Aw m18x R2 Dual 980m SLI upgrade!!

yes you definitely need the screws.

 

just a little bit off topic, is it possible to force both graphics cards to run at full clocks even at desktop? I only see that the primary card is not downclocked, while the secondary one is. I have NCP set to "prefer maximum performance"

 

Setting prefer maximum performance in NCP under "global 3D settings" should do it. But the second card's behaviour is always a little weird. Mine remains clocked up in any game that uses it, 24/7, even though my primary will downclock if it's a low-end game.

 

Yes, i have it set to prefer maximum performance, but still not able to get both cards to full clocks. Oh well, thanks anyways.
PS. if I am experiencing like fragments on screen every 10 minutes, but its only a duration of 1 second, is my card faulty?

 

hummm...sli this time.


Edit:
Max watts... 374W
So if it works with the AW18, then it should have loads of running room, but then I haven't tried vantage or 3dmark11 either.

 

John, do you sense a cpu bottleneck with the ivy extreme? I wasnt anticipating any since even a regular 3630qm is faster than a desktop i5, so I had in mind our mobile cpu should hold well against 980m sli, but some other forum members say otherwise. Just curious since you just benched it.

 

You testing them on alienware or p570wm?
From the phrase "unknown graphic", I guess you are testing on alienware, right?

 

Is this with OC'd 3940XM and stock 980M SLI, checking max watts in draw-from-the-wall?

 

WAIT, 374W from the wall or total power from the power brick? AW18 only has 330W, how would it work?

 

No, I do not, but then I only just started.

Alienware.

No. 4.3 ghz and 1.268/1450 or so. Stock was well under 300W more like around 200W. My system only.

Max watts is 442 on the 330W power brick.



Edit. I forgot. I have some other things plugged into that same strip. so it's at least 30W lower. Not counting spikes.

Edit: Using cheap paste as well and temps are under 70C with 2500rpm fans, but we shall see. Running heaven 4.0

 

@johnksss

I understand 330w psu can handle more than 400w.
But I dont understand why "combined score" of single 980m is higher than SLI 980m in the same system.
This has been like this for a long time. Since the era of 680m.
The only solution that looks working is dual PSU, isn't it?
Do you have any thought about this?

 

I have some ideas, but ill need to investigate further before speaking on it.

 

I went to sleep after my last reply. Actually i did turn on before testing, as took screenshot before clickin turn on My system is on High performance

Yes i use wPrime210 for about 7 min. And clock stayed at 4.5x4 for whole test.

 

Damn, whats wrong with Win8.1, Today mornin i ran firestrike and GPU throttle back Now it throttle directly back to 204Mhz.

I just install Office 2013, wait when i shutdown system last night windows has installed all updates. Is there in particular update causin problem.

Alright perform system restore back to stage when i installed first driver, still GPUs throttle. I had enough Win 8.

 

Peter, you having the same problem that I had?
FPS going from 70 70 70 35 35 70 70 70 35 35?

@Johnksss
How about you? You having any throttle on GPU?

 

You know last night after fresh win 8.1 install everythin was working fine No throttle but when i finally shutdown system i noticed that windows did all windows updates. Now after windows update GPU throttle problem returned. Right now im lookin for all windows update as which one affecting GPU performance. I know im stupid and i will never get answer that way but it is worth to try.

@Johnksss

Your system at stock windows 8? or 8.1?

 

Those updates are always bad news.. save your self time and grey hairs and leave the useless things turned off.

 

Is this AW18?

 

Guys for now is it worth change 780M SLI for a single 980M in a M18X-R2? I can easily sell my gpus if its the case.

 

Peter that's what happened to me.
Only fresh windows installation helped.
Try not to update anything. And turn of your computer.
You will see the same results. I am sure because I have been there.

 

That's great news for AW18 owners. I expected 980M to draw less power than 780M, not more like Peter was thinking. This could be an unplanned and completely accidental fix for Alienware's engineering mistakes with the AW18 and its pathetic power handling problems.

Just do another clean install and be done with it. You won't be able to fix the Windows Update cancer. It's not fixable. Windows 8 (and 10) are like a really bad case of diarrhea... the more you try to hold it in, the worse it gets. Now you understand the reason for my ranting. Mr. Fox isn't just being grumpy, there's a reason to be upset about having to use Windows 8. It's a pile of... well, you get the picture.

Windows Updates are bad for Windows 7, too. Turn it off with Group Policy Editor. There's nothing that can muck things up as fast as Windows Updates. They're crap, and you don't need them. These are CYA patches for Micro$oft to give the appearance of trying to keep all of us peasants safe from internet nasties. Only YOU can keep YOU safe, LOL. M$ is just going to mess you up to protect themselves.

At the very least, make an image of your fully configured OS without any Windows Updates so you can quickly undo the damage. It's not a matter of if, but when, Windows Updates ruin everything.

 

Thanks for update Mr.Fox, No more win 8.1 now.
Now i did install Win 10 run firestrike straight after driver installation, No graphics card throttle and disabled windows update. If any major update release i will install it manually.

I noticed that performance is almost same as Win 8.1,
Generic VGA video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-3940XM,Alienware M18xR2

Unfortunately, CPU performance is not as Win7. I've tried many tweaks but my CPU throttle back to 1.2ghz it just cant keep 4.3 x4 in performance mode.

 

TS 7.00 b3 works fine for me also with UEFI without Legacy Option ROM in Windows 8.1.1 and Windows 10.

I wish I could say that Windows 8.1.1 and Windows 10 worked fine, LOL.

Yeah, you'll never get CPU performance as good as Windows 7 with Windows 8 and 10. Micro$hat has totally screwed things up.

That said, I am not sure you ever had ThrottleStop set correctly. Unclewebb gave you some advice and it's not clear if you followed it. Unclewebb ROCKs... Did you follow godfafa's advice and disable BDPROCHOT in the BIOS and uncheck it in TS? You also need to find the WatchDog Timer in the BIOS and disable that nasty throttle-making turd. You will NEVER get full CPU performance potential without ThrottleStop, even in Windows 7, so it needs to be set up correctly.

Let me take some screen shots for you. I'll be back with some examples for you to follow for setting up ThrottleStop. I saw several things in your setup that were not right.

 

Thanks Mr.Fox, CPU throttle is fix No more 12Ghz. Yes BD PROCHOT was already disabled, Actually i did increase thermal throttle temp to 90C. I dont know about TS setting as there as TS1 2 and TS2 5. i didnt touch tht setting as i dont know which value to throw in. Also using ThrottleStop (Thanks to Unclewebb for it).

Generic VGA video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-3940XM,Alienware M18xR2

Highest score of Alienware with Dual 980M

Really!!! Almost nearly 14000

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/4945304

At maximum 334W, lets consider 90% efficiency 334x0.9= 300.6W approx.

Spoiler

 

Here are some ThrottleStop settings that work well for me. You will need to adjust Flex VID for each overclock profile to fit what your CPU likes best. Hotkeys let you switch among the overclock profiles on the fly.

Disable C-States in the BIOS and you can use the C1E box to toggle them on and off. You can also choose the default profiles for AC and Battery power. I use 4.3GHz as my default AC profile. My BIOS is set for 47x4 and ThrottleStop tones things down for normal everyday use.

Spoiler

Here is the Windows 8.1 Fire Strike Physics score...

 

Thank you very much Mr.FOX for such a smashin OC guide. Now i can able to use full potential of XM chips.

 

But what is going on with the gpu score?

 

it's improved isnt it?

 

If I take out both graphics cards, will I be able to switch from legacy to uefi with igpu before my 980ms arrive?

 

Yes, I guess your are absolutely right.

Good Job:thumbsup:

 

If you are running Windows 8 you should be able to do that right now, without removing your GPUs. IGFX and discrete graphics both work fine with pure UEFI boot, just not with Windows 7 because it refuses to load unless you use Legacy BIOS or UEFI and Legacy Option ROM. It remains stuck on the Windows Logo screen. I've looked high and low on the internet and it appears to be this way for everyone that has tried it.

 

So if I currently have them running in discrete graphics mode with legacy mode, and I pull out both gtx 780m to sell them, will I be able to boot the laptop without any discrete cards installed and will it resort to integrated gpu automatically, or will the device be stuck on discrete mode and I won't be able to access the bios. This is because the money for getting the 980ms are coming from the sale of my 780ms which means I will be stuck for a while with only integrated graphics. Thanks for the reply

 

Yeah, there is no reason that should not work fine. Go into the BIOS and turn off Legacy Option ROM on the boot menu right now and check. If you can run without Legacy Option ROM on discrete graphics right now, if you switch to IGFX you will see for yourself that it works both ways before you remove the GPUs. The discrete graphics is totally disabled when you run IGFX, same as if no GPUs are installed at all. You cannot do it with Windows 7, but Windows 8 can boot either way, with or without Legacy BIOS support. The caveat is that Windows 8 has to be installed to use the UEFI Windows Boot Manager. If it was not installed that way it won't load. You will find out as soon as you try it. If it will not boot, go back into the BIOS and turn Legacy Option ROM back on again. If that is the case, you will need to reinstall Windows 8 in UEFI mode before you can use the 980M.

 

Thanks Mr.Fox! I might get those 980m for the aw18 soon then.

 

I can verify this works as i have done it jallar1234

 

U can verify that u are use that settings in Bios, or just verify that Bios Settings and its working with aw18 ?

 

Not sure what you are asking. Settings are like this with pure UEFI boot (no Legacy support):



That only works for Windows 8 and newer OS. Windows 7 gets stuck on the Welcome screen with the Windows Logo.

 

Yeah I was kind of confused what he could verify, as I am wondering first, if 980m sli work in alienware 18, and secondly if I remove the nvidia gpu, will I be able to access bios to switch uefi to legacy and vice versa on igpu.

 

Yes, you can use the Alienware 18, M18xR1 and M18xR2 with no GPUs installed whatsoever. It works the same either way and there is no problem accessing the BIOS. You can run with integrated graphics no matter what BIOS settings you are using.

If you install 980M and enable Legacy BIOS or UEFI with Legacy Option ROM the machine will not POST. It will fail with 8 beeps and you will have to remove the 980M GPUs, turn off Legacy support (go pure UEFI like the screen shot above), shut down and reinstall the 980M cards. The machine will not POST with 980M installed with Legacy BIOS support enabled.

 

Alright, that's what I thought, but just wanted to have a confirmation. Thanks

 

SLi or not its a BIOS config boot option non dependent of the conf style, lol

 

Well I thought that if I was in discrete graphics setting, it would not let me get into bios like the 8 beeps when you plug in a gtx 980m if you have legacy enabled.

 

If you enable legacy support with 980M installed and activated it's going to beep. You won't be able to switch it over to Integrated Graphics at that point because the machine will fail to POST and not give you any opportunity to change the BIOS settings. If you have it set on Integrated Graphics with legacy enabled it will boot fine. The PCI-e slots are powered off and the discrete GPUs should be totally invisible, as if the discrete GPUs do not exist. If you attempt to switch from Integrated Graphics to 980M it will no longer boot and you will need to physically remove the 980M cards (which will turn the Integrated Graphics back on again) and the go into the BIOS to disable legacy support. Then you can shut down, install the 980M cards and start the computer up normally.

To avoid any confusion, be sure your system boots fine without legacy support enabled and start running the system that way right now, before you even have the 980M cards. Then you'll be ready for the 980M upgrade when that day comes. That's what I am doing. I am forcing myself to live without Windows 7, running pure UEFI mode, in hopes that I will eventually grow numb to what a pile of crap Windows 8 is before I upgrade to 980M SLI.

 

Ok, I just verified this. I'm running legacy now with igpu active, but I did do the switch while in the bios.

 

You can switch while in bios? I didn't know that.

 

You would need an unlocked bios for that.

 

Oh. There's no unlocked bios for the aw18, but thanks.i will try it tonight.

 

Yes as it's a secured down UEFI implementation that Mr Fox loves so much

 

As promised Assassin's Creed Unity at Ultra settings, AA = MSAA-4x,
62 - 78 fps.
Assassin's Creed Unity is one of great game with stunnin graphics. Aw M18x R2 with dual 980M SLI can render game in Ultra settings at avg. 68fps. I'm using Nvidia shadowplay to record frame which may drop performance about 2 - 5fps. You may notice frames drops to 27fps two times in whole video, which is due to Alienware 330W adaptor power limit.

 

That's pretty decent frame jump from dual 780m sli, I get on average 45-50 on 4x msaa and ultra with stock clocked cpu and gpu. Are you sure it's a power supply problem? What does the power meter show as maximum when you have game running?