Harikrl

I have an Alienware M17X R4 with single 1TB HDD @5400 RPM drive. I need some more performance in terms of read and write and am looking to buy a SSD. I will be mainly installing the OS and applications on the SSD so as to increase the system response. When it comes to SSD, I am empty.

So any suggestions, how to find a suitable one, buying tips will be appreciated within a budget of approx $260.

Any suggestions related are welcome. Thank you.

Speaking of design, I would personally stick with the R4. (Not because I have R4. ) But it's more of a box type. C'mon, what happened to the sexy speakers in front of the laptop?

I simply adore them!

Is there any software for protecting my external hard disk from someone else using it?

I stay in a hostel and I really don't want someone else to view my personal files. Is there any way of encrypting it so that only I can use my hard disk?

I kind of have a similar problem with GTA 4. When I was finding for a reason, I found out that my CPU was limited making the usage fluctuate.

Oh, I didnt realize MSI Afterburner had a bug with it.

Thank you very much for everything. You could be an amazing teacher!

With the default bios you are limited to only a 135mhz overclock on the core but are unlimited on the memory. The modified bios removes the 135mhz limit, as well as bios settings that reduce frequencies when power draw is high. Without these power limiting features removed, your core clock would be running below what you set it to when overclocking. Some clock reduction will still occur when the card is under light load and the power is not needed, but you will not have clock reduction due to the card working hard and drawing a lot of power. svl7 also increased the default core clock slightly to 758 since the default 719 is incredibly low for what the card is capable of.

In regards to memory overclocking, it does provide a substantial benefit to the 680m, and 680m memory can be overclocked a lot. Many programs report memory clocks oddly. The actual default frequency of the 680m memory is 900MHz, but you will often hear of it being referred to as 1800MHz, and 3600MHz. This confusion arises because of the advent of DDR (double data rate) memory around 12 years ago, and the fact that GDDR5, the memory in your card, is not DDR, but QDR (quad data rate). When DDR came out people started saying that cards ran at double their actual frequency since it provided twice the bandwidth at the same bus width and frequency as single data rate memory. When GDDR5 came out not everyone doubled how they reported frequency again, even though GDDR5 gives double the data rate as DDR at the same frequency and bus width. Overclocking programs like msi afterburner and nvidia inspector use the old and inaccurate convention of reporting double the actual frequency, even though that number corresponds to nothing on GDDR5. So in summary the default speed is 900MHz, but effectively 3600MHz. Overclocking programs report it as 1800MHz. If you overclock +400MHz on memory, you will actually be running at 1100MHz, or 4400MHz effective.

Higher voltage allows a card's core to run faster. Ex. at the default voltage of .987V my card can do 940MHz stable. With the voltage raised to 1.05V it can do 1019MHz stable. Voltage increases even with no frequency increase result in a V^2 increase in power draw. Ex. running 1.05V at the same clocks as .987V results in a 13.2% increase in power draw. Running higher frequency increases power draw linearly. Ex if you double the frequency while holding the voltage constant, you doubled your power draw.

Firstly, thanks for replying! It really meant a lot.

At least now I got the basic picture, but I don't realize why Nvidia seriously downclocked this GPU. Now that I have the information I need, I am going to OC. I tried it previously with MSI Afterburner, but I guess now it's only a fraction to what it's actually capable of.

I understand that the card gets hungry at higher clocks so we raise the Voltage Levels for higher clock stability. What do you mean by stability actually? ( Is that the check on temperature, driver limit? )

I wanted to know if the core clock fluctuation is normal? I raised to 875 and there was no constant clock, it simply went up and down. The graph was erratic.

I know that by increase in clock, my card will be doing good but how to keep the Memory Clock in check? Is there a relation between those two like for example memory should be 2.5x the core clock?

Will overclocking my GPU be the only option to have a little gain on FPS?

So, what do you suggest? I already have a 1 TB HDD running at 5400 rpm in one bay and the other is empty.

I was planning to go for a 240GB SSD and use it for games. Will that improve any performance in terms of gaming? FPS?

Hi, I'm just learning all these things about overclocking and it would be very much kind of you to help me. I just have some simple queries.

These are my Specs:

Alienware M17X R4

Core 17 3740QM

GTX 680M

After reading all sorts of forums from here and there, I think the basic thing we are performing is to increase the Core Clock of any GPU, thereby pushing it to its limits at the same hand keeping its temperature in check. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Also, Overclocking can't be done with the GPU's vBIOS locked, thereby we must first unlock it by flashing it.

Now that the Vbios is unlocked we can adjust its clocks and voltage levels. I hope I got it right till now.

I use MSI Afterburner to monitor and overclocking (At least I thought it was). I can increase my GPU's core clock without flashing any vBIOS.

I get a stable 718 MHz at 2D and around 757 MHz after enabling 3D. Won't I get a better performance just by increasing it's Core Clock speed?

Also, regarding the voltage levels, what do they mean and do we have anything to do with it while overclocking?

I was so confused after reading forums from almost everywhere, maybe that was my mistake. Maybe I believe half-knowledge is poison. Call me amateur, but please provide me facts,

I may have got things wrong above, please correct me. I will be grateful.

Awaiting Replies.

Disabling dormant services such as UpdateClients and disabling non-frequent startup items can also considerably speed up the boot!

I was actually planning on adding a SSD in my M17x R4 which already has a 5400 rpm HDD. My system's been receiving kinda slow responses because of this HDD.

I think the correct word here is Bottleneck!

There's a reason why it's the Alienware. It's meant for Ultimate Gaming. As far as work is concerned, lets take a break and start some Game.

I never expected Alienware to refresh their models so soon. I mean, I just got my R4. If only I knew maybe I would have waited few more months,

Regarding the 320.18 WHQL update, since that update was a wreck, any news on revised update from Nvidia yet?

Sorry, but I just couldn't find the suitable thread. This was the most suitable one.

It's like a treat for me to get this a minute after I join TI.