Leaderboard

So you've got hold of a 4GB version of a GTX 680m, figured out how to flash the vbios and it runs well. However, there are some things missing such as GPU boost and the ability to actually install drivers easily. Perhaps you are reluctant to run a vbios that ups to voltage to 1.037v. This thread aims to have everyone owning a 4GB GTX 680m get the most out of their GPU including enabling a GPU boost hack. This is not an overkill thread, but more about getting things working well with a good performance, quality and stability improvement over stock. There will be no crazy high voltages so everything should be safe short and long term however I take no responsibility for burnt or bricked cards. Please proceed at your own risk, there will be vbios flashing. First of all, the GTX 680m is similar to the desktop GTX 670 but severely downclocked. By OC'ing, one can get the core speed up to speed and beyond but clocking the memory @3Ghz (6GHz effective) in an attempt to reach its 192GBit/s bandwidth is very risky and likely dangerous. However, if the memory is clocked to 2250 (4.5Ghz effective) then the bandwidth is identical to that of the GTX 660 Ti @144GBit/s. Both desktop GPUs have the same base and boost clock at 915Mhz and 980Mhz respectively. This brings me to the vbios. Kindly created by master hex maestro svl7. The vbios (attached below) clocks in @915/1125(2250)Mhz exactly the same as that which I mentioned above. Those specific clocks are also what makes the GPU boost work well (I'll get to that later). The vbios is engineered from the MSI ES(FD) vbios and has a voltage of 1.025v and settles @1.0v during constant load. Not amazingly(potentially dangerously) high but there is still plenty of headroom for overclocking. Flash this, and verify with GPUz. Of course the memory clock can be anything but I chose 1125 as they are nice and neat as well as offering a mild but significant boost in performance. Next, drivers. The recent nvidia drivers are great but digging deep into the source code, we find that there are image quality hacks that trade image quality for performance. Plus some drivers just plain won't install if the GTX 680m is an aftermarket upgrade on unsupported mobos. These drivers are winners though: http://files.laptopvideo2go.com/Dox/geforce306.02.2-modded.exe Modded by the infamous Dox, all hacks are removed, quality is optimsed and support for all nvidia devices is included and should install without a hitch on any system. Drivers are uber stable but not great benchers as image quality is improved at some cost to performance. but I'd happily trade performance for decent quality and stability and use another driver to bench. And finally, enabling GPU boost. This method is not actually GPU boost but it functions in exactly the same way, call it "fake" GPU boost. What we need to do is to download Nvidia Inspector: NVIDIA Inspector 1.9.6.6 download from Guru3D.com Put that in a safe place and run it, allow overclocking and set the base offset to +65 to achieve 980Mhz, the same as the desktop cards. Now some of you may think that this is plain overclocking however, this is not the case. After applying the clocks (keep Inspector open), run a mild to moderately intensive GPU task such as playing HD video or opening the settings dialogue of Furmark (but not starting any test yet) and you will see that the clocks will still show 914.5Mhz. Start a game or Furmark and that will jump to 980Mhz similar to GPU Boost. Now click on "Create clocks shortcut" and a new shortcut should appear on the desktop. Drag that to your "Startup" folder in the Start menu and Fake GPU Boost should be enabled on every restart without any user input needed. I tested other base clock speeds ranging from 900Mhz up to 1000Mhz and and every boost clock speed from +1 to +100 and 915 -> 980 was the only combination that worked. Most other base clock speeds would always change to 928Mhz and without the 915Mhz baseclock, all other fake boost clock offsets would go to 966Mhz unless I went way beyond 1Ghz which I don't recommend anyway. Either it was coincidence that those clock speeds are identical to the desktop ones or that they are the only clocks that work on the GK104 which is why nvidia set them to the desktop ones in the first place. Please report back if you have any issues. I've only tested this myself but it should apply to all 4GB GTX 680m users. EDIT by svl7: Vbios is outdated, grab the latest one here: http://forum.techinferno.com/general-notebook-discussions/1847-nvidia-kepler-vbios-mods-overclocking-editions-modified-clocks-voltage-tweaks.html

. Read this link before continuing: http://forum.techinferno.com/alienware/2252-information-about-bios-updates-a07-a08-higher-m14xr2-m17xr4-m18xr2.html M17x R4 and M18x R2 users already have the possibility to further tweak their systems with the help of a modified bios... so let's not forget about the M14x R2 users Dell has hidden a lot of options in the BIOS of the Alienware M14x R2, the modified BIOS versions here will show you all the hidden menus and allow you to further tweak your system and optimize its performance. Don't change anything you're not familiar with. There might be functions available which don't work on your system, so use this BIOS with care. It should only be used by advanced users. In case you mess up and your system refuses to boot after applying the changes you make, remove the AC adapter, battery and coin cell battery in order to clear the non-volatile ram of the BIOS. This should fix most issues. Believe it or not, creating such mods is rather time-consuming. If you appreciated this work feel free to buy me a beer * Donate * Download links for the unlocked M14x R2 BIOS versions: M14x_R2_BIOS_A03_-_[unlocked].zip Here some pictures of the most interesting options and menus. Thanks @Mehtaparth94 for providing the pictures! ********* Flash and use at your own risk. I don't take any responsibility for any possible damages on your system. ___ M14x_R2_BIOS_A03_-_[unlocked].zip

Thanks a lot ! Will def try that ASAP ! Great to read also +rep dude!

If someone uploads me the 16F3 BIOS without a password I will unlock it for you. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ MS-1762 w/ XMP stuff, Vt-d, etc is finished. Need testers for the MS-1762 barebone. Send me a PM if you are interested. If this is confirmed working, then I will work on GT60 and GT70 notebooks. Also, 3rd-gen MSI-G with XM CPU can OC via multipliers! Another point: any GE60 / GE70 people interested? ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ FYI -- Thanks guys, appreciate all the good words you put in. Just as a reminder for next time, if you like my work just hit the 'Thanks button' on the bottom left of the post. Most of these 'thanks posts' will be deleted as it makes finding relevant information about troubleshooting and discussing the BIOS more difficult. Some of you are using it to bump your post counts so that you can reach five posts faster. Warning: this will not be tolerated. Your posts will be deleted and you will be handed an infraction. P.S.: You also don't have to tell me when you are going to flash the BIOS. Tell me when you do it, I love feedback. You don't have to tell me you're about to do it; that's completely unnecessary. Those posts will be cleaned up as well, especially if you are below the 5 post count. Senior members/Elite members don't worry. This is mostly for the newcomers. Thanks.