M17x R3 GTX 580M P8 Throttle at 65C.

Hi,

I got my Alienware M17x R3 last year and have had nothing but problems with the GPU throttling at around 65C. Sometimes it P8 throttles at about 63C. I thought it was the throttle that could be fixed with that modified vBIOS but when I attempted to run Skyrim, I was in for like 5 minutes and got the same lag again. I've used GPU Z and nInspector and they both give me the temperatures around 60 - 65 C. The GPU never goes near 70C and is getting P8 throttle. It's frustrating because I can't play any game without this happening. If I spoke to Dell about this issue, is it possible to get a replacement laptop in general or are they going to waste my time with the whole repair with refurbished part process? If I am able to get a replacement laptop, could I pick a different configuration that equals the amount I paid for this laptop like instead of the R3, would I get an R4?

Any help is appreciated since I've actually never had to deal with Dell like this before.

 

Look in sig. Will fix all problems

 

Thanks for the quick reply , I tried your vBIOS fix but it still goes P8 at about 65C. I'm not sure why it's doing it because the only other throttle I've heard of is at 76C.

 

Have u tried raising the back end or even a laptop cooler?

 

Yes, I've tried everything. I've tried different driver versions, I've tried the vBIOS Dell offer on their website and I've tried the vBIOS widezu provided and it's still doing it.

 

If you do not have 3D (120 Hz screen), flash to the stock Dell A04 BIOS ( Drivers and Downloads | Dell [United States]) or the unlocked A04 (my preference)( M17xR3 UNLOCKED A04 BIOS.rar. A04 (either version) does not include the power throttle (63C for most, but +/- a little for others), and your low throttle problems will be over with minimum fuss.

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Is this the blind flash method? I heard there was a way to go from A08 to A04 but required blind flashing.

 

No. It can be flashed from either DOS bootable media or from within Windows. No blind flashing.

Download the unlocked version of A04 to the desktop and unzip it to a folder on the desktop named "Unlocked_A04_BIOS." Close any open programs. Then open the folder and double click on the file named InsydeFlash64. Then just say OK when asked. Don't do anything else until both the BIOS and EC have been flashed. Reboot when prompted, and you're done. It is the easiest possible way to flash a system BIOS. But if you are not clear about the process, ask before going blindly forward.

If you don't want to use the unlocked version, download the Dell version of A04 from the Dell Support link set forth above, drag the file to the desktop and double click to launch. That's all it takes. Follow exactly the same procedure described above for flashing the unlocked version.

 

Hi, you are saying P8? So it drops to 75mhz?

If it is doing this at around 63C then you have a problem that Widezu69's workaround is not going to fix. This matches P0 and P1 clocks and voltages so when this power throttle kicks in it has no effect.

Don't know about the A04 option but it sounds like your card is very 'unhappy' with something. My first R3 did this on the first game I loaded. I called dell and since they cannot remotely look at this I said to send an engineer to see it (with a replacement card and heatsink). They just replaced it instead since I had only had it a couple of weeks. The second one had the more 'normal' P1 throttle that the BIOS flash fixed. P8 only at 78C after heavy gaming session.

The card eventually failed (bad factory paste job so it run hot) and they sent me a new R4 with a 675 a couple of weeks ago. This has so far never P1 throttled at low (63-65C) temps except in 3dmark vantage. Not seen it in any games (yet) even with a mild OC

Good Luck

 

It sounds like he might have an older vbios predating the Dell A01 revision (10-2012) to add the P1 state, perhaps as a result of previous flashing efforts not taking for some reason. In that case, if it throttles it has to drop to P8, there's nowhere else to go. If he goes the A04 route, it won't matter; otherwise, that will have to be fixed.

 

Makes sense but 2 VBIOS' flashes not setting a p1, could be a bad card then but if the A04 removes the call then it will fix it.

If there is no P1 then would that show as missing in Nvidia Inspector?

On the subject, I was wondering about why the 675 does not seem to power throttle and found this setting in nvidia inspector elevated settings titled 'Power Throttle' :SET_POWER_THROTTLE_FOR_PCIe_COMPLIANCE_OFF, would have expected it to be on by default so?

 

I think the R4 doesn't suffer from the 63C power throttle because Dell had the good sense to remove it from the system BIOS given the lower power profile of the Ivy Bridge systems. The 675M could be a partial outlier, but perhaps they are satisfied that the improved heatsink, coupled with the lower power demands of the IV CPU, will avoid the dreaded temp tables we heard about during the 580M conference call. Remember that the only reason there is a power throttle is that Dell added it to slow the card down in an effort to avoid the 78C temp throttle.

I understand your skepticism about the probabilities of missing a flash twice, but can't figure out how else he gets to that result. It has been my observation that a lot of AW users don't know how to check whether an attempted flash was successful. But I may be barking up the wrong tree. Checking his current vbios should help clarify the matter.

The "Power Throttle" parameter is very interesting, but those settings are driver settings or adjustments, right? I'll see if I can find that same tweak in Inspector with the 580M and the R3. Good find. +Rep.

Edit: I have the same parameter, set to OFF, so whatever Power Throttle is controlled by the setting is not active. I notice options re OCCT and Kombuster in the dropdown menu. Makes me wonder whether this setting might be related to the Nvidia power virus protection scheme (Overcurrent Protection).

 

I've contacted Dell and they said they're sending a technician down today to replace the GPU and GPU Heatsink. I'll tell you guys what happend after the technician has been.

I got my laptop September last year, have Dell made any changes since then to fix this issue?

 

Several good changes have been made. If they are going to replace the 580M, it will at least come with the most recent vbios. That won't stop throttling, but it will mitigate the effects by dropping to P1 instead of P8. The heatsink has been improved and should help reduce temps noticeably, so that throttling is avoided under light gaming and deferred under heavier loads. It won't be a complete fix, but it should help. Good luck with the Dell tech, new hardware is always welcome.

 

Thanks for that clarification - you're probably right about Dell making some change as it does run much cooler. I never see higher than 66C even with a 720 OC. I did see P1 in one game yesterday, FEAR3. Different though as it just dropped for a few seconds at a time not the immediate and permanent P1 I used to see when OC'ing.

I can see how people get confused when flashing so I accept that it could be just 'user error'. It is a very strange situation and only your theory makes any sense to me. We'll never know now anyway since the ultimate fix is going forward.

Yes, those settings are just all the driver variables including those not exposed in the GUI. Since we are told there is no driver tweak that can remove the throttle it surprised me to see it mentioned, especially about pci-e compliance when it has a 100W limit and the card runs very close to that I believe. Anyway if yours is set to off as well it's not what I was hoping .

My card always starts at .92V with every revision of the 3xx drivers up to the latest 304.48. Dropping back after around 20 seconds and never returns - I have never heard about the 'power virus protection scheme'. Can you point me to any good reference material? Thanks.

 

The technician never came around so he should come today.

Thanks. I'd rather a P1 throttle than a P8 throttle and if it ever does go to P1 and I notice the throttle, I can just adjust it without any issues.

 

MickyD, here are some articles/references to Nvidia's OCP:

AnandTech - NVIDIA’s GeForce GTX 590: Duking It Out For The Single Card King

Disable GeForce GTX 580 Power Throttling using GPU-Z | techPowerUp.

http://nvidia.custhelp.com/app/answ...ther-stress-tests-with-geforce-graphics-cards.

 

Thanks man, exactly what I needed to read. +rep

The first article pretty much explained it. I can see that you're probably correct about it being targeted at 'power' apps and why it is there.

I had seen the GPUz fix some time ago but missed the detail when I was trying to sort out out 78C throttle. It did work for me but the machine was hitting 85C so time to quit and get to the root cause.

 

The technician replaced the GPU and heatsink and now I don't have the P8 throttle anymore. Thanks for the help guys.

 

Great, a happy ending Enjoy n game!