Peter18x

@J95 damn you've finally solved it

Now I'm Alienwareless!!!! Lookin forward to my new Clevo P570WM

@Peter18x

You pushed a 1429 boost that is really high for mobile. What voltage were you running?

1.156V but it's slightly varies by every different chip.

@J95 Yeahh I think single 980m on R2 can perform better sometimes if it wants too 3DMark 11 Graphics score 16321 (Single 980m Alienware m18x R2)

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-3940XM,Alienware M18xR2

Fire Strike score 10295, Graphics score 12061 (Single 980m Alienware m18x R2)

http://www.3dmark.com/fs/3932054

@J95 Well i just installed driver with updated inf it worked fine, system restart twice no problem. But both 980ms throttles as 344.75 driver.

@J95 did you just edit your post? cosz i've tried previously posted inf. Well system restart fine no black screen. So i enable SLI and ran 3dmark11. Unfortunately cards did throttle and got blackscreen, then gettin blackscreen on every restart.

@J95 Yes, as i got 18 no optimus.

@J95 haha New Alienware is joke. Yes i've tried, it installed fine. But on restart im keep gettin black screen, i did restart 4 times but still blackscreen. Hence revert back to 347.25.

Yes, I did that but was not satisfied with the outcome seeing the memory throttled. Using my dual PSU does not really provide any value because the throttle is triggered at a power consumption level that is well within the capacity of a single 330W AC adapter. Whatever is triggering it from the BIOS or EC does not recognize that +600W of power is on tap.

I am at the point of not wanting to mess with it any more. I'm enjoying playing with my M18xR1 with 780M SLI more than I am my pride and joy R2 with 980M SLI and that is pretty sad when you stop and think about it. I'll settle down after I get my P570WM so I can enjoy owning 980M SLI. This was the worst use of $1500 that I can remember spending my money on in recent history, LOL.

haha for me it does not throttle while playin games, im happy with it Anyway Dell has just released 980m driver. Unfortunately Dell 980m driver throttles card a lots, even while playing games. I dont think there is solution for this. may be future version fix it. lol you already ordered P570WM

OK guys... the magic number for the 980M SLI in the M18xR2 is 324W. The moment you go above 324W for more than a second (maybe less) these suckers drop like a rock. Run Test 1 to 4 at 3.1GHz and it will stay at or below 324W and not throttle. I used ThrottleStop profiles for this and ran the Physics Test and Combined Test at 4.6GHz and the Combined Test stays unders 324W. With a heavy overclock on one 980M and 4.5-4.6GHz it exceeds 324W in Tests 1 to 4 without even trying hard.

lol that's what i said long time back, i quote 335W (Driver 344.75). Have you tried driver 347.25? As i noticed my dual psu power consumption went beyond 465W, at CPU 4.6Ghz and both GPU 1350Mhz. Well it did throttle memory clock. Unfortunately on second day it start throttlin GPU to 1126Mhz. (You can OC it with 347.25 driver but clocks only apply at start up. I mean first install 344.75 driver and OC GPUs as required with Evga X, select apply at start up, uninstall driver then install v347.25. Now clocks will apply at start up ).

@godfafa

@Peter18x

@mikecacho

@faritas90

I need you to test this driver, first install nvcv.inf(1) check throttling w/ GPU-Z (log), repeat tests with nvcv.inf(2). Extracting driver w/ 7-Zip -> Don't delete any driver folders <-

Run DDU (uncheck intel drivers, disable driver signing. Perform all tests w/ -> Optimus Disabled <- 3D Models included.

Stock & unlocked vBIOS too.

GeForce 344.91

@J95 Thanks for update

nvcv 1. install fine but throttle same as 344.80

nvcv 2. Black screen while installin driver. Restart system many times but blackscreen. (Stupid win 8 need recovery USB just to restart in safe mode).

- - - Updated - - -

@godfafa

@Peter18x

@mikecacho

@faritas90

I need you to test this driver, first install nvcv.inf(1) check throttling w/ GPU-Z (log), repeat tests with nvcv.inf(2). Extracting driver w/ 7-Zip -> Don't delete any driver folders <-

Run DDU (uncheck intel drivers, disable driver signing. Perform all tests w/ -> Optimus Disabled <- 3D Models included.

Stock & unlocked vBIOS too.

GeForce 344.91

@J95 Thanks for update

nvcv 1. install fine but throttle same as 344.80

nvcv 2. Black screen while installin driver. Restart system many times but blackscreen. (Stupid win 8 need recovery USB just to restart in safe mode).

Yes true!! Actually there is no dedicated servers for COD BOII and later. Haha yeah and most of time you get killed so quick, if your not hosting game.

Do not think i do that on a regular basis!

Im back to gaming on stock clocks. HAHA.

Playing Advanced Warfare right now. A game that uses pretty much all of that 8GB of video memory that most seem to think is useless.

Ahh your good at FPS games For gaming dual 980ms at stock enough.

COD AW is nice game but PC version is broken, getting lag randomly most of time.

No mobile card has unlocked voltage above 1.2 mv

I was also able to game on these cards at 1446/1453. So i gotta say that is pretty impressive in it's own right.

Edit:

yes, they all seem to do that. Even on my desktop cards. And I had 4 of them.

lol Yes impressive, i've watched your BF4 game play at 1446.

Looking good now. Some may need to raise the voltage a bit while others are stable. Something we will look into.

I think it's due to every 980m use slightly different voltage at same clock. At slightly higher voltage 980ms performs better. Unlock voltage limit upto 1250mV could help to get stable performance at very high clocks.

Hello, peter18x. yes it is related to base clock and voltage. if i increase voltage about 62.5mv, it works fine. but with my default vbios, i can boost up to 1261 mhz without any voltage increasing. but there's power limitation when gpu is fully loaded(99~100%).

Cosz stock vbios already got voltage table for specific clock. Check again with HWINFO64, run some graphically demanding game while HWINFO64 runnin in background.

Even at stock boost clock 1126 980m uses 1050mV.

hello, svl7! i'm using your vbios and tested several times.. it works great.. successfully unlocked and can access power limits and voltage control.

but sometimes directx 11 stop responding while playing the games. and suddenly nvidia driver stopped and recovered. just for me, i can't even start 3dmark tests because of the erros (some buffer and device error they said) .

this pheonomenon occurs many times and my colleagues experienced same even they didn't set graphic card to overclock (didn't change the clocks, power limit and etc.. with only bios default setting) . it is kinda unstable right now.

i newly installed nvidia drivers(344.xx drivers) and directx just in case, but same.. when i get back to my backup vbios, it goes well, and same for my colleagues.

is there anyone experince same like me and my friends? by the way, i'm always appreciate your work svl7! i'm here just give feedback to make it better:distracted:.

thank you very much for reading!

@whatsupdo7 I've not flashed this vbios yet. But i had similar issues while OCing 980m as you've experienced. I think it is related to base clock and voltage. Have you tried increasing voltage at stock @1202 clock? like 1025mv or 1050mv

**Edit**

First i would like to thank @svI7 and @johnksss for these vbios release, appreciate your time and efforts. John, now my 980ms can able to go beyond 1350, due to unlocked power slider. Actually i've noticed that at stock clock 1202, all games (COD AW, AC Unity, Crysis 3 or BF4)i've tried to play so far crashed after few seconds of game play, dark screen system freezes. I think it is due to low voltage 1V at higher clock. First i've increased voltage to 1025mV, BF4 worked fine for about 25 sec. then black screen. Increased voltage to 1050mV everything else at stock. Now i can play all games without any issue. Played BF4 for about 20min no problem. I think 1000mV is not enough for 1202 core clock, it should be 1050mV. Here is my BF4 game play @1202 and 1050mV.

Well done. I meant 4.0x4 and VID @ 0 or 10, but it won't take long...had enough 4.4GHz issues, not more.

Thanks!! it kills my CPU performance. I will need to wait for my dual PSU mod. to unleash full potential of my system.

So you found a way too keep them stable...still unacceptable...

lol here you go

What happened if you dont update windows but OC CPU to more than that extent?

System will not get enough power to perform task, it will slow down either CPU or GPUs. If your using ThrottlStop then it will slow down GPUs.

@J95 thanks for inf mod.

Actually from my experience with 980m SLI from past few day on throttle issue of Alienware m18x R2.

There are two reasons, noticed so far.

1) After windows update, it may change system files and causing this throttle problem.

2) Power throttle, if you kept CPU below 4.0x4 and VID @ 0 or 10. Than GPUs will not throttle.

There is no CPU or GPUs throttle from past 3 days.

@godfafa @J95 Windows 7 using UEFI bootable USB will not work, when you disabled load legacy option rom. It will freeze at windows logo, already tried it yesterday. You will need Win 8 when legaxy rom disabled.

Well im not sure but im goin to try it now, just makin win 7 UEFI USB and Win 8.1 just for back up:)

So all we have to do is use Windows 8.1 and UEFI boot and it will work ås plug and play with any Alienware machines?!

OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG

OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG

OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG

OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG

OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG

OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG

OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG

OMG OMG OMG OMG

OMG OMG OMG

OMG OMG

OMG

OMG

Thanks for the testing and the good news gofata. That nobody saw this easy method is all in the past.

Off to get me one of those Alienware 18 machines and upgrading the GPU

Peterx, you should confirm it working in AW18 as well. That would help greatly and be a final confirmation

lalalal whtaa i dont have Aw18 thank god. I got my lovely M18x R2 and this baby gona love New cards now hopefully!!

@godfafa you can install win 7 using UEFI, check this out UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) - Install Windows 7 with - Windows 7 Help Forums

I believe im goin to offline for about 1 hour now

Damn Good job @godfafa, really appreciate your work. I believe Mr.Fox first trick about UEFI was correct. were dumb couldnt figure it out. Thanks for detailed info. Actually im not fan of win8 but got to used to with it.