problem m17x-r4 black screen

all,

this is my first post here,
i registered because i think there i a lot of knowledge on this forum!
my real name is: Aron, and i am from holland.

im the proud owner of a black alienware m17x r4..
i7-3610
gtx675m
120hz display
256gb ssd *samsung 840 pro
16gb ram Corsair

since a week now, i have a problem..

my lovely laptop starts, and boots to windows, but when i put stress on the gpu, the screen will go black..
for instance:
if i play black ops 2, i can play it for about 3 minutes, then the screen goes black, and the pc will reboot..
all temps are fine, and this seems to happen around 65 degrees C..
i had it oc'd, but never reached a temp over 72 C...
i tried re-pasting it with arctic silver 5 (damn the stock paste job looked horrible)

this didnt solve the issue..

then i tried to do the oven trick, so i put it in the oven for 8 minutes on 200 degrees C..
then repasted it with arctic silver 5... still has the same problem..

the laptop works fine, without the AC connected, but as soon as i put stress on the gpu,, it will go black, and reboots..

i tried flashing the bios (got a13 on it now)

can somebody point me in a right direction? is this only a gpu problem? or a motherboard problem?
it still has 4 months of warranty but alienware doesnt really help me.. and pretend like they are stupid (they say that they watched remotely and there is nothing wrong with my system)

i all want to thank u at first for taking the time to read and/or reply

 

hi there fellow alienhead i had the same issue. but the problem was i cant get into the onboard. anyway dell replaced my VC and its now working. Only problem though is it crashed again. @_@

im gonna update my drivers and see what happens.

 

vc as in video card?
i cant use the onboard, because i have a 120hz screen, so i cant boot on the hd4000

if this is a gpu issue, i will upgrade to gtx 680/770/780

i got a spare notebook (msi gx70 / amd a10 quad / hd8970m) but the cpu really suck on this, and enduro is a nightmare (nvidia fanboy.. sorry) so i want to get the alien working as soon as possible..
i just saw quite cheap gtx770m's (i know its no faster than 680m) , if somebody confirms its my gpu, i will just get that, and fit it in..

 

Sorry about the issues with tech support. It does seem like the GPU is dying and may need a replacement. Are the temperatures still the same?

 

dear luis.

temps are low.. i havent seen it passing 65c..
even then it will shut of, first the screen goed black (backlight stays on) then 15 seconds after that it reboots..
it cant be the temperatures,, the paste i used has higher quality than the original pad (i used actic silver 5, and i am aware of the fact it does conduct, so i didnt use too much)
i repasted it after dell sent me into the woods, with nothing (this is stupid. for 2k euro laptop, wich is purchased may 2012)
also i baked it after this didnt solve it..

the problem is still the same the day this occured.. i think i tried everything..

the stupid thing is.. in furmark, it will keep running for 15 minutes without a problem, but it doesnt reach the full clockspeed, i think the core is 75mhz lower infurmark. (it clocks lower from the beginning, i guess this is related to driver / vbios ?)
and doesnt run hot (monitor doesnt show more than 65 c, and laptop keeps running)

so yeah.. the laptop works.. till i want full potential in game.. then it will shut off, and this isnt related to software (i changed the SSD to a new 840 pro / fresh install / changed ram and tried it with 1 stick).

edit:
i have seen these cards going up to as high as 100 c in some clevo books, so it CANT BE high temps

 

yes they replaced my video card and crashed on me twice ( the fan is so loud as hell ), anyway i did update my driver to the latest 13.11 beta9. seems to be working but i cant stress test it today as im goin to sleep. most probably tomorrow. I ran burn in test from furmark too. btw what game is it? dota 2?

 

i mostly play call of duty..
i had nvidia.. gtx675m.. it did on good settings 100+ fps in blackops 2.. i really love this notebook, still do !! its soo much better than this msi gx70 (all fronts)

@ mr porras..
is there a way i can ask dell/alienware for a replacement gpu? like they sent a card to me, and i install it, and send the old one back ?

or... is there a way to purchase a different card, if warranty doesnt apply to my system due to the repaste ?

and i dont have the money to buy a gtx780m or something at this moment , or upgrade another way...

 

Hi Aron, mine went exactly the same way as yours. I've seen quite a few 580m/675m owners cards die recently. I firmly believe nvidia have caused this with a voltage boost, that should not happen, in all their drivers after 314.22.

For me rolling back to 314.22 got rid of the black screen and lockups initally but after a couple of weeks it started to happen on that one. Eventually only safe mode would start windows. Called dell. they replaced my card the next day and all has been fine (sick feeling in pit of stomach for saying that!) since. The latest WHQL and the previous one did not overvolt, and I'm using 311.82 right now. NV refused point blank to admit they screwed up badly despite dozens of reported card failures on 320.18

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware/721878-nvidia-320-18-driver-warning.html

I'm sorry to say your card is very probably toast. If you have warranty dell should quickly replace it - I'm sure they know about it but probably will not discuss it. I would not mention the card baking. I know this sometimes works if it is poor connections on the board but a snotty tech could just refuse to help!

All it took for me on the dell call dell was to load their approved driver and the latest BIOS, run heaven benchmark for 15 mins - bang, screen black and machine unresponsive. Replacement approved and sent next day, awesome service!

I did get lucky with the tech though, he could have had me factroy restore it, which is why I think that dell know NV screwed up but that is secret information (especially as dell have now gotten into bed with NV solely on the latest machines)

The auto restarting was not that often with mine and usually needed a hard boot - hold the power button down

Good luck

Edit: If you have to buy a new one the 680 is the one to go for on the R4 3D. Any other card will not work in 3D, although you won't have to go through all the BIOS stuff to disable on-board if you do go for a 7x card

 

Ah, this is interesting. Your temps are good, so no issue there. But it's interesting that furmark is OK, and it's normal that it downclocks your GPU by 75Mhz - NVidia have artificially limited performance in Furmark due to Furmark creating unnatural current draw and load on graphics cards - it's a protection mechanism for that card when it comes to Furmark specifically. It's interesting that it's stable at that slightly reduced clock. This has me thinking that the silicon in the core has degraded, and is now no longer stable at stock gaming clocks & voltages. So, your card is on the way out. I would bet that you could underclock your card using an overclocking program, underclock by 75Mhz, and then it would probably be stable in games. Yes, your GPU is on the way out - I'm quite certain. (Or better put, it's already gone seeing as it can't maintain stock gaming clocks).

Is it worth pursuing Dell to get you a warranty replacement? If they provide you with a replacement video card, then you can either use it, or sell that replacement you get (675M), and then put that towards buying a more interesting 680M?! Maybe you could even convince Dell to skip all that bother, and send you a 680M for your trouble. You could say that you've lost faith in the reliability of the 675M, given that yours failed after just over a year & all the reported failures of the 580M/675M reported in forums & community, and expect more reliability from a top end brand such as Alienware supported by a reputable company like Dell.

 

problem is.. stock vbios doesnt allow me to downclock it with software (msi after burner / evga x precision)

im typing this.. from the alienware since my 4day old msi gx70 blew up (psu / mobo).. so thats off for warranty aswel....

i will call alienware tommorow.. see if they can help me, and send me a gpu... i dont want to send it off to alienware, because i have nothing else to play on..

edit: i just did another furmark test.. on 1080 resolution..
i hit 405mhz on gpu (stock-620 i think) and 1494 on memory (stock 1500)
it does this everytime... when the fan really start to rev up, its about 64C... cools it to 62.. then it goed up to 64.. and fan comes on and lowers the temp to 62..
its definatly NOT overheating.. the card is dying.. dell leaves me hanging.. what should i do?
i dont have the money to upgrade to 680m..

if dell's service will be like everybody is talking about (and i know from the old days, i been buying dell for about 8 years now, starting with the first vostro 1700 with 1920x1200 screen wich STILL goes strong on STOCK hardware, never missed a beat on the stock windows vista install)
they will just give in this gpu is dead, and they send me a new one.. i can install it myself (i like to install it myself, so i know its getting done RIGHT, in stead of the that came to my house first time to swap a keyboard and scratched the palmrest).

i call dell/alienware tech support tommorow.. if that doesnt work out... im stuffed..
if they DO help me... i will buy a new alienware with gtx780m, in januari of februari

edit:
i can downclock the core of this gpu to 405 / 1500
memory doesnt clock lower.. i try a game now

 

so.. first match bo2... 405/1500..
seems to work, gpu stays under 64 degrees C...
but the performance is poor for this card.... i just need a replacement

 

You should never cut corners with the 3D 120hz screen, time to update to a flagship card.

 

i dont care, i still have warranty so i need dell to replace the card (or send me one)
i aggree about upgrading to a gtx680m./ but i simply dont have the money right now. i wish i had.. economy is ,. and i still happy i have a house / this laptop / new car... there is always something that will be better...

anyhow.. i yell to soon... after 12 minutes of gaming.. it crashed in windows, now taskmanager sais: error detected in gpu.. its a dutch windows 8, but here u can see its really broken:


640x480 black and white

oww and GG for nvidia control centre, it sais:
cant do anything, u are not connected to an nvidia gpu

 

Come on man, I know your logic is better than this! Why are you asking what you should do? Have a read of my previous post, why not push for the 680M as a warranty replacement for your R4? And also, that would save you shelling out for a not much better & expensive A17 with 780M! Then, you can spend the money you saved by not getting the A17 on a new laptop when the next generation of GPU's come out: Maxwell. These are likely to be twice as fast as the 780M - wouldn't you rather have that in a couple of years rather than still trying to hang on to the performance of the 780M? If you can wangle the 680M then you're set till Maxwell hits, 780M is hardly an upgrade over the 680M - it's the same generation & architecture, only about 25% faster than the 680M. The 680M also overclocks pretty well, especially if you flash a modified VBIOS to it. If I was you I'd just push Dell for the 680M, and completely forget about the AW17 with 780M.

(Yes, you're flogging a dead horse with your 675M, you've already worked out it's dead - onto the next thing for you!)

 

i tried to push em... but they just say.. nothin is wrong..
even if they say they send me a replacement gtx675m.. im happy,,,,,
and yes,, then maxwell it will be.. BUT.. now i have 2 broken laptops (m17x broken gpu / msi with 7970m blew up today)
if my m17x gets fixed, i will sell the msi..
then i get like 1k euro for alienware upgrade when they come out with maxwel...

but the main thing.. is... the support for alienware is.. garbage where i live (in holland)
if they just send me a replacement gpu... ill be happy..

i pm'd l_porras.. and i will call the tech line tommorow.. i dont want to send my system away, last time i did, they screwed it up...

so yeah.. if they send me a gtx675m or 680m.. or.. whatever works... that would be awesome...

i just got quoted 380 dollar for a gtx770m with Xbracket.. that will be the cheapest fix.. is alienware doesnt do ..

 

Well, it's ridiculous that they're saying there's nothing wrong with your card. Don't take any crap, just put your argument together and present it to them in a no nonsense evidence packed reply. They can't deny there's nothing wrong with your GPU, you just have to explain/prove that to them. Don't get arsey with them, but do be assertive & rational. You expect better from a top notch brand like Alienware & Dell don't you!!?? I know I would!

 

i just can slap myself for not buying the extra in-home service..
the warranty i have is pick up and return.. wich is.. stupid.. even so.. if they offer me a new card.. i am more than willin to pay for the postal costs and handling costs..
i DO expect better, so did i from my brand new 3 day old msi with 7970m.. wich i now lose for a week..
im just gutted.. i will call them tommorow,, i already said,
A: it shuts off (they come with a story about heat)
B: no it doesnt overheat (oke, let us check remote..)
and that was it... i will all let u know tommorow what happened.. if they sent me a replacement card.. i will be sooo damn happy .. i even called in sick for work about this.. im really sick of this

 

Maybe if you explain to Dell your situation, and the problems it's causing you with your work, etc, combined with the other points I mentioned in my earlier posts - maybe they'll be able to sort you out with a 680M. Good luck though, will be interesting to see what happens

 

i will give u every update what i can..
i have my alienware here, and playing bo2 (steam aron_2111 for the guys who want to join)
its on 2 lego bricks, to elevate the back...
my fans are set manually to 100% 7000rpm
and core on 405mhz..

it does play (lowered settings to get stable 60fps) and... thats that..

i think this is the little last bit of live there is in this card... it will shutoff at 65 degrees C... this way i keep it under 50... and it works for 30 min now

and.. after almost 1 hour of gaming and idle time.. it shut off..

 

just did some stress test on CPU and RAM tests, to make absolutely sure it really is the cpu..
as before, clocked the gpu back to 405 core / 1500mem (mem doesnt want lower)
run a lot of prime 95 and had a look at the temps.. they average out on 75% under a longtime full load, on 3.06 to 3.08 cpu turbo in prime 95..
i think these temps are oke?



and now u can all laugh about my pathetic gpu clocks

 

update!!
i completely explained everything to the tech support.. for this time i had an english guy on the fone, who knew he was talking about.
when he started his: i want to aks u a few questions more for making sure its the gpu.
i talked over it about having 405mhz core and stuff like that..

so now the GOOD part... the technician will come on monday, and will take a new gtx675m AND heatsink AND motherboard (mobo just to be sure.. damn..if he has it with him.. i want it ! new mobo for free !)

this service.. man.. its amazing.. my next pc will be alienware again !! this level of service and customer care.. (next time ditch the dutch idiot support and call the uk guy !)

the less good news is... i couldnt upgrade to gtx680m.. he said i could. for a small fee, BUT there are not many 680m's on stock anymore, and they are all reserved for repairs, so i could not upgrade..
GOOD news is.. if this gets fixed, i just made a couple of bucks, so if it works, and its not fast enough for my liking, I WILL UPGRADE (770m or 680m or 780m) on a later time (februari 2014)

 

That's good, but I wouldn't just get him to change the mobo if it's not the mobo causing the problems. The more different things he has to replace the more scope for things not being done right, and causing problems down the road - he'll have to repaste the CPU too as a result for instance, and you've already got great temperatures on that one. Visiting techs sometimes create new problems as well as fix old ones!

Also, if you could of gotten a 680M for a small fee from Dell, why didn't you go for that? You said they were reserved, but I got the impression you could get one if they said you could have one for a small fee? That would have been better than buying a 770M/680M/780M down the road, when you could have gotten a good deal on a 680M right now?

 

They didnt want to sell me one. Because the are running low on gtx680m..
I told them i was willing to pay for the upgrade.. He came bavk and said.. Im sorry i cant sell u a gtx680m. Because the few we have left we need for replacement in machines that already got the 680m..
So they didnt sell it to me.

 

That's great to hear, they still do come through! The main reason I stay with Dell, it's not the quality that's for sure but they do fix their stuff.

The quality of the on-site varies quite a bit from what I read. For me the technician (now on first name terms!) is very good. Knows his way around the M17x machine and was quick .

Funny you say 'a small fee', I tried that and they quoted me a HUGE fee (£1000+), and then said 'out of stock' .

At least after all this if anything goes wrong again you have to ask if a about a replacement. See the link in my sig for suggestions on how to tackle this

 

no they said.. its like 250 euro or something, but just let me check what i can do..
then they say i couldnt get 1 because of the low stock, and they need cards for repairs

 

Update as promised.
Dell guy just called me.. He is between 2 and 4 at my house..
He has a gpu+heatsink and motherboard.. He suspects its a motherboard issue.. Or gpu only.. Since tjey have both.. We swap both..
Im gonna dis-assemble the system partly myself.. I will take gpu+ heatsinks+ all trim bits off zo he cant damage it..

 

Probably best to let him/her dissasemble so they know how it goes back together. I know some people have had 'butcher' engineers but just watch. As soon as you see them doing something that could damage like prising parts apart (apart from releasing the keyboard surround), just give them a 'woah, take it easy dude, that's my pride-and-joy your messing with!'

Of course they may let you do it all yourself but depends on how the tech sees it. Take pictures of all the external surfaces before they arrive just in case they do scratch it. Last time I asked the guy if he minded if I take pictures of the disassembly. This puts a camera in your hand if anything goes bad . Actually got that advice from Dell HQ (TX) when they arranged a call for me.

Good luck

 

GREAT advice there.. i took a full hd video of every single crack of the laptop..
the guy fitted a new mobo immediatly.. he said they brake down more often.. and.. he was fast !!
he changed mobo AND gpu and heatsinks. resulting in: no boot

thing is absolutely dead.. no lights / nothing when turning it on (on ac and battery)..
he thought the motherboard would be DOA.. so tommorow he will be back and replacing the motherboard again.

no gaming for me tonight

 

You're very welcome

Shame about that, he's probably right though about the MB. If he had missed some connection then you would expect at least a beep code. Did you notice if it was new or refurbished? The label on the packaging will tell you.

 

I didnt see if it was new or a refurb.
It must be the mktherboard or the button.. It didnt so anything..

Im not at home tommorow. My mom will deal with the next techie.

What i did notice, he didnt even had a cloth or something with him.. And almost put my baby upside down on the hardwood table (this will damage my expensive table and expensive laptop)... So i quickly gave him a fleece plaid to dis assemble it o ..

Also he didnt have cooling paste with him to re paste the cpu that he took out..
lluckily i had new as5.. Otherwise he would just put it together without cleaning and pasting cpu

 

Heehee, see what I meant about techs sometimes causing new problems! Oh well, they'll sort it in the end.

 

Hmm, not so good then. My guy laid out a rubber mat on the table and the GPU box had a syringe of paste, even though he did not use it since the heatsink was pre-pasted with some compound on the core area. I asked him for it and used it to repaste my CPU . My guy did not initially clean the new GPU before putting it together but I just asked him if he had IPA and he went to his car and got it. Again Dell support had told me to make sure he uses it.

Seems the engineers are not aware of the importance of these things since on most machines it's not critical to smooth running?

I've got a call from them tomorrow to replace my KB, had a keycap pop off

Good luck for tomorrow

 

u are damn right man..
but he started with stuff like: it doesnt feel good not changing motherboard.. because it must be GPU or mobo, so i will change both..
so i was like.. okay.. do i then.....
now itscompletely dead..but it was late on the day anyhow. and it will get sorted, no doubt.

sorry for typo's,, i own 2 expensive gaming laptops (alienware and a brand new msi gx70).. both are broken, so i have to type from this old 400 buck acer thing.. that just doesnt want to die ..

i hope they fix it tommorow.. i will put the system through some serious test so i feel comfy gaming on it again.. at this point, i kinda lost faith in laptops..
but i guess we will see

 

i had a keycap pop off also , couple of months ago..
they changed the keyboard, neat job, quick and easy..
they left the old keyboard at my house, i re-seated the cap, and now i have a full spare (us-int qwerty) rgb backlit keyboard. as a spare.

and about the paste job.. i cant really be too mad bout it..
its simple.. as long as the cpu stays cool.. the gpu he used the stock thermal pad that came on it, wich served me well for about a year..
i will only keep the gtx for a month.. then i go upgrade gpu

 

so jippykajee i was thinking when i woke up

today finally my beloved alienware will be risen from the ash like that bir..... never mind. i suck at this..

soo yeah.. what happend today.. my dear nbr dudes..
yesterday the guy said... i wil be back tommorow. and fit a new motherboard, so it will be all good to go.. i promise...

then.. i watched my mobile phone.. like a hawk.. i NEED this guy to call me and/or come..
not a single call was dropped on my private mobile.. nothing missed...
but still. in good faith.. my mom was home, i brought the laptop there, so i could go to work.....
@14:00 i was like: he must be there..
@15:00 i was like: he is still not there? hmm.. be patient grasshopper
@16:30 i was like, im gonna cal my mommy.. ask if the guy is there. he wasnt..
@17:00 still nobody
@17:30. nobody there, not a single missed call, nothing !!

tried calling dell... our services are open on business days from 9:00 till 17:00. if u need help contact the website (like.. if that would bring a guy to my laptop and fix the damn thing)

so.. i know when i call the dutch alienware, they will redirect me to uk.. since the 1 hour time difference, they are still open !!!! but i couldnt call them.. so i tried a quick chat, see if they can help me..
that chat got cut off the very moment the chatter realised i wasnt going to order a new one.. just disconnected..

so now.. the case in short:

friday: gpu burns.. calling dell for new gpu
monday: guy takes apart whole laptop.. after he seen it working.. try to change the motherboard, fails misserably.. and breaks it even more... said he come back tuesday for new motherboard.
tuesday: guy should come.. didnt hear a thing.. laptop uis COMPLETELY dead (before the dell dude came i could do everything on it, except gaming on normal speeds)

so... i am SOOO pissed off now.. im not gonna spam u guys even more..
and i really hope they come tommorow.. and i hope im not @ home, and really hope that IF i am home, its a different dude....

man.. how difficult is it.. no.. del comes and only freakin breaks my beauty.... i... dont even know what to say..

only thing is.. i lost all faith in both my laptop and the dell tech dudes... till now, they broke more than they fix.. and thinks they know a lot (im team coordinator @ dutch airport it services, we service / maintain / install all pc's and laptops here, so i know where im talking about)
in stead of it being able to watch movies or game @405/1500.. i have nothing.. thanks dell !! great job...

if any of u guys that reads this, is on the uk alienware tech support fone.. dont answer me... i will be the most angry dude u will ever speak to.. period

 

sorry for the spam.. but another update..

so monday they changed gpu+mobo..... wich failed and broke it even more ..
tuesday he didnt show up, while we made an appointment..
wednesday i called support again, what the hell is happening here, false promises and such.. dutch technician called me later, he would be here thursday.

TODAY,... finally i hoped it would work... but no.. it didnt..
tech dude changed motherboard AND gpu AGAIN.. this is the 3th mobo and gpu in my system.. all cabling are getting breaks in them..
so after he was done.. no boot.. no display.. nothing, it was dead....

so basically the technician broke it a lot more than it was... alienware replied: mr.. your case is closed.... only thing we can do is send it to a depot, and let them have a crack at it...
i asked for a replacement notebook, wich, they wont give, me... . i have to send it to germany or poland, and then the guys at the depot will look at it, and fix it..
this will be done in a week... if it doesnt, i get a replacement machine..

timewise,, i dont care anymore, i just lost all faith in my beloved m17x.. and the only thing i want is a complete new working machine.. no matter what specs they offer me...
unfortunately,.... sending it to the depot is the only thing i can do now.....

 

Well man that sucks big-time. I would call then back and ask for a supervisor to review the case. It cannot be 'closed' if they were unable to fix, especially so as it is now far worse. Stress the amount of downtime you have had and request consideration for a replacement (in the light of how many times thay have tried!). Be desperate, not angry though....

On the plus side IF they do offer a new one you get the top model as the one with 3D!!!

Good luck.

 

i tried all that.. but they dont want to give a replacement..
the reason is: they already spent the costs of a new laptop, at the tech service, with all his parts (2x mobo, 2x gpu, 2x heatsink.. and various cables and on/of switch board)
but... i have an update..

its in Krefeld, in Germany right now..
it got picked up yesterday, and is at the depot in Krefeld..
i am not sure on how this all is going to work, if they call me back? or e-mail me.. or????? whatever...
the only thing i DONT hope, is that they ship it back to the original purchase adress (wich is where my ex wife lives now, got difforced 2 months after getting it)
but i hope and think it will be allrighty..

really anxious to know whats gonna happen, and HOPE they fix it..
i love my machine to pieces, and really didnt want to change it for the new 17.. (if i would.. i would get 1.. since the prices are low now) (1750euro for gtx780m / 1080p / 16gb ram/ i7 4700)
but my r4 just is better looking in my opinion...

lets see what it brings.... hope i can enjoy it like ive always did.. i really miss it (and all my fellow gaming buddys @ obvious perfection)

 

final update..
laptop just came back today, had to work late..
unpacked it.. damn never seen this packaging before, its EPIC, not seen anything like this.

so unpacked, first thing i noticed.. the palmrest, its replaced.. dont know why, but its replaced, so it also looks like new..
the technical issues are solved !! they did a super neat job, they even changed the heatsink..

tried to push the gpu (705 core / 1650 memory ) on a gtx 675, not 1 single problem, temps i havent seen it past 70 C,, wich is stupidly low for this card i think..

i cant tell u how happy i am with this, and now i am sure i will upgrade the gpu, and just hold on to this unit !! i love my alienware again, and after cheating on the brand with acer and msi..
i just sold all the machines, and next purschase will be alienware again!!

this is service at its best ! although i know i was a little un patient

no i have to edit this post a bit..
i did put up the clockspeeds.. but i have the famous 65 C throttle now..

 

That's great news. Maybe they damaged the palmrest and just put a new one on? Anyhoo, I'm sure that the 675 has had some 'under the counter' fix applied to it. I got a new one a few weeks ago and it runs around 8c cooler across the board. I run mine at 700/1650 and never see above 66C. The last one was in the low 70's always when gaming and I had had a new heatsink already before it died altogether.

Happy days .

 

gotta love the service on these machines
the thing is.. if i put it to 705/1650, it will maintain the speeds, but sometimes the cpu usage will drop to 90 or something for a real short time..
im okay with it how it is.. iw ill upgrade the gpu in a matter of months to a 770 and oc that to +135 to get it to 680m performance

 

That's the power throttle. The default clock drop is to 410 and makes a game unplayable It happens more often when OC'd.

Easy fix. Drop it to 700 and use NvidiaInspector, advanced settings. Set P1 to 650 and same mem as you have for P0. There will be a small voltage drop so don't go for any higher on P1. You can get a modified vBIOS that matches P0 and P1 to 650 and same full voltage. I didn't bother with this one since it runs so cool and hardly ever power throttles. By using 650 I can see when it happens during a game (the OSD part of msiafterburner), and I don't overload it at a lowered voltage - it will artifact but no permanent damage - usually

If you really want to try the modded vbios I can post it for you

 

haha tempting, but no thanks..
i just play call of duty, and for now, its good and fast enough.
ghosts is a game by any means, so i think its just hit and miss..

my laptopt runs it better than my mates pc (sli TITAN / i7-3960x 6core/32gb ram)

 

Good call IMO

One thing I did think about was that you were thinking of a 770m and OC'ing it up to around 680 performance. Is the 680 still that much more expensive? You'd be much better off saving for the 680m. Since it's specified for the R4 it will be much easier and Optimus will work fine so you wouldn't need a modified BIOS to disable the iGPU. Also no need for modified driver files.

Right now SLi on the latest NV cards (drivers) is not doing very well, your friend should see how it runs on a single card

 

Yup the 680 is almost double the money.
I dont have optimus because the 120hz screen.
The modified .inf is just a small bit.. Dont need custom bios of vbios.
I Will buy a Dell card, that Will be plug n play.

 

Cool, you shouldn't need to modify the machine at all. Another bonus of the 120hz machine . I don't think getting the dell one will matter since you are going to need a modified driver anyway but if the price difference is not too much then play safe with the dell one. If the machine refuses to boot on the NV card then without an iGPU you'll be putting the old one back in
#
Edit: forgot to add, 3D will no longer work although many people do not like it that much anyway. Me? Love it and would not want to loose it!

 

I never used it to be honest.
Watched 20 min movie, and 1level bf3 singleplayer..
Glasses are still new..

For 3d movies i have a 60" lg cinema 3d tv .l

The 120hz feature will still work. Wich is the only important thing for me

In holland we got modded url to order alienware, i only paid 150€ for gtx660 to gtx675. And 900p to 1080 120hz 3d

 

You are like a lot of people that have the 3D model, not impressed. Actually the 3D TV standard and specifications are truly rubbish. By using side-by-side for each eye the resolution is effectively halved and the max refresh rate at 1080i is only 24hz! It is only the technology inside the TV (smoothing/filling) that fills in the gaps in the frame rate - and causes a delay which cannot be seen in movies but is what causes input lag. If you were to try 3D games using your TV input lag would be (is for me, I tried it) awful. With the NV 3D you get a full 60hz to each eye in separately sent frames. As long as the card is powerful enough it is way better than 3d movies.

Give Batman AC or the latest BM AO a test out. It is the one I show off to console people, always say the same 'how can you go back to normal gaming after that!?' It is very game dependant on how well it works but both BM games are perfect and the Portal games were designed for 3D (TR3 is also very good). It adds (literally) a new dimension to those game.

Those sure are good prices, but even if you go with dell for a 7xx card your warranty cover will require you to put the old card back in before they will help. I found that dell have dropped the price on the 680m quite a bit recently. A year ago I was quoted over £1000.00. A few weeks ago it was around £500. Still expensive but not so much of a rip-off.

 

How safe is a custom bios flash? How big is the chance to brick the card?
I jist want it to hold 700/1650 or higher..
This card tj max is 105c.. im getting it 67 not 1 single degree higher..
I so feel comfy to get it to 750/1700 without any hassle and voltage drops.. or even slightly increased voltage..
Im very new to vbios mods and never played with voltage..

I know when it artifacts i can try to bump voltage bit by bit..

Whats is the best tools for permanent oc and stresstesting (i use afterburner and combustor now. But kombustor makes gpu to run 620mjz in stead of target 700+)

My card does lose gpu load percentage loss, at 67c very often

 

Seems we are running two threads on this! If you're not having the black screen issue lets continue over in the other thread