Before I throw my 980m in the bin

Hi

I have recently installed a 980m running the perma bios on it and it's seems so unstable and never gets to expected potential.

I'm not running any overclock settings, just standard perma setting that the bios has

In game it's running at a clock speed of 432mhz and the memory is running at 1025, frame rates are rubbish

When I had my 780m in it was rock solid and great performance running. I'm running the 353.00 driver, win 8.1

Anybody got any suggestions before I sell it and put the 780m back in.

Thanks

Ian


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Hi, have you tried the stock vbios? I had problems with the Prema vbios and it would not complete a H4 run at stock. I was seeing an overvolt above what it was supposed to be on his vbios. 1.2v as opposed to 1.062v. Clock was full speed though, until it crashed .

Use nvidiaInspector with H4 in a window and look at the 'P' state and voltage. Might give a clue?

Also what temp do you see after 10 mins of heaven 4?

 

hi mate

just putting the little ones to bed, and i will give it a try. where do i get Heaven 4 from?

Thanks as always

Ian

 

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

 

I think i have lost my stock bios, not sure where it is. i will asked woodzstock to see if he can email me it over and try it. just downloading Heaven4 now..

 

PM'd you my stock one.

 

thanks mate.

i have just run Heaven 4 and these are the results

fps 47.2
score 1190
min fps 8.2
max fps 89.9

gpu 980m
gpu 1126mhz
memory 1600mhz
temp 64c

volts 0.825v

not sure if that helps

 

Hmm, that GPU clock is around the stock with max boost appliedbut the temp and voltage are way low - basically idle. Did you get them by switching out to windows or was that an on-screen temp/voltage in H4?

Oh yeah, also ramp up the H4 settings to max/ultra and AA at 4x for more stress...

 

It should be ramping up more... have you tried running this in 980M in Optimus mode? Shouldn't have throttling there... Also what drivers are you using? I've found 353.00 with J95's modded inf to work pretty well for me...

 

hi mate

loaded your stock bios on to the gpu and the it transformed the fps in heaven 4, the only problem is my aw shutdown once it hit 90c after about 15mins of running H4.

the stock bios was running around 90-145fps
gpu mhz was 1126mhz
memory was 2505mhz

volt was higher with the stock at 1.025v lot higher than the previous bios i had loaded. i didnt have max settings on H4 for the test, as it crashed and them temp hit 90c, i need to check the pads and heat sink/compound etc.

 

the 353.00 driver are the one that im using. i dont have optimus due to a 120hz screen installed..

 

Ok, the vbios was messing up somehow. You do have a temp issue to address though. At stock I never see more than around 70c (even though a different machine).

Good luck, good to hear we found a problem - no need for the trash can yet!

 

i need to repaste and check the pads are correct, its my old heatsink of my 780m 3 pipe..

 

Edit: Forgot to add 1.025v IS the real stock value when boosted.

 

What about the x-bracket? I'm always concerned that one used on a thicker core does not apply enough pressure - only a theory as I've never tested it.

 

Hi mate

The xbracket was already installed on the 980m when I got it along with a new set of screws.

Just been playing bf4 since I last posted about 1hr ago and the temp never went above 68c on the gpu. But the boosted MHz dropped a bit from 1025 to around the 950mhz mark...


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This was a photo took from in game just now


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Yeah that drop in boost clock is one of the problems the modded vbios is supposed to fix. The thermal drop does not occur until about 86c but some games push the power limit too far and the card slows. Maybe just try adding +75 ~100mhz to compensate?

 

Hi mate I know this sounds daft, but how do I add +75 -100mhz?


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You can use an OC program, either MSI afterburner, EVGA precision Or Nvidia inspector.

Since we have similar setups, 980M + 120Hz I'll add some info to the discussion.
I tried three different vBios: Stock, SVL7, Prema.
-Stock was good but due to Nvidia's (crap) Boost 2.0, my FPS weren't stable.
- Prema's vBios for me, wasn't stable at all. After each cold/warm boot the card performed differently in a bad way (Throttling, heating, crashing......)
- SVL7 vBios was the most stable, running cool and performing at 100% (1202, 2505) Mhz.

Now the drivers:
I think I've tried every possible driver out here from (344.xx to 355.60) and it comes down to this:
Every single driver throttled like hell, no matter what vBios I used EXCEPT 350.12 In windows 8 & 352.84 In Windows 10.

Good luck.

 

Hi Solo, thanks for the input. Good to hear from the same hardware base as the OP. I also tried Prema and Svl7's vbios' and both fixed the fluctuating boost but needed tweaking to be stable on my rig so I went back to stock. The Prema one actually shut my machine down a couple of times so that went away pretty quickly!

Another good reason to stay stock ATM is the terrible drivers of recent months. Finding a good one is not for my X8 as I need the driver to support Sli and older ones often do not on the latest titles . If history is anything to go by it will be around 6 months after the release of a new OS that NV get to figure it out. It might be quicker since giving win 10 away and prompting people to upgrade has created a huge testing base . With their latest driver they (NV) seem to have given up on a combined driver model and released a version specific to win 10. It may be just temporary while they try to iron out the bugs without messing up those of us that have decided to wait it out?

@IanC , as Solo says any of those applications will do the job and I use all of them. Afterburner and PrecisionX for the on-screen display and testing overclocks. Inspector gives me a lot more options - you get to play with individual game profiles, and is easier to figure out for me, but I like using 'create shortcut' as I don't need to load anything, just use the shortcut to apply my settings (rename them to avoid confusion). Nothing stays resident. The other two applications have 'profiles' you can save settings you like to but they have to be loaded and selected within the app.

Cheers.

 

Hi

Thanks for all the info, did you add any additional pads to the card when you installed your 980m.

I used my 780m heatsink but didn't change anything. I did receive some thermal pads in the box but haven't used them?

Some great info in your post thanks a lot for replying, the stability and temps are driving me mad

Thanks

Ian


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where can i find the 350.12 driver compatible with win 8.1 and the inf file included?

Thanks alot

Ian

 

http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/drivers/win8x64/350.12

The inf is a separate download option from this link. The driver is unmodified.

 

hi mate

i have never modded a inf file before, how do i do it?

 

Glad I could help
I used all the pads from my old 680M & some of the new pads that came with the card. I also covered the rear vram with pads. The final pad layout should look like this.

All pads must be in contact with the heat sink (no gaps), choose pad thickness accordingly.
Your 780M heat sink is a 3-pipe 100W heat sink which is recommended. Anything below that will not cool your card.
As for the driver I downloaded it from :
http://forum.techinferno.com/nvidia/6307-[alienware]-aftermarket-upgrades-driver-support-modded-inf-23.html#post129510
If your clock speed is stable, but you still see FPS drops you might be having memory throttling which can be solved by matching P-states using Nvidia inspector. Thanks to J95!

 

With these all you do is replace the original inf. It will be in a sub-directory titled 'display.driver'.

 

I have read the whole thread and conclude that you are not using modified drivers only original. That's why the card does not want to work properly with your alienware. Above you have a link and instructions on how to do it.

The only combination is to have: Win 8.1/10 (gpt partition and full uefi mode) + modified drivers + gtx 980m with svl's bios mod.

 

Thanks guys, all seems a lot more stable in the 350.12 and svl's bios.

I think I still have a bit of a temp issue. It's hitting 79c after an hour of playing bf4

Might redo all the pads and a re paste

Thanks a lot
Ian


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Yep I was using modified drivers just the wrong ones. 350.12 seem to be a lot more stable in game for me, running the slv bios

Thanks

Ian


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I don't know how hot is 'good' on your machine but mine often hits mid 80's unless I ramp the fans to full - it's a simple hot-key on the X8 . You may be fine, do you have a cooling pad or propping the machine up to improve air-flow?

 

I don't have a pad or its elevated, could try it just to see what / if there is any difference in temps,

It's stable now using the 350.12 driver and slv bios. Getting some great fps now on bf4


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Yeah, give it a go. A couple of bottle caps is enough to help.

Good to hear the gaming is good, that's what it's all about .

 

Same problem back again, it's as if the card doesn't wake up when needed to. Check screen shot these are on high settings on bf4

Both gpu MHz and memory are not hitting max

Getting fed up now with This 980m

Any suggestions anyone???


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That sucks, very strange. Is it like that from a restart or does it happen during use?

I do have what might be a workaround but still misses root cause.

Une NvidiaInspector and go into the P1 setting and set it to match P0. I've used this before when a card was throttling without any apparent reason...

 

Tried loading up bf4 again and it's now hit max performance without forcing to to via nvidia inspector. Very strange

No idea why it's doing this??


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Something appears to be triggering a throttle, maybe power draw? If when it happens a restart puts it back to normal maybe someone else has an idea? I'd be wondering about the PSU maybe? A bit out-there but so is the problem.

Maybe also see if it happens in something else like leaving H4 running?

 

it seems to happen when i restart the laptop, throttling as soon as i start gaming. could be power brick? maybe faulty and only noticed due to the increase in draw for the 980m. 780m had no problems at all.

i tried running H4 and it crashed my computer, one plus point i raised the back of the laptop and its 10c cooler at 71c instead of 83c...

 

I am aware that Prema has a special 980M BIOS to prevent throttling on his websote, premamod.com.. I would try that vBIOS worst comes to worst...

Before that, I suggest you do the p states matching in inspector and I believe you can start up inspector each time you restart automatically and make it do this with some batch file etc..



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Are you applying an overclock? That 1202mhz is higher than I see at stock with the max boost. Something like 1126mhz on mine.

NV drivers are so flaky right now that the crash could well be just poor coding. I can only get H4 through a full run on stock or I can OC if I go back to an older driver - 344.75. There may well be a later one than that that is stable but I couldn't be bothered to go through them all!

The PSU is really grabbing at straws but the P state matching is worth a try.

 

That is stock clocks for SLV7 vBIOS for 980m.

I would recommend wiping all the graphics drivers via DDU, then re-installing them again. I have to go through several attempts sometimes to stop the throttling. If you are using Prema vbios and not SLV7, try SLV7 vbios first and see if it works better for you.

 

Thanks guys up will try the matching settings in inspector, I must have done some thing wrong the last time as it made no difference, it's only when I loaded the defaults on there the performance came back.

Check in a bit when the little ones are in bed, I only get to play a couple of hours every other day at the mo, and most of that time is spent getting things working..

Back in a bit

Thanks

Ian


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These are my P status for both P0 and P1 after booting up my laptop



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Use the unlock max to enable you to match the default clocks (1202mhz/2505mhz). It's no guarantee it will work but I did that on an old card that kept throttling for no apparent reason...

 

If you have no joy with that then go for the Prema vbios. An earlier poster noted that you have the Svl7 one. The Prema will be slower at default but may be more stable and let you overclock it without throttling.

https://biosmods.wordpress.com/gtx9/

 

I think I may have stumbled across what might have been causing it. My laptop seems to be stuck in balanced power setting and not switching to high performance. Since I manually changed it to high performance it's been rock solid. Playing for hours and multiple reboots to test the theory.

I could be wrong, time will tell if this could have caused the problem

Any thoughts and has anybody experienced this before, and I'm not sure why it's not auto switching power profiles on demand


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Wow, weird! I can say that this happens when a PSU reports a lower wattage than needed for full power. If for example a person has a 180w PSU and installs a 100w+ card it will run exactly as you see, only it will not be sporadic, they are stuck on power saving mode. If the PSU fails to report it's wattage (using a non-dell adapter) then a warning appears at boot and the machine again is stuck in low power mode and now the battery will not charge.

Back to that PSU again but it could be some weird software (Windows issue) issue? I'd hate for you to waste cash on a PSU but maybe look at getting a 330w one just to eliminate any future power issues. I did this with my R4 ( http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00AK75R6U?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00) although it seems to have had a serious price increase. I only paid £56! It also came with a GB power lead, it now says EU plug??

Good luck.

 

Here a picture of the back of my power adaptor, it came with my Alienware 17 that I bought from dell online


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Yup, that's the 240w one (19.5Vx12.3A) so it should work fine. I just wonder about it with the symptoms you describe?

 

I think I'm going to check the output, to make sure it's what it should be...


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