Windows 10 and nVidia 980M GTX upgrades for Alienware (M17X-R4, without Optimus: Working Great!)

assuming you are already in pure UEFI mode there is no need to format.

 

Yeah I believe it is in pure UEFI mode. Not completely sure. If that was part of the initial steps to install Windows 10 that are listed at the beginning of this post, which Woodz helped me though then it should be.

 

I wrote you a PM so we don't flood the thread with info already available online.

 

Oh sorry, Ive had sooo much work lately Ive fallen abit behind on keeping up, apologies. Yeah, some people follow the setup perfectly (apparantly) and it does not work, I myself had to try it like 3-4 times before it worked, and turned out I wasn't following the steps 100% accurately. Anyways, if you can just get the laptop into dedicated mode via setting to PEG when entering bios after following all these steps - your golden ! Just update to the latest system bios, should be fairly simple and easy to do, there are plenty of tutorials around, especially on NBR or TechInferno. Windows 10 screws alot up, you will want to make sure you do NOT have the HD intel graphics showing, its okay to see Basic Microsoft Adapter which should be what you see for the 900 series before the modified driver is installed. You also have to make sure to disable DSE and run the installs as ADMIN, oh and one special thought - ONLY INSTALL THE DRIVER AND PHYSICS. Do not bother with HD Audio or GeForce experience or whatever else, they screw up the build.

ON another note, if you plan to use XTU, you will need to update to the latest MEI firmware too, possibly.

I've been careful, and paranoid, and warned everyone I've sold a 900 series card to (about 500 people in total this year, so the later third of those people...) to be very careful, and make sure they have ALL windows updates before proceeding with any graphics card installation. Reboot many times, until there is no updates 100% for sure, and all other hardware is installed. (software shouldn't matter, and you always want that after your graphics card is installed..)

To date, no one has told me they got the black screen thing. Not even my Clevo buyers or MSI buyers. Although, one buyer of mine, reported a black screen issue, never told me directly, so I have no confirmation, and I'm not going to solicit him for that information.

So, overall, I would suspect - NO. They are NOT getting the black screen issue.

 

So I have got it into PEG with the help of Maksym Karpov. It is only showing the Basic Microsoft Adapter, but I am having trouble installing the Drivers, Maksym linked some .inf files to swap into a 358.50 driver from nVidia. I did that rebooted with DSE disabled and then ran the Setup.exe as ADMIN and it still isn't working

 

I would try a different driver. Its the driver or DSE. Can you explain more about "it is not working"

The thread you need for drivers is on Tech Inferno if your truly in need of platform specific aftermarket help from a team of superfriends.
http://forum.techinferno.com/nvidia...et-upgrades-driver-support-modded-inf-80.html

But I should have some drivers that still work, let me take a gander...

M17X-R4 ?
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/6i8ejny8o86kzji/AAAh8_sEXYAL50gAP-_CYvkYa?dl=0
should be various drivers in there that work for me.

 

It says " This graphics driver could not find compatible graphics hardware." when I run the Setup.exe

Which one should I download from your link? and what will I need to do with it?

 

Try 352.xx first

@Mr. Fox
ALSO UPDATE FIRST PAGE OF THIS THREAD.
If you think I should include something let me know.

 

oops I tried and got to work 353.17, I just assumed the new build would be better...

 

What you have in the opening post looks very thorough, and I believe you have covered all of the bases really well as far as installation and configuration goes... nice job on that, looks great.

 

Just in case you missed it, Mr. Fox and t456 made the connection and found that 10 flicks the switch so to speak (creates the vulnerability for the EDID to be wrote to) and so far EVGA Precission X for some reason trigures the corrupt EDID. if you have someone with a black screen its very likely that scenario... if not it would be interesting to find what software they had as EVGA doesnt cover everyone on the other thread.. must be another program that trigures it as well i assume.

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

 

though some people claim that it still occurs without precision x.

 

Hmm that explains something else as well. 900 series from EVGA (desktop videocards) were causing issues, and I always had Precision installed so I could for the fans to go on Auto (Otherwise 65C and the fans are still off, and not spinning and artifacts starting to show up on my screen. ASIC went from 61% to 43% after 2 days of stock use. Had to RMA)

some people asked me for extra tips that can be done to the M17X-R4.... I will add them to the first page also:


M17X-R4 has sata 3 speed limitted to 300MB/s on the mSata. So do not put an mSata for speed, its slow. The two HDD bays though are both Sata 3 6G i.e can both do 600MB/s ea. RAID 0 in those with 2 850 Samsung pro SSD should give you over 1GB/s bandwidth on your drives. Very fast !
If your always using the LCD on the laptop and not an external monitor, you could always go 120Hz. Makes things look incredible. Its insane how much nicer things go. Its the same as basically upgrading your videocard so things look nicer and play smoother. Your mouse movements will have less lags etc..
You need the LCD itself and the CHIP and the LCD cable for it. "thegh0sts" that you see in that thread you were on, knows where to get both, you can tell him I sent you. (which is funny cause he's probably reading this too..haha )

The DVD drive can be turned into a HDD Caddy, and thus stick your 1-2TB mechanical drive in there for storage/backup, then you can use a cheap small SSD to run as Cache for the mechanical drive. You could also use the mPCI-E slot for the WiHD card and set that all up to have wireless gaming to a monitor. (difficult though, expert installation and knowledge required)

RAM, (I would recommend Cas 9 1600 LoVo SoDimms instead of regular, and run them at lowest voltage. Mushkin makes some. Cheap and EXCELLENT quality, get 2 sets of 2x8Gb(16GB total x2) for 32GB.

Then get the M14X-R2 CPU fans and use it instead of the M17X-R4 CPU fans. Tis should be 4CFM vs 11+ CFM. You will have to cut the tabs off on the M14X-R2 Fan and then just use some black cloth/hockey tape to hold it on, if your careful you can suspend it with the tape and thus lower the noise (still very silent) but it lowers temps by 5C easily.

Take Both your heatsinks out, and clean them with a wool pad from the grocery store. you know the disposable kind, and do some circles on the parts that make contact with the GPU/CPU die, until the varnish and oils and color comes off/changes and it becomes increasingly smooth, this will increase temps by 1-2C on the top end of OCing. Using better thermal paste too like TX-4 or even better Gelid Extreme for an additonal 5-10C extra of cooling. Google and youtube how to apply them perfectly. Buy two tubes and keep doing it until you learn to smooth it properly. Tip - stick the tubes ina glass of hot water for 5 minutes before using, so they're warm. Run the heatsinks under hot water (keep them dry afterwards) just so the paste doesn't get cold and solid, so you can smooth it as thinnly as possible afterwards.

On your heatsink for your RAM on the GPU, add 4 small 1cm^2 0.2mm thick copper shims. make sure they do not short circuit anything, but stick these directly on the RAM parts after touching the Thermal pads, but before touching the heatsinks. Make sure they fit though, do a proper inspection. Triple inspect even. Then test and be careful. This will add some life to these. (Add paste between the copper and the heatsink, but like super super thin gelid extreme, just to cover air gaps.

there are some Capacitors near the CPU that the CPU heatsink also cools, do the same and add a small shim of copper to those, and make sure not to short anything out, make proper contact with the thermal pads.

Jimmy a single 3v or 5v wire red or orange if you know,. from somewhere on the mtoherboard conencting a different port like an HDD or something, to the Fans + voltage IN to get more RPM out of them. Double the noise, but get like 5k RPM. Lowers temps by 15-20C easily when OCing. This is how I also beat Fox for a few months in XTU when we were testing AW17 R5...

Update : Added further warning in dark red bold large font about EVGA Precision X

Added Latest Drivers, for Win10

 

Alright, so having looked through your post about upgrades a few more times and contemplating my options and considering what I feel safe doing (copper shims attached to heat sinks feels like an unsafe option for me at this point) I would like to replace my HDDs with SSDs and then just use my current HDDs in enclosures as externals. The main concern of mine is moving my data and operating system, and figuring out how to put the SSDs in a RAID 0 configuration.

In the meantime I would like to do some of the basic things you explained for reducing temp; replacing the fan/fans and the thermal paste, and cleaning the heatsinks. I had a few questions though.

Does the Gelid Extreme have a large difference versus IC Diamond for midrange overclocking? (assuming both are applied correctly)

What should I use to clean the heatsinks? You meantioned "wool pad from grocery store" but I am completely unclear on what that is? Is it actual sheep wool, or fine steel wool? A link with an image or something would be wonderful.

Then the fans; its only replacing the CPU fan with the M17X R2 CPU fan, and it has to be sort of jimmy-rigged in to fit nicely? Does anyone have any pictures of this already done? Is it risky if I move my laptop around a fair amount (travel and such?) Is there a similar replacement upgrade for the GPU Fan?

Thanks- Tom Highum

 

Gelid Extreme done properly should yield 4-5C difference at best, in ideal situations. Wool pads from the grocery store are just a cheap way of cleaning the heatsink, not the CPU, that I would use a solvent-free alcohol like cleaner, and Coffee filters (because they are made to specifically have no residue, as opposed to Kleenix as an example which would leave paper everywhere , in microscopic amounts)

with the M14XR2 fan NOT the M17XR2 fans.... that is, use the 14" laptops CPU fan instead.. it is greater ! You will see how it can be done, if anyone else has a picture feel free to submit, I no longer have any. You might have to do some digging for that fan too, component seriel number wise, i do not have a parts list for you, sorry. If you find it, I will add it to the front page mind you, so other people have it.

 

Found an answer to my own question concerning the fan for the CPU and thought I would share. There is a post on here about replacing the fans that I found;
http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...are-your-knowledge-and-opinions.726567/page-4
The part number for the M14XR2 CPU fan is: XN0G5
It seems to require some creativity when mounting it. Here is a picture example of one method from that thread;

Method two;


It also seems that if you don't have the high CFM GPU fan that you can buy it and install it easily. Different versions of the M17XR4 came with different GPU fans the part number for the 11.4CFM fan (the highest CFM stock available) is: THPDJ
The current CFM of your fan should be labeled on it,

 

There actually was a high CMF fan for the M17X-R4 ??? Well, I would have gotten that if I had known, go figure I jumped in and modified a M14XR2 fan instead haha !

I'd give you some more rep for the picture, but, I have to "DISTRIBUET" it, must be a french thing..

 

Hello guys

Sorry for the question. I would like to try windows 10 (I am still under warranty and got another year or so) so if my LCD fails ill just get it replaced. Im willing to take the risk

now, when i try to upgrade double clicking on the icon on the task bar; it says that this computer is not compatible with windows 10 because the following components: GTX 980m
How can i buy pass this?

thanks

 

The higher CMF M17R4 fan is only for the GPU and I think came with a lot of them. The M14XR2 CPU fan is still the best for CPU despite the need to modify it. As far as I have read...

 

Make an image of your current OS installation or take the drive out and set it aside, and install Windoze OS X to a new drive so you can quickly and easily go back if you hate Windoze OS X. Or, better yet, install Windoze OS X to another drive and dual boot between your current OS and the new one. Even better, make an image first, then set it up in dual-boot. Making an image will save you a ton of time and hassle later on. I can restore my Windows drive installations, set up with all the software I use, ready for immediate use, in about 15 minutes using Macrium Reflect Professional. There are some free options (including a free version of Reflect from Macrium) that also work well.

Do not use your current OS and its product key for the free upgrade. Splurge a whole $20 on yourself and buy Windoze OS X Pro x64 here (this is where I bought mine).

Download Windows 10 directly from Micro$lop here, create USB media with the tool provided by Micro$loth. Run Diskpart and clean the OS drive, then do a clean install.

Do not install EVGA Precision X unless you use an older version (like from at least around April, or earlier). Otherwise, only use NVIDIA Inspector for GPU overclocking. Something in the latest release (or two) of EVGA Precision X may brick your LCD once Windows 10, and possibly the updates to get Windows 7 and 8 ready for Windows 10, has been installed.

Be sure to visit the threads @Matrix Leader has here at NBR on Windows 10 tweaking and cripple everything you can get your hands before you connect to the internet for the very first time. Disable access to Automatic Windows Updates in Group Policy and use a local (not Micro$lop) account for Windows. Grab DWS Lite and use it to kill every telemetry and monitoring "feature" it allows you to kill, and then, finally, connect to the internet.

 

Oh yeah your speaking of that, That I had. Thats not hard to find. You got that fan with a 100W GPU, totally forgot there was a lower CFM one... thought you were talking about CPU...


@Mr. Fox
There is something in that program that screws up Outlook and OneDrive and some other apps. When it stops spying it stops many Windows applications from working Windows/MS whatever..

 

Maybe it does not affect me because I don't allow any files to sync to Cloud. I do drag and drop what I want there manually, but I do not allow the automatic stuff. It may affect OneDrive as you say, but I have no idea because I always intentionally disable OneDrive (don't like it). But, I am using Outlook 2013 with Windows 10 and Outlook works 100% perfectly. Maybe the integration of OneDrive and Outlook is what gets buggered up.

As far as the rest of the Windows 10 "Metro" crApps, the program is built with the idea of totally destroying all of them and that it what makes it such an awesome tool. I despise almost all of them worthless "Metro" crApps and with DWS you can delete them all and make it virtually impossible to restore them, LOL. I really do like that part. The only one I sort of like is the Weather crApp (one of the very few aesthetically attractive things found in Windows 8/8.1/10) but if it goes bye-bye along with the rest of them, I'm not going to lose any sleep over it.

 

Hmmm... I could always create a backup and try it, see if there are any issues like there was months ago, if what your saying is accurate, maybe its all fixed and works great and really removes the windows 10 stuff. Do updates still work ?

 

Updates? If you mean Micro$loth Updates, I have them disabled by design. I do the same with with Windows 7 and 8, too. I don't allow Windoze Updates to be installed except manually, based on whether or not I deem them to be necessary. Manually it should work (always has in the past), but never automatically. Forced Micro$loth Updates is one of the huge flaws in Windoze OS X. As far as I can tell, that is defeated on my system. If I install any updates, I may no longer be able to defeat it, so for the time being I am refusing to allow any Windoze OS X updates to be applied on my system. Only I know what is best for my machine... Micro$loth sure as heck doesn't, and whether to update or not update is for me only to decide. Just in case my "disabled" settings do not block updates, I have the next run date set for 12/31/2020.

 

Thank you Sir!! by the way 20$ for a key!!! WoW.... Im gonna buy it for my desktop first. I got an older i7920... hope not to have trouble installing it under legacy mode

 

Sorry, I forgot to confirm that for you... Office 2013 works flawlessly.

 

you know, a few years from now, updates are going to be downloaded and installed, and your LCD will go out.... I'm just saying XD

 

Well, hopefully I will be Alien-free by then and won't have to worry about any more of this goofy nonsense. I'm fed up with all of the Alienware drama that started with Maxwell GPU incompatibilities. I'd sell all of my Alienware stuff lock, stock and barrel right this minute if I knew I could get enough money for all of it to pay cash for a Eurocom Sky X9.

 

Maybe I should create a thread, tell people whats possible, there are upgrades you can get for free, if you go to Eurocom and mention your an Alienware owner. Long time coupon: Alienware will usually net you a free upgrade for the Harddrive or LCD. I can get more details, if you think people want to switch to Clevo's. Eurocom has been trying to help people make that transition for awhile now.

 

Yes, Eurocom is now the world's high performance laptop leader as far as I am concerned. Nobody can touch 'em. They're definitely pushing the envelope on innovation and performance.

 

so win 10 works ok without the precision x stuff?

 

Well, sort of... Windows OS X performance sucks, just like Windows 8 does. CPU/Physics, memory and SSD performance are all slower than Windows 7.

But, yes, it "works OK" in the context of my LCD bricking problem... I installed Windows OS X on Sunday and my LCD hasn't bricked even once since then. I'm going to give it a few more days or a week and then install Precision X and see if it bricks again. It's so easy to fix it that I am to the point of not caring any more (for me personally, but I do care for the people that don't know how and don't have an extra LCD panel they can use for flashing in Linux).

After the Maxwell throttling, having to use pure UEFI and Windows 8, then 780M SLI throttling, Secure Flash keeping us from unlocking the Alienware 18 BIOS, not being able to use the dual AC adapter on the 18, so on and so forth, I've had enough of the drama that goes along with owning Alienware laptops today. It used to be awesome, but they have dropped the ball on so many things lately that I have more or less lost interest in the brand. It used to make me very sad, now I'm past the point of caring any more. The good old days are over... but, it was a blast while it lasted.

I'm seriously considering selling all of my Alienware stuff... M18xR1, M18xR2, tons of spare parts, backpacks, dual-AC adapter setup, whole shooting match, to try to drum up the money to buy a Eurocom Sky X9. I'll probably keep the Alienware 18 just for my grandson to play games on when he comes to visit.

 

yeah i know the performance is nothing to write home about just worried/concerned about the LCD bricking....though i don't understand before why it would keep giving black screens from a cold boot?!?! so strange and yet i have no issues with 8.1 at all.

will definitely look into a CPU upgrade within the next day or two.

 

I found performance was always superior in windows 8 and then windows 10, this is from installing and testing my own personal cards, and setups mind you, but was always better. 4-5% better in the numbers

 

I've tested W7 vs W8 vs W10 early in the Inside Preview and again after it went RTM. The results were the same. This table is from the link in my signature.
Since I installed W10 last Sunday I have been doing benchmarks and it cannot keep up with W7 in hardly anything. The W10 CPU performance deficits are an exceptional disappointment... very sad Windows is getting worse, not betterl

 

Wait did someone say free hard drive or LCD?

 

I found windows 8 and windows 10 to require more power, but the way I was testing was a minimal OC, something anybody can get and only on 4 different systems. AW17 AW18 M17X-R4 and M18X-R2. . I do admit I was only testing DX10, and higher.

Yeah if you buy one of the new models X4, X6, X9 from Eurocom, and use "Code: Alienware" in the comment section just ask for the screen upgrade or RAM or whatever.. like if you were buying stock 1080p they could easily just give you the 3K panel, or like instead of getting 16GB of RAM maybe you will get 32GB. They have apparantly been honoring this for years, they used to even give you 15% off if you sent them in your old Alienware, they've done some other stuff, but yeah, you can always ask me or them specifically what the flavour of the month is so to speak.


Oh wait Fox, your testing old hardware from years ago. The 780M's are not that relevant anymore. The 900 series performs better on the later versions of windows (probably by design), and the 780M you have been using , well, thats almost a loaded test - those cards always worked better in Windows 7, just like the 675M and 680M too. Lets not speak of the 880M. No one has those, or should. Its anyone game if you can get those working great on any platform.

 

Yeah, 780M is becoming irrelevant because NVIDIA's incompetence is making them that way. Their incompetence interferes with Maxwell performance on Alienware systems as well. Their drivers are a mess. 780M SLI is still wicked (stomps a single 980M pretty bad) if you don't use NVIDIA's newer cancerous drivers. Personally, I think they did it on purpose to make Maxwell upgrades (either GPU upgrades or new machines) appear to be more attractive and meaningful than they should by having an artificially wide gap between them.

But, more than anything the problem is physics performance, not GPU. Almost all tests of CPU performance suck in Windoze 8, 8.1 and now OS X. Micro$loth has screwed up RTC as well. They messed it up with W8, left it messed up in 8.1 and 10. It is rare to find a test where CPU performance results are equal or better than W7. There are some examples of 3D graphics performance improving in some things with W8 and newer, but it is not universal. And, it does vary by DirectX version which OS is better. The CPU performance hit is significant enough to overshadow the random minor increases in DirectX performance.

 

Not to go against you, but the 780M was a extremely highly tuned graphics card, following in the steps of the 680M and not much different then the 580M/675M. They improved much, it was highly optimised. The 880M only shows little room else there was to improve upon without further innovation.

I believe the 900 series is extremely daring and ambitious. For one they screwed up legacy support, and it has got to be more then just driver issues. Its also first implimentation of DX12 which we will not use much yet, but still good. Also, they're the first of their line-up. Maybe when we see 2-3-4 revisions, they will be comparable to the 780M, but otherwise its not fair. That being said, I've been able to get a 980M to get a 13,000 Firestrike score. SLI 780M couldn't do that. a Desktop 980 has to be OC'd to pass that even most the time. So, the 980M are really impressive. Like, they are kind of responsible for all those rumours about laptops being faster then desktops all of a sudden. They were HUGE leap forward in performance. We had anticipated this for almost 2 years, how many threads were there with not just us two but others all talking about the upcoming changes speculated for 2014! (they came late, but better late then never. Still buggy as hell mind you)

I will point out, unlike previous generations, we do not have the next revision yet. Instead we're going to be getting these less efficient 980 Desktop cards at 200W. This is kind of silly. But - hey a 980M is already capable of out performing a 980M that uses 300W why not create on that makes the best of both worlds and uses 200W. (mind you with OCing the 980M that outperforms the 980 desktop also was using more like 160W, and probably damaging the rest of the system doing so)

 

I think you missed what I am saying. The problem with W8/8.1/10 is they seriously emasculate CPU performance, not GPU. I prefer Windows 7 and I feel the newer OSes suck because I don't like having to run my CPU 300-500MHz higher to get Windows 7-equivalent performance from Windows 8/8.1/10.

I totally agree with your comments regarding GPUs. I have 980M SLI in my Eurocom Panther 5SE. It's awesome, and because it's not installed in an Alienware I have full glory Legacy BIOS support. Thankfully Alienware released A12 and AW18 owners can enjoy whatever I/O environment that prefer, and run 980M SLI on Windows 7.

But, I'm extraordinarily pissed that NVIDIA broke my 780M SLI by their gross incompetence with drivers, and I'm pissed that I have to use 8 month old drivers to avoid throttling, and I am livid that they bald-face lie and say they have no idea what they changed in the drivers. I don't have any need or basis to upgrade my 780M SLI setup. It outperforms any new machine with a single 980M. But, I do want it to function correctly, and I do expect it to run as well as 780M SLI is capable of running without NVIDIA screwing it up, for as long as I want to keep using it. Crippling it with crappy drivers is unacceptable. Dirty pool from NGREEDIA for sure. This is going to eventually bite them in the bottom.

 

Oh I see, yes, the newer and later versions of windows suck up tons of CPU performance, and I have no idea if its just the OS or if its the GPU drivers on those OS's. I have noticed the same effect in that regards, but not crippling by any means, usually the CPU is reported like 5% less in terms of performance.

 

Yup... about 1,000 to 1,500 3DMark points on the physics score just flushed down the toilet. It's like your computer is getting stabbed in the gonads with an ice pick. In Fire Strike it doesn't matter because Fire Strike ignores poor CPU performance... maybe to help people with panty waist gamer laptops feel better about their crappy BGA trash. But, 3DMark 11, Vantage or any other benchmark that measures and gives credit for having a strong CPU doesn't do well with the new OSes.

 

Your not able to clock as high in later versions of windows then I take it, if say you were hitting only 4Ghz , equally on different OS's the difference wouldn't be as much. Your benches suggest your clocked lower on windows 8 and 10.

 

No, Clock for clock (on the same CPU) windows 7 outperforms windows 8.1 and 10 by the margins that you are observing in the benchmarks... it makes no sense and is frustrating!

 

Oh well I found them relatively the same at same clocks in performance , CPU wise, but then again overclocking on windows 10 is retarded,considering its like anything can go wrong.On my M17X-R4, i wasn't able to go past 4Ghz on the CPU whereas I was able to and still be stable on windows 7. Mind you I always found the sweet spot to be not so ambitious.

 

HWID of 13D7 for 057B1028 driver added: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/cxlltm72fe24lox/AAAPonvzqli11KueVllgQxY8a?dl=0

which is basically day 1 fallout driver for 980M.... really same driver as desktop...

 

Thanks for the driver!
After install, the 980M performed like a champ, no throttling, no need for P-state matching.
After restart/shutdown throttling returned.
Did you try it on the R4 , I think we have a similar setup (Win10, 120Hz, 980M) you see any throttling?
Returned to 352.84 for now.

cheers

 

It changed after a restart ? Thats odd. Can you run DDU at safe mode, remove all drivers, and registry values for graphics cards and start fresh, with DSE disabled and admin rights on the install..etc..

Also, I would like to know what else is plugged to the laptop, like anything no matter how small, and what your PSU is, and full stats. Theres got to be a culprit somewhere, that we can find. For me, I noticed I had to remove power drawing USB devices on one side of the laptop, once, as an example. Othertimes it mattered what my CPU was clocked at and how much power it drew. Many times if the CPU throttles, the graphics card will throttle too.

 

-DDU in safe mode removed everything.
-Booted with DSE disabled, installed 358.91 with admin rights.
- Tested heaven benchmark/FO4 after driver install = throttling.
- After restart = throttling.
- Clean shutdown= throttling.

I have an R4 (specs below) + 240W PSU + nothing is plugged. CPU running stock.
I have SVL7 vbios default @ 1202/2505, 1.000v. Prema vbios throttles more.
With driver 352.84 p-state switches to P1 under load. I can fix this by matching P1 to P0. Any OC causes throttling.
Thank you.

 

Well thats no fun, are you saying when your gaming its throttling or just in benchmarks ?
Does any other driver NOT throttle ? AFAIK, they've abandoned supporting part 352.xx drivers for Alienware, windows 7, windows 8 unless its the AW18 or newer.
Sometimes your stuck using older drivers for 3-4 months until a newer one works just as good. But in the meantime, if an older driver works really good, whats the benefit of trying to trouble shoot a new driver to work ?

Are we chasing numbers in benchmarks ?
Or are we trying to get support for a game that crashes, or refuses to work, etc..


I suspect if the throttling continues, its most likely a vbios or system bios issue, if it does this on every driver for the last 6 months.
The vbioses I send on the cards I sell, are all tested at stock speeds and with drivers we have on our sites, and work well.
However, a large majority of people go and flash thier own vbios, and then it never works the same ever again, even when they try to go back (or at least in theory, this is what they say to me sometimes.)

Use what works. If its not broken, why try breaking it, I mean fixing it ?