AW M15x Throttling Issue Investigation - Stock clocks and overclocked.

jpnankervis · 09-06-2010, 03:35 AM

YES !!!! Finally. The M15X is finally working like it should be. I actually bought an Asus G73jh instead, I just had enough at that time of the crappy performance. I actually didn't sell the M15X because I had a small hope the throttling issue was going to be fixed. Almost one year later, its fixed. Video and photo editing feel different, programs never lag, and games run better, no doubt. Bluray feature also improved, again, no lag at all. If only this thing had an HDMI port, It would be the perfect computer, better than the Asus G73.

WaterElemental · 09-06-2010, 04:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jpnankervis

YES !!!! Finally. The M15X is finally working like it should be. I actually bought an Asus G73jh instead, I just had enough at that time of the crappy performance. I actually didn't sell the M15X because I had a small hope the throttling issue was going to be fixed. Almost one year later, its fixed. Video and photo editing feel different, programs never lag, and games run better, no doubt. Bluray feature also improved, again, no lag at all. If only this thing had an HDMI port, It would be the perfect computer, better than the Asus G73.

it does have HDMI port ? i have mine hooked up to my 52 inch sony bravia TV with the HDMI converter or whatever its called you just plug that thing in you laptop i am sure you have it it comes with it and at the end of the plug you have the port for HDMI cable...

electrosoft · 09-06-2010, 04:31 AM

Yeah, the M15x uses a DP->HDMI adapter. Works fine. Your system should come with one. If you ordered a refurb and it wasn't, call technical support and request one.

inap · 09-06-2010, 04:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by electrosoft

Final thoughts:

So a decent BIOS (A08) is issued 9/3/2010, but the throttling issue has been known since 11/4/2009 when Notebookcheck reviewed it here: Review Alienware M15x Gaming-Notebook - Notebookcheck Reviews (Ironic that Notebookcheck uses Furmark which Dell is saying shouldn't be used

).

Joker created this thread a month later (12/2/2009)

So it only took Dell, what, ~10 months to fix the problem after it was first publicly noted in a professional review?

I've been gaming extensively the last few days and the BIOS really does the trick. I keep Throttlestop running because, well, it never hurts to keep it running as a safety net (albeit TS and Cmod have called a temporary truce). I keep Riva running because my 260 is OC'd. I'm glad they finally issued a workable BIOS that takes care of probably 99% of the throttling issues and fixes the trackpad, but wow, 10 months at the very least?

Scary.

PS. I found it funny in Notebook check's review they noted the poor touchpad many moons ago, and that their network port didn't work either (mine was DoA out of the box along with my Dell 370 card).

I guess M15x users now get to munch on popcorn and watch the M17xr2 Extreme users go ballistic.

yeah i have to agree this bios has proven to be pretty good. i'm actually happy with it, they gimped the extreme cpu's but ts is able to fix it. benching is becoming fun again. just to think it only took 10 months, really appreciate how fast dell took to solve the problem, hehehehehe

for me A08 + TS = WINNER!!!!!

WaterElemental · 09-06-2010, 04:47 AM

this is crazy =)) i dont know whether i should regret or not but when i got my m15x with the 260m it was throttling like crazy the first day i started it then i found this forum and i got dissapointed because its a brand new laptop with limitations ... and i saw alot of users with 260m wanting to exchange them with 5850 so they could end this issue that they've been having for months. So since i just recently got the laptop called dell they changed my 260m with 5850 because i was dissapointed after seeing you guys waiting for so long for a fix and i was like you know what maybe its not gonna happen so i changed it and now they release the new Bios ... i dont know should i regret about swaping my 260 with 5850 or not i dont know which GPU is better but if i was just gonna wait for 1 more week i was gonna have my problem fixed with the bios.

xeroxide · 09-06-2010, 04:49 AM

if u don't use cuda, the 5850 is better.
physx can't really be enabled in many games without crippling the fps to unplayable levels. at least that was my experience.

inap · 09-06-2010, 04:50 AM

for gaming the 5850 is much much better, so don't worry.

electrosoft · 09-06-2010, 12:44 PM

I agree. Unless you have a specific need for Nvidia (IE: cuda or MacOS), 5850 is the better solution.

Mr Pras · 09-06-2010, 02:18 PM

Great news to hear that A08 has solved the problem W00T

nielo · 09-06-2010, 09:56 PM

just received my M15x 940xm updated to A08 but i cant figure out how to change the multiplier in throttlestop to the normal clocks. which as stated in this thread is 24. I have ticked clock modulation and chipset clock module. Now what do i do change the multiplier back to 24? its currently at 17.

the clocks seem strange here: