Alienware M11x OC void the warranty?

[Jannas]

It is in fact entirely normal and within warranty to update the BIOS settings in your product.

What is not covered is likely, third party software to push the GPU or CPU harder than intended by Alienware.

Originally Posted by Jerry Jackson

I'm sorry it took a few days to get a final answer from Alienware, but it the question had to go around to the Dell Support and Legal teams before they could give me a final answer to share with the forum users here.

Here is the official word from Alienware/Dell:


"A customer will not void his warranty for utilizing the CPU overclock setting in the BIOS of the M11x. If the customer calls in for support and has overclocked the CPU bus using the BIOS setting, support will ask the customer to return the clock speed to factory setting to eliminate any stability issues possibly caused by overclocking for the duration of troubleshooting.

Only in the case where a customer has utilized third party hardware to push the hardware beyond design specifications will a customer be in danger of voiding their warranty."

[Jerry Jackson]

I will contact our Alienware reps, but there is absolutely NO reason for me to believe that using the CPU overclocking utility built into the BIOS (and described in the user manual) would void your warranty.

Several Alienware systems (both notebooks and desktops) have built-in OC utilities and using those utilities as described in the Alienware/Dell user manuals will in no way void the warranty on your Alienware PC.

That said, if you attempted to overclock your CPU or GPU in some other way than what is described in the documentation provided by Alienware/Dell then you probably would be at risk of voiding your warranty.

Bottom line, we'll check with Alienware, but regardless of what a telephone support rep claims on the phone (someone who isn't familiar with every system and is probably being paid minimum wage) there is NO reason to believe that consumers risk voiding their warranties "if they follow the instructions listed in the user manual provided by Alienware/Dell."

[Jannas]

Ah! This is more than I could have ever expected. Thanks Jerry! I'm eagerly awaiting your response!

[BatBoy]

I believe I answered this already in the thread Jannas:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/show...postcount=1868

If Dell states and provides the functionality, it will be covered

Thanks for looking into it Jerry...

[Jannas]

I don't mean to disrespect a moderator, but the answer is slightly vague. I would prefer a black and white answer before I make the final decision to push that little button in the BIOS. Which logical, that its in the manual so its made to be used etc. etc. Life isn't always logical.

I appreciate the input though BatBoy. If you happen to come across a response from Alienware thats more reliable than their sales reps, please post here.

[BatBoy]

No worries - dont worry, nothing wrong with asking for confirmation. This is why I suggested contacting tech support (not a sales rep) - there is no reason you cannot ask to speak with the rep's supervisor for confirmation. I'll see if I can have one of our local resources confirm as well.

Also, just to clarify, the quotes I provided came from the Dell Certified Systems Engineer material for the XPS M1730 and as I mentioned in my post, while the information pertains to a previous model of Dell's, unless they changed their policy to not cover this, which I just dont see as its a feature they offer - then the thinking would be the same.

In any event, lets see what we can do in the way of confirming.

More to follow...

[Jannas]

In an effort to maintain completeness.

This was posted on a differant topic with the same subject. The following is a post by RU1NOUS.

"Hi Guys!
This is my first post on these forums so i hope that i am posting this in the right place.

I ordered my M11X last week (im based in the UK) and currently have an EDD on 9th March. I was attracted to the M11X because of the quality of alienware products (currently have an M17), the form factor and also the potential to overclock te CPU. When i placed the order i asked the Dell rep if overclocking was covered and was told that it was.

After reading in different places that there was some confusion as to whether overclocking was covered by alienwares warranty i decided to give Alienware tech support a call and ask to see if they could tell me if overclocking was covered. The tech support agent told me that overclocking was NOT covered under standard warranty and only the Premium warranty would cover the overclocking of the CPU. I asked to speak to a supervisor to confirm this and he did infact confirm that only the premium warranty would cover overclocking as it covered accidental damage and that would be the only way to cover damage covered by overclocking.

This is a little worrying to me as I was hoping to overclock the CPU as after talking to the Dell rep and reading reviews came to a conclusion this would be covered by warranty.

I was wondering if anyone has heard anything different about this, or what can be done if anything? Also what are the risks of using the included overclocking feature in the BIOS?

Look forward to hearing what you guys think."

[lewdvig]

Don't overclock it. Is that clear enough?

You seem risk averse. So why risk the grief of fighting with AW support?

[Personally I would OC the heck out of it. But I don't use an AW for work, and I don't care if mine burst into flames.]

[ronnieb]

I don't think overclocking this processor will create THAT much heat and give you that much of a performance gain..

[BatBoy]

I'm going to post this once... any post which implies fraud will be removed. If there are repeats, then additional action will be taken. This isn't the place to discuss or mention lying to Dell to support your warranty.

Discussion of illegal activities such as fraud, software and music piracy and other intellectual property violations are not allowed. There is a zero tolerance policy for illegal activity being discussed. - forum rules

If you are that concerned, then call and ask for a supervisor in the Tech Support Department and confirm - look, its a function in the BIOS - its fine. If you are still hesitant, then don't use the function in the BIOS. Pretty simple.

You also can wait and see if Jerry turns up any response from his contact. I will also pose this question to Dell.

Thanks.