NVIDIA Kepler VBIOS mods - Overclocking Editions, modified clocks, voltage tweaks

[YodaGoneMad]

I realize you wanted only that one change, but the 900default_OV file in this post works quite well. If you have not tried it, you may want to give it a shot while waiting for another mod.

Thanks for the link, I had googled because I thought I had seen a 900 vBios but could not find it. I am a bit hesitant to overvolt, I really don't want to kill my card. Do you know how much it raises the voltage?

I guess I am just wondering if it basically makes boost voltage default or if it is adding even more voltage. I might try it if it is just boost voltage (since nVidia clearly thinks that is safe enough and the R3 never actually boosts) but higher and I probably won't touch it.

[johnksss]

Thanks for the link, I had googled because I thought I had seen a 900 vBios but could not find it. I am a bit hesitant to overvolt, I really don't want to kill my card. Do you know how much it raises the voltage?

I guess I am just wondering if it basically makes boost voltage default or if it is adding even more voltage. I might try it if it is just boost voltage (since nVidia clearly thinks that is safe enough and the R3 never actually boosts) but higher and I probably won't touch it.

Boost voltage? What is that in a mobile card?

The high voltage is set and the card jumps around from 0837 to what ever the max voltage is...

[YodaGoneMad]

Boost voltage? What is that in a mobile card?

The high voltage is set and the card jumps around from 0837 to what ever the max voltage is...

I read somewhere that it only hits the highest voltage while engaging boost and then all the other clocks are lower levels of that highest voltage. Since the R3 doesn't boost I am just wondering how the voltage change will effect me. Will my card be running at what would normally be the stock max voltage (boost voltage) all the time while the true highest voltage sits unused (again, since boost doesn't engage on my system it won't hit the max voltage?) or am I still going to end up running at higher voltages than even the stock boost.

[Hotjujube]

Quick question, if I use the clevo 680m vbios that is OCeditionNew, what sort of max temps would I be looking at? I'm about 77C at 100% GPU load on kombustor right now.

[johnksss]

I read somewhere that it only hits the highest voltage while engaging boost and then all the other clocks are lower levels of that highest voltage. Since the R3 doesn't boost I am just wondering how the voltage change will effect me. Will my card be running at what would normally be the stock max voltage (boost voltage) all the time while the true highest voltage sits unused (again, since boost doesn't engage on my system it won't hit the max voltage?) or am I still going to end up running at higher voltages than even the stock boost.

Posted these in another thread, but they will work here as well.

There is no working boost. One max setting and then it jumps around between 0873 and in this case. 0950

[johnconner]

if possible you should make a program for edit kepler vbios.

[Eric Johnson]

A vbios editor would be awesome. I'm assuming they're hex edited right now?

[Eric Johnson]

Is the Clevo test vbios using 1.03 voltage?

[Luscious]

Hi Luscious, are you using the 3940xm cpu?

Nope - 3920XM. Placed my order before Dell began selling the 3940XM but I'm definitely not disappointed. Getting a solid 43/43/43/43 OC with flex VID 0. And it's amazingly stable as well. I guess if I was ordering it today I'd get the 3940XM - should OC just as good.

[bigwoof]

okay. I have a M17x R4 with the 2G 680M card. This laptop has a 3D display.

I'm using the unlocked A09 bios.

I've tried all four special vbios (the base 819 Mhz version and the 3 850 Mhz versions). The performance in 3DMark 11 is not great compared to the base vbios.

I'm getting very inconsistent results. still investigating, but the base vbios with +75 for GPU core seems to do as well as all the special vbios.

should I use the unlocked A05 bios instead? as mentioned in the bios thread, the bios options for "GT overclock" are all greyed out for me. even with the unlocked bios.

Update

-------

okay. so the non-voltage increased vbios give reasonable performance (~6500 scores with no modifications).

The versions with voltage increase do not do so well (~5300 scores)

went back to the original vbios (with a +75 GPU clock raise) (~6500 score)

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

[johnksss]

Yes, try benching something other than 3dmark11. You will never get a good score because of test 1.

[bigwoof]

Yes, try benching something other than 3dmark11. You will never get a good score because of test 1.

I don't understand. how would 3Dmark 11's first test be giving different values for the various vbioses? The problem is that relatively, the over-volted vbioses do not do as well as the base 0.912V vbios.

still can't seem to get to a 7000+ score on 3dmark 11.

I can get 9000 for the Physics score. so the CPU bit seems to be okay

[sirana]

I don't understand. how would 3Dmark 11's first test be giving different values for the various vbioses? The problem is that relatively, the over-volted vbioses do not do as well as the base 0.912V vbios.

still can't seem to get to a 7000+ score on 3dmark 11.

I can get 9000 for the Physics score. so the CPU bit seems to be okay

Same here... can't get past 7000 with any overclock you could imagine, just because the card throttles like a b.... @svl7 are you still active in this thread?

[Brian]

Like @johnksss mentioned, test 1 in 3dmark 11 is what causes most of the drop in score and the throttling. For single Dell cards a slightly undervolted card would benefit the most since it appears nvidia designed a throttle scheme based on how much power the board draws.

You can test this theory by reducing your memory clock way down while keeping the core high. So it stands to reason a slightly undervolted card would fare better despite having less overclocking head room.

Keep in mind this throttling is mainly in test 1, so if you test a game with similar overclock you should see a gain in performance.

Finally it's the weekend, @svl7 is likely out enjoying it.

Sent from my GT-N7000

[sirana]

Keep in mind this throttling is mainly in test 1, so if you test a game with similar overclock you should see a gain in performance.

Finally it's the weekend, @svl7 is likely out enjoying it.

Yes I do get a small performance increase in games, but even 830/1800 is not very stable and causes under utilization for me i.e. in BF3. (CPU: i7 980 so no bottleneck)

With the MSI vbios of the other thread (default 915/2250, and overvolted) the game plays steadily at that clocks for some minutes and then the core and memory get stuck at 324. This stays also if I re-launch the 3D app and stays until I reboot.

I tried this with 306.02, 306.97, 310.33 and a 305.xx driver.

And yeah I hope svl7 is enjoying the weekend

It's just that he did not reply to several questions here in this thread while being very active in the M18x thread, hence my question.

[svl7]

All hail one of the kings of vbios editing. What up brother Slv7 and how are things coming along here?

Hehehe, thanks! I'm tinkering around whenever time allows it... bricked my card several times, and now modified it a bit as you know

Slv7, I sent you a PM regarding a asus 660m vbios. I was wondering if you could possibly able the volts a little to give us g55 users some more headroom.

There's a modified bios in the first post of this thread, the problem is flashing it... haven't found a tool which allows to flash it. I'm trying to find a way, in case you want to test an alternative flashing method let me know, but I can't guarantee anything.

svl7, if you have the time and it isn't too much trouble I would like a Dell 680m vBios with 900 base clock and no additional changes. With the R3 I have not found a way to OC with software so I have to get a vbios to OC. I am currently using your 850 base with no other changes bios and it works fine. Some people said 900 is probably stable at stock voltage so I would like to give it a shot.

Will look into this, let me know in case I forget, hahaha, too many requests around here, hard to keep track.

Quick question, if I use the clevo 680m vbios that is OCeditionNew, what sort of max temps would I be looking at? I'm about 77C at 100% GPU load on kombustor right now.

No increase, or max a very small one, voltage is the same.

Finally it's the weekend, @svl7 is likely out enjoying it.

And yeah I hope svl7 is enjoying the weekend

It's just that he did not reply to several questions here in this thread while being very active in the M18x thread, hence my question.

Hahaha, I am. I simply can't reply to all the threads... not enough time.

[sirana]

Hahaha, I am. I simply can't reply to all the threads... not enough time.

Glad to hear that!

Well could you give us a guess when you will release your updated vbios? The Clevo or MSI one?

[johnksss]

I don't understand. how would 3Dmark 11's first test be giving different values for the various vbioses? The problem is that relatively, the over-volted vbioses do not do as well as the base 0.912V vbios.

still can't seem to get to a 7000+ score on 3dmark 11.

I can get 9000 for the Physics score. so the CPU bit seems to be okay

Seems in single card mode....gpu score give far more points than physics...

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-2960XM Processor,Alienware M18xR1 score: P7793 3DMarks

[Luscious]

Well I have some good news and some bad news to share.

The good news is that I gave svl7's ROM's a try, and found the 850 base ROM the most effective - all the others either booted with the 680 at stock 719 speeds or would throttle under load. I don't have an unlocked system BIOS, and it seems that is what's holding me back, because if I could tweak the frequencies in software I know I could push it closer to 900 without throttling.

The end result is that with an easy 4.3 OC on the CPU and 850/1200 on both GPU's I was able to break 12K on 3DMark11 scoring P12,166:

Now I understand this isn't the right thread to ask this question, but I'd like to know where I can find an unlocked system BIOS for the M18xR2. Right now I'm on stock A08, but I'm thinking an unlocked A05 or A07 would work too. Can any Alienware owners with an unlocked system BIOS please fill me in on where you got it or direct me to the proper thread.

[bigwoof]

Keep in mind this throttling is mainly in test 1, so if you test a game with similar overclock you should see a gain in performance.

hmm. so test 1 makes the GPU throttle back for all subsequent tests? because I notice that the main differences are in test 2 and 3. when I compare the results breakdown between my rig and similar single card rigs.

I get 30 something FPS for test 3 (the forest scene without tesselation). but the other rigs (that score 7000+) get 40 or 50+ FPS. similar difference for test 2.

the difference for test 1 and 4 is just a few FPS.

- - - Updated - - -

Seems in single card mode....gpu score give far more points than physics...

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-2960XM Processor,Alienware M18xR1 score: P7793 3DMarks

yes. The physics score does not get weighted as much.

how did you get so high for the GPU score? what GPU clock are you using? is that the 2GB Dell version of the 680M?

also your physics score is insane! :-)

The most I managed to overclock my 2840QM to is 47x multiplier on CPU 1, 41 on CPU 2, and 40x on 3 and 4. also tweaked the turbo times to let the CPU run fast longer.

according to Intel's XTU, my max turbo boost speed is 4.747 GHz (up from 2.828 GHz). That is applying a 1 MhZ boost to the reference clock.

The 2960XM is so much faster than the 2840QM it looks like.

[johnksss]

hmm. so test 1 makes the GPU throttle back for all subsequent tests? because I notice that the main differences are in test 2 and 3. when I compare the results breakdown between my rig and similar single card rigs.

I get 30 something FPS for test 3 (the forest scene without tesselation). but the other rigs (that score 7000+) get 40 or 50+ FPS. similar difference for test 2.

the difference for test 1 and 4 is just a few FPS.

- - - Updated - - -

yes. The physics score does not get weighted as much.

how did you get so high for the GPU score? what GPU clock are you using? is that the 2GB Dell version of the 680M?

also your physics score is insane! :-)

The most I managed to overclock my 2840QM to is 47x multiplier on CPU 1, 41 on CPU 2, and 40x on 3 and 4. also tweaked the turbo times to let the CPU run fast longer.

according to Intel's XTU, my max turbo boost speed is 4.747 GHz (up from 2.828 GHz). That is applying a 1 MhZ boost to the reference clock.

The 2960XM is so much faster than the 2840QM it looks like.

That all depends on what card you use. Starting with Clevo vs Dell. Im using a Dell card

As to my over clock, not really important because you can't get the same. You can only use what works for you.

Oh yeah, you would need a xm cpu to improve on cpu test.

And my Physics score is low. they are up to like 12k now. Best I could get was 11.4

[bigwoof]

That all depends on what card you use. Starting with Clevo vs Dell. Im using a Dell card

As to my over clock, not really important because you can't get the same. You can only use what works for you.

I'm using a 2G Dell 680m as well. The problem is that nothing really seems to work. Will investigate more later.

Maybe with the A05 bios.

As mentioned previously, with the A08-dell-locked-version and A09-unlocked bios, the "GT Overclocking" options in the bios are all grayed out and non-selectable. Is that normal?

Is it locked because I have the 3D version, so the card is internally connected differently?

[RPXZ]

Hehehe, thanks! I'm tinkering around whenever time allows it... bricked my card several times, and now modified it a bit as you know

There's a modified bios in the first post of this thread, the problem is flashing it... haven't found a tool which allows to flash it. I'm trying to find a way, in case you want to test an alternative flashing method let me know, but I can't guarantee anything.

.

I see the modified bios in the first page. Let me know of the alternative methods of flashing you would like me to do. If we mess something up than so be it. That's part of what we do lol. So yes, I'm more than willing to try some other method of flashing. I know the asus community would love it, especially us G55 owners!

[bigwoof]

okay. did more testing.

using the Dell 680m - 850 base - 889 boost - OV.zip vbios.

I've set the memory to 2250 MHz (+450 Mhz) and the GPU to 980 MHz (+130 MHz). This seems to be a sweet spot for the 4G card (reading the thread started by widezu). Figured the chip itself is similar on the 2G version.

with MSI afterburner, I can see what is happening during a run of 3DMark 11 (Vantage has the same pattern as well)

The GPU temp never goes past 80C, and the utilization is 97% or higher

The Memory clock stays at 2250. However, the GPU clock keeps bouncing between 1019 (with the boost) and 255. even with a 100% utilization. so basically, the card is switching frequencies constantly from high to low. very nice saw tooth b.t.w.

The relevant lines in the afterburner log are

02, 28-10-2012 17:49:22, GPU temperature ,GPU usage ,Core clock ,Memory clock ,Memory usage

80, 28-10-2012 17:51:27, 65.000 ,67.000 ,241.693 ,2249.990 ,311.391

80, 28-10-2012 17:51:28, 67.000 ,96.000 ,1019.032 ,2249.990 ,311.391

80, 28-10-2012 17:51:29, 68.000 ,97.000 ,254.758 ,2249.990 ,311.391

80, 28-10-2012 17:51:30, 68.000 ,97.000 ,1019.032 ,2249.990 ,311.391

80, 28-10-2012 17:51:31, 69.000 ,97.000 ,254.758 ,2249.990 ,311.391

80, 28-10-2012 17:51:32, 69.000 ,97.000 ,1019.032 ,2249.990 ,311.391

80, 28-10-2012 17:51:33, 69.000 ,96.000 ,254.758 ,2249.990 ,311.391

80, 28-10-2012 17:51:34, 70.000 ,95.000 ,1019.032 ,2249.990 ,311.391

80, 28-10-2012 17:51:35, 70.000 ,96.000 ,254.758 ,2249.990 ,311.391

80, 28-10-2012 17:51:36, 70.000 ,96.000 ,1019.032 ,2249.990 ,311.391

80, 28-10-2012 17:51:37, 70.000 ,96.000 ,254.758 ,2249.990 ,311.391

tried with the latest nvidia drivers (306.97 and 310 betas) and the modded DOX 306.02.2 drivers. same pattern.

What can I do to fix this? Thanks.

Update:

--------

looks like the over-volted versions all throttle for me. The non overvolted 819 MHz version does not throttle when raised to 850 MHz. The 850 MHz over-volted version throttles immediately. Strangely, the overvolted version throttle less with the GPU set to +120 (even less than GPU set to +0). but it still throttles. could not find a sweet spot. now experimenting with the non-overvolted version

Update 2:

---------

looks like 3DMark 11 is causing the throttling. change to heaven unigine demo and that does not throttle immediately.

However, even in this case, the over-volted vbios do not perform as well (throttles with heaven as well).

So my final settings (for tonight) are the base 850 MHz vbios with standard voltage. OC to +50 MHz GPU Core and +450 MHz memory core. Gets good performance (36 FPS after scene 6 with every option set to max and 3D turned off) with no throttling shown in afterburner.

[DarkSkies]

Well I have some good news and some bad news to share.

The good news is that I gave svl7's ROM's a try, and found the 850 base ROM the most effective - all the others either booted with the 680 at stock 719 speeds or would throttle under load. I don't have an unlocked system BIOS, and it seems that is what's holding me back, because if I could tweak the frequencies in software I know I could push it closer to 900 without throttling.

Which version have you been using? Standard 850, 850 ov, or 850 ov oc (there are three). Which worked best for you?