Overclocking the 660M

Hi all, been a while since I was last here due to real life taking over for a while, but I have a question regarding the 660M. I'm very new to the overclocking scene, but I'd like to get more out of my 660M without actually damaging anything.

The problem is however, I've never done anything like this before, so I have no idea to what values I could set the sliders in nVidia Inspector that would boost performance, but not damage anything.

If I missed a thread regarding this subject, then I apologise in advance.

I assume you'd need the rest of my M17x R4 specs, so here is Speccy!*

* : I have no idea why it says i3/i5/i7 in Speccy, but this is the processor that I have:

Intel Core i7 3610 QM CPU @ 2.3 GHz


Thanks in advance,
Elu~

 

hmmm a good place to start is to bump the clocks up 10%. Run all the benches to check for stability

Then another 5%

As long as you don't overvolt, you really can't damage your computer. Worse that happens is that you will freeze of bsod, or the 3dmark bench won't complete.

I wish i could tell you more, but because the 660m kepler is so new, we have little experience with it. I don't know what it is capable of

 

Edit: reason why I'm asking this is because I'm looking for ways to boost my Diablo 3 performance, the game doesn't really run well on this laptop.


Benches? I remember that there were programs for that, just can't remember the names of them.

Also, which Performance Level should I use in Nvidia inspector 0, 1 , or 2 ?


Thanks,
Elu.

 

Use the latest Nvidia Inspector build, whichever is the latest version since you want to make sure that the program properly identifies the GPU you're trying to overclock and utilize.

But yeah, Slickdude nailed it without a problem.

As for benching programs, three 3DMark 11 runs with GPU scores staying within 5% of the first score will deem your GPU as stable. Since it's a DirectX 11 GPU, you want to test it with the proper program. It might be stable in a DirectX 10 environment but if you don't stress the GPU properly, you don't know if it's performing in a fully stable manner.

After this, play a game that's known for having a very efficient game engine, with Vsync off, for an extended period(2 hours). Games like Crysis 2, Left 4 Dead 1&2, Dead Island and Dead Space 1&2, are perfect stability testers in my opinion because they've all run my GPUs harder than anything I've ever seen.

Hope that helps!

 

Weird... your system should be able to run Diablo III just fine.

 

Really? You should be getting 60fps in diablo 3. I would look to make sure that you aren't on the integrated graphics. D3 will run great on the 660m

 

In the Nvidia Control Panel I set it to use the Powerful nvidia Processor. Running the 3d Mark 11 benchmark now.


PS: I may be seeing ghosts here. But I just ran canyourunit on systemrequirements, and at the Processor, all it said was: Processor: 2.3 Ghz. Am I seeing ghosts?

 

Hrm.

Score
P2565 3DMarks
Graphics Score
2325
Physics Score
7514
Combined Score
2119

This doesn't seem right. 3d Mark didn't recognise my GFX card and it's driver.

 

It looks like it's running your integrated GPU and not the nvidia one.

 

That would be weird, I specifically told the nvidia control panel to use the Nvidia processor, and it's set to that value as well.

 

Use the link in my sig and try white listing Diablo 3 and any other games or programs that are giving you issues. Then they should run on the 660m and not the igpu. Hope this helps.

Sent from my Galaxy S2 using Tapatalk 2

 

I ran into this same problem with my R3. 3DMark wouldn't recognize my 580M. Had to turn off the integrated graphics and run everything off my 580M. I don't run off battery, so it's not an issue for me.

 

Before we go completely off topic, I did boost the clocks to 500 Mhz, and it still seems to be running fine. I also downloaded throttlestop for my CPU and set the multiplier to 20, rather than Turbo. I read somewhere that using the multiplier is faster.

 

It is right... and it is running on the 660M. Who cares what 3DMark reports, it's buggy half the time. If the score is comparable (like it is in the link below) then it's fine.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660M - Notebookcheck.net Tech

You don't need to turn your iGPU off because 3DMark11 works 101% with Optimus.

Lol, you've limited your CPU to 2.0Ghz. Setting it to turbo is the best you can do, which means your CPU will run at the highest multipliers (e.g. turbo boost), when needed.

 

Wasn't working for me when I was trying to run it on my R3.

 

If your scores are comparable to other GPUs then it matters little what 3DMark says, it's a common bug. If it was using your Intel GPU, your result would be within 3 digits - that would mean you were doing something incredibly wrong or had driver issues. Optimus works fine with 3DMark11.. 3DMark11 will use it automatically, if not, right click and run with high performance GPU. Ops results are 660M results, not iGPU. It can become pretty powerful when overclocked to 1Ghz on the core, I swear I saw some Asus notebooks running it at that frequency, not sure if it was overvolted.

 

I'm still trying to figure out what it all means in nvidia inspector, can edit the drivers etcetera as well, just need to know what it all means. The sliders in this program are a neat feature, would just need some samples to what values I could set the GPU/Memory clock.

 

You need to adjust the P0 state. Bump the shader clock by 200Mhz and bump the memory clock by 100Mhz, apply clocks. Bench, bump it 100Mhz again, bench.

 

Alright, thanks a lot. Shader clock is greyed out so can't boost that, but will boost memory clock.

 

Hmmm. You might need to install these drivers so that you can overclock the GPU core clock/shader clock, it's the most important thing to overclock.

ASUS G55VW modified drivers for GTX 660M (301.42)

Can you install them drivers? They are the latest 301.42 WHQL

 

If asus drivers work for an Alienware, sure.

Edit: no, those won't work, just tried.

 

Ok, not to worry, try these.

Drivers | laptopvideo2go.com

Download the drivers and inf file, and then drop the inf file in the display drivers folder and try to install. Afaik these drivers should let you overclock the core.

 

That seems to work, after restart will bump Shader clock with +200, both GPU and Memory clock are at 600 now, rather than 405. Temps are still good.

Edit: Driver update worked, but still can't update the Shader clock.

 

Stick to them drivers at least, they are the latest ones and seem to work best for Nvidia cards. The GPU clock and the shader clock are the same, so you cannot adjust either then?

Hmm, have you tried using MSI Afterburner?

 

No, I can use the GPU clock, just not the shader clock or the voltage.

 

Then just adjust the GPU clock to 700Mhz, and 800Mhz after, etc. Memory you can leave on 1800Mhz I think, that's good enough. Run some benchmarks with these higher clocks?

 

When I ran MSI Kombuster benchmark, the OpenGL renderer was the Intel card so was getting bad FPS again, will check now.


Memoery clock is at 1800 now, will set GPU clock to 800

 

Strange, this benchmark program also doesn't recognise the GFX card, openGL renderer is also the intel HD 4000 onboard chip.

 

Run 3DMark11, and make sure it's set to use high performance GPU: http://forum.notebookreview.com/8079114-post17.html

 

Thanks, that helped, am getting much better results now.

Do you know what the throttle thing means? Doesn't -835 severe limit it's performance?

 

Post some scores with higher overclocks, leave the memory at 1800 and keep pushing the core as high as it can go. You can post 3DMark11 links here

If it's stable, try playing Diablo. You should get 60FPS now whilst overclocked.

 

Will do, have set Memory Clock at 1800, Core clock at 1100, have to restart in order for the changes to take effect, will run 3d mark after this. I have the basic edition though, so I can't run in my native resolution of 1920x1080.

 

I'm still getting crap results, due to unrecognised GFX card.
Generic VGA video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-3610QM Processor,Alienware M17xR4 score: P2621 3DMarks

in MSI Kombustor, however, it is supported and I get these results:

 

Hi there I can't overclock my 660m. I've updated to 301.42 and increase the core clock. But when I use MSI Kombustor, it still says 835mhz Any ideas?

 

Been trying to solve this as well, set it to 1100 in MSI, but it still continues to hold on to the 835.

 

How were you able to get your core clock to 950mhz? Mine says 835mhz for core clock and throttles at 700 mhz.

 

A guy from Asus subforum got his 660M up to this:

3DMark11:
GPU score stock 2293, OC GPU score 2681
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-3610QM Processor,ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. G55VW score: P2940 3DMarks

3DMark Vantage:
GPU score stock 9808, OC GPU score 11328

His settings are in this post:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/asus-reviews-owners-lounges/659534-asus-g75vw-ivy-bridge-660m-review-owners-lounge-32.html#post8548254

All while GPU running at 65 degree celsius. So there, now you know what you should aim for

 

I'm getting 2050-2100 for the graphics score only

 

That sounds low. Both Asus models (G55/G75) tested by notebookcheck got 2288+ in GPU score...
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660M - Notebookcheck.net Tech

 

Yea....So I'm not sure if it's just my laptop. My last day to return it is this friday. The asus users are able to overclock but the alienware uses are not. I am stuck at 835mhz but I am supposed to be able to turbo to 950mhz. I know it can't be the intel GPU because having 3D disables that. Any suggestions?

 

Could it be a difference in drivers or something?

 

I have even updated to the Asus drivers (296.44) by putting my device ID in. Still no luck..I wasn't able to overclock. So I updated to 301.42 and that's when I got 2100. The dell driver gave me a 2050.

 

^ You said you're throttling to 700Mhz?

What are your temps when that occurs?

Upload a GPU-Z log. Propp the back of your laptop too.

Do you not read?

A) your results are perfectly normal for stock clocks and compare to the notebookcheck scores for the same GPU

B) since the score is Perfectly normal it cannot be the Intel GPU, that would score 700ish

C) GPU not recognised is a bug in 3DMark11, a common one

Anyways, it seems users have problems getting the overclock to work on Alienware systems...

 

hmmm I wonder if it is possible to maybe overclock by flashing a modded v-bios? I have no experience with such stuff, but it may be possible.

 

HMMM, I know why...
The Asus model, 660M, is factory overclocked, from 1000MHz(2000MHz) to 1250MHz(2500MHz) for the GDDR5 so its memory width have increased from 64GB/s to 80GB/s

THAT is why the 660M thats in your alienware score less

Your Dell 660M specifications:
GeForce GTX 660M - GeForce

The Asus GTX 660M specifications:

 

I'd say his scores are not on par because he mentioned he is throttling to 700Mhz... He can OC the memory himself, but not the core?

 

We are comparing stock clocks now. I`d imagine 500MHz higher memory clock will impact the score. But yeah if it throttles then its bad

 

Max temp is 63C. My GPU-Z looks exactly the same. I'll double check when I get home. MSI kombustor says my GPU is throttle at 700. I'll post pics in 2 hrs

 

Here's the screenshot. Thanks for all your suggestions. Really appreciate it

 

Hm, yeah it looks like the Dell 660M have 1250MHz for the memory as well.
Looks like you can overclock just fine or do you still have throttle problems?