m17xr3 680m performance issues

Hello.

Sometime ago I purchased, on reading this forum, a nvidia 68-m to replace the 560m I was running in my m17xr3, along with the heatsink required etc.

Now, I actually took it to a professional place to get installed, as I felt that would be safer than leaving it in my bungling hands, as I have little to no experience or expertise in these matters.

The thing is, I haven't really noticed a great jump in performance, not to the degree I would have expected from what I had read on here.

Now, if some step had not been followed (like say, reflashing the vbios or whathaveyou) would the card continue to work, but in a sub-optimal fashion, or is it merely that I should just be settling for what I can get out of it currently. I would have thought that if there was some problem, that it just simply would not work at all?

As always, any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanking you in advance.

 

Hi, with the R3 and the 680m you need to have flashed the bios with the A12 unlocked version. Then in the bios The graphic option needs to be set to PEG, and enable... doh, I can't remember but there is a 3 letter acronym like IGP that needs to be changed - anyone??

If this is not done then I believe the NV card never works and you're operating on the Intel only. This sounds like what is happening as the 680m is quite an increase over the 560m.

Download GPU-Z and look at the graphic cards showing in the drop down, if both intel and NV are there then it may not be switching over when you game. There is a hot-key to force the switch (Fn- ID/GFX) but AFAIK it will not work on a non-standard GPU - hence the need for the unlocked bios and force the machine to boot from the NV. Note that this will have quite an impact on battery time but this is unavoidable with any non standard GPU on the R3 (the 680m was an option for the R4).

I can't be exact as my R3 was a 3D model and the intel is already disabled so no unlocked bios is needed.

To find out if it IS running a game on the NV card, I would suggest installing HWInfo64. Run it in monitor mode and have a look down the list for the 680m statistics. Run a game for a few minutes and switch out to the HWInfo monitor. The 680m clock will show a max figure of 620mhz when running (but will drop down when you switch out).

Hopefully someone else can help with the unlocked bios but let's figure out if you need this as I suspect.

I do have a bunch of 680m vbios files and some instructions I put together for speeding up the 680m, but I don't think you need this until we can be sure it's working at stock.

Have you ever updated the video driver? This requires you to use a modified driver file or the install fails saying it can't find the card. As long as any NV driver is installed it should be working though.

Try installing GForce Experience from the nvidia site as well. The driver update section in that application will almost certainly fail but it will show you the driver version if it is installed.

Also get Heaven 4 benchmark and run it. It will show you the gpu you are running on, the clock speed, and give it a work out. Set everything to max and let me know the score.

Good luck

 

Unigine Heaven Benchmark 4.0
FPS:
19.8
Score:
499
Min FPS:
6.1
Max FPS:
47.6
System
Platform:
Windows 7 (build 7601, Service Pack 1) 64bit
CPU model:
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2760QM CPU @ 2.40GHz (2392MHz) x4
GPU model:
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680M 9.18.13.3156 (2048MB) x1
Settings
Render:
Direct3D11
Mode:
1920x1080 8xAA fullscreen
Preset
Custom
Quality
Ultra
Tessellation:
Extreme

 

Geforce experience is installed and running fine, I have driver 331.56.. will updating that make a big difference? I have read that 345.20 is a good driver version, I am currently downloading that, its taking its sweet arse time howsoever, will give that a go.

I was trying to get Saints Row 4 running satisfactorily today. I have it set to the settings that GeForce recommended, and have even droppped the Anti Alaising (sp?), still get massive FPS drop though

Thank you for your assistance so far.

 

Well, that is low. I just looked back at my data for my 680m at stock and I got 27 fps and a score of 676. I didn't record max/min but max temp was 68c.

When it is running what clock speed does the on-screen-display show? It should also state the GPU it is running on.

If the clock does not stay at 620 what is it doing.

Also try using afterburner to add the maximum overclock of +135. This is very safe on the 680m as long as temps do not go above 75c (my own 'hot' number - not necessarily fact).

Also what game are you playing and not seeing good performance?

 

Oops you were still writing. Replay to follow in this post...

 

The driver will not make much difference, in fact an older one will be a safer bet as long as a game does not complain. The latest hotfix from NV is (353.38)working good on my Maxwell cards but more likely to give problems rather than improve performance.

If you get MSI afterburner (and accept the option to install Rivatuner OSD) you can get a lot of data real time. This is useful to see what is going on. Go into the settings, then monitoring, and select the following items; GPU clock, GPU Temp, GPU voltage, FPS. On each item you need to check the box that is just off-screen at the bottom for OSD.

Then fire up the game and the stats should be there. You want to see a constant 620mhz on the clock and a temp in the low to mid 60's c. Voltage should not change either.

Drop AA down to 4x and overclock to +135 and let me know the numbers as well in Heaven4, we'll figure it - hopefully!

 

So, I installed the msi afterburner. By overclock you were referring to the "core clock", yes? The temps went up to 72, so that seems fine.

These are the results from heaven 4

According to Msi , the core clock went up to 719 during this time. I dont have a readout of the voltage... is there an option for on screen display? I will have a look.

Unigine Heaven Benchmark 4.0
FPS:
23.4
Score:
590
Min FPS:
6.7
Max FPS:
57.5
System
Platform:
Windows 7 (build 7601, Service Pack 1) 64bit
CPU model:
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2760QM CPU @ 2.40GHz (2392MHz) x4
GPU model:
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680M 9.18.13.3156 (2048MB) x1
Settings
Render:
Direct3D11
Mode:
1920x1080 4xAA fullscreen
Preset
Custom
Quality
Ultra
Tessellation:
Extreme


I will run the game (maybe Saints Row 4? Or Ryse, son of Rome?) in a bit, see what the results there are like.

Thank you once more!

 

And thank you for following my instructions - haha, you wouldn't believe how many people skip through things and wonder why I can't help!

Anyhoo, I've studied my scrappy notes and using the stock overclock (yes you got it right) the GPU went to 755 (620+135) so confirm you see a constant 620mhz @ no overclock. This is what gave me an average of 26.8fps and score of 676.

We can ignore all the stuff I mentioned about the bios settings and using the intel since it appears to be working - just not as fast as I would expect. The temp is a little elevated over mine but not seriously and is probably just down to the job done by your service center.

I remember now that I had trouble finding the voltage to display and I had to use HWInfo, this can also pass stats to the OSD. The reason I ask for this under load, is that if it is dropping then it's indicative of throttling. Your max voltage should be a constant 0.987v when gaming.

The in-game will be a better indicator as some games cause throttling when they should not. Heaven is good for telling you if changes like a driver are actually making things better or worse.

I'll PM you a link with some vbios files and instructions but don't use them just yet. Have a look and ask any questions .

 

Hi. Sorry for the delay in replying. I moved to China a few months ago (this upgrade was a treat to help keep me sane while I am over here working), so my 'weekend' isn't actually Sat-Sun like other people.

Uhm, I am not very great with a lot of these programs, I couldn't really see how to get the OSD to work properly, so what I did is get HWInfo to output to an excel spreadsheet. Not the most user-friendly option, but it seemed better than nothing.

So, running Saintsrow IV, both the GPU Voltage and Clock seem to have varied, the clock from between 574 to 718. the voltage from 0.9 to 0.962. I had MSI afterburner open, but not set to increase anything, so that shouldn't have interfered should it? This is the game I have noticed the worst performance, would it be beneficial to run a different game for comparison?

These are the columns for Voltage and GPU clock from the log ( just running the game for 5 minutes or so, I alt-tabbed in and out to start and stop the log). IF you like, I can PM the Excel file, or feel free to try to pund through my head the instructions for the OSD

GPU Core Voltage [V]
0.837
0.987
0.962
0.962
0.937
0.937
0.925
0.925
0.925
0.925
0.95
0.95
0.95
0.95
0.925
0.925
0.925
0.962
0.962
0.962
0.962
0.962
0.962
0.9
0.9
0.9
0.9
0.9
0.925
0.925
0.925
0.925
0.925
0.962
0.962
0.937
0.937
0.937
0.937
0.937
0.937
0.912
0.875
0.962
0.962
0.962
0.962
0.962
0.962
0.962
0.962
0.962
0.962
0.962
0.962
GPU Core Voltage [V]

GPU Clock [MHz]
135
718.5
718.5
718.5
640.2
640.2
640.2
574.8
574.8
574.8
614
614
614
614
614
614
614
614
718.5
718.5
718.5
718.5
718.5
574.8
574.8
574.8
574.8
574.8
574.8
574.8
574.8
574.8
574.8
640.2
640.2
640.2
640.2
640.2
640.2
640.2
640.2
587.9
509.5
718.5
718.5
718.5
718.5
718.5
718.5
718.5
718.5
718.5
718.5
718.5
718.5
GPU Clock [MHz]

Thank you once more for all your assistance!

 

Well, looking through those numbers it looks like it could well be working fine - although why the game is bad is another thing.

What we are seeing is the boost clock (nvidia introduced this as a form of overclocking) cutting in and out mostly. The much lower numbers are probably a drop in the power state that many games work well with. When you go into a menu or a cut scene plays the GPU does not need to be at full speed and drops down. The corresponding voltage drops confirm this operation. A well behaved game or program will force the boost clock and only drop down when underused.

What I would like to know is if this is game specific or in general. Temperature can be a trigger for this to happen as well.

Soo, let's try to get the on-screen-display working. That way you see what is going on in the game, especially when it slows down.

When you installed afterburner did a second installer start asking you if you wanted rivatuner (or something like that) installed as well? This is often refused by a lot of people as it looks like adware you often get with legit tools.

Assuming you accepted the install we need to see if it is running. When you start afterburner check the icons in your task bar. You should see one titled 'statisticserver'. This confirms it is running, now to activate the stats we want to see.

Start afterburner and go to the settings and you should see some tabs. Select 'Monitoring' and then 'GPU Temperature'. Make sure there is a tick mark and scroll down to see the 'Show in OSD' check box, select. It should now show in the properties list on the same page. We need to do this for every stat we want to see but just start with this one until we get it working. On the OSD page you can see the hotkeys for turning it off and on in-game.

Start your game and you should now see an overlay with the GPU temp. Set up the rest of the monitors in afterburner, gpu usage, fps, gpu clock.

Look at clock speed and FPS when you see the slowdowns. Make a note of the numbers and we'll carry on . Max temp?

Oh yeah, does it fluctuate like that in Heaven 4 - the GPU clock is on-screen as part of the app.

 

Sorry for the delay, I have been away helping run a summer camp for the school kids

*shudder*

I got it working. I have some results from from running Goat Simulator. temp stayed around 62- 64. frame rate dropped to about 13 at one point, up to about 62. temp ranged from 640 - 679.
I will try another game later today and let you know the results from that.

 

From Ryse :
Fps ranged from 11.4 to 29.5, temp between 68-70, 719 mhz constant.

 

Great, then you're ready to take it up a few notches.

Start with adding +135mhz to the core clock and 200mhz to the memory. Test again and note the numbers.

Did I send you the vbios files and instructions I put together?

Try to stick with something like Heaven 4 so you get consistent results for comparison.

 

Okay. So, as discussed, I have the vbios files, but have not applied them.

I added 200 mhz to the memory, the haven benchmarks are as follows :
Unigine Heaven Benchmark 4.0
FPS:
24.0
Score:
604
Min FPS:
6.7
Max FPS:
61.9
System
Platform:
Windows 7 (build 7601, Service Pack 1) 64bit
CPU model:
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2760QM CPU @ 2.40GHz (2392MHz) x4
GPU model:
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680M 9.18.13.3156 (2048MB) x1
Settings
Render:
Direct3D11
Mode:
1920x1080 4xAA fullscreen
Preset
Custom
Quality
Ultra
Tessellation:
Extreme

 

Temp was running up to about 75 - 76 however.

 

Hmm, looks like you may need to repaste. Did you watch the gpu clock? What was the lowest you saw?

 

Okay, re ran the tests (still without flashing the bios), the clock ran at 719mhz solid. The bizarre thing is that the test ran better ???

Unigine Heaven Benchmark 4.0
FPS:
25.5
Score:
643
Min FPS:
6.8
Max FPS:
62.8
System
Platform:
Windows 7 (build 7601, Service Pack 1) 64bit
CPU model:
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2760QM CPU @ 2.40GHz (2392MHz) x4
GPU model:
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680M 9.18.13.3156 (2048MB) x1
Settings
Render:
Direct3D11
Mode:
1920x1080 4xAA fullscreen
Preset
Custom
Quality
Ultra
Tessellation:
Extreme
Powered by UNIGINE Engine
Unigine Corp. © 2005-2013

 

As long as the clock stayed solid (that is @ +135mhz?) then you should be good to use an overvolt to get more out of it. The temp is the critical factor. Any more than low 70's C and you will want to repaste it before flashing an overvolt. You could use the stock one, this will just unlock the core clock limit of +135 so you can check how far it will go on stock voltage?

You won't damage anything, either you will see 'artifacts', often flashing spots, or the test will just crash out when taken too far. Probably around +150mhz is about as far as it will go and stay stable. Don't move the memory any more than the +200 already tested.

 

Hey. Sorry for my absence. My work here shifted me to a new apartment without internet (with less than a days notice!), and we have had exams to conduct etc etc.

Is there someway I can pay you / donate to you for all your assistance? You have been immensely helpful, and I would love to give you some reimbursement for your time/ services.

Okay, I have applied an overvolt, and used NVinspector to apply the 200+ to the memory and 150+ to the clock. the results were as follows:
Unigine Heaven Benchmark 4.0
FPS:
28.6
Score:
722
Min FPS:
8.5
Max FPS:
71.4
System
Platform:
Windows 7 (build 7601, Service Pack 1) 64bit
CPU model:
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2760QM CPU @ 2.40GHz (2392MHz) x4
GPU model:
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680M 9.18.13.3156 (2048MB) x1
Settings
Render:
Direct3D11
Mode:
1920x1080 4xAA fullscreen
Preset
Custom
Quality
Ultra
Tessellation:
Extreme
Powered by UNIGINE Engine
Unigine Corp. © 2005-2013

quite a bit better! The Temp did go up to low 80's though. You say this wont damage my hardware at all, just cause crashes? If I have to repaste myself (not being back home to pay somebody else), that is a big step up for myself, but I guess I can give it a go (presuming I can lay my hands on all the required kit).

Thank you once more, as always!

 

No problem man, and no reimbursement needed. I do this for fun nowadays, and enjoy helping .

Looks good but I wonder if it could be better.

First, which voltage did you use? I think a repaste is in order as I never see over 75c. I do have a cooling pad but that gives only a few degrees so I think you should do it. High temps can shorten the life of a GPU, the 'won't damage' I was referring to was for increasing the clock until it gives visual problems - or crashes out of the program.

Did you watch the core clock during the run? What did it start at and what was the lowest you saw. That card throttles back at around 76c so I'm guessing that you are loosing some performance?

Gelid Extreme is a decent paste IMO and you can reuse the pads, unless they are messed up. This can happen if they are badly placed to start with but usually just setting them right is all that is needed. Some medical swabs (for injection site) are great for cleaning up as you want both the core and the area on the heatsink completely clean.

If you want I can check it out for you by looking at pics and I have a couple of pics of my 680m heatsink as it came from dell with all the pads in-place. We can do that over PM .

Cheers,

 

Hey guys, couldn't help but notice MickyD is running with the 680m, Hehe. Anyways, I seem to run up temps to 71 - 78 depending on what I'm playing. No throttling because of HWInfo and I've flashed the card so the clock seems to hit 888 during gaming.

I also recently re-pasted my GPU and CPU. Maybe I didn't put on enough? I like to thinly layer it on without any dry spots, nice and smooth, not too much so that it doesn't goop out from under the sink.

I'm still using the sink that came with the 580 and the pads that were on it, need replacing?

MickyD, you've helped me in the past along with a few others and I thank you.

 

Hey Sinn!

What vbios did you use - voltage? And what clock off-set?

That doesn't sound too bad, maybe at the top end, unless it's stock voltage and then it should be (for me anyway) no more than 70c.

I assume you also re-used the 580m x-bracket? The 680m is thinner (only by microns) so the contact pressure may not be as good as it could be? As long as the pads are making contact where they should re-using is not usually an issue. An experiment I tried was to assemble with a small bead in the center and then open it up to see the spread pattern. It should be almost completely squeezed out, don't worry about excess coming out of the sides unless there is a bunch of it. Then you used too much.

I probably told you but I cheated a bit just to see how good a factory item was. I purchased the 680m heatsink from dell and it comes with all the pads, putty, and paste (some sort of phase-changing material I was told) in place. I just screwed it together fully intending to put a better paste on after I checked the temps. They are so low that I just left it alone and even sold the old 675m with heatsink attached.

As I said to the OP, if you want me to check out any pics when you open it up (if you open it up) then PM me .

 

I'll be honest about the vbios I used, I don't remember lol, it was almost a year ago, maybe more. Is there anyway I can check, I'm still learning how to understand HWInfo64, so maybe with that?

Stock these are the clocks:
Clock: 135
Mem Clock: 162
Vid Clock: 405
Volt .837 V

Idle Temp: 38c (I generally run the case fans on max just before gaming, so that was my min at that time, lol)

Just played a game of BF to get my official specs, lol
Clock: 888.4
Mem Clock: 900
Vid Clock: 540
Volt 1.037

Temp... 76c

I also took note that my CPU also hit 86c

Edit: Yes, you assumed correctly, I re-used the 580m X-Bracket.

 

Sounds like you have a vbios I have not seen. The ones I have overvolt to 1.000, 1.025, and 1.050 and do not overclock it, you use msiafterburner or precisionX to overclock. Your numbers are a little confusing to me.

Get a copy of NvidiaInspector and grab a screenshot of it when you start it. Hopefully the P state will be 0. It will quickly slow down to the idle clocks you mention above but it will still be useful to me in figuring it out.

In afterburner under settings you can select things to see on-screen during a benchmark (Heaven 4) as well as when gaming. There is a check box at the bottom of the page for each item you select.Much better than logging with HWInfo and ploughing through a bunch of indecipherable stats!

At that voltage you have 76c is just about OK and the CPU will often spike high like you see so no worries there.

 

NV Inspector at your request good Sir!

I haven't used either program to OC the GPU since my Win 10 upgrade. When I did on Win 8.1, if I remember correctly, I would get hard locks or something, I just remember having issues with OC after the flashed vBIOS.

I'll try again though so I can give you a more accurate report on that.

So P-State seems to be at P8, which is Performance Level 0?...

 

Good stuff. Right, I can see that the vbios you are using is overclocking without intervention. It's only the voltage I cannot see (P0). P8 is the idle clocks and when in windows this is the clock and voltage used at the lowest power state.

You might find that if you put Heaven 4 in a window then it will hold the P state when you fire up Inspector?

This is mine on the 1.025v vbios: without any overclocking. Ignore the current clock speed, this was over remote desktop so that appears to mess with that!

If you are running a higher voltage than that then this could make your temps hit the top end of acceptable?

 

There you go, 67c is what it hit during Heaven, but it still gets even higher while playing BF4 or more demanding games.

I'm more relieved then if those temps, albeit on the high side, are still safe, then I should panic, though I'm sure any higher I should probably start to panic? lol Thanks.

 

Cool, that shows that both the base clock and voltage have been increased with the vbios. Temp is fine, mid 70's is where I usually take a break. My personal panic point is 78c on that card.

You might be able to add another 50hz~100 on top of that with Afterburner.

Good to hear we've had a result!

 

Would that be 50 ~ 100 hz to the core or mem? I haven't yet again attempted to OC it, can't remember where I couldn't get any further.

 

Sorry, I wasn't clear . I meant the core clock. Leave the memory alone to start with and go up in 20mhz increments, back off 10mhz when it crashes or resets the card. Once you get a good stable run bump the memory by say 100 mhz up to 200mhz and see if you get any FPS improvement. If it's just a tiny amount then don't bother, no need to push a component if it does not produce results!

Good luck.