Robbo

Thanks for the reply, but what is the maximum safest voltage. Im going to shoot up to 1.1v, but if I overclock 1 card, the overclocking is stable, if I overclock both cards, the system crash almost instantly.

I guess if i want to game on battery ( I play dota2, not a demanding game) I have to lower frequency of the gpu.

As Ethrem says, you can damage your battery if the cards aren't downclocking when gaming on battery - I think you should check this like I suggested in my prior response to you. If you want to game on battery you should lower your clocks - probably below the stock frequency of the cards. Have a google around to see what other sli notebooks clock down to on battery for a reference (765M sli).

1.1V should be OK & safe for you, the stock voltage for those cards is 1V, and some 750M's operate at up to 1.156V, but I wouldn't go above 1.1V if I was you - make sure temperatures are below 90 degC, hopefully below 80 degC though for some extra feeling of safety. Regarding your crashing, you'll just have to run your cards at a voltage & Mhz that is stable for the slowest card (worst overclocker). (Even at 1.1V I don't think you'll overload your 330W adapter as those 765M cards are little chips and 'only' have 768 cores per card, but you might be close to overloading your adapter if you run an unlocked high performance CPU with a heavy overclock (a chip like Ethrem's 4940MX for example)).

With respect to my previous post, I pumped my voltage to 1.05 and I managed to pump my gpu by +300Mhz and memory clock by 850Mhz, but the problem is whenever I apply those settings to my secondary gpu, hell goes loose and system becomes very unstable. My alienware power supply can provide 330W at max. The only problem with this bios is when I keep default stock settings, my games run smoothly on battery then of all the sudden they drop to 10~ fps and sometimes system crash. I guess there is an issue with p-states but Im afraid I cant fix it. If somebody owns an Alienware 18 with a pair of 765m GTX, please share!

The crashing happening on battery might be due to the cards overloading the battery - the battery can't supply the necessary current. I'm not entirely sure, but I think svl7's vBIOS doesn't allow for the GPU's to throttle to lower clocks when gaming on battery - this would overload your battery & could cause it to shut down. To test my theory you can use GPUz or other GPU monitoring tool to monitor your GPU clocks when gaming on battery to see what's going on. Gaming on battery is not really feasible anyway, with the stock Dell vBIOS the cards will be throttled & performance will be awful, as will battery life, gaming on outlet is really the only way to go with serious gaming laptops.

Referring to your 1st point, about system instability with your overclock on your second GPU - I just think your overclock is unstable, either more voltage required or less Mhz. If it's your memory overclock that's proving it to be unstable, then increasing the voltage won't help - the adjustable voltage only applies to the core. (I think a 330W adapter is enough for 765M sli, even when heavily overclocked.)

thanks robbo i find you posts very useful, i am trying to download the modded vbios files now that i am ready but i am not able to ..so do i need the T I elite membership?

You just need 5 posts and then you can download. You should be able to download now, considering you've got 7 posts, perhaps the admins have to approve all of your 1st 5 posts before you can download. You'll probably be able to download the next time you log in.

Congrats on the new machine! I don't know about your BIOS question, there's a specific A17 owners lounge over on NBR forums where there might be some info. AS for benchmarking programs or similar for checking to make sure temperatures are good & also to check you aren't getting any throttling then I would recommend the following:

1) GPUz for GPU temperature & clock monitoring: when in the 'Sensor' tab you can increase the size of the window to see a large history of temperature measurements (change monitoring interval to 2sec too, which allows for a greater time frame of info to be displayed too).

2) Run Unigine Heaven Benchmark. It provides a 100% GPU load, but a realistic gaming type load, and it runs on a loop too which is great for temperature & stability testing. Run that for 20mins while having GPUz running in the background. After the 20min run is complete, exit the Heaven program & go look at your sensor graphs in GPUz - you should see a stable temperature, and a stable Mhz clock on both your Core & Memory. Check that the core & memory frequency that you see in the graph is the correct advertised figure for that card - ie not dropping clocks & throttling.

Yeah, don't get suckered into overclocking those 880M's now you've finally got a working pair! If it ain't broke, don't fix it! sli 880M is gonna chew through pretty much everything at stock clocks. Even if you do manage to get a gameable overclock, you're gonna get probably less than 10% improvement in game performance - not really worth the hassle.

thanks robbo i find you posts very useful, i am trying to download the modded vbios files now that i am ready but i am not able to ..so do i need the T I elite membership?

You should be able to download them fine now, as you have at least 5 posts. (possible that maybe the admins have to 'verify' your posts though before you're able to download)

- - - Updated - - -

@Ethrem, looks like you're sorted now with your 880M's, looks like they're finally working as they should - you've had a load of problems with them, but seems fine now, with pretty good temperatures too. Looks like you'll finally be able to enjoy them, and not have any buyer's regret! One thing I would say is be careful with your overclocking efforts - I think I read that if your cards crash a certain number of times during your testing to establish a maximum overclock it can then hamstring your cards to a lower performance (like some kind of flag is set - a weird quirk of the 880M) - so maybe best not to try any overclocking with them.

Thanks robbo for your prompt reply ... After flashing the vbios we will get the performance boost or do we still need to tweak the gpu with some sort of software

And can i revert to the stock vbios if for some reason the modded vbios don't work out for me.

Thanks

To get more performance from your GPU you would need to overclock - all the modded vBIOS on here run at stock clocks (although some of them run at max boost clocks as default). Either way, the overclocking limits of +135Mhz on the core have been removed, so you can overclock further with these vBIOS if stability allows. I recommend NVidia Inspector for your overclocking efforts. Yes, you can revert back to stock vBIOS, just make sure you do a backup of your existing stock vBIOS. Instructions on how to do this & how to flash a modified vBIOS are listed in a link in the first post of this thread.

hi,

i am new to the forums and would like to use the modded vbios for the required performance boost... i have an alienware m18x r2 with gtx 680m 2gb sli installed , now that i have backed up my stock vbios i am almost ready to flash the modded vbois but i couldn't tell which version to flash ...please could anyone suggest me a version which works best for my specification in gpu z i can see the bios version to be 80.04.5b.00.02.

after the flashing of vbios do i have to use the modded nvidia drivers or the stock ones from the website will work just fine.

sorry in advance if you find my questions noobish ,, i have hit the search button but couldn't find any relevant information

really appreciate any help

If I was you I'd use this one: Dell 680m - 80.04.5B.00.02_'OCedition'_revised_00.zip. That's listed on the first page of this thread, it's the same vBIOS code as yours. You can use stock NVidia drivers from their website.

no its a alienware 17 and i bought a new 330w for it cause it drains 280w+ if i overclock the 4910 + 880m but the 330w shutdown when i benchmark instantly like on the first 2 second when it starts and laptop running on battery

Is it not a limitation of the motherboard, there might be a cap to the maximum current that can be drawn through the motherboard. If that's the case, then perhaps the 330W adapter allows extra overhead to allow a quick spike of current that overloads the motherboard and results in your immediate shutdown - which you might not see with the 240W adapter (as that might not provide high enough peak current spikes to trip the motherboard).

The video is captured at a low GPU clock speed and only 4.3GHz on CPU. Also notice low TDP and low GPU utilization (mostly 50% or less) in the combined test. The main problem is the benchmark is a sloppy piece of software.

Ah, there lies the comparitively low score in the combined test then, praps the CPU is bottlenecking the GPU's in that particular test.

That's interesting Mr Fox, I watched the video to compare frame rates with you. Of course you stomped all over mine in all the tests, all apart from the 'Combined' test. You were getting in the region of 80fps there. When I run that test I get 55-65fps I'm surprised you didn't get higher than your 80 fps in that particular test - what do you reckon is the cause of that?

Here's my scores for the sky diver run, for a laugh!

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670MX video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-2630QM Processor,Alienware M17xR3

driver not response soon i start to run 3dmarrk11. I oc click +50 and mem + 400 only with mod bios. Any idead why?

pebcak

(overclock unstable: more volts or lower core Mhz, or lower memory Mhz, voltage setting does not affect memory stability but just affects the core).

Hi guys, been a lurker here for a while. I have a M18xR2 (680m SLI) and the Alienware 18 (780m SLI). I flashed using the vbios mods for both the 680m and 780m and have noticed the same issue on both laptops: resolution/refresh rate combinations disappear and cannot be utilized.

I have a 144hz monitor (BenQ XL2420Z) and I have it connected via the mini-DP port in both laptops. When everything works properly, I can use any res on the monitor at any of it's refresh rates (144, 120, or 100Hz.)

• I am not exactly sure if this problem would have occurred even without flashing the BIOS, but I can only use very specific drivers for the 680m setup now (314.22)-- most others (even with the modded INF) causes resolutions to be missing and refresh rate issues.
  
• I cannot add the missing resolutions/refresh rates via the custom option in the drivers either-- it's almost like they dont exist.
  
• Same thing happens with the 780m setup, except I can't find ANY drivers that work properly.
  
• Another quirk is that the list of resolutions/refresh rates available change randomly with restarts, closing the laptop lid, re-plugging in the mini-DP cable, etc. In other words, something is clearly not compatible but I can't figure out what.
  

Steps taken:

• As I mentioned, I already tried modding the INF files. Is there somewhere I can find the original vBios for both the 680m and 780m that comes with the Alienware laptops? [Edit: looks like Video Bios Collection | techPowerUp could be a resource.]
  
• I had backed up my original bios for the 780m and actually flashed back to it-- same issues occurred. Note: clock settings stayed overclocked after I flashed back-- is this normal? The splash screen when you boot up is now gone though.
  
• I have also ordered another DP to mini-DP cable, as well as a Dual DVI to mini-DP adapter which I will try, in case it is a cable issue (but it wouldn't make sense why the resolutions appear properly for any drivers then.) Any help would be appreciated!
  

Do you guys have any other suggestions? Thanks in advance!

All I can add that it's not JUST a problem with the latest drivers. I use a custom refresh rate on my monitor using 'create custom resolution' in the NVidia control panel (on my laptop internal panel), and don't have any issues with the latest drivers. So, it's something specific with your machine, maybe combined with the latest drivers too. It's a confusing one!

Hi im new to the forum and have been ocing for a little while but havnt dealt with vbios flashes alot. my question is i have an alienware 18(2013) with gtx770m sli can i use the gtx770m oc edition with my setup or is that for a specific setup because i do not see a dell gtx770m vbios

There is a vBIOS that's been made directly from your vBIOS for the 770M's in the A18. Here's the link to it:

http://forum.techinferno.com/attachments/general-notebook-discussions/9662d1385260004-dell-770m-80.06.60.00.01_oc-edition-rev02.zip

It happens to be located in post #81 of this thread:

http://forum.techinferno.com/general-notebook-discussions/4635-bios-vbios-modification-request-thread-svl7-9.html

I was only able to find it for you because I remembered the user who had initially requested the mod, that file is not listed on the first page of this thread (unless svl7 moved it up there recently).

You need 3 more posts before you're able to download (5 post minimum)

That's pretty cool then, having the 330W adapter. A lot of manufacturers skimp on the power supply - hello MSI and their ridiculous NOS system!

Good result deadsmiley, what was your limited score with the 240W?

How are your temps on the 670MX? I have a Clevo P370EM with 670MX running in SLI. I am currently at 1050/1150 CPU/MEM at 1.025 and running about 75-77 degrees while gaming. Currently I get around 8350 on Firestrike graphics and 12600 on 3dmark11 graphics.

svl7 hasn't done the 1.1V mod that I requested in the post that you quoted, but I am using his 1.05V version. Now being summer in the UK at my max overclock for gaming & benchmarking of 1124Mhz at 1.05V (1150Mhz on the VRAM), 26 degC room temperature and 69 degC GPU core temperature max. I think your temperatures are good, under 80 degC is good in my opinion.

I'm using stock 680M SLi ROM (80.04.33.00.10) in my NP9370 and the Voltage is 0.837 V, what would change if I use the custom Clevo 680m - 80.04.33.00.10_'OCedition'_revised_01 - OV 1000v?

What this higher Voltage would help me in? Would Performance in-game be better? Any chance of it harm my notebook?

Not sure why these questions keep popping up, it's just 'overvolting & overclocking' - look that up with Google to learn about it.

Hi!

Just bought used MSI GT70 with GTX780M. And of course I want to unlock that VBIOS for some overclocking but not sure which bios to use?

There's so many to choose from! There's the plethora of 680M vBIOS and then there's the 880M, and the 860M too, but for maximum compatibility I would recommend the sole 780M vBIOS! You might want to google if there's been any incompatibilities using the 780M vBIOS with your particular laptop model though, but I don't think you need to google for compatibility for the other vBiOS's! ;-)

- - - Updated - - -

Yeah I slapped it together pretty quickly but my reasoning for finding the stable overclock together is because of those cases where you actually take a performance hit from overclocking the memory as opposed to increasing the core. I guess for the sake of being simple, doing them together works best (and that's what I usually do, I am impatient though).

Yeah, for your 880M that might be limited by heat development (in some laptops), then possible you can get better gains by just overclocking the memory & not running a maximal core overclock - especially if the game is bandwidth limited. For the 680M though (the card the OP has), I reckon you'd get maximum return from maximising your core overclock.

Dump AfterBurner for nVidia Inspector as a first move, then increase core in small increments until it crashes or freezes, then back that off by about 10-15MHz and you have your core clock.

Do the same thing with the memory but I would knock 25-50MHz off your max overclock that you achieve on the memory. While a core overclock is unlikely to kill a card, a memory overclock is an entirely different story.

If your thermals allow, you can use the voltage sliders to increase voltage to the cards and push them further. Definitely use something like HWMonitor or HWINFO64 to track your temperatures.

Whatever you do to the primary card, choose the second card in the dropdown box and apply the same settings.

Once you find a stable overclock that you're happy with, save the Inspector profile to your desktop and you can apply it any time you want from that shortcut.

AfterBurner and Precision X have random issues on systems while nVidia Inspector is generally quite stable, hence my recommendation to use that instead.

Every card is different, hence why you have to find the overclock on your own. Also when you are testing for your maximum overclock, it is best to set the other back to its base setting (so if you are overclocking the memory, put the core back to stock), find your max overclock for the other then work on finding their maximum stable point together.

That sounds like good advice to me! Although, once you've found your max stable core clock, then I'd personally leave the core clock at max stable overclock when working out your max stable memory overclock. Possible that a high core overclock might limit the memory clock, and because you probably want to maximise your core overclock to maximise performance then you may as well have core overclock present went determining your memory overclock. I'll also add that any voltage increases you apply in software are only applicable to the core, it will not change the voltage of the memory modules, therefore increasing voltage will only increase your core overclock & won't increase the highest stable memory overclock.

Ah, I see, others have experienced the Clevo heatsink to be not flat. Well, it looks like you did a good job of making it flat - what with your gaming temperatures dropping from the 80's to the 60's (in that thread you linked)! That's one bendy heatsink (or was)!

Deadsmiley, you asked about the surface finish of Alienware GPU heatsinks. The one on mine is a matt surface (but free from any big grooves), so it's not a mirror finish, but I don't think any laptop heatsinks have a mirror finish. When you say you were just trying to make your heatsink 'flat' by polishing it, you mean smoother rather than flat don't you? I guess your heatsink was sitting 'flat' on your GPU core before the polishing, and the polishing was just to get a smoother surface with less minute imperfections right?

@deadsmiley, that's a good result! So, how much did your heatsink smoothing & mx4 paste lower temperatures by? If you've done a like for like comparison at the same overclock or at stock - what are the temperature differences before & after? Would be interesting to know just how much difference the heatsink smoothing/spring bending/mx4 made. (Although can't ascertain which one of those 3 things made the most difference, might just have been a bad paste job before).

Well I just cleaned my heatsinks, so much dust...haha solved the problem on 3.31 I am back to 12650 gpu score on 3dmark11, however when I updated to 3.37 it went down to 11500 for throttling over 87, its annoying because of my fan profile, the slave gpu is a bit hotter on the p370em but average around 82-85 when gaming for a longtime, but the fan doesn't kick on to high until 93 so in benchmarks it throttles it on the newest driver...I just ordered new P375EM heatsinks, hopefully should solve problem.

Cool, or try using a 3rd party tool to set up custom fan profiles, like HWInfo64 for instance. That way you might be able to keep below the 87 degC throttling point. Just be careful & certain that your applied profiles are working properly because I've heard of stories where fans have been accidentally disabled using HWInfo and then GPUs burning out etc.

Hi,

Ok , I Understood you post . there is Two main point

1)Return to Dell saying that it's just stopped working (without providing the details!). --- This is already in Process

2)Some independent computer shops can flash vBIOS to cards. ---- This is my Second option.

Thanks.

Hi, that's ok, that's right, and someone else also mentioned a soldering option, but that seems risky unless you know what you're doing & have the tools. If I was you I would have investigated the cost & effort of Point #2 you listed, and then if that proved too expensive/unworkable then I would have pursued Point #1. Don't tell them you flashed a modified vBIOS though - not the Dell guys! But...if they ask you if you flashed a modified vBIOS, then that's your call what you tell them.