M14x R2: Overclock Locked CPU & 16GB RAM @ 2133MHz

The Alienware M14x R2 laptop was (and still is) a great laptop. It had some good options and was great for either gaming or daily work activities. But some things that most people were (and are) unaware of about the laptop, which can make it great, have never seemed to be truly revealed. While this laptop is getting older, it can still provide a lot of power, if you know how to unlock it...

OC CPU & 2133MHz

M14x R2
The Alienware M14x R1 came in with an Intel Sandy Bridge CPU with a NVIDIA GT 555M graphics card. Later on, the M14x R2 came with an Intel Ivy Bridge CPU with a NVIDIA GT 650M graphics card. The biggest upgrade obviously being a GPU (as the M14x R3 was said to have a weaker GPU than the R2), and the move to Ivy Bridge allowed for the jump to PCI Express 3.0.

The screen resolution was either 1366x768 (720p+) or 1600x900 (900p), which was 14" in size (hence the name M14x). It normally came with 6GB DDR3L RAM with a voltage of 1.35v, but it can take 1.5v.

My M14x R2
I did not get my M14x R2 until years after it had been discontinued. My father had seen my M17x R2 and decided he wanted an Alienware laptop. He had me purchase one on his behalf. Once he finally received it, he tried it for a few days before moving back to his older laptop. Recently, he gave it to me, and it is practically in new condition!

The specs on mine are almost as good as they could get when bought. It came with a i7 3840QM, a GT 650M 2GB GDDR5, and a 900p screen. There was a HDD instead of SSD, but I have since installed a M.SATA Samsung 850 EVO 500GB SSD. It also had 6GB (2GB+4GB) 1600MHz RAM, which I changed to 16GB 2133MHz RAM.

The only issue that this laptop has is the trackpad has you accidentally moving the cursor around at times because your hand will touch it while typing. It had another mouse issue, which was the main issue my father had with it, but I was able to disable this in the Windows settings.

As for the graphics card, there were supposedly different variants. There was a GT 650 1GB GDDR5 and a GT 650 2GB DDR3 version available. Thankfully, when my was bought, it had the best version, which was th GT 650 2GB GDDR5 variant. While that sounds great, it is not a powerful graphics card. It can be pushed to do better (with an "unlocked" BIOS), but it falls short of the options of today. And even though the CPU is upgradeable, the GPU is not. It is soldered in. However, it can still play most modern games on medium or low settings.


Possible to OC Locked CPU?
The 3840QM is a great i7 Ivy Bridge CPU. It has a stock clock of 2.8GHz with a turbo up to 3.8GHz. In comparison, the unlocked 3920XM has a stock clock of 2.9GHz with a turbo up to 3.8GHz, and the unlocked 3940XM has a stock clock of 3.0GHz with a turbo up to 3.9GHz.

Essentially, my 3840QM will run as fast as a 3920XM (in terms of turbo) when it needs to, and almost matches the 3940XM. If I were to replace the 3840QM with either Extreme Edition CPU (XM) it would still cost me at least $300, if not more. That is far too much for the little gains I will get from a XM CPU. I may be able to push an XM to around 4.2GHz safely, but it still does not seem like a great idea economically.

While I was researching about my CPU recently, I came across a couple articles about overclocking the 3840QM. One gave very little information and was just someone asking if it was possible, with a response that it was not. But the other had very useful information. Someone stated and showed that they were able to overclock their 3840QM up to 4.0GHz! That is impressive just for the speed, but even more impressive knowing that this CPU has a locked multiplier and should not have any way to do so!

So, I decided to try this for myself and see what I could. I did several tests and watched my clocks for differences. In the end, yes, I was able to push my 3840QM to a turbo of just over 4.0GHz!!! (3.99GHz consistent!)

I have since read that the Ivy Bridge era did allow for these overclocks, but no generation after has been allowed to do so.

Overclocking Locked CPU
This will require you to download ThrottleStop. ThrottleStop 6.00 is the last stable version released, however, if you search the TechInferno thread on ThrottleStop, you can find an active ThrottleStop 8.00 Beta version. It is unnecessary to use the newest beta version, as it does not add anything that we will need.

The first thing to be done will be to enter the BIOS. Once inside, find the option for turbo and disable it. The next steps all relate Throttlestop:

1. Open Throttlestop.
2. Check "Clock Modulation".
3. Check "Chipset Clock Modulation".
4. Check "Set Multiplier".
5. Check "C1E".
6. Uncheck all other boxes.
7. Under "Set Multiplier", ensure that it is at the highest multiplier setting, or has a "T" next to the number.
8. Click "TPL".
9. Change the cores to all run at "42".
10. Click "OK".
11. Click "Turn On".

Note: For whatever reason, I found that "42" was the multiplier number required to hit 3.99GHz consistently. Anything higher would do the same.

If you want to test the validity of the frequency achieved, try running a benchmark like Intel's Extreme Tuning Utility (IXTU) that tells you the maximum speed it hits. You can also use ROG Benchmark that will show its own CPU stat, or keep Throttlestop open and watch what frequency the CPU hits.

Running 2133MHz RAM!
While Ivy Bridge does support 2133MHz, that does not mean it is always achievable for other laptops. Factors can be the RAM itself, the motherboard, etc. Just because a CPU can do something does not mean it will. For example, Ivy Bridge can run up to 32GB of RAM, but that is impossible for an Alienware M14x R2 to achieve due to its motherboard.

Many forums discussing this very laptop claimed it was not possible to run RAM at 2133MHz, but I know this to be untrue since I have done so. I will explain how I did this so others can emulate it.

To do this, I bought a pair of 8GB Kingston HyperX Impact Black DDR3L RAM @2133MHz. If installed immediately, you may not be able to post. Install one stick and set the RAM settings in the BIOS to run at 1866MHz. This will allow you to post while using both (or one) sticks of RAM:

1. Download IXTU.
2. Open IXTU.
3. Change to the "Advanced Tuning > All Controls" tab.
4. Scroll until you see settings for Memory, DIMM or RAM controls.*
5. If you hover over each timing setting of the memory, you will see the recommended values for that timing setting. Record the recommended values.
6. Change to manual/custom timing settings for the RAM.
7. Input all recommended values of the memory timings recorded in step 5.
8. Save the timing settings.
9. IXTU should prompt you with a reboot, select "Yes".
10. Upon reboot, the laptop may not fully boot and get stuck. If it does, give it a minute before doing a hard shutdown (press and hold the power button).
11. When you boot back up into Windows, open IXTU again.
12. The recommended values should now be inputted, but you may have a value(s) that is not sticking. If not, you are done. If so, continue on...
13. Note the setting(s) that is not sticking and turn off the laptop.
14. Boot into the BIOS.
15. Go to the RAM timing settings.
16. Change the timing setting(s).
17. Save the BIOS.
18. Reboot. If the laptop does not boot up fully, wait a minute before shutting it down.
19. Reboot the laptop.
20. When you boot back up into Windows, open IXTU again.
21. All the recommended values should now be showing. If not, repeat steps 14-20  again.

*If you do not have any memory options, then your laptop does not support this. This should only be true if you are using this tutorial for a laptop other than an Alienware M14x R2.

This is the process I went through in order to get 2133MHz RAM to be recognized and work properly. It will work, and enable the fastest RAM available for Ivy Bridge. But if you do not check the timings, you will either get the RAM speed pulled down to something slower, or if you have not changed all the timings to the proper values, you could cause instability.

Hard Shutdown
These are a couple of secrets people are unaware of. It is very possible to run locked Ivy Bridge processors at higher speeds than their turbo, and you can get the best RAM available for this generation!

To be able to do this, and on a laptop no less, is an amazing feat. With a setup like this, what would be the point of upgrading when this is just as powerful now as it was when it was first introduced?

How I Got a GTX 980 Ti (NIB) for $350!

The last time I wrote about getting a deal was for a GTX 970, and a GTX 980 the time before that. And today I will complete the high-end trio with a GTX 980 Ti! At the time of this posting, this is still a great deal, just as it was when I got it.

Why?

Why did I need a GTX 980 Ti? Well, because a couple of things occurred that led me to having a reason to need one...

I had initially bought my GTX 970 because I was doing an eGPU (external GPU) setup, which I had planned to post about. I successfully used this setup with an ExpressCard interface on my Alienware M17x R2, and was attempting to get it to work via mPCIe (mini PCI express) on my Alienware M14x R2. After several issues, one rendering my M14x R2 useless, I decided the best thing to do was to cut my losses and go for a different setup.

The setup I wanted to do was to get a new Alienware 17 R3 (AW17R3) laptop with an unlocked CPU, for future-proofing, and which would have the ability to use an Alienware Graphics Amplifier (AGA). An AGA essentially lets you connect a desktop graphics card of your choosing to use instead of the soldered in GPU the AW17R3 offers. With an unlocked CPU that could be overclocked to match the performance of CPUs released later on, and an AGA that would allow me to use any future GPU, it would be an ideal situation to run for at least 2-5 years before ever considering another "upgrade", if desired.

Since this was my goal, I needed money to fund this objective. So, I decided to go ahead and sell off my laptops, the eGPU, as well as some other things. I was well on my way and even went ahead and purchased an AW17R3 so that I would not be without a laptop. But another problem occurred that changed things a bit...

At that time I had a three-monitor setup that would be the equivalent of 1400p+, something the GTX 970 handled quite well. However, one of my monitors went a bit nuts, and I decided to go ahead and grab a UHD TV, often mistakenly called a 4K TV by most people. The TV was refurbished and cost about $230+ total! Another great deal! Oddly enough, after I made the purchase, the monitor sorted itself out and now works, but I had no intention on ditching my UHD TV.

But keeping the UHD TV presented another problem. If I were to use it for gaming, I would need a stronger card than the GTX 970. I love the GTX 970 and think it gives great performance, but it would just not be able to provide decent framerates at UHD resolution (at least, not at the highest quality settings). Having tested the GTX 980 at UHD, I knew that it would not be enough to give a good experience either. The minimum I could use was a GTX 980 Ti.

The Hunt

I sold the GTX 970 about a day or two before the official GTX 1070 launch, which also meant the GTX 1080 was already out. I paid just under $240 total for the Zotac GTX 970, and I sold it for $210. I immediately started searching for a GTX 980 Ti since people would be trying to get rid of them in order to upgrade to a GTX 1070 or GTX 1080.

I ended up messaging about 15 people or so, getting different responses to my offers. Finally, I got a reply that accepted my offer of $350! It was for an EVGA GTX 980 Ti SC, a reference edition. This was perfect, the AGA does not seem to have any type of cooling system along with its built-in PSU, so I would rather have a blower fan that will move out the air, rather than an aftermarket fan(s) that will move the air around in the enclosure.

The best part of this deal? The graphics card was never used! It was only opened to ensure everything was included and put back because the owner did not have the time to put it into his rig that he was building. When the time came to get a card, he went ahead and bought a GTX 1080 instead and decided to sell the GTX 980 Ti.

I will also add that because it is an EVGA graphics card, the warranty can be transferred. But this card had never even been registered, so I am the official first owner!

GTX 980 Ti vs. GTX 1070
A GTX 1080 would be great for UHD resolution, but they continue to command a $700+ price tag. So, the real debate would be why get a GTX 980 Ti over a GTX 1070? The GTX 1070 is newer, should perform better, and will do it at less watts. This is all true, but they also cost at least $450, and this is for a preorder that you may not get for weeks.

Even more important, I need a graphics card purely because I need it for a UHD TV. If you compare the GTX 980 Ti and the GTX 1070 in gaming benchmarks, they are fairly close. Most of the time the GTX 1070 is up by a minor amount of FPS (frames per second), but there are a few times where the GTX 980 Ti actually matches or surpasses the GTX 1070. And if looking at different resolutions, you will notice that by the time they are tested at UHD, the amount of FPS difference between the GTX 1070 and GTX 980 Ti is either gone or all but gone! Why should I pay (at least) another $100 for almost identical performance?

The only way the GTX 1070 would be more beneficial to me would be if I constantly used applications that could take advantage of the CUDA cores. While I do use at least one application where this could be beneficial, I do not presently use it enough to warrant an additional $100+.

Something else to add, that I did not know until I had my GTX 980 Ti, is that the AGA does not seem to allow for large overclocks like a desktop computer could. This means that paying more for a GTX 1070 would have been an even bigger loss if I had thought that an overclock might do far better than an overclocked GTX 980 Ti...

Bi Bi
So, even now, the GTX 980 Ti, despite NVIDIA slashing their prices, is still being sold for more than $350. The only other deal I saw that was similar to mine was for a used GTX 980 Ti on the same forum from where I bought my graphics card. This was probably only a couple weeks before I bought mine, and I do not believe it was even an EVGA card; meaning that the new owner cannot make any warranty claims if they should ever need to get the graphics card repaired.

I believe I got the best deal possible, and everything I have seen so far suggests that. Even when dwindling GTX 980 Ti supply gets to the price I paid (and remember mine was a total, market prices would not include tax), the amount of time that will have passed since obtaining my graphics card will be more than enough to be a major factor of what a great deal I got.

How I Got a BRAND NEW GTX 970 for $240! (A Jet.com Story)

Some of you may have read my article on how I got a GTX 980 for $420. That is still a great deal, and even at prices where they are now, it continues to be a great deal! However, I just got another great deal on a GTX 970, and wanted to share how I got it...

Why Do You Need a GTX 970?
If I already have a GTX 980, why would I need a GTX 970? Well, the GTX 980 is my desktop baby. I do not plan on upgrading it anytime soon. And while I may be able to use a trick to get a GTX 970 and GTX 980 to work together in SLI, I could always use them together for DirectX 12 (DX12) games.

The problem with that is I am a Windows 7 user. I never upgraded to Windows 8 or Windows 8.1, and while Windows 10 seems pretty nice, I have found that certain programs that I use will only work up to Windows 7 or Windows 8.1. So, no, DX12 is not the reason I bought another graphics card.

The reason I did buy another graphics card is because I will soon be using it with my laptops. Laptops? Yes, laptops. There is a way to setup an external GPU, eGPU for short, but it is pointless if you can outperform it with your laptop. The eGPU setup can (and likely will) reduce the performance you would get if the graphics card was installed into a desktop, and for my laptops, it most definitely will.

I have one laptop with a GTX 680M, and another with a GT 650M. The GT 650M is nice, but it cannot handle games on ultra, or even high, settings. It can be overclocked, but it will still not catch up to my GTX 680M. The GTX 680M is claimed to be able to match the performance of a desktop GTX 660 Ti (if you are lucky enough to sustain an overclock that will do so), but it is more than likely capable of reaching the performance of a GTX 660 with some overclocking. My GTX680M is a special prototype, so it unfortunately cannot reach those levels of performance.

So, the question became, what graphics card would give me a substantial boost in performance over my GTX 680M. Getting a GTX 660 would be pointless for the little gains I would reap. Something like a GTX 680 or higher would be great, and probably cheap if I could find a good deal. But then there was something else I had yet to factor into this equation. The amount of power I needed. The eGPU setup can support enough power, but if I wanted to make it truly portable, I would need something that would stay below 220 watts (with 240 watts being my threshold). The reason as to why I will explain when I create my eGPU article...

Finding The One
Now, I had to consider not only a substantial performance boost over my GTX 680M, but also the amount of watts I would be able to push to the graphics card. There were opinions that a GTX 680 were possible, but there were other GPU's that would be better wattage-wise. Most of those--from older generations--would be much weaker than what my GTX 680M would do.

Fortunately, NVIDIA's Maxwell architecture is great on power efficiency, so I turned my attention to current GPU models. (AMD's Fiji architecture was never an option because even at similar levels of performance, their power efficiency is not even close to that of Maxwell's). I first toyed with the idea of a GTX 950, as it has a low price, does not require a lot of watts, and does okay in games. Would it be that much better than my GTX 680M though? The GTX 960 was a huge step up in terms of performance, a small yet sizeable increase in price, but still required low wattage. The GTX 970 and GTX 980 were (of course) much better performers, and still did not need a lot of power, but their prices were just too exorbitant for me.

I debated for a long time on what card to get, all the while repeatedly checking over prices and seeing what was the best deal. A great GTX 960 would be near over $200 and suit my needs, but I really wanted a GTX 970 or above. I checked several computer and tech forums, perusing through their classified sections. None of the prices were that good.

Unsure if I would find a deal, I started to weigh out getting a GTX 960 or a GTX 970. What would the pros and cons be? What was I gaining and what was I losing? My mind was not made up, but leaning towards a GTX 970, I decided to ponder my options.

If I could get a Mini ITX GTX 970, that would go great with an eGPU setup! Checking the prices, they were abnormally high, some being much higher than their "standard" counterparts. I wanted small, and small would be great, but if I did get a GTX 970, I might have to settle on something bigger than I had hoped for.

I then remembered that the "standard" ZOTAC GTX 970 was very small, not quite a Mini ITX small, but almost. It was also (arguably) a great card, and allowed for some special functions other vendors did not offer. So, I searched. But the prices all remained at $300, at best. Trying one more time to find a deal, I did one last search...

Jet.com
Most of my shopping for electronics is done through either Amazon or eBay, with the occasional purchase on NewEgg. Jet.com has been around a while, and although I have seen them pop up for items from time-to-time, I had never really considered them for anything since I had not used them.

When I did my final search for an inexpensive ZOTAC GTX 970, Jet.com appeared in the Google Shopping advertisements. It was (amazingly) priced at $280, at least $20 less than any other competitor I had seen! Yet, I was still unsure if I wanted to spend almost $300, which could be more after taxes and shipping, for a GTX 970. Wanting to check the total price, I clicked on the ad to find out more.

The first thing that I got was a prompt stating that I could save 15% on all items as a first time buyer, the only catch being you could only save up to $30. I figured why not see how low I could get the total price.

After signing up, I added the ZOTAC GTX 970 to my card and proceeded to checkout. I added the discount code, which thankfully added without issue. There was a small checkbox for free return shipping, which if unchecked would allow for more savings. It meant that if I did have to make a return (presumably because I did not want the product anymore) I would have to pay the return shipping. I decided that if I did want to get my money back, I would just sell it on eBay and see if I could make a bit more than I paid. I unchecked the box and proceeded to enter my credit card information. When I had finished the site stated that because I was using a Visa, I would get another small percentage knocked off my total price!

With all my savings, the total price ended up being just under $240! Of course I bought it immediately, and could not believe I had just picked up a GTX 970 for much less than $300. I spent more than I had initially aimed for, but got a card that could handle everything I would need it for (from a laptop).

Afterthoughts
I got the card within a few days and--without opening it--immediately registered it. If you buy a ZOTAC graphics card, and register it within 30 days of purchase, you will get a free year of warranty on top of the two years they already provide.

When the new generation of NVIDIA graphic cards come out, I am sure there will be some deep price slashes. But I am confident that I will still have made a good deal in comparison to these price cuts.

About 15 minutes after I had bought my ZOTAC GTX 970 from Jet.com, the price had jumped up to $310. A couple days later it went down to $300. A few days after that it was back to $280. At the moment, the price is back to $300...

On a different note, later I found an eBay auction for a used ZOTAC GTX 970. I watched it until the end, and the final price was still a good $15 more than what I paid! So, any assurance that I needed that I had got a great price was substantiated.

End of Transaction
This might be an opportune time to mention that I "bought" my GTX 980 used (with a transferable warranty), but the GTX 970 I bought was completely brand new!

I am always on the lookout for great deals, and this one was too good to pass up. If I am able to perform a hack to SLI my GTX 970 and GTX 980 together, I will probably not need another new graphics card for at least a couple of years. If not, I will likely sell off the GTX 970 after some time, replace it with my GTX 980 for the eGPU setup, and get something better for my desktop rig.

How To Extend Game Screen Across Monitors WITHOUT NVIDIA Surround or AMD Eyefinity!

This is really just an addendum to my last article discussing how to enable custom resolution sizes for displays. If your displays do not share a common resolution size, then you will not be able to enable either NVIDIA Surround or AMD Eyefinity. And if you have only two monitors, even if they do share a common resolution size, it will still not be possible to enable NVIDIA Surround or AMD Eyefinity! But if you want to extend a game screen across all of your monitors, it can be done!

The Problem
As stated above if you have only two monitors, or three (or more) that do not share a common resolution size--meaning that they do not have matching aspect ratios--then you will not be able to take advantage of NVIDIA Surround or AMD Eyefinity. The option may seem like it is available, but you will quickly realize it will not be usable.

The option to extend your desktop across all of your screens will still be available, just not for games. And many people who utilize more than one monitor often do so for gaming purposes.

The Fix
The following steps should help you extend a game screen across all monitors easily:

1. In the game settings, ensure the option from full screen is changed to windowed.
2. When the game either is loading up, or when it starts, press CTRL+ALT+DELETE to access the task manager. DO NOT MINIMIZE THE TASK MANAGER!
3. Go to the edges of the game screen and pull it across to one of your other screens.
4. If you have only two monitors, then you are done. If you have three, repeat steps #2 & #3 for your other screens.
5. Repeat steps #2 & #3 if you have to elongate the game screen to reach the top and/or bottom of your screen(s). If the screen already reaches the top and bottom, ignore this step.
6. You can now minimize the task manager, or click the game screen, to go back to the game. 

Note: On some games, if you perform the above actions during the options screen, or anytime before the game is about to begin, the screen may revert back to its original resolution size (on your primary monitor).

Note II: If you do not have a windowed option, search Google as many people have workarounds to access this option in certain games.

If you are really lazy, you can use either Actual Multiple Monitors, or purchase a program called UltraMon. Both of these add a button next to the minimize button of a window that can automatically stretch that window across all screens perfectly. The Actual Multiple Monitors is free (for 30 days), but for whatever reason does not stretch to the bottom automatically if using external displays with differing resolutions. UltraMon will stretch both across and below automatically.

Downside?
The only downside is that the screen is obviously not quite full screen since it is in windowed mode. However, the trade off is that the game will technically be slightly smaller than full screen resolution, giving a (very) marginal boost in frame rates since it works that much less to render the game.

Increase Monitor/TV Resolution Beyond Its Highest Native Resolution Permanenty! Not Just For Games! (1080p to 4K/UHD, 720p to 900p/1080p, 900p to 1080p/2.5K, etc.)

I have another article similar to this one, but this one differs in that you can change the resolution of your monitors/TV's permanently! Sometimes an old monitor or TV is still great, but it just does not have the resolution you want. Do not throw it away! Instead, try to see if you can increase your maximum resolution with a few simple tweaks. At least then you do not need to buy a new monitor/TV, and it can run at the resolution you desire.

Initial Steps, NVIDIA, AMD, Intel

WARNING: I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY NEGATIVE CONSEQUENCES IF THE FOLLOWING METHODS ARE USED!!! 

Why Would You?
Old monitors or TV's can still be great despite the lack of higher screen resolutions. Maybe they are a "professional" type of monitor that comes with many other useful functions, like adjustable height and swiveling, or a USB hub, or maybe it just has great brightness. 

Beyond that, maybe you just do not want to dish out a couple of hundreds dollars to get a new one when your old one works perfectly fine. And you would like to do something like 4K or UHD on a 1080p monitor or TV, or 2.5K or 1080p on a 720p monitor or TV.

My reasons to do this were because I had two older monitors attached to my laptop, which has a native resolution of 1920x1200. While they all functioned fine, I did not like the fact that they items would appear smaller on the external monitors. One is a 1280x1024 professional monitor, which looks great and has many of the functions I mentioned above. The other was a 1440x900 monitor, which is much older and has a bit of wear and tear, yet, still looks quite great and is perfect in terms of performing.

I should mention that I have not tried this with a television, as I normally would, but it should work as well. And as obvious as it may already be, I will directly state that this does work on monitors of different native resolutions.

The Trick's Inner Workings
This is a lot like my article where I explained how to play games at higher resolutions than your monitor would support. The trick used here is called downsampling, or Ordered Grid Super-Sampling Anti-Aliasing (OGSSAA).

Essentially, you tell your display to run at a higher--or unsupported--resolution than it can natively do. The computer allows the resolution change and helps makes your images on the display sharper.

If increasing the custom resolution beyond what the display can do, it renders at a higher resolution, then shrinks it to fit on your display, retaining the image quality, and thus, giving the sharper image.

The resolution you choose will look like the way you want! The icons on your desktop, and other items, will reflect the custom resolution size, so do not worry about it being a "fake" resolution setting, as you will get what you are looking for.

The only warning I can give about this is that it will make your PC work a bit harder since it has to scale down the resolution size you have chosen, which it would not have to do if the display supported that resolution size.

Does It Work?
To a reasonable extent, yes. Most monitors will allow you to use higher resolutions, but not all. And to that effect, not all resolution sizes will work.

With my laptop screen I was able to push it up to 2.5K. I tried UHD, but the screen became completely red, meaning it would not allow such a high resolution. On my 1280x1024 external monitor I was able to push it above 1920x1200, but when attempting 2.5K, I got a green flickering screen. On my other laptop, it would not allow me to use custom resolution sizes at all (with any of the methods below). I tried several methods to get my other laptop to add custom resolutions, even more than listed here, but I never could...

So, while you can push display screens fairly far, they do have their limits. Do not expect to get a 720p monitor to do 4K resolution. While it might be possible on some 720p monitors, I could only imagine this applying to an expensive 720p monitor that was considered top-of-the-line for its day...


Initial Steps
The first thing you want to do is determine what resolution size you are aiming for. With my external monitors, I wanted to get to as close to 1920x1200 as possible, since this is what my laptop has as its native resolution. Likely, you will be trying to match a native resolution of one of your monitors or TV, but you can try to match a custom resolution size...

Before we get started, I want to mention that you can use any custom resolution size. However, if it does not follow the steps below, you will get black bars across the top and bottom of your display if scaling is not enabled. Some people might be okay with this, but I would rather take advantage of my entire screen real estate.

Another point is that I want to use my laptops in extended mode (where your desktop stretches across all the screens), so you can skip some of these steps if you do not care if the desktop is large on one display, and smaller on another.

The other thing to consider is the physical size of each display. If one is large, and another is small, you may want to use different custom resolution sizes to better match icons and text sizes. My external monitors are close enough in size to not have this as an issue.

And a final point is that displays of differing native resolutions (that do not share a common aspect ratio) will not allow you to enable NVIDIA Surround or AMD Eyefinity. Check my other short article if you want to extend your game across multiple screens without the use of NVIDIA Surround or AMD Eyefinity.

Once you have determined the resolution you want to match, we will need to determine the aspect ratio. 1920x1200 has an aspect ratio of 16:10 (which is also considered 8:5), if you divide any of those sets of numbers (1920/1200 or 16/10 or 8/5) you will get 1.6. This value may help us later when trying to create custom resolution sizes...

Perform this division for all your external monitors and TV's to see if they all match up. If they do, the next few steps will be relatively simple. If they do not, you will have a bit of work to do in order to get a good custom resolution to match your other monitors or TV's.

Check out this Wiki article to see different resolutions with your aspect ratio (it will show a ":" value, like 16:10, instead of a "." value, like 1.6). This is a good starting out point for choosing a good custom resolution size.

For those with identical aspect ratios, I will give an example of what you would need to do. My laptop has a native resolution of 1920x1200, and one of my external monitors has a native resolution of 1440x900. Both have an aspect ratio value of 1.6. I merely need to change my 1440x900 monitor to use 1920x1200 to match the monitors. Of course, if your display is much larger or smaller than the monitor or TV you are trying to match, you may want to try a different custom resolution to better match the size of icons and text across two or more displays.

For those with different aspect ratios, I will give you an example of what you would need to do. My laptop has a native resolution of 1920x1200, and one of my external monitors has a native resolution of 1280x1024. The laptop monitor has an aspect ratio value of 1.6, the external monitor has an aspect ratio value of 1.25. This is quite a ways off from each other. 

Because of this, I need to find a resolution that is somewhat close to 1920x1200. I could just force the external monitor to use 1920x1200, but everything looks far too small, and I get large black bars across the top and bottom of the screen (since I do not want scaling). While I found many resolutions in the Wiki article that I could implement for the 1280x1024 external monitor, the ones I tried just did not look quite right in comparison to my laptop.

Instead, I did a little trial-and-error math to find some decent custom resolution sizes that would work. I came up with several different custom resolution sizes, including 1440x1152, 1600x1280, and 1800x1440. How did I come up with them? I tried using common width sizes and divided them with numbers until I got the 1.6 aspect ratio value. As you can see, I also tried common height numbers. The 1440x1152 is a good size for something slightly on the larger desktop side of things. However, I prefer 1600x1280 for daily use and gaming. 1800x1440 is too small for daily use, but can be beneficial for a "crispier" gaming experience.

Again, if your display is much larger or smaller than the monitor or TV you are trying to match, you may want to try a different custom resolution to better match the size of icons and text across two or more displays.

You may need to come back to this section while trying out different custom resolution sizes, if you are trying to create some that are not common. But once you have the initial resolutions you want to try, you now need to apply these values in Windows.

NVIDIA
I prefer to use NVIDIA graphic cards, so this is something that has been available to me for a long time. It is very simple to do, and takes little time to try out. The first thing to be sure of is that you have NVIDIA drivers installed so that you have access to the NVIDIA Control Panel. Follow these steps to insert custom resolution sizes:

1. Right-click on the desktop.
2. Select the "NVIDIA Control Panel".
3. Go to "Display>Change resolution".
4. Select the display you want to add a custom resolution to.
5. Click "Customize..."
6. Click "Create Custom Resolution..." on the next window.
7. Input the "Horizontal pixels:" (width) to be used.
8. Input the "Vertical lines" (height) to be used.
9. Click "Test".
10. The screen will go blank for a second or two, then should show your PC environment if it is successful. If it is not, try a different custom resolution until it is or you have exhausted all options.
11. If you are successful, a small prompt will appear asking if you would like to save the screen resolution. Click "Yes".
12. The screen will go blank again and be back at the resolution it was previously on. Right-click on the desktop.
13. Click "Screen resolution".
14. Select the display that you want to apply the custom resolution to.
15. Click the dropdown menu for "Resolution:".
16. Select the new custom resolution size.
17. Click "Apply".
18. A prompt will appear asking if you would like to set the display to this resolution. Click "Keep changes".

The new screen resolution will now be set, and you can reboot without worry of having to redo this process.


AMD
This should work for either dedicated AMD graphic cards, or AMD APU chips that have Radeon technology integrated. Be sure to have AMD Crimson drivers installed before trying this trick.

This is also possible with older AMD graphic cards with older AMD Control Catalyst Center drivers, but it requires more work. I have written all the known methods for newer and older AMD drivers.
 
Form AMD Crimson drivers, use the following:

1. Right-click on desktop.
2. Select the "AMD Radeon Settings".
3. Click "Preferences".
4. Click "Additional Settings".
5. A new windows should appear. Under "My Digital Flat-Panels"--which may be "My VGA Displays")--select "Custom Resolutions (Digital Flat-Panel)", or the respective option. You may need to "Accept" an agreement before proceeding.
6. Click "New".
7. Under "Base Mode", type in a width for "Horizontal Resolution:".
8. Under "Base Mode", type in a height for "Vertical Resolution".
9. Under "Detailed Timing", change the "Display" to the same width for "Horizontal Timing".
10. Under "Detailed Timing", change the "Display" to the same height for "Vertical Timing". 
11. Select "Verify".
12. The screen will go blank for a second or two, then should show your PC environment if it is successful. If it is not, try a different custom resolution until it is or you have exhausted all options.
13. A prompt will then come up asking you to "Apply", "Save", or "Ignore" the custom resolution. Click "Apply" to immediately use the resolution, or "Save" to have it for later use. If you click "Apply" you can skip the remaining steps. If you click "Save", you can continue on...
14. Right-click on the desktop.
15. Click "Screen resolution".
16. Select the display that you want to apply the custom resolution to.
17. Click the dropdown menu for "Resolution:".
18. Select the new custom resolution size.
19. Click "Apply".
20. A prompt will appear asking if you would like to set the display to this resolution. Click "Keep changes".

Note: If the "Detailed Timings" do not work for you, use the Custom Resolution Utility (CRU) and input the resolution and refresh rate you are trying to achieve. It should then give you the correct, full, timings to input into the "Detailed Timing" sections.

This is the simplest way to go about this, and hopefully you will not have to to use CRU to fix anything. But even if you do, it is fairly intuitive and just requires you to insert all of the "Detailed Timings" as opposed to just the width and height.

For older AMD CCC drivers, use the following:

1. Right-click on desktop.
2. Select the "AMD VISION Engine Control Center".
3. Under "Information", select "Hardware".
4. Note the "2D Driver File Path".
5. Open "regedit" by searching it in the Windows button, or using WINDOWS+R and typing it in, followed by clicking "OK".
6. Go to the path you noted for the "2D Driver File Path".
7. Do not open "0000", which should be the last folder of the path, instead click on it.
8. Find "DALNonStandardModesBCD",  there may be several, select any of them.
9. At this point you can export (File>Export...) a backup of this file, which is advisable and recommended, however, you do not have to.
10. Double-click the "DALNonStandardModesBCD" file.
11. This is the tricky part. The first four numbers are just a place value and do not need to be edited. The next four numbers are the width. The next four numbers are the height. The next six numbers should be left as "00" and ignored. And the final two numbers are the refresh rate.
12. Input all the numbers for width, height, "00", and the refresh rate. Ensure that they are formatted exactly as the columns before.
13. Click "OK".
14. Restart your PC.
15. Right-click on desktop.
16. Select the "AMD VISION Engine Control Center".
17. Under "My Digital Flat-Panels" (which may be "My VGA Displays"), select "Properties".
18. Uncheck the box for "Use Extended Display Identification Data (EDID) or driver defaults".
19. Select your custom resolution from the "Maximum resolution:" dropdown menu.
20. Click "Apply".

Note: You can skip steps #16-#20 if you just want to be able to change to the custom resolution through the normal Window settings.

This is a bit more technical, but it is not too difficult if you know what you are doing. However, "playing" in the registry can cause significant issues, so do not attempt to do other things in that area unless you know what you are doing!

For Pre-13.1 CCC drivers, use the following:

1. Download AMD Downsampling GUI v0.06. 
2. Extract the files to its own folder anywhere. 
3. Open the folder. 
4. Double-click "Downsample.exe". 
5. A new window will appear, click "Erstellen". 
6. Another window should appear with a list of settings. Click the dropdown menu to view the custom resolutions available. 
7. Select the custom resolution desired. 
8. Click "OK". 
9. Click "Screen resolution". 
10. Select the display that you want to apply the custom resolution to. 
11. Click the dropdown menu for "Resolution:". 
12. Select the new custom resolution size. 
13. Click "Apply". 
14. A prompt will appear asking if you would like to set the display to this resolution. Click "Keep changes". 

 You should now be able to access your custom resolution size from either Windows or AMD CCC. There is a way to add a different custom resolution, but it will require a person to understand German, as the instructions are in German...

For 13.1+ CCC drivers, use the following: 

Install 12.9 Beta drivers, or lower.
Follow the steps outlined in the above method.
Uninstall the AMD CCC drivers, leaving the preference settings intact! 
Install the "new" drivers.

Your custom resolution sizes should still be available after the drivers installation, allowing you to change to the desired custom resolution of your choosing. But if you need more, you will have to downgrade the drivers before 

Simpler (but riskier) Alternative for 13.1+ drivers:

1. Right-click on desktop.
2. Select the "AMD Catalyst Control Center".
3. Under "Information", select "Software".
4. Follow the remaining steps for the "older AMD CCC drivers..." in the method above, starting from step #4.

The reason this is considered riskier is because you are changing registry values. If you are comfortable with that, or can follow the steps precisely, then there is little to no risk involved.

Intel 
If using a Sandy Bridge or a newer CPU architecture from Intel, without a dedicated graphics card (or with one soldered to the board), then the following will be the method to use.

There are two types of Intel setups that are possible for this, one is with the newer Intel graphics drivers, and ones with Intel HD Graphics Control Panel. The steps will be similar, and I will detail each one. Be sure that you have the correct drivers installed from Intel before proceeding.

For those with the latest or more recent Intel drivers follow whichever method applies to you:

1. Right-click on desktop.
2. Click "Graphic Properties". Alternatively, you can use CTRL+ALT+F12.
3. Select "Advanced Mode" if prompted.
4. Under "Display", click "Custom Resolutions".
5. Type in a "Refresh Rate".
6. Type in a "Width".
7. Type in a "Height".
8. Click "Apply".

1. Right-click on desktop.
2. Click "Graphic Properties". Alternatively, you can use CTRL+ALT+F12.
3. Select "Advanced Mode" if prompted.
4. Under "Display Devices", click "Custom Modes".
5. Type in a "Refresh Rate".
6. Type in a "Width".
7. Type in a "Height".
8. Click "Apply".

This is a straightforward procedure, and takes little time to implement.

For those using HD Graphics Control Panel:

1. Go to "C:\Windows\System32".
2. Find "CustomModeApp.exe", and double-click to open.
3. Type in a "Refresh Rate".
4. Type in a "Width".
5. Type in a "Height".
6. Click "Apply".

My steps for Intel methods may be slightly off since I do not have the ability to test them all, but the only questionable steps are the last few.

Now Entering Power Save Mode
That is how you can create custom screen resolutions to get the best picture out of your old monitor or TV. It is cost effective, and no one would be the wiser from just a glance.

I enjoy doing this with my external monitors, as I prefer certain resolutions over others. My large laptop is great, but I need my external monitors to be as close as possible in terms of resolution, or my brain just struggles to concentrate and focus from one screen to the next.

If you got some old monitors that need new life, this is the perfect way to do that. But again, this may not work for all monitors or TVs, or even laptops!