Brian

Hi MW86,

I've found that in most circumstances, 5% BCLK increase via bios for the extreme CPUs in conjunction with Throttlestop is more than enough to get the absolute maximum in CPU performance. For a 5% BCLK increase, most extreme CPUs require an increase in voltage which in turn raises the heat produced. So it's a careful balancing act of performance vs heat when dealing with BCLK + TDP controls via throttlestop. I think this guide I wrote is more useful for those that do not have extreme CPUs. However, with TheWiz having cracked the Phoenix bios, this guide may soon become obsolete since the unlocked system bios purportedly allows for oveclocking/voltage changes of non-extreme core i7 cpus.

However, since the bios is limited to 5% only, those with non-extreme CPUs may still find this guide useful for going beyond that threshold to maximize their CPU potential. Since throttlestop does not work for non-extreme CPUs like the 720qm/820qm, they could continue to benefit from this guide. I do not know off hand what the memory:bclk ratio is but I've found it depends on the timings of the ram you are using. If you have low latency ram, then it will need additional voltage to cope with the increase in bclk. The type of ram Dell ships with their systems do not usually require a voltage increase, it's the premium aftermarket stuff like Kingston HyperX that requires it.

That's a pretty sweet price you got. Good to hear about those pumps, it was on another forum I read about it so I figured it may have just been anecdotal evidence. BTW new subforums were made, let me know what you think.

That's a beast of a system. I love lian li cases too, I had a silver one that I modded from the top (built a custom grill up + dual fan rad to exhaust heat and a reservoir cut out as well). How is the pump holding up for the Boreas? I heard they've been prone to problems. Once you get that system built up, a nice forum review would be awesome! Speaking of which, we need to create a forum specifically for custom desktop build reviews + pics.

No it won't damage your computer. Abo is the author of setfsb, you can find his homepage here: SetFSB_HomePage

Okay well your Acer uses a different PLL than the M17x so it will not work for you. You would need to use a different PLL for your particular system. You can find that information by opening up the laptop and looking for the chip and then e-mailing Abo for support.

hahah yeah remi has all kinds of crazy videos, love em. Is he still making new ones?

Hi almosthandsome,

When you change the offsets, you need to click "update" followed by "apply". You do not need to press the "Set FSB" button as that will not do anything.

hahahaha I liked his comments at the end about the game turning into a tyco race track! Good stuff.

Here's another Jubbing showed me tonight:

NOTE: Dell has released the official vbios + flasher which I would recommend using if you do not want to do a manual dos flash: ftp://ftp.us.dell.com/video/R281544.exe

------------------------------------------

THE FOLLOWING IS THE DOS METHOD OF FLASHING THE NEW 5870M VBIOS INDIVIDUALLY ON EACH VIDEO CARD. THIS MINIMIZES THE RISK OF BRICKING YOUR VIDEO CARDS:

Important points to note before updating the 5870m beta vbios:

1) This VBIOS is ONLY for the 5870 cards and works with single or crossfire confingurations. There is currently no update needed for the 4870 cards.

2) This VBIOS will flash your card to the latest revision.

3) You MUST load the 8.763 video driver stack BEFORE flashing your VBIOS. If you flash before you load the newer video drivers, the result will be endless BSODs. Safe mode or VGA mode will work around this… Once you have the new VBIOS, you can’t use the 8.6xx driver stack any more.

4) It is recommended you download and install the 10.8a Crossfire Applications Profile along with the Dell 8.763 driver release.

By using the manual dos flashing method rather than flashing within Windows, you reduce the risk of bricking your cards. Furthermore, you will now have the ability to revert back to the old shipping vbios should you desire.

Step 1: Download all the following files as they will be needed throughout this guide.

1. Download the HP USB Key Utility: HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool - v2.1.8 Download - EXTREME Overclocking

2. Download the Windows 98 system files: Windows 98 System Files Download - EXTREME Overclocking

3. Download Atiflash files: techPowerUp! :: Download ATIFlash 3.79

4. Download the new Dell beta vbios files from here: Dell 5870m beta vbios

Step 2: Creating a Bootable USB Drive to Flash to GPU

1. Install the HP USB Key Utility

2. Launch the HP USB Key Utility and do the following:

- Insert your USB thumb drive.

- Select File system as "FAT32"

- Select Format Option as "Create a DOS bootable Disk..."

- Checkmark the box that says, "Quick Format"

- Locate the directory you extracted the Win98 files.

- Format the USB key using the the Win98 files.

3. Copy the extracted files from the DellBetaVbios.rar file onto your usb key.

Step 3: Flashing Your GPU's vBios to the new beta vBios

1. Make sure your usb is plugged in and system is on AC power.

2. Reboot.

3. Press F12 at the Alienware Logo screen.

4. Select "Boot from USB"

5. At the Command Prompt, type in "atiflash -p 0 dellb0.rom” (without the quotes) to flash the master card. Then after it has been flashed, type, “atiflash –p 1 dellb1.rom” (without the quotes) to flash the secondary/slave card. Once the flash process has completed, you may remove the USB key and reboot

X7200 is out of my budget for right now. I will likely pick up an M18x when it's released however. We have a guest contributor writing an R3 article for us, it likely won't be the type of article where the hardware is exploited/modded since it's not my system but it will be a worthwhile read.

As I mentioned in the APA steam group announcement, Tech|Inferno is now the home base of the APA steam group! Every member is invited to come join us. For those that don't know about the All Powerful Alienware steam group, here's a direct link: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/allpowerfulaw

Hi freedom, welcome back dude. Seeing some familiar faces here so stick around and enjoy.

Very much interested in actual individual sales numbers of the Alienware lineup, I have the feeling like many that the R3 was a dud by DELL standards. Scoured the internet for these individual sales numbers and can't find a drop of info on it on say the sales of M15x in Q2 2010 or total sales of the R2 in 2010 ect.

BTW call me a daily visitor now Brian, its nice to say/blast/flame/praise whatever way you want for once (WITHIN reason ofc)!

Welcome NH glad to have you aboard. This isn't another NBR so you won't have overzealous admins/mods acting like overlords here. Just sit back, relax and enjoy.

Yeah thanks for that, the more people that see it the better.

Love the site btw. It will also give an outlet for reviews that dont skirt around the problems with a product, like slow ssd speeds. I would be happy and keep my R2 otherwise...

-Ash

No doubt I wish reviews would have touched on that early on. Or things like throttling that happened with the M15x etc. When we get new hardware to review, we're going to pick it apart for any flaws it has no matter what brand it may be. And I agree, unless the M18x has 6970M Xfire or 485M SLI, I won't be interested. BTW did you hear about the R2 bios being cracked by TheWiz? He might be able to give us new GPU support.

Sup ash, long time no see! Welcome to the new forum, how do you like our new home? BTW I added your cooling mod to the M17x section.

LMAO the crib one was awesome. +1 for drunk midgets in electrified cribs, sounds like something the Jack Ass crew would do.

If you were one of the thousands that tried to get Metro2033 for free from nVidia and found your key subsequently deactivated, nVidia has a new offer. They're e-mailing everyone a "sorry for deactivating your free game" message along with a $5.00 off coupon code when you pre-order Homefront and receive Metro2033 for free. I went for it, figured Homefront is a steamworks game so I'll just use the key they give me on steam when it's released. I did the same for Metro2033 and it worked great.

Front page post with pics: nVidia offering 10% off coupon for Homefront + free game | Tech|Inferno

Well, hopes this M18X is not pure speculation because i don't have a laptop no more and all i have is a big DPA account waiting to be used

So why'd you sell the X7200?

If you get that M18x for a discounted price then you'll be way ahead of the game. Of course, with the the M17x-R2 bios now unlocked, we might see some new GPU support there.

hahahahahahahahahahahaha....

Haha so what happened to the discount? Hopefully they let you hold on to it for the new new fixed (we promise) version of the R3.

and to think i was all excited dell was coming here to help launch the site by revealing some exclusive new product information... only to enter the thread and find they themselves ironically seeking dell product information, lol - geesh!

Haha would be nice if they gave us some M18x news. So did you get your R3 yet?

Yeh Feeling kinda special

Look's like I am one of the first real members/contributors here, everyone else here seems to be a Mod/Admin lol

The forum looks nice , not as flashy as the Red theme you were trying earlier ,Brian

Well we were experimenting, you should have seen the red flashy theme we had for the main site Well we're pretty much done, just optimizing and filling our main site with content and then launching later this week. Welcome to the forum.

Dun dun dun... I guess they wanted Tech|Inferno to teach them how to do a cooling mod for their R1/R2? LOL!!! There's going to be some more M17x articles featured on the front page along with a review of Asus G73 soon! The official launch of the page and forum isn't until Friday so those of you that are here right now are by special invitation...don't you feel special?

https://picasaweb.google.com/109631313223265896524/RGBLEDVsWLED#slideshow/5443905378279244610

This was done without calibrating either monitor. Thoughts? It's a shame Dell got rid of RGB LED so quickly for the Studio XPS 16.