Alineware M17xR3 Upgraded from 560m to 780m (slow Games)

Hello guys i upgraded my gpu all the process was done > A12 unlocked bios, disabled the integrated graphics >set display to PEG>Disable the Integrated sound card

i tried
326.29
340.52
344.11

all modded and the games are very SLOW!!

any idea?

P.s: windows 7

 

Hi, have a read through http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/m17xr3-680m-performance-issues.777931/ and see if anything there helps to show what is going on.

 

I did, it didnt work out :/

 

What did you have a problem with? If you can monitor the gpu clock while running a game it might give an indication of what is going on. You can see the stats realtime in Heaven 4 benchmark.

 

i did

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/7607615


is it correct?

 

The 3D mark link is broken. The GPU-Z looks OK. Does the dropdown at the bottom where it states 'Nvidia....' have anything else in it?

Get Heaven 4 and run the benchmark at max settings (AA at 4x though). Note the max clock speed and temp after about 10 mins, as well as the final score and average FPS. The clock speed should remain fairly constant, maybe 50mhz fluctuation. I don't know the base clock on the 780m but this number should show if there is a throttling problem slowing it down.

https://unigine.com/products/heaven/

 

i guess something is wrong :/

do i need to make clean windows installation?

 

That's not great but far from dismal. I got 675 from my 680m at stock. It's those numbers that come up during the run you need to make a note of. The GPU clock (it might bounce around a bit) and the temp. From there I might be able to advise. Shouldn't need a reinstall.

Actually I see tessellation is disabled. This needs to be on, you'll see the difference and it will hit the score.

 

still the same thing in the benchmark it goes down from 2500MHZ to 800MHz after 4 seconds and stays on it!

 

That's the memory speed but it shows it is throttling. What temp was you seeing? The GPU clock should be somewhere on the 700+mhz I believe - a 780m owner might like to chime in?

 

Install this driver and see if the behavior improves. http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...d-for-alienware-and-clevo-mobile-gpus.772018/

I have a severe throttling problem with 780M SLI on any drivers released after 345.20. As @MickyD1234 suggested, post monitor and post your GPU temperatures. Make sure you are running on AC adapter and using the "High performance" power profile.

I can see from the GPU core and memory clocks you are running an unlocked vBIOS, which is good. Change NVIDIA Control Panel to use advanced 3D settings (instead of letting the application decide) and change the power management from "Adaptive" to "Prefer maximum performance" mode. Your core and memory clocks should never fluctuate or deviate from full 3D clock speeds when running a game or benchmark with this configuration unless you are having a thermal management problem... should stay pegged at 850/1250 indefinitely, for as long as the 3D demand is present.

You want to be sure it is not doing something retarded, like this... if it is, the suggestions I and @MickyD1234 have offered are worthless other than using an older driver.

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okay so i think it went well > http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/7637342

The temp is reaching 80's is that normal?

50's when idle and 91 on mortal kombat x lol is that okay?

 

Well, I'm not sure about the score. It's not horrible, but seems low. If you noticed an improvement with the driver I linked that's great. I thought you might.

If you are reaching into the mid to high 80's and low 90's you're probably having thermal throttling. Even if performance is much better now, that is going to cause under-performance. That's too warm for GPUs. You need to be at least down into the high 70's for best results. Either the thermal paste/pads are needing attention or the GPU fan isn't running enough. Try running HWiNFO64 and forcing the fans to run full blast. If the temps are still in the mid-80's or higher, you'll need to give the pads and/or paste some attention.

 

As @Mr. Fox says, that temp is quite high and is probably the cause of the card throttling (slowing down). This is my 680m overclocked to the same speed as your 780m: http://www.3dmark.com/sd/2149486

You are going to have to open it up but before you get into repasting it it might be a simple fix. The heat exchangers, which are behind the grills at the rear may well be clogged and this will cause overheating.

You need to remove the lower cover, two screws and it slides slightly before lifting it. Then remove the fans, three screws on each. Look down inside and you will (probably) see a 'rats nest' of fluff. You can use a can of compressed air from the outside in to blow all this out - watch your eyes! Alternatively the GPU card is held in place with two screws. You can remove the card and heatsink as a complete unit and clean it; remove the two screws, lift the card about 15 degrees and then wiggle out the card and heatsink as a complete unit. If you do this you will also want to clean the edge connector with alcohol and make sure you do not get any fingerprints on it.

If this does not result in a good drop in temps then you will need to separate the card from the heatsink and repaste it. Propping up the rear of the machine with something like bottle caps can also help the air flow into the machine when gaming but clean it out first.

 

The card got 05mm + 1mm fujipoly thermal pads + arctic silver paste, the whole laptop is cleaned like new, used compressed air blower and nothing is clogged...

the card is defective?

 

It would be an unusual fault, are you sure the fans are kicking up as it heats up? HWinfo will show you the fan's speed max and min as well as being able to use it (as Mr. Fox says) make the fans run at full speed. This is not obvious how to do it though and you'd need to research out HWinfo fan control on the Alienware.

Couple of questions?

1. Did is always operate this slow or is it something that has recently happened?
2. Did you double up the pads to 2mm in some areas? I'm sure this is needed? Maybe some components are not making contact. You'd need to open it up and use a tiny amount of paste on each component then assemble with the pads in place, (no need for paste on the GPU core). Open it up and make sure it has all been squeezed out and the pads show a dent.

 

I flashed my vbios again back to its original vbios > the temps dropped to 60' idle / 70's 80's with games

I just got the card of ebay from upgrademonkey last week, so yea its been like this from the day i bought it.

i did the double up yup as shown in the guides.

 

Interesting. It might have been overvolting? How is the performance now?

 

its not bad actually everything is playable but you can tell thats not a full 4gb gpu performance

 

What numbers does firestrike and heaven 4 give now?

Did you try the driver recommended by Mr. Fox?

 

i tried the driver...something seems to be wrong http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/7649080

 

Probably thermal throttling if your temps are the same as previously mentioned. Are the fans running full blast? You are running in PEG mode, not Optimus, correct? (If you look in Device Manager, the 780M is the only video card, no Intel HD Graphics, correct?)

 

yes, PEG mode only