KristoferNathan

Steve this is great. Maybe you can give us a guide on repasting with pictures so some of us less confident users can feel better about going in and repasting.

Thanks for the results guys! Steve, have you experienced any throttling, shut downs, freezing, or damage to the system during those high temps?

Done, thanks Steve. I look forward to your results.

I, like many of you, have the Core i7 2630QM processor in my M14X. This series of processor has been known to run very hot. According to the manufacturer, this processor series can handle temps up to 120°C and the bios is coded to shut down at 100°C to provide a "cushion" of safety. For most processors, these temperatures are too high so it has caused many users to freak out when they monitor their CPU and see temps as high as 99°C. But, apparently, this processor series was built to handle these high temps. For me, during gaming with Turbo Boost disabled for my CPU and without overclocking my GPU, the max temps I get while gaming are ~80°C for the CPU and ~70°C for the GPU. However, with Turbo Boost enabled and overclocking the GPU to 750/1500/1000, I get max CPU temps of 95°C with good ventilation and up at 99°C when sitting on my lap and GPU temps at ~75°C. I use nVidia system tools with HWinfo for overclocking and monitoring. I do not use a cooler and I haven't repasted my CPU or modified my system in any way. Even at my highest temps I have not experienced any throttling, freezing, or shut downs to to high CPU temps even at 99°C. Additionally, I have not experienced any damage to my system or the surrounding chassis due to these allegedly high temperatures. Let's find out what's normal. Please post your data for max temperatures while gaming. Guidelines for Posting Post your max CPU and GPU temps while gaming. Remember to include whether you're overclocking or using Turbo Boost and what settings you're using. Include whether you're using a laptop cooler or have done a repaste or other system modification. If you've experienced any system shut downs, throttling, or damage to your system due to high temps, please include details. Only post information if you're using an M14X with one of the i7 2600 line of processors! Hopefully, once we collectively compare all of our data, we will see that the high temperatures are normal and not causing any real damage so that we can stop worrying and run Turbo Boost and overclock comfortably and safely. If we do find that high temperatures are indeed causing damage, we can find out what the real limits are and take the necessary steps to keep our CPU at safe temperatures.

I'm glad Steve posted this thread. Up until now, many of us were under the impression that Turbo didn't make a significant difference in gaming. I've tested this now with all my games and, while most games don't show a major difference, some games appear to be quite CPU dependent and have significant increases in FPS with Turbo on. I don't know if it's because I have a newer M14x or what but I haven't had any temperature issues either. The highest has been 92 degrees Celsius and, according to Intel, this is a safe temperature. I researched the M14x before I purchased it and came across lots of complaints about the Turbo function so I disabled it when I first unboxed the laptop. This is the first time I've used the Turbo function and, after these results, I think I'll be leaving it on. I haven't tested how it affects battery life with regular usage though so that may be a reason to disable it again.

This is good stuff Steve. Thanks for the post. Most of us were under the impression that CPU didn't have a big enough impact on game performance but 10 FPS is a big deal! I've kept my turbo boost turned off since the first day. I'm going to turn my turbo on, keep it stock with all cores utilized and see if there is such a difference in other games. Keep up the good work!

No problem. Looking forward to your results on Skyrim.

Check it out. http://www.nvidia.com/object/notebook-win7-winvista-64bit-285.79-beta-driver.html?nvidiaupdate=1

I still consider doing this but until I'm actually presented with a situation where it's necessary I'm going to stick with A05. So far, everywhere I've wanted to play games has an outlet. I'm usually on campus if I'm away from home or at a friends house.

Even as an advanced user I decided not to flash to the old bios as this voids the warranty I paid extra for. If I were you, I would just accept that there is limited performance on battery. After you accept it, you'll realize that it isn't that big of a deal.

Yeah, I don't know why people are saying it has anything to do with refresh rate. The newer bios limits the voltage which in turn limits the clock speed. The only way to resolve this is to flash it to an older bios or a modified version of the newer bios.

The new bios limits the voltage of the GPU when on battery. This also limits the clock speed significantly. It allows for longer play time but much less FPS in most games. The only way around this is to flash to the old bios.

I discovered it's the bios. In the newer bios it limits the voltage on the GPU when on battery. I could flash to battery to resolve the issue but I think I'll just leave it how it is. I would probably get less than an hours worth of gaming on battery anyway. Ah well. Thanks for your help though mw.

I noticed that, when on battery, my m14x will not allow the nVidia GPU to surpass 202.5/405 mhz when I normally run it at 750/1500. Any ideas on how to disable this? I've tried toggling the advanced power settings with no luck. At this rate, I get very low FPS in all of my games. I've also noticed the GPU voltage also changes from .862 V to .812 V when on battery.

There is a video with Rift but there is not a video with M14x playing WoW yet. Once mine comes in the mail I'll make one for you if you haven't received your M14x yet! (Unless someone else wants to go ahead and do it)

Thanks svl7, this is true. By "safe" I meant it generally won't kill your computer. Updated the OP to be more specific.

Thanks for your submission svl7. I included your information in the OP and I agree those two tools are very useful. Some of the other tools have more options and some have less, interfaces and options are different, etc. etc. so I feel it's important to include them all and let the user decide which is the best for them.

Hey mw, thanks for your response. I agree, there should be a guide/list for general overclocking and eventually I would be interested in setting something like that up. But, after all, this is the M14X subforum and since different software performs differently on different machines I wanted to create a comprehensive guide/list of detailed information in regards to software respective to the M14X. A more general list would be of interest to a lot more people but would also take a lot more data and testing. Thank you for your suggestion and I will definitely take it into consideration in the future.

I must admit, I was afraid for you good sir. Congrats on it being a non-serious issue.

Thank you for the responses. I've updated the OP with some of your info. Please continue to contribute detailed information about experience with the software listed in the OP (good and bad).

I've noticed it's difficult finding a comprehensive guide online for overclocking and monitoring the GPU respective to the M14x so I've comprised one of my own. It's important to note that this discussion strictly involves overclocking the GPU and not the CPU. Using the built-in Turbo Mode or other CPU overclocking software is officially NOT recommended in this thread. CPU overclocking has been known to cause serious overheating and even permanent damage to the physical composition of the laptop. In addition, most who have overclocked the CPU have noted that it does not significantly increase gaming performance and is not worth the risk. What this thread is not. A place to discuss CPU overclocking or compare benchmarks. What this thread is. A comprehensive guide on overclocking and monitoring the GPU of the M14x and related discussion. Feel free to share information about different software tools and configurations you have used for overclocking and monitoring your GPU. What overclocking/monitoring software have you had experience with? What are the pros and the cons of each software tool you have used? Once I have verified your information, I will add it to the OP. Overclocking/Monitoring Guide F.A.Q. Q: What is overclocking? A: Overclocking is the process of running a computer component at a higher clock rate (more clock cycles per second) than it was designed for or was specified by the manufacturer. (Thanks wikipedia!) Q: Is overclocking safe? A: It depends on your definition of safe. Generally, it will not blow your computer up if done properly but will shorten the lifespan somewhat depending on how high you overclock it. It's usually safer to OC the GPU rather than the CPU. Overclocking the CPU is much more dangerous and is therefor not covered in this guide. Using the following tools will normally not harm your computer HOWEVER going beyond the limit of most of these tools can potentially harm your PC. That doesn't mean that there aren't cases of simple overclocking harming a GPU or PC overall. It happens but it is extremely rare. Q: But don't I have to overclock my CPU and my GPU to get MAXIMUM PWNAGE PERFORMACE?!?! A: No. It has been thoroughly tested that for gaming (which is what most of us use alienware's for), overclocking the CPU does not produce significant enough results to be worth the risk. Q: Well I want to overclock my CPU anyway! How do I do it? A: Go away. Q: Okay so I'd like to try overcocking my GPU. Where do I start? A: First off, try playing the games that you want to play on your system as is with your desired settings. In many cases, overclocking isn't even necessary and you will get great framerates with the default settings. In this instance, overclocking really isn't worth it. Q: My games aren't running at my desired speed. Let's do this! A: Okay. Check out some of the tools below and choose based on your personal preferences and suggestions people have made. You're going to want at least 2 tools. One for overclocking and monitoring your GPU and (even though you're not overclocking your CPU) a CPU monitoring tool. CPU monitoring is still very, very necessary when overclocking your GPU. If you want to use multiple tools to utilize different unique functions, feel free but generally most people want to compartmentalize the process as much as possible. Q: What do I need to look out for? A: Start off slow. Don't max out your clocks, max out in-game graphics settings and hop on Crysis 2 for 8 hours straight. Be nice to your M14X. It is a beast but it is a cute and cuddly beast. We must treat them with care. Slightly increase your settings, load your game for 10 to 20 minutes, and monitor your temperatures. Rinse and repeat until you've found your comfort zones. The preferred CPU temp is 60-80°C. 80-90° is generally doable but anything above 90° is not recommended for non-advanced users. So far for the M14X the sweet spot is 750mhz core clock, 1500mhz shader, and 1080mhz memory clock. Anything above that, enter at your own risk! Q: So what type of results should I be getting? A: Here are a few graphics to give you an idea of what overclocking should be doing for you. Q: Okay I'm feeling froggy! I want to flex my stuff and post some benchmarks. What do I do? A: Hold your horses young buck. There's a thread for that. Overclocking/Monitoring Tools Nvidia System Tools pros: All in one GPU overclocking and monitoring tool. Made my GPU manufacturer, is safe and stable, has fan controls and basic system health monitoring. cons: limited in overclocking M14X GPU Nvidia Inspector pros: GPU overclocking tool with "unlock max" which allows you to maximize overlocking performance and basic system health monitoring. cons: Can't control M14x fans. (Please verify) MSI Afterburner pros: GPU overclocking tool with built in real-time onscreen monitoring of clock, voltag, temperature, fan speed, and framerate. Has built in benchmark and screen capture tools. Great reporting system. cons: Has overclock limit for M14x and some have reported glitches. Benchmark has been known to produce unreliable results. EVGA Precision pros: GPU overclocking tool with monitoring including GPU temp and usage percentage. Can apply new clocks at startup. cons: Cannot control M14x fans. "test" tool doest work with M14x. Riva Tuner pros: cons: outdated HWiNFO pros: Has advanced system health monitoring (temperature, voltage, fan, and power) and controls fan speed. cons: ThrottleStop pros: Great tool for overclocking and monitoring CPU with multiple profile settings. cons: Core Temp pros: Simple, compact, CPU monitoring tool that displays temperature and usage for all cores simultaneously. cons: GPU-Z pros: GPU monitoring tool that displays GPU temp and clocks. cons: Kind of pointless if you're using one of the better GPU overclocking tools but for those who want separate GPU monitoring this would be the tool. (If you have used other software, feel free to mention it. I will add it to the list.) note: All the opinions regarding each software tool is pertaining to performance with the M14x and the M14x ONLY!