mclovits

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Apr 7, 2012
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I have a Clevo P150EM Laptop with an i7 3610QM and a 7970m. I have done some benchmarks and all of them are indicating that my 7970m is performing better at it's overclocked (1000MHz Core, 1525 MHz Memory) settings, but when I play Battlefield in particular, which is the most demanding game I actually play, I am getting higher framerates at stock clockspeeds. Even a modest overclock is dropping my frames a bit. Is this happening to anyone else? I just repasted both chips and I have foil on the heatsinks, the laptop runs very cool.
 
Solution
No problem. Please come back and post if you have more questions, but once you figure out for sure please also share your solution on here, and mark one of our answers as the solution so this thread will be closed.

mclovits

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Apr 7, 2012
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I'm using GPU-Z as well as Afterburner to monitor the temps, @ stock around 69 degrees when my room isn't super hot (gets a bit warmer during the day), and less than 80 degrees when overclocked, the temps shouldn't be an issue, it's running cooler than most of the other one's I've seen, especially since I haven't even overvolted it.

Those temps are under full load btw
 

mclovits

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Apr 7, 2012
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I decided to try the same benchmarks while my laptop was over an air conditioning vent in my home, the temperature never reached 60 degrees. But I think I found the issue. If I overclock either my Core or my Memory too high, or both of them together, too high, the CPU downclocks to 2.1-2.3GHz. This is why I think I have been getting a lower physics score in 3DMark 11 when overclocking the GPU, though the graphics score is higher. Is it possible that my stock power brick isn't strong enough to power the CPU and GPU at these clockspeeds? If so, where could I purchase a stronger power supply that's still compatible?
 

IInuyasha74

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You probably cannot find a strong PSU that is compatible. I have heard of that happening actually. SOmeone reviewed a few systems I saw and if he pulled more than a certain wattage the CPU underclocked itself. So best for you to maximize your current power between everything.
 

mclovits

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Apr 7, 2012
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What do you mean by maximize my current power between everything? Should I just overclock the GPU as High as I can without the CPU throttling? Or should I just leave it be at stock speeds? I find it odd that I'm having issues, yet those guys over on notebookreview are reaching higher overclocks with overvolted GPUs. :/
 

mclovits

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Apr 7, 2012
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I see, how would I undervolt the RAM if I chose to do so? Yeah it seems like many of them are using Alienware laptops, though I know a good deal of those overclockers are also using P150EMs like me.
 

IInuyasha74

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Could just be a poor quality chip. Sometimes they come out and work really well, and sometimes they barely run at spec. Could be sucking extra power for that reason.

As for the RAM if you have an option for it in your BIOS, just find the RAM voltage and slowly lower it. Eventually it will become unstable but you can probably get it down a little before it does.
 

mclovits

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Apr 7, 2012
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Alright, yeah it seems like the CPU is sucking more power than it needs to. I'll do some research and try a few other forums and maybe I'll try undervolting the CPU. At least BF3 is playable now that I figured out that Hotkey throttling issue. Thanks again for helping clear things up.
 

IInuyasha74

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No problem. Please come back and post if you have more questions, but once you figure out for sure please also share your solution on here, and mark one of our answers as the solution so this thread will be closed.
 
Solution

mclovits

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Apr 7, 2012
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Got it all sorted out. The issue wasn't the AC Adapter, instead, I turned my power mode to "High Performance" in Windows and used these settings: http://i.imgur.com/WukgLU7.jpg in Throttlestop 5 and the CPU boosts right up to 3.1/3.2GHz. Yielded me a total 3DMark score of P7444 on performance mode with a GPU overclock of 1000MHz Core, 1500 MHz Memory. Only issue I have now is that BF3 doesn't seem to benefit at all from the overclocked GPU, though I'm thinking it's a driver issue, either way, it's playable on High settings now.