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Alienware M18x-R1 + 680M SLI


Brian

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Have you tried changing this in the driver global profile using NVIDIA Inspector instead of the NV Control Panel? Might not change anything, but couldn't hurt to see what happens.
I think that just stops fluctuations due to gpu load which are intended.
It did help with my issue if you recall Brian I mentioned on NBR that some games didn't fully utilize the gpu therefore the gpu clock didn't fully increase to what I overclocked to with Nvidia inspector, the power management trick helped with that. As to whether it prevents throttling at clocks higher than 854mhz I am not sure, but it sure helps keep my gpus fully stable at 854/2000 with no downclocking during gaming and 3dmark11.

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What @littleone562 said is correct, it does what it says: maximizes clocks and doesn't drop them down during lower utilization as much. The throttling experienced while overclocking is completely different and has been explained several times now why it happens.

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What @littleone562 said is correct, it does what it says: maximizes clocks and doesn't drop them down during lower utilization as much. The throttling experienced while overclocking is completely different and has been explained several times now why it happens.

so any chance nvidia release something like 685m? just like 680m review from techinferno? since this card has so much potential it would only make sense they do that. unless of course nvidia is planning carrying this card over to the next gen again, like 580m to 675m, which would be retarded then at that time release a 680m but with higher clocked and name it something else.

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ALL 680M cards will throttle when in SLI whether they are Dell or Clevo or if they're in R1 or R2. They all have this power throttle mechanism built into the vbios and currently there is no way to circumvent it. Unless @svl7 or someone else figures out the power tables for these cards and how to get around the limit, they will continue to cycle after +135 core (or a bit higher) and 2200+ memory. They still OC decently out of the box but there is still a LOT of untapped potential there that is artificially limited by nVidia.
Well, it's sounds like this would only be an issue for people competing for first place benchmark scores. If it performs extremely well and games as beautifully as NVIDIA cards are famous for doing, holding one of the top spots on a leader board probably is not going to be a big deal to most people. Other than one odd duck pair of 7970M cards (owned by Riri-Fifi) it seems that the 680M SLI still slightly edges out 7970M CF in overclocked benchmark scores even with the limitation.
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Well, it's sounds like this would only be an issue for people competing for first place benchmark scores. If it performs extremely well and games as beautifully as NVIDIA cards are famous for doing, holding one of the top spots on a leader board probably is not going to be a big deal to most people. Other than one odd duck pair of 7970M cards (owned by Riri-Fifi) it seems that the 680M SLI still slightly edges out 7970M CF in overclocked benchmark scores even with the limitation.

Yeah its mainly a benchmark limitation. For practical purposes, a +135 mhz overclock is more than enough for all games out there.

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Yeah its mainly a benchmark limitation. For practical purposes, a +135 mhz overclock is more than enough for all games out there.

Brian I have my VRAM running at 2000 MHz but I am not sure if it's pushing it or not. What do you think? It seems stable so far but I am worried about artifacts as I saw some at 2100 and I don't want to damage any VRAM sectors.

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Great guide and write up Brian! The inability to overclock over +135mhz seems unimportant to me. I see so many problems on my system with 7970m I cant accomplish much without having gone through crashing. Maybe i got bad batch but no driver has fixed it and its always on stock since they have never been working right for me. 680m is seeming to me like a refined supercar and 7970m car that has a supercar engine but a shoddy frame and transmission. It could go as fast as it wants but until it goes through a transformation its all it will be... a fast car that handles poorly. Sad thing is some of them seem to be just fine like SVL7's in his M15x. He hasn't experienced any of the troubles me and MrFox are going through. It shouldn't be such a gamble as to each card being as dependable as the next. Its not like the performance isnt there for AMD... But geez i just want to be able to play my games at this point. Atleast 680m SLI or not can play all the games I used to be able to play.

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  • 1 month later...
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Got my new cards and did some testing with various clocks. I've found that having a lower core tends to yield better scores due to nvidia's throttling scheme. Hopefully @svl7 can cook up a better vbios for me soon. Anyway, so far I got a bit over 13k: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-2920XM Processor,Alienware M18xR1 score: P11583 3DMarks

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What clocks were you using to get this?

To be honest, it's only one test out of all the benchmarks and games together. test 1 of 3dmark11. Get past that and your fine.

Core was 893 and memory 1080. BTW got any recommendations for CPU settings to get above 10k?

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Which vbios are you using as well?

As to your low physics score. It says you are running at 4.3 ghz, but I just ran one at 3.3 ghz and it's just as high as yours. So it appears you are stuttering in this test as well.

To much voltage can cause this.

Edit:

That was 3.6 ghz

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When you run that test, it should finish above 30.0 fps for you to even be in the 10k range. And it has to be 3dmark11 64 bit and not 32 bit.

You should look like this or close to it.

testingcpu.th.jpg

Its definitely the 64 bit version and its pulling 29 fps in physics. Seems I just need to tweak the priplane + power limits a bit more.

Brian 85watt long and 900 priplane wont get you there. What do you get at 99long and 1200priplane?

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Yeah I figured as much.

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Goal is to get 13.4k over all

Goal is to get 15.2k gpu

Goal is also to get 12k Physics...

It's allot of goals involved....but it's best to take baby steps first...:)

This is just to show what can be ran on test one. Im using 32 bit because as we all know 64 bit wont show on screen display. It shows 62, but in reality it's 68-69.

3dmark11workload1201210.th.jpg

3dmark11workload1201210.th.jpg

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I think I need to undervolt both cards as well. An additional problem is that the Clevo cards have 4 GB so they make terrible benchmark cards due to the additional power draw. I'm sure they pull ahead in real world gaming when AA + high res are packed on but in synthetics they fall behind thanks to nVidia's throttling. Also keep in mind I'm not using any external cooling, the M18x is sitting on top of my desk so adding on flex brings teh temps to 90C quick.

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I have an idea that might let me use the leaked MSI FD vbios in SLI. Going to test it out, will report back here soon..if it works it should unleash these 680s completely.

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Hummm, I tried that bios...all they did was throttle even harder.....but maybe i missed something.

Side note:

Im doing this testing at a dental office on a glass table. So no a/c here.

That vbios doesn't work for Dell cards that's why. Well it works as in you can use it but doesn't stop the throttling.

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Well, it looks like we are only hindered in one thing... 3dmark11 test 1

Try running your highest clocks on test 2, 3 and 4 or to go quicker...Just test 3. You should be able to walk all over your previous score. and you don't need cpu speed to do it. So set cpu to like 3.3 ghz and run test.

testinggpu.th.jpg

Also, didn't you try that vbios on your first 680m sli setup using both clevo cards? Per first post.

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Well, it looks like we are only hindered in one thing... 3dmark11 test 1

Try running your highest clocks on test 2, 3 and 4 or to go quicker...Just test 3. You should be able to walk all over your previous score. and you don't need cpu speed to do it. So set cpu to like 3.3 ghz and run test.

testinggpu.th.jpg

Exactly when all is said and done on gpu then add cpu and adjust. Only enthusiasts bench at a Dentists office. :P cheers. AMD likes to hang on test 1 also it must be really hard on the gpu.

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Well, it looks like we are only hindered in one thing... 3dmark11 test 1

Try running your highest clocks on test 2, 3 and 4 or to go quicker...Just test 3. You should be able to walk all over your previous score. and you don't need cpu speed to do it. So set cpu to like 3.3 ghz and run test.

testinggpu.th.jpg

Also, didn't you try that vbios on your first 680m sli setup using both clevo cards? Per first post.

Yeah I noticed test 1 is where most of the FPS were dropping out which sucks. I'm still not getting over 9k physics, what settings are you using for the [email protected] ghz? Anyway the idea to get the MSI FD vbios to work in SLI didn't pan out, I was going to use HyperSLI to try to force it on but no go..ah well.

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