SLI GTX 285m throttle furmark?

So even running furmark on stock clocks....it seems to be throttling? GPU usage jumps around from 60% up to 130% seems really wrong but its definitely throttling as i can hear it and see the picture just skip.

I can play battlefield 3 completely fine with no throttling but the only problem is, i don't have a real stability tester to use. Im trying to see how high i can overclock the GPU's on stock clocks and i was able to play at 700mhz core on these 285m's in Battlefield 3 without seeing any artifacts.

Should i keep the overclock at 700mhz? seems high IMO on stock clocks from information i dug up and furmark isn't really reliable if its throttling on stock clocks at like 50-60C.

Any other software i can use to get a reliable OC?

 

What are you using to OC at the moment?

What sort of temps are you getting when running furmark?

What exactly do you mean by:

 

I'm using nvidia system tools. When running the stock clocks 600mhz core, I run futmark and after a few seconds, it starts throttling. Like the gpu usage drops and then picks up again because of either heat or power draw issues.

Max temp is in the 71c. Playing battlefield 3 on a 675mhz over clock Max temp is like 73c buy runs completely smooth. I'm just using games to determine stability. Crysis and battlefield 3

 

This sounds similar to the problem my old R1 had with dual 280m.
It would modulate the CPU when too much power was being drawn. I didnt think the R2 was affected

Have a look at throttlestop clock/chipset modulation or (CMod or Chip ) when your running furmark and see if the % decreases at all from 100 and report back

 

Okay i tried it out, I ran throttlestop on monitoring only and since i ran furmark full screen, when i quit. CMOD and CHIP are still at 100 so im guessing thats not the problem?

Something is definitely wrong though, the cards are losing some power when running furmark.

In furmark, the GPU load constantly changes and fluctuates over 100% to like 135%. I also see the VDDC going from the stock 1.01v to .85v or less and its basically fluctuating. The clocks drop to 333mhz when that happens. .85v and 333mhz or around that is the settings for when the cards are in idle?

So is the problem throttling? What do i do? Should i try to get Dell to fix it and maybe even possibly get new cards like 5870's or something?

I just purchased this from an IT guy a few days ago and theres supposed to be 340 days of warranty left, basically a year left. Do i need any proof of purchase or anything or is the laptop alone enough cuz i don't have a receipt or anything.

Any help would be appreciated

 

Does it do this when in a game or is it just furmark? Also have you tried using different drivers?

Are you using the furmark multi-gpu test?

You could try disabling sli and see if it does it then. It might not be using both cards fully.

 

You need to transfer laptop's ownership on your name to get it serviced.
Either call Dell, et they'll ask you the system details (service tag etc.), your details and the current owner's details. It can be fast or can take up to two months.

What system BIOS version are you on?

 

yea, the original owner is going to transfer ownership to my e-mail.

Im not 100% sure it does in-game but im pretty confident it does. Every once in a while while playing BF3 say im at like 60-70FPS, it drops to like 30FPS even 27FPS if i scope in or move. Doesn't seem right.

Im running the newest Furmark 1.9.2, it doesn't need the multi-gpu specific one. I did try the older 1.8's version that has the multi-gpu specific app and it does the same. Both cards are surely running but theyre GPU usage is constantly fluctuating from what i'd say is 50% up to 135%

Also whats really weird is, the card like spikes up its speed. Say im running the stock 600mhz, after i play a game or something or even furmark sometimes, i see that the max core clock is like 656mhz which is also really weird.

Im on bios a10

Do i just call alienware tech support and they'll help?

Edit: is it also weird that if i try to install EVGA precision or MSI Afterburner....the freezes the computer and the only way to fix it is hard reboot and go into safe mode and uninstall those programs? When i first got it, i was able to run MSI Afterburner but now its weird. I guess another thing to add to the list and help get me a replacement or upgrade in parts

Edit2: So i installed furmark 1.8.5 to see if anything was different. It was, but the cards are still throttling. Just not as frequently or as much. So in a span of about 3 minutes running Furmark 1.8.5, the cards throttled like 9 times. Im gonna try disabling SLI and see what happens later.

Edit3: Ran furmark with SLI disabled. No throttling issues, but it was running at 3FPS so like it was super slow. But yea, no big drops in temps or anything like when it throttled with SLI enabled by looking at the graph and from what i saw watching it. Definitely a power draw issue? How would this be fixed? Getting 5870's lol??

 

Mine does this too, both evga precision and Msi afterburner both give me hard lockups when I try and run them. Must be an r2 incompatibility somewhere.

 

Talked to tech support forever. Was nice, but jeez this guy was just omg even though he was nice.

He first checked my Nvidia drivers, was like, yea these are the most up to date but we don't support the most up to date drivers. So he goes through like an hour long process of just completely uninstalling drivers and installing super old nvidia 195.xxxx watever drivers. I originally said i played games like BF3 and it would stutter every once in a while. Well, the drivers obviously don't even support BF3 considering their that old. So it didn't even run SLI, only one GPU. I told them it was probably a power draw throttling issue and wouldn't show unless i ran furmark.....drivers were so old SLI didn't even work on it. I did manage to get it after we stopped talking by using the older furmark 1.8.2 version. Didn't matter.

I asked if he could replace my GPU's with maybe 5870's, he was like, no your warranty says you have 285m so we're going to replace you with 285m's. I tried to wiggle my way to 5870's saying i heard they used less power etc...which seemed like my problem. He told me i would have to pay the difference. I said, didn't the 285m's cost more than 5870's lol would you guys pay me back lmfao. Didn't work.

Anyways, an on-site technician will come and replace my CPU heatsink and thermal paste etc...Theyre still going to completely replace my GPU's as well as the heatsinks etc...They were both put down as overheating i believe. Fine by me, if it doesn't fix the throttling problem then i'll just see what happens. As for the CPU, hopefully this thermal paste and such actually controls the temps and maybe i can over clock it

 

I can't see new cards making a difference tbh.
It seems you only have the stutter when running furmark and not during gaming. Maybe it's just the furmark program?

Good luck. Let us know how it goes.

 

Its more obvious in furmark because it clearly tells me.

I think it is happening in BF3 after playing yesterday. I let the auto-recommended settings choose everything and most of it was on low except for like texture quality which is on high.

The game runs at like 70FPS even into the 100's max depending on what im looking at and then drops to like 20FPS all of a sudden. Im guessing that's the throttle issue.

Either way, i'd rather have cards that are able to run furmark correctly because its kinda the staple benchmark to seeing if your cards are running well.

That or its the 940xm getting too hot and its affecting the GPU? My 940xm reaches 90's on stock settings with no overclock, but then again its hitting like 3.3ghz on most cores. But at least theyre going to change up the heatsink and thermal paste for that too. W/e, it's only like an hour or few of work for the on-site technician.

 

Just wondering if theres a difference between plugging in the AC adapter into a surge protector/power strip vs. the actual outlet?