you want... it will throttle down to a safe clock.

Edited August 28, 2011 by darkfame

[unclewebb]

ThrottleStop does not prevent the Intel thermal protection from working correctly. No software can do that.

Intel builds thermal protection into their CPUs at the hardware level that can not be disabled by any software. Intel sets the thermal shutdown temperature to 130C.

When a laptop manufacturer decides to lower the thermal shutdown temperature to 100C in the bios, that completely screws up the Intel designed thermal throttling system. The Intel designed system is fantastic. It can balance heat and power consumption thousands of times a second and keep a CPU running reliably at maximum possible power while staying just under the 100C throttling temperature for hours or likely days if it needed to.

If the bios guys were smart, they would set the bios shutdown temperature slightly higher than the Intel 100C thermal throttling temperature so the CPU could still throttle when necessary and control itself without these instant shutdowns that are being initiated by the bios.

The bios writers need to read and follow the Intel docs so there are no false shutdowns before the CPU has reached a critical temperature.

2nd Generation Intel® Core™ Processor Family Mobile Datasheet – Volume 1

This sensor is set well above the normal operating temperature to ensure that there are no false trips.

Edited August 29, 2011 by unclewebb

[Ninjahunter]

So, be prepared to call me stupid but your saying we could have an extra 30 degrees of headroom if it were developed differently? This makes me sad.

[DaneGRClose]

Don't blame the A05 BIOS for your CPUs hitting tj. max (100 C). It's your fault as you are using ThrottleStop, which basically prevents the thermal protection from working correctly. You can load all your cores at 100% with the fan running at 3000rpm if you want... it will throttle down to a safe clock.

I smell a troll, or at the very least someone who is going to be really popular on the boards with that kind of attitude Seriously man welcome to the boards but before you call out a very reputable application do your homework. I've used TStop on a number of rigs and never once had it do anything to negatively impact the machine. If Alienware would actually build their systems the way they should be built(the way we tune them) they would have no problems and there would be no need for TStop. But because they don't guys like Unclewebb come along and help us do just that. Not to mention the fact that if you really do your research you'd find that TStop doesn't do a whole ton to the SB cpu's thanks to Intel.

[unclewebb]

I don't think it was meant as an attack on ThrottleStop. A lot of users don't fully understand the program and don't realize that Intel builds some incredible technology into their CPUs when it comes to thermal throttling. Thermal shutdown was intended by Intel to be used as a last ditch attempt to save the CPU from being damaged. Intel never intended it to be used at 100C.

Ninjahunter: The thing is that a CPU is very unlikely to ever hit 130C. Maybe if the heatsink fell off but other than that, Intel thermal throttling is designed to keep their CPUs running as fast as possible while keeping the core temperature on the safe side of 100C. Throttling the multiplier and voltage is a great way to fully control a hot CPU.

Here is an interesting test I did on my desktop E8400 quite a while ago to check how Intel thermal throttling works. I increased the core voltage and overclocked it by 20%, ran some Prime95 Small FFTs and then to make things interesting I turned off the CPU fan. How long do you think it lasted before blowing up or shutting down?

Three hours later Prime95 was still running just fine. No errors. The core temperature came up to a hair under TJMax and just flat lined there. Only once in 3 hours did one core hit TJMax at 100C. The CPU continuously throttled, mostly between 98C and 99C. It happens so frequently that the core temperature is mostly a flat line.

All I am saying is that if Intel is able to design great technology like this, why aren't laptop manufacturers using it? Setting a bios shutdown temperature at 100C completely disables what Intel designed these CPUs to do during an emergency. Not smart.

DaneGRClose: Good news. Now that the M18x bios has been fully unlocked, ThrottleStop has become more useful on the M18x. Being able to adjust the TDP on the 2920XM has let it come alive.

Edited August 29, 2011 by unclewebb

[darkfame]

Hmmmm... Does it actually say 130 C in the Intel whitepapers for 2630QM? That would mean it's actually running out of spec in many cases, like in the M14x. My point was, if you were not running ThrottleStop the CPU would not have reached 100 C and caused a shutdown or BSOD. It does throttle before it reaches 100 C, just try running wPrime with 8 threads and see. But if the whitepapers says 130 C on the 2630QM, no one should be afraid of frying their CPU at 100 C. A combo of ThrottleStop and max fan speed would be good, but some still prefer a bit less noise. 5300rpm vs 5700rpm.

Very old video, but a nice demo of how early Intel has had this technology.

Sorry for mixing up throttling and thermal protection in one of my sentences. As unclewebb quotes, it's a hardware built-in function. ThrottleStop can't harm your CPU, but make it reach a predefined BIOS temperature for shutdown.

Edited August 29, 2011 by darkfame

[Stevenxowens792]

@all - I can't say ive never had the cpu throttle back. The shin-etsu 3 months old now and is about to be replaced with the ICD Diamond for testing. I know I have hit mid 90s without issue and that's without throttlestop. The challenge is that the higher GPU overclocks really eat into the CPU cooling as well. So as you need to lower your bios settings to help adjust to get max CPU performance without hitting that throttle-point. It gets confusing but the bottom line is that if you are going to overclock you really have to watch temps closely.

[DaneGRClose]

DaneGRClose: Good news. Now that the M18x bios has been fully unlocked, ThrottleStop has become more useful on the M18x. Being able to adjust the TDP on the 2920XM has let it come alive.

Good to hear Unclewebb, you do great work and everybody in the performance community appreciates it Wish they'd do the friggin same thing in the 17x and/or the 14x now lol.

[kune]

Good to hear Unclewebb, you do great work and everybody in the performance community appreciates it Wish they'd do the friggin same thing in the 17x and/or the 14x now lol.

Yeah....there seems to be zero interest in doing anything for 17x these days.

Even 14x has a working bios mod~ Nothing for r3!