Overclocking alienware M11x

[kevinhutch]

Just bought this laptop off newegg

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834200059&cm_re=m11x-_-34-200-059-_-Product

 

DELL Alienware M11x (AM11x-826CSB) NoteBook Intel Core 2 Duo SU7300(1.30GHz) 11.6" 4GB Memory DDR3 1066 320GB HDD 7200rpm NVIDIA GeForce GT 335M

 

I hear its built to overclock, Just needed help on what MHz is stable to overclock this system at.

 

Completly new to this forum sooo help would be appreciated... Thanks!

 

Im assuming this is a R2 of the m11x, anyone familiar with it? Too lazy to do research on what the differences are between the two.

[jk336699]

you could had gone to the offical site and got it for 600 bucks...

 

ops...the one on newegg got 4GB ddr3 (vs 2gb) and 320GB HDD (vs 250GB)

 

I dont think you can overclock the laptop

it's just factory overclocked...

Edited March 15, 2011 by jk336699

[kevinhutch]

you could had gone to the offical site and got it for 600 bucks...

 

If i wanted the base model.. i got it for 650$ with 4gb ram and all the upgrades on there... wouldnt of paid 850 for it anyday

 

Money isnt really a problem for me =P

 

Overclock options on BIOS go up to 1.65, dont really want to keep it at the 1.3 i feel like it can handle more

Edited March 15, 2011 by kevinhutch

[Onion]

Whatever you do - be wary of the temperatures. All laptops, especially Alienwares, heat up EXTREMELY fast. A slight bump in voltage could be a huge jump in temperatures. Also keep in mind that you're reducing your battery life by overclocking it. With that said, let's move on to the actual overclocking.

 

Every system overclocks differently, even if the components are the same. For example, some processors take more voltage to attain the same speed. We COULD give you some numbers for you to just put in, but what fun is that? And, it most likely wouldn't boot, since those numbers are for a different system. You best bet would be to start fiddling with the cpu, and see how high you can get it on the STOCK voltage. Use Prime95 (google it for download) to test out stability. If it gives you a blue screen, drop the speed a bit. Once that's done, do the same thing for the ram.

 

Your motherboard may limit your FSB, if you ever want to go higher than the maximum, use this tool - other M11x-R2 owners use it and recommend it.

 

How to use it:

 

1. download SetFSB.

2. Donate.

3. he will then send u an e-mail asking you for some info that you will need to e-mail back to you.

"1. Could you tell me your SetFSB ID number?

2. The SetFSB informations
a. the motherboard(/PC) name ?
b. the chipset name ?
c. the clock generator name ? (If it is possible)"

4. When you get a reply, run SetFSB and skip the first dialog box ( just press ok for now)

5. select the clock generator to "ASUS G73JH".

6. click "Diagnosis" button.

7. click "Get FSB" button.

8. click "Capture" button.

9. send capture image to him by e-mail

10. He e-mails you back the activation key, and type it in the first dialog box that appears when you open setFSB.

After first putting in the code and setting the PLL, quit SetFSB to save the settings. From then on, you won't have to do anything fancy.

1: Click GetFSB
2: Move slider to desired level(stock 133.3 is 140)
3: Click SetFSB

Command line options

-w : Wait [00-99 sec] default=10sec
-s : Set FSB [000-999 MHz]
-i : Increment [00-99 MHz] default=max
-u : 0(default)=normal , 1=ultra
-b : 0(default)=normal , 1=background
-p : PCI-E [000-999 MHz] default=none
-cg[string] : Clock Generator default=none Maximum 15 characters

 

Credit for the guide goes to MrPras.

 

By the way, it would help greatly if we could see pictures of your BIOS menus.

Edited March 17, 2011 by l33t p1mp

[DanTheGamer11]

If i wanted the base model.. i got it for 650$ with 4gb ram and all the upgrades on there... wouldnt of paid 850 for it anyday

 

Money isnt really a problem for me =P

 

Overclock options on BIOS go up to 1.65, dont really want to keep it at the 1.3 i feel like it can handle more

 

shoulda bought the i7 one?

[lutheranpriest]

I know this is a bit of an old thread, but since I've had this same laptop since December, I thought I'd comment on it. It's one fine piece of machinery! I paid $600 from Dell, plus $20 for BT. I also shelled out $130 for 8GB of ram. I sure as heck wasn't going to pay the $300 upgrade premium, since Dell had the 4GB modules for $65 each. I also threw in my 500GB 7200rpm Hd that I pulled from my 13" MacBook Pro that I sold to finance this purchase. I wanted a more powerful GPU than what was in my MBP, thus the switch.

 

As to the OP's original question, this laptop OC's just fine. I've had mine OC'ed since day 1, and have never had a problem. Those who purchased this laptop in early 2010 had problems with BSOD when OC'ed, but I think it was a BIOS problem. All the BIOS does is bump up the mono FSB to take full advantage of the 1.7Ghz capability. Sure, your battery life will take a dive, but it's worth it. This laptop was designed to run OC'ed from the factory, and I never have a cooling problem. I did buy a $20 laptop mat from Sam's Club made by Logitech, which keeps my man parts from getting all sweaty with extended usage.

 

I'm now running Mac OS Lion on this baby, and I love it even more, since I am a big fan of the Mac OS, but have been a bit displeased by Mac's build quality as of late. I hear it's improved quite a bit, but after 3 MacBooks between the wife and I in three year's time, I was ready for the change, especially with the huge boost in the GPU performance. I will say that my next laptop will probably be a MacBook, though with the change in the current generation to an integrated GPU rather than dedicated, unless you want to shell out $2000, it might not happen.

 

Oh, and to dispel some misinformation here, not to knock anyone, again, the OC feature built in to the BIOS isn't a change in voltage, but in FSB, and I have no heat issues. Even when running WoW at dang near full detail (yeah, my old MacBook couldn't even run smoothly at almost minimum detail), I've never had a problem. Right now I'm running at 142 F (61C for all you non-US measurement folks) and that's with the GPU set to discrete. One great feature about this processor that I've now discovered with Mac OS installed is that Mac OS automatically throttle's the CPU based on demand, which this laptop didn't do in Windows.