Aw m18x R2 Dual 980m SLI upgrade!!

I thought I'd also go with the custom AW17 BIOS hard mod at sometime to end the lockdown. But this Maxwell UEFI is really annoying on Alienwares...Seems like the Clevo SLI SM-A / P570WM / P7xxZM & their successor(s) are the only way.

 

Hello everyone.

Is there a unlocked Bios (computer bios) that supports UEFI and works properly with the 980ms? I currently have A12 dell bios but I'm thinking on doing some serious benching eland wanna overclock my Cpu to 4.5 to 4.7 and I think I need an unlock bios to get up there.

 

IIRC A9 BIOS from slv7 for M18x R2 would be the best bet !!

 

3DMark FS
16575

Graphics Score - 23517

 

dont your cards throttle during benching?
Mines throttle back to stock Boost clock 1126 (ithink) they dont throttle below that

 

Yes they throttle with stock VBIOS. I am testing for Prema his vbios to help him to fix the throttling issue. But I need to replace my cards as they (at least one) are faulty.

 

are you guys experiencing a problem when windows 8 (fast Startup Option is enable? when i do a cold boot and fast boot option is enable i get desktop lagg and very unresponsive system. i restart the system and everything is back to normal. If disable fast start up option the problem is not present.

 

That sounds like a driver issue, fast boot is likely interacting in a negative way with the graphics drivers

 

Yeaht thats what it sounds like to me too, are any of you guys experiencing this ?

 

That fast startup may be using hibernation to start quickly. I suggest not using that feature for the same reasons you are experiencing.

 

Thanks @D2 Ultima .

I would like to use that feature since it makes windows boots up faster on cold boots but if its gonna give me this problem than i can disable it I guess.

I am just curious if I am the only one with 980M SLI having this issue.
strange, I know is some kind of software issue going on, because when fast start up is disable everything is perfect.

 

Have you tried unplugging everything? What happens if you slow down the system memory to 1866mhz?

 

Hello. Recently I have aquired AW18 with dual 970m. And having some troubles with driver crashes and anoyance about second gpu fan not working automaticly. I have desoldered vbios chip in hope to get some other vendors vbios testing but it is difficult to find any. Anyone that might have or can point me in right direction would be apreciated. So far I have testet with msi 670m 6gb vbios and it is as with clevo vbios works only in uefi mode.
Is there any dell 970m/980m vbioses?

 

Guys, I have money to buy one bench mark software. 3dmark 11 is $19.99 on steam and 3dmark is $24.99 I know 3dmark has firestrike and u hear you guys use that alot, but i also notice you guys used 3dmark 11.
witch one of those do you guys recommend me to buy??

 

If you had to choose 1 I'd go with 3dmark. Only because you have to sit through the whole demo before the benchmark actually begins and that wastes alot of time. 3dmark11 doesn't do that.

 

It also generates some extra CPU and GPU warmth this isn't necessarily ideal for the benchmark results. I really hate those demos. Futuremark knew what they were doing with that sly move... I'm pretty sure it was designed like that on purpose to spur benchmark sales.

3DMark 11 is by far the better benchmark and a more definitive test of overall system performance. But, like @TBoneSan indicated, those stupid 3DMark demos are nasty and a real time waster. If you can afford it, get both. 3DMark 11 is a far more useful product for testing CPU and GPU overclocking stability. You need the paid version to have access to the Advanced menu options for that kind of testing. 3DMark is primarily a GPU test with feel-good scoring that mostly ignores CPU performance when calculating the overall score. You can have a really pathetic CPU and still get nice fluffy overall scores in Fire Strike.

 

Agreed.. Get the newer 3D Mark.. BTW @Nikos, what's taking so long for the modded vBIOS? It's been tested for 3 weeks at least now lol..

 

Don't use Secure Boot or Fast Boot. Both of those are garbage. I have issues with several things when using Fast Boot. It doesn't actually make your system faster, although it seems like it is because it works through bypassing many steps during startup and can cause instability. It even makes my WiFi drivers crash sometimes. It is a form of hibernation. Hibernation and Sleep both are known to cause stability issues. I also don't use either of them. I'd rather wait an extra 2 or 3 seconds during startup and have a system that is stable and everything working correctly.

 

Hello buddy,
I am not at home from now on till end of next week so I am not going to be able to keep going on with the testing till so.

Also, we are having issues not only with the vbios as throttling or values not holding what expected, or maybe it sometimes works for benching but not for gaming. It is a mess to get conclusions as it behaves sometimes just fine and others doesn't.
Also I've encountered hardware issues that have to be fixed or mitigate. Prema is also dealing with RL stuff and he is not having so much free time as he would like to.
Furthermore, Prema said that there is no release date, when it's done.
In my personal experience I've spent more money in thermal pads, heatsinks + shipping + taxes than what a 980M cost.
Believe we are doing as much as we can to have it ready asap.

Sorry for taking so long but it is better for all of us to do this way or at least Prema and I think so
Ps:
Tbh, I do understand all of you. I do want to have my system fully working. I hope we are close enough.

 

INF MOD v353.06 *900M* driver regression

 

Just test it out and here is my result http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/7179642
I did overclock a bit to see if there is any throttle.
And i wonder is it safe to overclock 980m sli 135/400 mhz for everyday use? I only have a 330 AC.
One thing to add to this is after running couple hours of The Witcher 3 and tried enabling the hair effect for the first time, the fps stay constantly at 60 and it only drops when close up on character's face, my max temp went down from 73/73 to 70/72, thanks to the optimization from the new driver. And another awesome work from J95!

 

No worries.. I understand.. I don't even have a 980M let alone 980M SLI

Just was wondering for all the 980M AW owners

 

I'll be back soon

 

I am back I will start testing asap.

 

Hi man, please test v353.06 regular inf/nv_dispi mod from here ( not PEG MOD) http://forum.techinferno.com/nvidia/6307-[alienware]-aftermarket-upgrades-driver-support-modded-inf-29.html#post135150
BIOS set to PEG/SLI enabled
Power drain, NV Inspector core +50 / vram +50, then run valley benchmark + GPU-Z logging, core should drop @1127 (hopefully) .

 

I will do the test now here you have FS + 3DMark 11 @ your latest mod (PEG/SLI) +135/+450/+25mV.

FS 1.1
14773
3DMark 11
P18500

I will update post the logs right now, give me 5 minutes.

PS: Clevo Stock VBIOS

 

Not my latest PEG mod but the regular one I linked, flash Prema's v1.1 from T|I. Power drain, then run valley.

 

I will test as you say now, (need to flash to 1.1 and reinstall with that inf.)

Here you have with the same config I posted before the logs + benchmark score:





Logs:
https://mega.co.nz/#F!vA1zEYAD!rOHwnozkzeLYE05dSEXAjA

 

Done @j95
It throttles like hell.






Logs:

https://mega.co.nz/#F!LVkhnSgA!DQ4SG5DrRpIAWmgkoa6j0A

 

There is a little difference between the two v353.00 / v353.06, the latter has this little 'gift'/Kernel included by nvidia.
My latest mod restores everything, but it's just a temporary fix...terrible.

 

Does this happens also with stock vbios (the last inf I tried, just tested with Prema's vbios)?

I can not understand why are they doing such a ugly thing with their customers :|

 

'Someone' is not liking what we're accomplishing? just speculation of course...

 

The Nvidia snitch/happiness troll is probably reading the thread. Sadly you guys might need to use PM again.

 

I think you nailed it. They have seen it and don't like it. They want to try to force people to buy new crippled laptops instead of upgrade. Well, news flash... homey don't play dat. No BGA feces for his hombre.

 

It's even worse...reserved.

 

So... things were getting better for 900M on AW systems and all of a sudden worse? In addition to the kepler brokenness? Ugh

 

Mobile gaming is dead. Between nVidia's antics and AMD's mental failures, the mobile space is dead I'm afraid. It has been a good run gentlemen. I'm thinking of happier days like back in 2012, when the 7970M and 680M came out and absolutely blew away their predecessors without any of these stupid handicaps we have now.

 

I smell a conspiracy... hardware doesn't change by itself, but drivers being used to intentionally alter system behavior is really low down and despicable. I think there is some dirty pool being played, but I cannot prove it. Someone, somewhere is a really rotten illegitimate son of a female canine and I wish I knew who we should blame sue.

Yeah, those were some good times for sure. It's a shame the same brands that gave us so much to be happy about have totally betrayed us, given us nothing but grief and so little to like. Even more shameful, they seem to pretend everything is OK.

 

Nvidia may know that gtx1080m not be a good upgrade from the gtx980m. Cripple previous graphics card to make gtx1080m more palatable. Gtx1080m = Crippled Gtx880m.

 

I'm starting to wonder if maybe Dell is the one doing this? The 750M being broken on the 353.06 aside, it seems like only old alienwares are having issues. Single-GPU isn't too much of an issue, granted, but no old ASUS/MSI/Clevo/etc is experiencing massive throttling or anything even close to the stuff that's going on now. ONLY the Alienwares. I can't think that they're adamant on being silent about why older alienwares have issues just because they feel like it... somebody has to be doing it. And with the radical changes the new alienware models have gone, I'm wondering if they aren't the ones. Besides, think about it. Two 980Ms + a 4940MX in a AW18 (regardless of not using more than 330W or not) tears anything their new line offers to shreds, inclusive of Titan X eGPU solutions in the AW17 R2, mainly because of the CPU limitations and various other lockdown factors. AW has made the largest spin out of any other high end manufacturer... ASUS always sucked with their locked-down, anti-consumer crap. MSI started going a little more pro-consumer (and bumped prices too)... Clevo decided to bring back the quality last seen in their D900 and PxxxHM series... AW did a full 180 spin with their products even dropping their overpricedness (though they're still overpriced).

 

Totally agree... Dell wants the new Aw models look more palatable when the old models is/becomes crippled... The new Aw models are damaged laptops. Useless bios that is tried patched several times with no luck and many unexplained problems. I've never seen so many complaints about a laptop such these new Aw models. Read about problems all the time. Trottle, heat problems and the crippled 180w psu and hybrid bios. All countries outside United States and canada can not get a free 240W power supply to the new Aw models, they must still use a crippled weak 180w power supply and a useless hybrid bios. This is not acceptable and Dell knows this but will not do anything about this problem... They are hide behind a useless hybrid bios. Aw is a destroyed high end laptop brand now...What happens to customers of earlier Aw17R2 with the useless 180 power supply and hybrid bios if Dell decides to select 240W power supply for next Aw model that has the same power consumption? It should be a riot if this happens.
Every day can I see similar problems with the new Aw models. This is tragic. All sorts of problems. Who wants to buy such trash???

 

900M's M18xR2, AW18, AW17/M17x -> 120Hz <-


GeForce 353.06 PEG MOD >Throttling FIX<

Better than v353.00 + valid results.

Uninstall under device manager (only), then run DDU

Not "Dell", name and shame...

 

OK, wait... time out. I get what you're saying and believe most of it is accurate EXCEPT nothing has changed at the hardware level with existing machines like the M18xR2. Only NVIDIA drivers have changed. So, if what you are saying is accurate, it is not NVIDIA driver engineer incompetence as much as collusion and organized crime with NVIDIA and Alienware working together to defraud their customers. Is that what you are saying? I'm not disagreeing, just looking to clarify because Alienware cannot commit such a criminal act against owners of the M18xR2 using NVIDIA's drivers without NVIDIA's help.

Hmm... I wonder if posting this at NVIDIA's Forums will get their attention? Let's find out... [ LINK ]

 

Nvidia are filth. They've really turned into a sleazy company over the past 12 months. I've read things about them deliberately loading up tessellation in game works to not only gimp AMD, but also Kepler - I actually believe this true. I don't like how they are running their business now. I also dont like them over-reaching with what a display driver should be doing. There is no need for them to be thinkering with power management options and multiple background processes.

 

I'm testing just one card, Do you mind to tell me if I need to change between PEG Mode to SG Mode?

 

No, you should not need to. But, it certainly won't hurt to experiment both ways. It made no difference for me in terms of throttling behavior. It was exactly the same both ways. But, that was before the changes to @Prema vBIOS and @j95 drivers, so YMMV. The ONLY advantage I could identify was SG (Optimus) let me use UEFI with Legacy Option ROM and run Windows 7 with a single GPU whereas I HAD TO use pure UEFI with SLI.

 

Thanks, It is a pain in the ass to make this work properly. As you I do not care about stock performance if it can work faster then it should be my decision to make it run faster not to whom I bought it to.

I'm trying to be thorough with my test but the drivers NVIDIA is pulling out never ends to amaze me.

 

Well said. we should be free to do whatever we want with our $1600+ video card setup.

I am running it @ stock clocks to avoid problems but it bothers me I cant overclock without throttling.
gotta say, @ stock clocks is rock solid and they are really fast cards even @ stock clocks they chew everything i throw at them even witcher 3 @ high settings is smooth.

 

Does anyone own the GTA V to provide me benchmarks results @ maxium quality (with 980M SLI)?
Thank you

 

It's the only thing that makes sense in my mind. Think about it. No matter how much evidence you shove at them or anything, they are silent. The minute you tell them it's stock speeds and it only happens with new drivers they don't reply. What does it affect? Alienware legacy machines. ONLY. I already know my 780Ms let me overclock here, and it did so on both 350.12 and 353.06 which I currently am on now. I've never had driver issues with me 780Ms. Ever. 880Ms were an abomination for every machine except those 4GB ASUS models, so I don't count that card... but it's the only thing that makes sense to me.

I know nVidia has made some scummy moves recently, with the attempted OC blocking and such, but I've never seen them legit neuter previous models so badly. Ever. My D900F worked straight up until 2013 when I got this even with increasing mobo problems. My current machine works and the AW doesn't. Older EM machines work with 900M without throttling issues and alienwares don't. It makes no sense to me at all. Simple driver negligence does NOT do this. Something else has to be at work.