Alienware m14x Bios questions!

[gamba66]

Hi,

I just got my i5 2430m m14x and im very very happy so far, i have had no real issues so far like a crooked spacebar or the keyboard scratching the screen.. also the build quality seems excellent, im pleasantly surprised

I have the bios a05 btw since this is a newer m14x.. The only thing that bugs me a bit, is that the fan spins even when im doing light tasks like browsing and skyping (with webcam) I have read that the stock a05 sets the first fan kick in at 55 degrees, which seems legit, since alot of users report that they have idle temps of 45 -55 (but in most cases i7 users)

Now I have a few questions about the various Bioses

1. If I flash the unlocked a05 bios, will I be able to reflash the stock a05 bios?

2. Can I flash an older Bios like the a03 or a01, even when im on a05?

3. Does the stock a05 allow hotter temperatures then the a01 or a03 (Thats what ninjahunter wrote for example)

4. Are there any risks involved when flashing the unlocked a05 bios? And how does this work? I would guess via windows executable, im not that computer savvy but often people say this is the unsafest way of flashing your bios, they often recommend flashing via something bootable (although im not sure how) If there are any risks, are their ways of rescuing the bios without disassembling the m14x?

5. And the last Question: What does the Voltage Mod do exactly? And is this combined with the unlocked a05 bios?

Sorry for the many questions, but im thinking about flashing the unlocked a05 bios and setting the fan speeds myself (for example that the fan kicks in at 60)

Thanks in advance and greets to steven

EDIT: with allowing higher temps i mean that the a05 bios is supposed to keep the fans quieter even at full load with the cost of the cpu running a bit hotter than on the a03 or a01 while being really loud

Edited October 27, 2011 by gamba66

[mw86]

Hi,

Now I have a few questions about the various Bioses

1. If I flash the unlocked a05 bios, will I be able to reflash the stock a05 bios?

2. Can I flash an older Bios like the a03 or a01, even when im on a05?

4. Are there any risks involved when flashing the unlocked a05 bios? And how does this work? I would guess via windows executable, im not that computer savvy but often people say this is the unsafest way of flashing your bios, they often recommend flashing via something bootable (although im not sure how) If there are any risks, are their ways of rescuing the bios without disassembling the m14x?

Welcome to Techinferno.

1. If I flash the unlocked a05 bios, will I be able to reflash the stock a05 bios?

Yes

2. Can I flash an older Bios like the a03 or a01, even when im on a05?

Yes, there's always a way as long as you can find the older bios files

4. Are there any risks involved when flashing the unlocked a05 bios? And how does this work? I would guess via windows executable, im not that computer savvy but often people say this is the unsafest way of flashing your bios, they often recommend flashing via something bootable (although im not sure how) If there are any risks, are their ways of rescuing the bios without disassembling the m14x?

Yes there are always risks and they can be lowered by making sure its done while on AC power and everything closed nothing running in backround and better yet disable your overclocks to ensure no errors during the process. Yes there is a exe flash app with the bios embedded to install the bios while in windows for you. Yes there is methods even for worst case scenario which is less likely of bricking the system in which case there are guides at hand to make a bootable disk drive with the restorative flash on it... while doing it with no display on screen so typing in the commands on the right steps so its done since you can't see the screen from bricking the computer... thats worst case scenario. Read up on everything first and think about making that recovery drive in case you'd ever need it. a guide is here: Blind BIOS Recovery process for all M18X in case of corrupt BIOS

Welcome to T|I and someone with more knowledge on this or has an actual M14x can assist you more...

[svl7]

All information regarding the volt mod and all available mods can be found in this thread: http://forum.techinferno.com/alienware-m14x/561-%5Bmod%5D-voltage-increase-nvidia-gt-555m-7.html#post12003

In the unlikely event of a bricked mobo due to flashing the BIOS there's still the relatively easy to use recovery method which @mw86 already described. And in the even more unrealistic case that the crisis recovery doesn't work there's still the possibility to let the BIOS chip getting reprogrammed manually

[Stevenxowens792]

Cheers Gamba. Nice to see you posting here rather than at NBR.

1. The Bios flashing over-writes what you have so you can go either forward or backward or modified. The flashing software usually has an option to (force over-write or allow previous version). In this case it just does it and doesn't even fight you on it.

2. You can flash older bios or newer. Again its just up to you as to which bios works best for you.

3. Stock A05 seems to run a little hotter due to the fans having more RPM stages . But again, its just what fits your lifestyle best. A05 might be better for classroom but A01 (a01 modified) might be better for all out performance.

4. Flashing the bios always comes with inherent risk. No way around it. The good news is.. A. your covered by alienware warranty. B. If you can't boot up they are not going to know that your bios was flashed. C. Other members have recovered their own machines from bad flashes. (key is to take your time and make sure power is NOT removed during flash).

5. Voltage mod allows you to increase the clocks on the GPU even higher than whats allowable at normal levels. This also increases heat. Most of us can get to 800/1050+/- for gaming. However for me I stay around 752/1002 as I dont get much more increased performance vs the heat that's generated by the card. (the law of diminishing returns). I can explain further if needed.

Last - I noticed on the other site you are interested in I5 vs I7 performance. For most games, we have really not noticed much of a difference. We have benched quite a few games so far (Thanks Ninja!!!!!) and the difference is from 1FPS to 3FPS. Games like BFBC2 and BF3 will show little difference in single player missions because they are scripted responses. (example you get to this stage in mission, 10 enemies pop out, they always attack and flank, etc.. then mission is over and move to next mission). In MP which most of us play for, the higher the number of enemies on the map, the more EVERYTHING has to push to constantly refresh your screen. Increased network traffic for 64 players, vehicles, damage, environment changes, etc... This means increased CPU utilization as well. When benchmarking BFBC2 or BF3, I want to see real in game performance while playing. To do this we use FRAPS and enable the logging (which is started by hitting F11 <--default). It records your min max avg framerate. Its not perfect but done over time can show definitive results between systems. Many things can and probably should be done to every system to optimize for gameplay. Network throttling in the registry should be disabled as well as operating system tweaks to get the most out of your performance.

I hope this has helped a bit. I too am looking forward to performance feedback from I5 users. My "gut" tells me that Bf3 is much more optimized than beta and the cpu utilization is actually really good. My guess is that on 64 player maps (full server) on a map like caspian border we may see 3-5 fps difference from the I5 to the I7. But again I may be wrong. The challenge when looking at benchmarks on websites is to determine HOW the benchmark was completed and the testing methodology. To me a scripted SP mission will not show the MP stresses that are placed on the machine. Good luck and thanks for posting!

[gamba66]

hey thanks for your great answers guys!

i will think about if i will either flash bios a05 unlocked or the a01.. which modified a01 are you talking about btw and what makes it different compared to the a01 stock bios?

Hey and thanks for the input on the i5 vs the i7 steven I also thought about most benchmarks and i hate it when they use the ingame benchmark or use sp missions to judge the fps especially in online games like bf3.. I could imagine that there is a difference between i5 and i7 when they are utilized in cpu intensive situations.. I could live with less perfomance since im very happy with my temperatures

However two of the main reasons I got the i5 is because I saved some money (im a student^^) and because its supposed to run cooler and it certainly does.. My i5 2430m runs at a max temperature of about 80 degrees avg when turbo boost is enabled.. Now I only checked this on a 32 server bfbc2 game, i could imagine that it gets a bit hotter when using furmark.. but since bfbc2 is one of the most cpu demanding games i know i think other games wont even reach those temperatures

Now for the benchmarking, I would be glad to volunteer to benchmark my 2430m Sadly I didnt buy bf3 yet but this will be a matter of days or at max, weeks..

Oh and one more thing, I think this forum has alot of very good people like svl7, ninjahunter and stevenowens, im glad to be here ^^

on nbr they dont even seem to know about the voltage mod xD

[mw86]

Welcome to TI Gamba glad you like it here.