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880m problem on Alienware M17x - cannot boost to 993MHz


ted2033

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The problem is a little weird. When I play video games like battlefield 4 or Crysis 3, the video card only operates on 954MHz, which is the default clock. However, without manual overclock, 880m should boost automatically to 993MHz. On the other hand, when I played under window mode for battlefield 4, I pressed Alt + Tab, and 880m just boosted to 993MHz. Anyone can help me with this? Should I flash the Vbios? Thank you for your help!:Banane10:

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Sounds like he's not hitting the targeted clock speed when running a game in fullscreen. I might be completely wrong but perhaps "running as administrator" might help. Again, I don't know much about these things. I do however, hope you'd use HWmonitor or GPUz in the background as they have a time-based graph of your clockspeed.

Hope this helps

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  • 2 weeks later...
Use Hwinfo to monitor and report back, better yet use MSI After burn, I didnt quite well understand your question, I guess you mean u r card is always running at max clock?

I mean it seldom runs at the automatically boosted clock.

- - - Updated - - -

Sounds like he's not hitting the targeted clock speed when running a game in fullscreen. I might be completely wrong but perhaps "running as administrator" might help. Again, I don't know much about these things. I do however, hope you'd use HWmonitor or GPUz in the background as they have a time-based graph of your clockspeed.

Hope this helps

Yes, thats what I mean. I have tried the GPU-Z, but I never try HWmonitor. So I will try it ASAP!

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Thank you for your help! I have tried the kepler vbios, the clock limit is removed. However, the temperature becomes uncontrollable. It just goes straight to 93 degree limit and the clock is forced to be reduced.

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Is this a new Alienware 17 or an M17x that has been upgraded with an aftermarket 880M?

If it is a new Alienware 17, depending on what system BIOS you have, your fans may not be functioning correctly. The last two system BIOS allow for manual controls using HWiNFO64. I recommend using this tool instead of the others mentioned. It's superior in every way and has more features.

You can manually set the CPU and GPU fans to run up to full blast, or create a custom profile for preset fan speeds based on temps. If doing that you are still getting high temps, you will need to replace the thermal paste. If your is a new Haswell machine, the CPU is always going to run hotter than it should because that is inherent to Haswell, but using an extraordinarily excellent thermal paste like Liquid Ultra will tame that crazy Haswell blast furnace.

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Is this a new Alienware 17 or an M17x that has been upgraded with an aftermarket 880M?

If it is a new Alienware 17, depending on what system BIOS you have, your fans may not be functioning correctly. The last two system BIOS allow for manual controls using HWiNFO64. I recommend using this tool instead of the others mentioned. It's superior in every way and has more features.

You can manually set the CPU and GPU fans to run up to full blast, or create a custom profile for preset fan speeds based on temps. If doing that you are still getting high temps, you will need to replace the thermal paste. If your is a new Haswell machine, the CPU is always going to run hotter than it should because that is inherent to Haswell, but using an extraordinarily excellent thermal paste like Liquid Ultra will tame that crazy Haswell blast furnace.

What do you mean by system BIOS. I am using the A10 BIOS. Is this what you mean?

Update: Thank you for recommending me this smart software, this is the fan control centre I have found:

post-26948-14494997877433_thumb.jpg

It seems that I can only manually control fan 1&2. How many fans I have on this lapstop (New M17x with 880m)? And this is my bios version detected by HWiNFO64:

post-26948-14494997877612_thumb.jpg

Any suggestions and comments? Thank you in advance!

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What do you mean by system BIOS. I am using the A10 BIOS. Is this what you mean?

Update: Thank you for recommending me this smart software, this is the fan control centre I have found:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]11895[/ATTACH]

It seems that I can only manually control fan 1&2. How many fans I have on this lapstop (New M17x with 880m)? And this is my bios version detected by HWiNFO64:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]11896[/ATTACH]

Any suggestions and comments? Thank you in advance!

Yes, the system BIOS A10... as you have discovered, you can control the CPU and GPU fans independently. You can manually choose speeds or you can choose a sensor for the CPU or GPU or EC and adjust the fans to react based on temperatures. The default values are what is programmed in the stock fan tables, but you can change them to fit your own preferences. Your system has two fans, so it is correct that you have only two available to control.

Below is a series of screen shots that you might find interesting. If you double-click on entries in the sensor display table it will pop open a real-time graph. You can use it for on-screen display output with RivaTuner Statistic Server (more info on that here and Download RivaTuner Statistic Server here) and create system tray icons showing CPU and GPU temps... tons of useful features.

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Yes, the system BIOS A10... as you have discovered, you can control the CPU and GPU fans independently. You can manually choose speeds or you can choose a sensor for the CPU or GPU or EC and adjust the fans to react based on temperatures. The default values are what is programmed in the stock fan tables, but you can change them to fit your own preferences. Your system has two fans, so it is correct that you have only two available to control.

Below is a series of screen shots that you might find interesting. If you double-click on entries in the sensor display table it will pop open a real-time graph. You can use it for on-screen display output with RivaTuner Statistic Server (more info on that here and Download RivaTuner Statistic Server here) and create system tray icons showing CPU and GPU temps... tons of useful features.

Thank you for your kind instructions, the problem is that I cant control the CPU and GPU fans independently. I can only control the first option which is fan1&2. A more serious problem is that the manually or the custom auto control will completely stop my GPU fan. So basically I cannot use this function because the GPU temperature will boost to boom! I dont know why but it is desperate, should I update to A11?

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Thank you for your kind instructions, the problem is that I cant control the CPU and GPU fans independently. I can only control the first option which is fan1&2. A more serious problem is that the manually or the custom auto control will completely stop my GPU fan. So basically I cannot use this function because the GPU temperature will boost to boom! I dont know why but it is desperate, should I update to A11?

OK, the Alienware 18 used to be that way and the GPUs would overheat. But the latest BIOS updates allowed for manual fan control. Maybe you need a newer BIOS to correct that problem for your Alienware 17. Go to dell.com/support and get the latest BIOS and then try again.

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OK, the Alienware 18 used to be that way and the GPUs would overheat. But the latest BIOS updates allowed for manual fan control. Maybe you need a newer BIOS to correct that problem for your Alienware 17. Go to dell.com/support and get the latest BIOS and then try again.

Thank you for your advise! The latest bios is A11, while mine is A10.

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  • 4 months later...
  • 2 weeks later...
I don't know why you have a problem, I installed the GTX 880M in your Alienware M18xR1. Works with any drivers without problems, never drops FPS and the temperature is no more 73C in the toughest games and 3DMark.

Dont worry, far from everyone have troubles with GTX 880M.

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My 880m are working decent in my Alienware 18 but its not stock performance because stock performance was worse than a single 7970m when it started throttling. The vbios which allows to increase the power limit and temp limit for boost is one of the most important parts, making sure the gpu is pasted well as temps are higher than the original 780m due to a couple overheating chips on the 880m 2 to be exact and the fact that the vbios you can get from here designed by Svl7 and JohnKss has a much more reasonable voltage set for stock boost clocks. For me it was 1.018v stock @ 993mhz core. It runs far cooler at 993 set to the more reasonable 1v. They can overclock real high like 780m but temps are worse than 780m and most cant hit the same levels the 780m can hit especially due to this heat from the two large square chips to the outside of the vram on the card. Mine under all gpu tests I have done even do 1020 core at the 1v and never reach the 93c, even after hours of 3dmark scene repeated. I dont use vram overclock for anything but benching so my vram is stock most times, seems to just add to the problem with the overheating chips on the 880m. Sadly though the bottom line and truth of the matter after all that is even if one gets a card that clocks real high and stays cool the drivers from Nvidia are not bringing nearly the same performance we see from the 780m at the same clocks with the same drivers or even older drivers. One has to go far back on the nvidia drivers to get the 880m to perform any closer to the performance we truly should be getting from them. Mr.Fox gave me great advice with the 880m's when I recieved my system and experiencing all the reported issues first hand showed me clearly as reported there is a clear problem with the 880m in where it should be compared to its original implementation as 780m minus 4gb of vram as the 880m is a rebrand with most of them having 8gb vram on board. The problem exists, it can be worked around some but there is no complete fix for the 880m fiasco.

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My 880m are working decent in my Alienware 18 but its not stock performance because stock performance was worse than a single 7970m when it started throttling. The vbios which allows to increase the power limit and temp limit for boost is one of the most important parts, making sure the gpu is pasted well as temps are higher than the original 780m due to a couple overheating chips on the 880m 2 to be exact and the fact that the vbios you can get from here designed by Svl7 and JohnKss has a much more reasonable voltage set for stock boost clocks. For me it was 1.018v stock @ 993mhz core. It runs far cooler at 993 set to the more reasonable 1v. They can overclock real high like 780m but temps are worse than 780m and most cant hit the same levels the 780m can hit especially due to this heat from the two large square chips to the outside of the vram on the card. Mine under all gpu tests I have done even do 1020 core at the 1v and never reach the 93c, even after hours of 3dmark scene repeated. I dont use vram overclock for anything but benching so my vram is stock most times, seems to just add to the problem with the overheating chips on the 880m. Sadly though the bottom line and truth of the matter after all that is even if one gets a card that clocks real high and stays cool the drivers from Nvidia are not bringing nearly the same performance we see from the 780m at the same clocks with the same drivers or even older drivers. One has to go far back on the nvidia drivers to get the 880m to perform any closer to the performance we truly should be getting from them. Mr.Fox gave me great advice with the 880m's when I recieved my system and experiencing all the reported issues first hand showed me clearly as reported there is a clear problem with the 880m in where it should be compared to its original implementation as 780m minus 4gb of vram as the 880m is a rebrand with most of them having 8gb vram on board. The problem exists, it can be worked around some but there is no complete fix for the 880m fiasco.

I need to flash vBios mod svl7? The GTX 880M will work better and the temperature will be less? Thank you.

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I need to flash vBios mod svl7? The GTX 880M will work better and the temperature will be less? Thank you.

yes indeed basically. the new vbios will be running the same stock speed at a lower voltage. then you still need to go into evga precisionX app and set power limit to 160% and temp limit to 93°C and link both power limits, there is an option to link the power limits.

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