Laptop overclocking adventures

[Fizban]

If not I now for a fact the other option available for this model upon ordering would fit which is a 256MB NVidia® GeForce™ Go 7600 [+$250 or $8/mo.]

 

[kwchang007]

If not I now for a fact the other option available for this model upon ordering would fit which is a 256MB NVidia® GeForce™ Go 7600 [+$250 or $8/mo.]

Yeah that one....that'd be a nice upgrade.

 

[Fizban]

I take it just buying the card and installing it myself would pretty much be out of the question on a laptop?

 

[Fizban]

Odd, your RAM rating is the same as mine...somehow.... We both have 2 GB, but mine's at 667 MHz yours is at 533 MHZ...

 

[kwchang007]

Mmm you can replace it yourself, just will take some work and may void your warentee, lol. As far as the ram..yeah it is interesting, do you know what the latencies for your ram are? Maybe it's the fsb of the mobile core 2s that are limited the ram speed...hmm.

 

[pmrdij]

I've never owned/Overclocked a laptop.

before I get a new one, what one would generally be the best to OC with?

if you want a great machine in every which respect build it yourself. my ASUS Z81K with an AMD Mobile 3400+ @ 2.4GHz still smokes it up. at the time i built it VoodooPC and others had lesser spec systems built off the ASUS Z81K for $1400+ more than i built my system for. everywhere i went i saw machines featuring a Mobile 3200+, 512MB, and slower HDD's for $2799.. i built my machine for almost $1300 with a faster proc, an HDD that has 16MB of cache, 1GB of Mushkin etc.. build it yourself.

now the trick is finding a barebone dealer that is not lame and also has a unit with a decent GPU as that is perpetually irreplaceable. Froogle "barebone notebook". every barebone comes with no proc, no memory and no HDD. you then get to soup it up.

- Robert (PmR)DeathInJune

 

[Fizban]

Just to see if anyone here has any experience with any of these parts and/or has any advice as to whether I should or shouldn't send back the Alienware laptop I just bought and buy a Dell Vostro in place of it.

Alienware: $1600.53
128MB ATI Mobility™ Radeon® X1400
15.4" WideUXGA 1920 x 1200 LCD
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T7200 2.00GHz 4MB Cache 667MHz FSB
2GB Dual Channel DDR2 SO-DIMM at 667MHz - 2 x 1024MB
80GB SATA 1.5Gb/s 7,200RPM 8MB Cache
8x Dual Layer CD-RW/DVD±RW Burner
Intel® 7.1 High-Definition Audio
Internal Intel® PRO Wireless 3945 a/b/g Mini-Card



Dell Vostro 1500: $1,578.34
256MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ 8600M GT
15.4 inch Wide Screen XGA LCD Display (1280 x 800)
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7500 (2.2GHz, 4MB L2 Cache, 800MHz FSB)
2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz, 2 DIMM
120GB 7200RPM SE080 Hard Drive
8X CD/DVD Burner w/ double-layer DVD+R write capability
High Definition Audio 2.0
Dell Wireless 1390 802.11g Wi-Fi Mini Card

Currently I'm thinking this laptop will be shipped back Monday and that Vostro will likely replace it.

 

[AphexDreamer]

Just to see if anyone here has any experience with any of these parts and/or has any advice as to whether I should or shouldn't send back the Alienware laptop I just bought and buy a Dell Vostro in place of it.

Alienware: $1600.53
128MB ATI Mobility™ Radeon® X1400
15.4" WideUXGA 1920 x 1200 LCD
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T7200 2.00GHz 4MB Cache 667MHz FSB
2GB Dual Channel DDR2 SO-DIMM at 667MHz - 2 x 1024MB
80GB SATA 1.5Gb/s 7,200RPM 8MB Cache
8x Dual Layer CD-RW/DVD±RW Burner
Intel® 7.1 High-Definition Audio
Internal Intel® PRO Wireless 3945 a/b/g Mini-Card



Dell Vostro 1500: $1,578.34
256MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ 8600M GT
15.4 inch Wide Screen XGA LCD Display (1280 x 800)
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7500 (2.2GHz, 4MB L2 Cache, 800MHz FSB)
2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz, 2 DIMM
120GB 7200RPM SE080 Hard Drive
8X CD/DVD Burner w/ double-layer DVD+R write capability
High Definition Audio 2.0
Dell Wireless 1390 802.11g Wi-Fi Mini Card

Currently I'm thinking this laptop will be shipped back Monday and that Vostro will likely replace it.

I think its is preaty oveous which one you should keep, but for the sake of argument I would keep the dell simply cause it has a better GPU with more RAM, a faster CPU, and more HDD space. The alienware laptop has a last generation GPU and a screen with a higher resolution support which won't do you much good snice it would be useing an X1400 with 128MB of RAM. But in the end it comes down to what you are going to use the laptop for(Gameing, Work, ect...) and your preference.

 

[Fizban]

Agreed, main issue is I'm about 95% certain Alienware will happily slap that $240 restocking fee without a second thought.

 

[AphexDreamer]

Agreed, main issue is I'm about 95% certain Alienware will happily slap that $240 restocking fee without a second thought.

Good luck sorting that out

 

[Fizban]

Still was a bad buy methinks, but going to try compiling some code, if the compile times can compete with the times of the servers I typically use it might be kept to avoid the restocking fee as I need a new desktop anyway and will just make sure that has a MUCH higher quality GPU for gaming.

 

[kwchang007]

Defiantly the Dell. That laptop will whoop my laptop and alot of 15.4 inch laptops.

 

[acousticlemur]

here is a screenie of my oc. let me know if you need anything else. i can run 2.5 all day long but wont pass stress test. i think it is because my ddr 533 is alomst at 800 when cpu is at 2.5

 

[N-Gen]

theonetruewill I would gladly appreciate your suggestions on the clocking of the C"D T7200 if possible so when my notebook is back from AlienWare I could just test it out? I know I can get serious stuff from the card already of which a Go 7950 GTX.

Thanks in advance.

 

[theonetruewill]

theonetruewill I would gladly appreciate your suggestions on the clocking of the C"D T7200 if possible so when my notebook is back from AlienWare I could just test it out? I know I can get serious stuff from the card already of which a Go 7950 GTX.

Thanks in advance.

Try everything in the front page guide and just don't be dismayed if stuff does not work. We are always trying to find solutions.

 

[N-Gen]

It will be fine for me even unclocked so...well since it was here at home I know it gets high temps when stressed, that's why I ordered the cooler displayed in my specs. I got 82 Celsius on the VGA and a 40-45 Celsius on CPU. At one point of 2 days continous operation the VGA when not used in gaming dropped down to 50 Celsius and both cores raised up to a 60-63 Celsius temperature

 

[theonetruewill]

It will be fine for me even unclocked so...well since it was here at home I know it gets high temps when stressed, that's why I ordered the cooler displayed in my specs. I got 82 Celsius on the VGA and a 40-45 Celsius on CPU. At one point of 2 days continous operation the VGA when not used in gaming dropped down to 50 Celsius and both cores raised up to a 60-63 Celsius temperature

Good, first thing is you are checking temperatures. It's nice to know you aren't one of the general n00bs. Mobile Core 2 temperatures should never go above 65*C- Period. If it does, sort something out. The GPU will get hotter but these are generally designed to so less worry about them. Good choice on getting some more active cooling.

 

[N-Gen]

Thanks well I've been clocking and experimenting with my desktop and it's VGA and I didn't choose a desktop due to more space restrictions so I could say I have a desktop replacement. And I'm glad here there are people trying to push out even a little bit out of the notebooks.

Should I also add the environment of the notebook setup during most of my gaming and general use unless I need to be somewhere else in the house. In the country a lot of the houses have balconies made either of wood or aluminium of which I have one (of aluminium) at the far end of my room. Due to the material and the setup in the corner near the door I get static room temps. Ok so if the temp outside gets cooler the metal will just retain the temperature and cool up the whole room giving me a better cooling environment. I'm at gaming usually during the evening/night so it's not really a problem. It will be though during the summer when the temps at night touch 26 celsius minimum and up to 44 during the day so during the hot days of summer I will surely change the space I'm using.

So that gives just a little extra to the cooling during a lot of the time besides the summer.

I have also checked temps outside at a 17 Celsius outdoor temperature in the evening. CPU keeps around statically 38 Celsius and the VGA will drop to 70 Celsius during gameplay.

 

[theonetruewill]

Thanks well I've been clocking and experimenting with my desktop and it's VGA and I didn't choose a desktop due to more space restrictions so I could say I have a desktop replacement. And I'm glad here there are people trying to push out even a little bit out of the notebooks.

Should I also add the environment of the notebook setup during most of my gaming and general use unless I need to be somewhere else in the house. In the country a lot of the houses have balconies made either of wood or aluminium of which I have one (of aluminium) at the far end of my room. Due to the material and the setup in the corner near the door I get static room temps. Ok so if the temp outside gets cooler the metal will just retain the temperature and cool up the whole room giving me a better cooling environment. I'm at gaming usually during the evening/night so it's not really a problem. It will be though during the summer when the temps at night touch 26 celsius minimum and up to 44 during the day so during the hot days of summer I will surely change the space I'm using.

So that gives just a little extra to the cooling during a lot of the time besides the summer.

I have also checked temps outside at a 17 Celsius outdoor temperature in the evening. CPU keeps around statically 38 Celsius and the VGA will drop to 70 Celsius during gameplay.

When you get some pics up proving speeds of the CPU, GPU clocks etc then I will add you to the front page. Remember any overclock- no matter how small makes you addable.

 

[N-Gen]

Will do as soon as it's here. Damn system came faulty I also should add the casing is made of magnesium alloy (as AlienWare say) which is supposed to help in the spreading of heat. I don't know about that but it surely feels like metal and spreads temperatures around easily.

I should also say the 3 x 80mm fans will be running at 3,000rpm which I suppose is enough. They will be on a 13" stand which is not at any angle. I should add the HDD temperatures which keeps at a 35 Celsius temperature. I recently bought another HDD for the notebook so now there's 2 of them in the system but they are situated at the far front part of the notebook so they're quite away from the components that warm up.

 

[Crion]

Thx for nice advices 4 overclocking laptop hardware... I also need to ask something to you:
My bro bought a LG P1-KPP1T laptop for me; however, I am abroad for studying and I haven't even touched it yet Whatever... My question is, what can be done with that laptop? (I mean limits of overclocking)

Let me give most important specifications for me of that LG:
Intel Core 2 Duo T5600 1.83 Ghz 667 Mhz FSB 2MB Cache
1 GB DDR2 667 Mhz Ram (I'am planning to upgrade it to 2 GB to be happy with Vista)
256MB ATI Radeon X1400 Hypermemory (Can I play Crysis with that thing?)
and so on...

 

[N-Gen]

Thx for nice advices 4 overclocking laptop hardware... I also need to ask something to you:
My bro bought a LG P1-KPP1T laptop for me; however, I am abroad for studying and I haven't even touched it yet Whatever... My question is, what can be done with that laptop? (I mean limits of overclocking)

Let me give most important specifications for me of that LG:
Intel Core 2 Duo T5600 1.83 Ghz 667 Mhz FSB 2MB Cache
1 GB DDR2 667 Mhz Ram (I'am planning to upgrade it to 2 GB to be happy with Vista)
256MB ATI Radeon X1400 Hypermemory (Can I play Crysis with that thing?)
and so on...

Here's the minimum reqs for crysis:

Minimum Requirements

CPU: Intel Pentium 4 2.8 GHz (3.2 GHz for Vista), Intel Core 2.0 GHz (2.2 GHz for Vista), AMD Athlon 2800+ (3200+ for Vista) or better
RAM: 1GB (1.5GB on Windows Vista)
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT, ATI Radeon 9800 Pro (Radeon X800 Pro for Vista) or better
VRAM: 256MB of Graphics Memory
Storage: 12GB
Sound Card: DirectX 9.0c Compatible
ODD: DVD-ROM
OS: Microsoft Windows XP or Vista
DirectX: DX9.0c or DX10

You'd be doing fine as a minimum, you just need your ram upgrade. I'd prefer a dual boot setup (which I will be doing eventually) as to play games in XP.

 

[theonetruewill]

Thx for nice advices 4 overclocking laptop hardware... I also need to ask something to you:
My bro bought a LG P1-KPP1T laptop for me; however, I am abroad for studying and I haven't even touched it yet Whatever... My question is, what can be done with that laptop? (I mean limits of overclocking)

Let me give most important specifications for me of that LG:
Intel Core 2 Duo T5600 1.83 Ghz 667 Mhz FSB 2MB Cache
1 GB DDR2 667 Mhz Ram (I'am planning to upgrade it to 2 GB to be happy with Vista)
256MB ATI Radeon X1400 Hypermemory (Can I play Crysis with that thing?)
and so on...

The X1400 is a massive weakness. However you can lessen the problem this by overclocking it. Please ask via this thread or PM kwchag007 for advice on this as he has the same card. He can tell you which tools he used to overclock his and get the best results. However i suspect Crysis will still have to be played at VERY low settings and resolutions. The only thing you have to worry about is heat. please install NHC and ATi tray tools/ATi tool to find monitor CPU and GPU temperatures. Any questions please repost. Do not hesitate to ask about more, or even asking to clarify.

 

[Crion]

Yes system seems to be fine to play Crysis at "Low" (Of course I'll prefer running it under XP) But I don't know why, I can't trust X1400 with Crysis. Maybe the position of it in this list:
Mobile Graphic Cards List

By the way, can I overclock my CPU to ~2.2 Ghz without heating it over 50 Celcius degrees?
What do you think? Thank you for your advice.

 

[theonetruewill]

Yes system seems to be fine to play Crysis at "Low" (Of course I'll prefer running it under XP) But I don't know why, I can't trust X1400 with Crysis. Maybe the position of it in this list:
Mobile Graphic Cards List

By the way, can I overclock my CPU to ~2.2 Ghz without heating it over 50 Celcius degrees?
What do you think? Thank you for your advice.

50*C is fine for a Laptop mobile CPU. I would worry if it goes past 65*C personally. But some are quite happy letting it go to 70*C. You may be able to use Speedfan to control the fans in your notebook. please tell me the manufacturer so I can try and help with this For example there is a tool just for Dell's.