Alienware 17 GTX 980M - Optimus Issues & Questions

A mod should merge all of my threads together... under the name Alienware 17 GTX 980M Questions Post Install

Anyway moving on to this thread, it seems even with proper driver installation, .inf mods etc., the dGPU in this case the GTX 980M, never shuts off. The GPU temperature is still monitored in HWiNFO, causing a huge hit to battery life ( not really relevant to me ), but I am in the business of creating a fully working platform.

Thus since the dGPU is still monitored and able to be polled this means the graphics card itself is awake and not shut down by nvidia optimus. Can anyone confirm or deny my findings.

 

If you wan't to run the 980M in Alienwares
PEG / dedicated (throttles & no fix is coming) - Use Win8/ 8.1 Pro Pure UEFI mode only no (CSM/Legacy + UEFI ) hybrid mode.
SG /Optimus - I guess we can run in Win7 but can never switch to dedicated as the system fails to boot (Win7- CSM/Legacy mode never switch to PEG as the machine needs a teardown + hardreset on AW17) with 980M + Legacy (Win8+ you can run in both PEG/SG modes)

Best bet is to run 980M with Win8.x and say goodbye to Legacy BIOS once and for all and run in 2 modes.

As for the drivers part I guess Mr. Fox's modded drivers should do the job or else have a look at inf modding or http://laptopvideo2go.com/ for modded inf & remember to use the 344.75 if you want to OC.

Try j95's at T|I thread here for more help on inf, drivers, win7/8 (UEFI, Legacy) & vBIOS flashing he should help as he knows almost everything about Alienwares --> http://forum.techinferno.com/nvidia/6307-[alienware]-aftermarket-upgrades-driver-support-modded-inf-11.html#post119660

 

I also installed the 980M, and ended up using a driver with a modded .inf and not Mr. Fox's drivers (they were causing me issues). I have no problems running in Optimus mode.

Pure UEFI boot, secure boot disabled, no legacy support, default 347.52 driver with the modded .inf file.

 

(Mr. Fox's were also causing me issues) I think they are completely uncompatible with Optimus. What drivers are you using with the .inf mod? Also what kind of battery life are you getting. I am also using windows 8.1 full uefi.

 

I'm using 347.52, but I can't say I've extensively tested the battery life. Maybe 2-3 hours, I'm not sure.

 

I am currently getting 2.5 hours in windows 8.1 with my GTX 980M, I was getting 3.5 ( due to the graphics card being completely shut off ) in windows 7 with my GTX 780M... if you have hwinfo installed check and see on battery, what your power drain is. Mine is around -30's on battery.

 

Discharge rate is -30843 mW. Seems like ever since I re-installed Windows yesterday, Optimus isn't working properly.

 

You are seeing exactly the same as I. I'm going to say it's probably just a driver or .inf issue or it simply is incompatible due to these cards vbios and our motherboard. But I'm glad ( if not upset ) that everyone is experiencing this issue, we might just have to live with it...

 

Yes, Optimus doesn't seem to be working anymore. Now I have to use Fn+F5 and reboot in order to switch between GPUs, and when using the iGPU, nVidia control panel is simply not available.

 

Well I'm sure glad I found this thread today. I literally have a GTX980M sat in my basket at HIDevolution but after seeing this thread I doubt I'll be pulling the trigger.

Absolute novice at this stuff and all sounds way too complicated. Got a M17X R4 running windows 7 with a GTX660M (which I desperately want to upgrade) though it did come with the 240w power supply.

But even just reading this thread I feel out of my depth!

 

It wouldn't be so bad if Dell provided better support for older models. The actual physical installation of the card itself is rather quick and easy. But then you need to mod your drivers, and reboot to disable driver signature enforcement in order to install the drivers. It's best then to flash a modded vbios to match the base performance of other machines using the GTX 980m.

Essentially, Dell has offloaded all the work to us. Other brands, all you need to do is install the new card and you're done.

 

When a major manufacturer of low high end laptops such as MSI manages to deliver laptops with the ability to upgrade the graphics card, should also a enthusiast brand such as Alienware could do the same .. Dell(ienware) = No enthusiast brand anymore.

 

It's actually not too bad.. The 970M works perfectly in Optimus mode and I get full performance... I don't ever run dedicated mode due to some crap with regards to the RAM causing beep erros when I try switching GPUs (new motherboard doesn't like my non-Dell Crucial RAM)... If you see my upgrade thread, the only thing you need to do is have a UEFI install of Windows 8.1 with OS disk formatted to GPT... As for drivers, J95 mods them (over at techinferno) so you don't have to do any work to install them etc

 

It isn't too bad, but we're dependent on somebody modding something to get it working. And that's for the AW17. Any older machines often require a modded BIOS/VBIOS to get it working, or simply can't use the newer cards.

For me, there's a difference between having people tweaking stuff to get more performance, and tweaking things just to get a card to work. And the fact that several years down the road, Dell still hasn't really addressed these issues doesn't bode well for the future.