Another 980m + Windows 10 topic

Hey guys

I didn't want to post this within one of the existing topics related to the 980m as I want this to be useful to anyone (like me) who is thinking of giving Windows 10 a try (again)...

For those unfamiliar with the history I had with both Windows 10 and my 980m, for the life of me, I wasn't able to use the 980m in Optimus mode in Windows 10.
I was forced to revert to Win8.1 in order to do so.

Ironically, my first 980m died and when I got a replacement, Optimus stopped working in Win8.1 as well and I had to switch to Dedicated... Even that proved to be a pain as I got stuck for a while on the 361.75 drivers as the newer ones kept giving me the black screen of death upon rebooting my laptop... Thankfully, I was able to install the 364.51 drivers last night without any headaches.

Sorry for the long intro but I thought I'd mention all this prior to discussing the main subject of this topic and to explain WHY I am worried about attempting the upgrade to Windows 10 again...

First the reason for this is simple: directx 12. I am currently playing Rise of Tomb Raider which just got a neat little patch that added Direct X 12 support. Useless for me on Win8.1 of course.
In addition, I would have liked to get Quantum Break on PC but without Win10, I will be forced to get it for XboxOne...

Anyway the first obstacle is that I am forced to "disable" my 980m to proceed with the upgrade as the upgrade assistant shows the my display device is not supported in Windows 10. Or, of course, I will need to do a clean install which happens to be my preferred method to install any OS.

The second and most important point is that I would like to get feedback from people here who are using Windows 10. Are you facing any issues at all installing drivers? I am positive everyone on Win10 must be using Dedicated as Optimus is pretty much impossible to deploy.
I will not use any OC software whatsoever so I am not too worried about EID corruption. Was that solved anyway? I haven't been following these cases lately so not sure if people are still facing the problem.

Thanks in advance guys!

 

....
Dot dot dot

I don't know why I ever bothered trying to get Optimus working... So much headaches for nothing.

It took me less than an hour tonight to "hack" force the Win10 upgrade despite the incompatibility warnings and to get the Dedicated driver installed for the 980m.

So yep, I am typing this from my fresh upgrade to Windows 10.

Zero issues, no stress.

Will be running a few benchmarks and play Tomb Raider FINALLY in DX12...

Update: well no throttling which is great. However my driver crashed twice while playing tomb raider with dx12 enabled. I was able to bump up a few more graphic settings without any performance hits. Temps did go as high as 71 but I doubt that caused the crashes. This never happened on win8.1
So I guess it's a win10 issue...
Found lots of posts regarding this and people were able to fix it by either downclocking their gpu, playing in windowed borderless mode or disabling TDR. I wont downclock for sure as the 980m isn't factory overclocked anyway. But I mught give the other 2 options a try...

 

Optimus is trash for the high performance machines, Temps are in the same bracket as mine CODBO3 maxed out same temps 72C max with fans full blast on Dell EC not Compal EC (this one has more RPM for CPU but it injects dpc latency). Ngreedia drivers are not good these days but the latest driver 364.51 improved FS GPU score.

As for me I hate Windows 10, So Win 8.1 only here until it becomes obsolete, the DX12 requirements are too high for that low lvl API which boasts improvements and store only is a huge mess there...

Did you fix the auto driver update does disabling that gpedit works ? I think we first should disable it from registry and disable auto updates as well then It won't update the latest drivers.

 

Yeah I am definitely done with Optimus.

Win10 has never bothered me really aside from the build updates that either completely corrupted or failed to deploy depending on what antivirus I had installed. Granted I used to be on the fast build track but it was just ridiculous. Happened with both Kaspersky and Norton on my work laptop.

Anyway, I agree with you regarding the Windows Store - only games. It is a complete mess and considering the pathetic failure of Windows Phones, if I were Microsoft, I wouldn't bother pushing my store due to the limited content available. A PC is not a phone, we shouldn't be forced to use any "store" to get an application/game.

I will try tonight some of the things I read about to see if it solves the drivers crashing in Tomb Raider. Very annoying issue... Especially since I am getting great performance otherwise so I know the 980m can take it.
I might try Arkham Knight or Fallout 4 as well to see if the issue occurs in other games as well or if it only happens in Tomb Raider...

 

Disabling DX12 did the trick. No more crashes. No idea what's the problem but I guess it might be related to the game itself. Very happy with the driver otherwise


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

We're glad it's doing fine now. Thanks for the insights of the upgrade!

 

@nick81 you will need to increase voltage for Rise of the Tomb Raider, even my stable 24/7 OC/OV @1266/1.087V, 3DM11 & FS loop settings, incl Valley...364.51 delete unnecessary folders and don't install GFE, don't use RTSS either...FPS counter Steam overlay (latest version) w/ DX12 support.

Rise of the Tomb Raider DX12 option.


RAM used.


Compal EC (Win8.1)

 

Unfortunately with the Compal EC the GPU fan doesn't spin, only CPU fan spins, maybe something to do with 980M similar to the AW18's slave fan needs manual control (On AW17 - R4 GPU fan and stock AW17 fan both don't work with the stock & custom fan profile + maxwell with compal ec)

Once If we touch the custom table then if we turn it off and set to systemauto, upon opening the fan control again it auto switches to custom tables even with EC changed from Compal to Dell, had to perform a restore to fix that since the GPU fan table was not working...I should have a look at INI after the custom table values are set..

Using the Dell EC doesn't grant proper RPM values - only 3 steps, I just game with max fans and use auto tables for idle with Dell EC...

Dell royally destroyed the EC fan profiles with the 2013 machines, I read that this is best profile they finalized, the older BIOSes profiles were even worst !!

 

@j95
Hey man! I am used to see you over on the TI forums

To be honest I didn't get what you suggested I do...
Do you think the crashes I got in DX12 were due to the stock voltage settings of my 980m?
I personally stick to stock clocks and voltages... I know the 980m overclocks well but my 1st one died WITHOUT me even overclocking it so I am not really comfortable doing anything with my new one... ESPECIALLY voltage settings which is the ONE thing that can damage your GPU components for sure.
I am honestly not complaining with DX11 performance in the game. I just hope I won't have issues with every single DX12 game...

 

Small update for those interested...

I was able to play Tomb Raider twice over the weekend on DX12 without a single crash. I changed two things:
1- Disable steam overlay
2- Disabled the option "exclusive fullscreen" in Tomb Raider

I played 2 hours straight last night without a crash so I think I am safe. I did read online that the 2 things above didn't fix the crashes completely for some. Just delayed it, as in crashed after an hour instead of 10 minutes.
Guess I'll have to see if that happens to me as well...

But I think it's a global issue. Lots and lots of people complaining about crashes in other games like Hitman, Gears of War etc... Even on high end GPU's like 980 TI's

 

DX12 is also not a mature stable worthwhile API same on the disgusting level of Win10 & with nGreddia borking things escalate quickly..
/end of rant