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| System Name | COLOSSUS-MK4 |
|---|---|
| Processor | E8400 @4.4 GHz - FSB @550 MHZ |
| Motherboard | Asus P5K Premium (Black Pearl) |
| Cooling | Xigmatek HDT-S1283 |
| Memory | 2x1GB Geil BlckDrgn 800 @1158 5-5-5-18 |
| Video Card(s) | 8800GT 512MB @740/1782/2080 |
| Storage | Hitachi T7K250 250GB & 7200.10 Seagate 250GB |
| Display(s) | Gateway FPD1975W 19" Widescreen |
| Case | Antec 1200 |
| Audio Device(s) | Xi-FI Xtreme Audio |
| Power Supply | CoolerMaster IGreen 500W |
| Software | XP Home SP3 |
| Benchmark Scores | SuperPi: 10.563 Sciencemark: 2563.14 |
The Definitive Guide to Overclocking Laptops
Well I have a laptop and am sure that quite a few of you guys have one too. So I propose a Laptop OC record and primarily advice database. Due to these being laptops anyone with even a low OC is welcome as a post.
The guides contained here for overclocking the CPU can also be applied to people who have a limited BIOS that does not allow them to overclock - I do not take any responsibility for any damage you may inflict on your hardware by following any of these methods
Current Elite Laptop Overclockers:
theonetruewill - Pentium M750 1.86GHz @ 2.25GHz - X600se mobility Radeon 358/276 @ 477/318 - 33.110 SuperPiXS 1M
kwchang007 - X1400 mobility
Tyrael - X1450 mobility Radeon 400/350 @ 520/486
acousticlemur - Pentium M740 1.73GHz @ 2.31GHz
pmrdij -
WarlordOne - Pentium M725 1.60GHz @ 2.40GHz *Pin-Modder* - 34.437 SuperPiXS 1M
Hello_Moto - Pentium M750 1.86GHz @ 2.33GHz - 37.XXX SuperPi 1M
Currently pending for updates and info on the selected few.
If someone in this thread helps you- thank them! There's even a button to show your appreciation
If you would like to post your overclocks and boast about them please note the following:
Stable Oc's only please.
EDIT: 3dmark03/05/06 score for proof. Or Orthos tested for over 4 hours.
A CPU-Z screenshot is also needed for validation.
Any case/internals modding welcome
This thread will also mainly involve information sharing about overclocking & tweaking Laptops in general; so don't worry if you don't want to risk frying your cpu! Also any general or specific questions/discussions about laptops can be posted here.
USE ATi TOOL 0.24 WHEN OVERCLOCKING LAPTOP GRAPHICS CARDS - 0.26 OFTEN FAILS TO CORRECTLY IDENTIFY THE CARD/CLOCKS For further information/problem solving about video card overclocking, see end guide by twisterdark
Need to unlock your Dell video card so you can overclock it? --->look no further
Overclocking Tools:
CPUFSB Basic FSB changer. Use this to overclock your Laptop.
SoftFSB 1.7 -A substandard FSB changer - I'm not fond of it. Use this to overclock your Laptop.
SpeedSwitchXP -A tool to disable Speedstep on Intel processors.
Clockgen -The most user-friendly overclocking tool. *Recommended*
CPUMSR -A utility that can alter a lot of processor options. !Use with caution!
CPU-Z -Displays useful Computer Identification information. *Recommended*
Notebook Hardware Controls (NHC) -Best multipurpose program for Laptops. *Recommended*
Systool (Alpha release) -An early alpha release prone to crashing.
ATiTool 0.24 -The preferred tool for overclocking Laptop graphics cards. *Recommended*
ATiTool 0.26 -A newer but more troublesome version of ATiTool.
Rightmark Clock Utility -Useful Processor throttling and Speedstep controller
SetFSB - Great FSB Changer- Pick the right one for your chipset!*Recommended*
CPUHEAT - Made by the same company as CPUMSR. Seems to be an AMD overclocking utility so I'm afraid I can't try this one.
I8kfangui - Fan control for DELL laptops
SpeedSwitchXP - From the makers of I8kfangui, comes a very useful CPU frequency tool.
ATi Tray Tools - The alternative to ATi Tool; just as easy to use.*Recommended*
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A Quick Guide to Clockgen
First get Notebook Hardware controls and in the CPU speed tab set at Max performance when on AC power. Leave it as normal for when you're on battery power and don't oc when on battery power or your system is more likely to crash. This is due to more power fluctuations when on battery power and could result in crashes and BSOD's - and as we don't currently have voltage control as standard on laptop motherboards voltage limit is our enemy.
Then with clockgen find your pll and select it.
There are only two ways to find out your pll generator once of them can void your warranty, and the other is time consuming. The latter is probably more preferable.
1. Open up your laptop, find it on the motherboard and then look at what it says it is. I don't advise this.
2. The other option is not for most people as it can void warranties, so instead you can just try with every pll generator in clockgen, until you get the correct one. Via trial and error
Right to do this accurately you'll need to open clockgen and do these exact instructions.
> Go to pll setup
> Then tick the box named "ignore GSB/PCI"
>Now select the first pll generator and then click read clocks.
> Open pll control and see if it reads 1862 (or very close, and I mean very close) EDIT: whatever your clock speed is supposed to be)
> If it does great go to step 3.
> If it doesn't, change the pll generator and click read clocks again. Check the Pll control cpu speed. and continue if necessary down the list.
> If noe of them seem to work, do them all again (ps some crash your computer, don't worry just reboot.)
> If none of them work again, you can go to systool but this is harder, reply to me if you want to know how to do this.
3. Right first you need Notebook Hardware Control With this you need to set your cpu to Max performance. This removes the Intel speedstep function that slows down your cpu to save battery life. But its not necessary when you're connected to the power plug.
Next trun up the Hard drive performance and noise level up to the highest it can go (performance and number wise). Then download orthos, this will test the stability.
Right now increase your cpu speed by about 100Mhz using the "pll control" slider in clockgen. Then do a stability test in orthos for about 30mins. The go to another 100Mhz and another 30mins, etc. after you reach your limit increase by smaller amounts. Then finally test for about 4 hours.
As soon you get an error in orthos or your computer crashes (BSOD) its too high so lower it to the previous good one and test orthos on that speed for about 2 hours. If no error, then great! if not then lower and repeat.
Notes:
Never set the clocks to appear at startup, just do it before each time you want a performance boost (ie gaming) Also Notebook Hardware controls (NHC) has a great feature to show the temperatures of your cpu and HDD. Don't lt the CPU ever go above 80 in my opinion. It shouldn't really be above 60 celcius most of the time. (Mine runs at 40-50) Also overclocking using clockgen increases the RAM also, thus further speeding up your PC!!!
k if you want to go down the systool route its risky.
Systool crashes A LOT! because its an early release, so if your computer crashes mulitple times just restart.
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If the above fails try systool:
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METHOD 2 - Systool - Crash
Install Systool then run it, and go to;
a) Hardware monitoring > CPU overclocking.
b) Now you need to do the same thing as you did with clockgen. Go thorugh all of the pll's until you get the right one. There are two ways you can know if you have found it. Firstly systool will say " clock generator detected." However DON'T ASSUME THIS IS THE TRUTH! You will get a lot of false positives, so you also have to look at what clock readings it will give you. If you have set the Notebook Hardware controls to Max Performance (I should not have to keep reminding you!) for CPU speed. This is *1860MHz* approximately with the example cpu.
c) If it does say the correct speed, great. You can then try and move the fsb slider. Now only do this by small bits at a time, as otherwise you are going to crash your pc instantly and maybe even monumentally!
d) If this is successful, then do the same as in METHOD 1 with clockgen when increasing speed and testing for stability. For your information I can achieve a relatively stable overclock to about 2250. But I don't like to go to the limits in a laptop, so I am at 2200 most of the time.
Notes:
Systool is an early alpha release and will crash/freeze regularly. This may be frustrating but it is still a very powerful program.
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METHOD 3 - CPUFSB - The Long Way Round
Install CPUFSB - this requires a restart as it installs a driver just as with ATiTool. Note this program is not free but can be used as an unregistered version.
a) Run the program and prepare for a long ride.
EITHER b) Select you motherboard manufacturer and model (find model in CPU-Z 'Mainboard' tab) and then click "Get PLL output." If it is selected correctly, you will be able to select #
OR c) If it does say the correct speed, great. You can then try and move the fsb slider. Now only do this by small bits at a time, as otherwise you are going to crash your pc instantly and maybe even monumentally!
d) If this is successful, then do the same as in METHOD 1 with clockgen when increasing speed and testing for stability. For your information I can achieve a relatively stable overclock to about 2250. But I don't like to go to the limits in a laptop, so I am at 2200 most of the time.
Notes:
This program can taker a long time, and it still might not yield results. However if this doesn't work for you, I'm beginning to run out of suggestions.
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METHOD 4 - SoftFSB 1.7 - Trial and Error
Run the program after placing it in a folder, it creates a lot of files. Then press the 'Y' key three times in conjunction with instructions from within the MSDOS Prompt.
I believe this is all to do with how it mages to alter the FSB speed via the pll generator, but I can't work out quite how it does it yet.
a) Now run the created program (It has a SoftFSB 1.7 icon). It will either detect you motherboard instantly or fail to. if the latter is the case select it yourself, from the drop-down list. you can find your Motherboard model under the 'Mainboard' tab in CPU-z. Alternatively if your model is not their, use a similar method as METHOD 1 to find your pll generator. However click 'Get FSB' to let it work out your FSB.
As far as I can tell, the program crashes automatically if the incorrect pll is selected. It generally does not crash your whole computer, just the program. If the pll is correct you will be able to move and set the slider freely.
b) Move the slider to the desired setting
c) Again use the method outlined in METHOD 1 to test for stability if you make any changes
d) If this is successful, then do the same as in METHOD 1 with Clockgen when increasing speed and testing for stability.
Notes:
I personally don't like this program, partly because I don't admittedly understand how it works and actually changes settings. It's not quite as simple as it looks.
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Fix Locked Clocks on ATi MObility Radeon cards!- Original documentation by twisterdark, (edited by theonetruewill&Kursah)
If ATITool displays the correct clocks but refuses to change the speeds ---> change the drivers. Force the desktop drivers even if you've got a mobility card (POWERPLAY OPTION WILL NO LONGER BE AVAILABLE) so that ATITool can unlock the clockspeeds. You will have to download the latest Catalyst drivers,
and then modify them (step 2). You can download ATITool here at TPU thanks to it's creator and TPU's commander, W1zzard (also responsible for Systool, OCDB, and much more! Check out his amazing work on TPU!)
Perform the following tasks (to overclock Mobility & Mac Radeon cards only);
1) Download latest Catalyst/display drivers.
2) Mod them http://www.driverheaven.net/modtool/
3) Install from Windows control panel (Start> Control Panel> display driver, searching them MANUALLY into the .INF that you can find into the modded MODDED ATI DRIVER - select x1600 or x1650 (no mobility)
4) Restart
5) Install Catalyst Control Center Modded
6) Restart
7) Install ATI Tool and check the clock, if it's strange (like 7400 mhz clock - impossible) go to settings and check, on the x1000 overclocking section, "use driver level clocking". This will alleviate many headaches with OC-ing your ATI Mobility based Radeon.
8) Before starting to overclock, write somewhere clocks you see after the point 7 because the new "defaults" botton will go to 85.9/85.9....and this mean that if you unluckily click it a lot of articrafts will appear (because of too much downclocking), but don't be scared...it's all ok, nothing dangerous, the problem is that it's hard to find something to click on the screen . So, to be prepared, create a new profile with you real default settings and us it like defaults before starting to joke with clocks.
Notes:
As always with ATiTool, check for stability with the 'Artifact scan' feature. If any are present reduce the clocks.
Use ATITool 0.24 for Mobility Radeons. You will encounter less problems.
I hope this will help you...SORRY FOR THE REALLY BAD ENGLISH
P.S. The only bad thing is that there is not a mac version of ati tool
I hope this guide helps you truly gain the full potential from your Laptop. Laptops are the future. Pentium M's and NHC rule!
Please press the 'Thanks' button if this guide was useful to you.
News on Updates: I hope to be add a CPUFSB and SOFTFSB guide eventually.
Last edited:
...yet. 
0 most of the time