Alienware M17x R1

[TheWiz]

Sorry for the confusion, all is working now.

TheWiz

[scook9]

That is encouraging to hear! I am excited to see what you can do!

[TheWiz]

Are you aware of the already existing Overclocking menu? ( just confirming)

[scook9]

Yes. And it has some limitations. First, that is not what the user sees. We can only choose the cpu multiplier, the FSB frequency (as a QDR number eg: 1333) and the Memory Frequency also as a QDR number. The FSB is artificially capped at 1333 right now which I would like to fix. We do not get to select clock ratio but rather set the FSB and MEM frequencies and the BIOS works out the ratio on its own. You cannot see the frequency options unless you select unlinked for the Clock Mode. Leaving it at Auto or linked displays no options.

What I am hoping to see added in there are things like chipset and CPU voltages and maybe memory voltage as well if possible. If memory timings are possible, that would also be awesome. My main thing is getting that FSB cap removed and enabling the user to set chipset and cpu voltages from the BIOS. We have a tool called ThrottleStop which allows us to change the multiplier and cpu voltage from windows but there is some bug in the bios because it causes my memory bandwidth to TANK compared to what it should be whenever I change the CPU multiplier that way. Also using Nvidia System Tools to raise the FSB does work but if changed too far from what the bios is set to the system just locks up and needs a hard reboot. You can use NST to exceed the 1333 limit but I found that if you go as high as just 345 MHz FSB (1380) that it will also lock the system. That FSB limit is purely chipset voltage limited I think as I have played with the cpu multiplier and tried many different ram settings by flashing the spd to much looser settings and the FSB limit was still there. I have gotten 4.33 GHz using the ThrottleStop program and a chest freezer but the memory bandwidth was pathetic.

In my perfect world, I would be able to overclock using FSB from the bios up to around 4 GHz and keep intact the memory bandwidth. If this is done the CPU should need MUCH less voltage as well making the need for the extreme cooling less of a need. I know the QX9300 can handle this as it was done in the Asus W90 so it is just a matter of getting my chipset/BIOS to play ball. I would love to see a much more desktop like bios overclocking experience

Thanks for your help so far and hope you can help me with these things!

[TheWiz]

Still working on this but so far you will have MCP79 voltage, VCORE voltage, and DDR3 voltage.


UPDATE: Hopefully the mods can confirm this, but without any modified files being added it cannot build your BIOS due to unknown headers. Any ideas guys?

TheWiz

[scook9]

If those things work then me and ALOT of M17x users will be EXTREMELY happy

Also, easier thing to throw in, since we are going to have a new BIOS compared to the stock Dell one, can I provide a new new Image for us to use in place of the original splash screen? So people know it is special

And for building, not sure what all might be needed but give this post a look. This user was able to edit the splash screen and rebuild the bios successfully afterwards so it may help you.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienwar...creen.html

Edit: Also, have you found anything related to CPU throttling? This system throttles the CPU to 12.5% of its performance once a certain power draw is attained, if this level can be made much greater or removed all together that would be sweet!

[TheWiz]

The version in that thread was A0, not A06. I could try the most recent version that builds correctly in PBE. The only throttling that is in the BIOS currently hidden is memory throttling. new image is fine as well.

TheWiz

[scook9]

I saw a string called CPU Throttle in the Strings0.rom file I thought - it is a long monster of a file though....

And it had occurred to me that dell may have blocked the ability to build it in a later revision Really hope that is not the case though!

[TheWiz]

Lol you are right! I searched for Throttling and not throttle. I can add that option as well. Dell didn't block anything, PBE jsut gets funky sometimes. If you hit the build button after changing any small thing you'll see the error log. Tthink you could find the A05 version?

[kizwan]

UPDATE: Hopefully the mods can confirm this, but without any modified files being added it cannot build your BIOS due to unknown headers. Any ideas guys?

I just tried myself here & I got the same error. I recommend using Phoenix SLIC tool to re-build this BIOS image.