Aw m18x R2 Dual 980m SLI upgrade!!

I do not have so much faith tbh... but you know... the last thing you should lose it's faith so lets wait and see.

 

Seriously, that's what 99% of the gaming notebook market already consists of... just a bunch of cute garbage. If they don't use this opportunity to redeem themselves and demonstrate they still have capacity to release a product that stands out as being a cut above the competition, then I think it is safe to say there's nothing left to care about under the Alienware brand name and we all need to stop wasting time here and go find another product. That's not rocket science, just common sense. Poop stinks, and the best way to fix that is you flush the toilet.

 

How would i go about installing the new nvidia drivers(355.82)? Is it possible? I'm trying to install to play the new metal gear

update: tried modding the inf file, can get the install to start, but fails at driver installation. Anything i can do?

 

Playing the game with the 353.51 beta drivers.... barely getting 60 fps on max, and is very unstable (weird sound and the black screen)

any help would be appreciated!

 

did u install 980m sli on ur laptop? in any case, u mean unstable on FPS or did u have some spikes on the game?

 

Hey buddy jump on this forum and grab @j95 s own magic mod INF file
http://forum.techinferno.com/showthread.php?t=6307

Don't forget to thank and donate to the man if you feel he deserves it
I'm using 355.83 with J95s mod for MG and Mad Max. So far nothing but smooth sailing

Sent from my LG-D855 using Tapatalk

 

I can get a 980M MSI card for very good price so someone knows if MSI cards are compatibles with M18XR2 or not?

I'm thinking in replace my 780M SLI for a single overclocked 980M gpu for better use my 330W PSU but I really need some opinions about this. Thanks.

 

Most likely not... MSI cards don't play nice in AW...

 

Really? What a pity but I really not sure if the card itself is a MSI one, I just see this picture in his page and take a guess:

 

Some if not all don't have SLI connections too

 

Hi guys my dual GTX 980M gpus will arrive next tuesday so I want to know if its secure to place some cooper themal pads in backside of the gpu to maintain the temperature in case of overclock.(pic related only to show the 1.5 x1.5 x 0.3mm cooper thermal plate - one for each memory chip)

I don't find any topic that shows pics of the preferred place to put thermal pads in backside of 980M. Is it necessary to mod the heatsink in M18X-R2 like the Alienware 18 has? I hope 980M SLI to achieve at least 50% more fps in games than 780M SLI does. Thanks.

 

Some games you might but the 980m and 780m are neck and neck in bf3/4'as far as fps goes.

 

The heatsink doesn't need to be modded, mine worked fine.

Mr. Fox has a post in this thread showing where to place thermal pads.

 

@Tulius If you want to add a headspreader/heatsink to the Vram on the back of your 980M card(s) I would get hold of the the x-bracket that has the spreader fixed to it. The last thing you want is for your copper pads to fall off and short out your Mobo.
I have seen thermal pads (the soft silicon ones) placed between the graphics card and the mobo, that may be something you want try if you are concerned with heat and cant find the x-bracket.
Don't forget that the chips on the back side are cooled though the PCB on the same contact as the vram on the front side of the card.

 

Solution: Sell 980m, buy two 7970m -> Run the game at MAX settings with 60FPS and 0 issues.


But honestly, I come back here time to time to see if the 980m issues have been resolved. Seems like they have not. See you guys in 6 months then .

 

I think Prema VBIOS mod solved most at the issues now. Btw my pair of GTX 980M arrived now: There is some kind of backplate in one of then. I hope if its ok to install with it.

Edit: I flashed with Prema Mod 1.1.1 and so far so good, it seems the throttle is really gone in the last Nvidia drivers(355.82), I'm using just one gpu at the moment in Optimus mode because I dont want to format my HD yet but I noticed some weird info in Gpu-z like TMU-Rops is 64/96 instead of 64/128 and Computing CUDA is not tagged, is it normal?

This card is getting hot very quick achieving 80C in few minutes in gaming sessions.In 780M the average temperature was like 74C

 

Greetings guys,

I'm assuming u already know about Nvidia releasing the Aw 18 again with 980m sli. If my memory serves me, was not the problem a simple V-Bios pulled out of an 18 with 980m ?

waiting for the experts to speak on this.

Regards

 

It's a BIOS problem. The beta mod vBIOS just fools the sbios..a stock vBIOS won't offer a fix for other AW systems.

Jus update gpu-z

 

Exactly... newer version should show the correct info. If CUDA remains unchecked with the newer version, check NVIDIA Control Panel and confirm that the PhysX Processor is the 980M and not the CPU. If you select the CPU the CUDA and PhysX can show up as disabled (especially with the Intel iGPU active).

 

Alright.

I hope everything get sorted out then.

 

How is the beta vbios going anyway?

 

Yup updated gpu-z and now CUDA is tagged Thanks.
I really dont want to format my Windows, I'll try to backup in some way to use it in UEFI windows install later.

 

Have Slv7 tested his Aw17 and gtx980m without problems (if he still has his laptop and use gtx980m)? As I understand it, he made an mod bios on a replacement bios chip.

 

I wonder if Prema/svl7 can backport some of the UEFI/GOP code from the updated Alienware 18 BIOS if it ever gets released....since they're both InsydeH20 systems.

 

I would love to know about an update on this too I want to play metal gear solid 5 but i cant with the 353.00 and if i get the latest drivers it throttles so my 4k system system cant run metal gear solid, thats pretty sad.

 

Hey mate I'm currently on v355.83 driver and been playing MG Phantom pain since release. Runs smooth as butter I'm on stock vBIOS though.


Sent from my LG-D855 using Tapatalk

 

Hi all, I need help again folks if possible: I'm trying to death boot in UEFI mode, I read all tutorials I could find but with no avail. The steps I'm following is the same as the beginning of this thread:
Boot list option UEFI, secure boot disabled and load legacy option rom disabled, create a usb UEFI bootable with Windows 8.1 ISO in rufus and a GPT blank HD was already installed but in the end only appears the message: "No boot Device Found. Press any key to reboot the machine"

Also found another tutorial that asked to insert the Windows 8.1 DVD disk to install in UEFI mode but both the DVD and USB was not listed in UEFI boot devices.

I'm starting to think that the culprit is my old BIOS version which is A10 unlocked(M18X-R2) and I needed the A11 bios but I'm not sure about it. I kindly accept any advice, thanks.

 

No need for the A11 bios I am using the unlocked A10 bios just fine.
The disk doesn't automatically load windows when you try starting without hitting F12?

 

Removing it from BIOS hasn't been a problem. But two reasons to do it from vBIOS side:
- To some systems BIOS Mods can't be flashed without a chip programmer
- Targeting all systems with one package instead of having to make 5+ BIOS Mods

http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...us-working-great.777145/page-14#post-10087438

 

The disc don't load automatically, neither appears listed when pressed F12. Few years ago I changed the DVD-ROM to a Blu Ray burner.

Update: Flashed to A11 BIOS and is the same, dont recognise the USB UEFI install, the same message appears after Alienware boot logo: No boot device found, press any key to reboot the machine.
I dont know what to do anymore.

 

The M18x R2 secure flashing system can be overridden with prr tool, that has not been a problem. It's the Alienware 18 that must be flashed with a hardware flasher. If you guys manage to figure this out from the vBIOS side, that would be great. I've had better luck in the past patching from the BIOS though. I will definitely try my hand at it if/when this "unlocked" Alienware 18 BIOS comes out.

 

I am sort of stumped as well, seeing as both USB and Disc drive are not picking up boot-able media. There has to be either some more obscure setting that is messing up your efforts or something simple and coincidental like your disc drive no longer works and the USB socket you used is no good or isn't scanned during boot up.... Sorry I'm not much help.

 

Its seems the USB drive was not correctly formated by rufus, I'll check the drive installation again, thanks anyway.

Update: After fixing USB UEFI I could sucessfully install Windows 8.1 with 980M SLI but now I'm facing high temperatures in secondary gpu because its fans isn't working properly, Right now learning how to use HWinfo64 to try fix this issue.

 

Use Hwinfo... I always did that... Never had any problems with Clevo though.. Auto fans works great most of the time unlike AW and there's always max fans with 1 key combo...

 

Hello
Has anyone tried to run 980M on Windows 10?

 

I am currently using Win10 with SLI 980M (Prema's vBIOS, not released version) but as there is more people with problems than without them I do not recomend it to you for the moment.

 

[Nikos] is this new vBios improved the throtling problem in 980M? In actual state its frustanting to play anythink with it with the core and memory unstable clocks.

 

I'm quite stumped at all the throttling questions. No, I don't OC much, but for gaming I never notice much of a difference with the throttling. The games run smooth except for maybe a hiccup now and then. I'm using Prema's vbios v.1.1.1, everything is rock steady but honestly, the games play the same. I'm playing Wicther 3 everything on ultra and it looks no different then when I was using the original vbios. I guess the point is if your not a big OC for not numbers it really no big deal. Then again I'm the sort that sees not big deal between regular DVD, blue ray, or 4K etc.

 

What is your currently driver? Are you using Nvidia Inspector to adjust the clocks in your 18?

 

I'm using driver 355.60. I tried out 355.82, but I was having problems with it (PC was running hotter for some reason with that driver). I have Nvidia Inspector installed but I leave everything on stock unless I'm in the mood to OC. Right now, everything is working smoothly so I don't miss around with anything to much.

 

So did you just installed the drivers are ur good to go? are u using nvidia inspector at all? drivers must react differently between m18x r2 and m18. I tried 355.60 and i get bunch of throttling.

 

Maybe the 18 is different but on the M18x R2 I have had 3 types of throttling the first is high core load but the clocks flutuate rather then staying rock solid on 1126Mhz or a slight overclock (20Mhz or so) this is fixed by playing around with the right driver (reinstalling) and/or resetting the cards (flashing vbios).
The second is solid core clock but the core load varies from 60-95%. both of these types of throttling can be hard to tell when gaming unless you have the OSD up and running but is really easy to tell when bench-marking as I know what FPS I should be getting at each stage.
The Third is system crippling, the core throttles to 135Mhz and happens when the system draws to much power (roughly320-340W) so GPU load + moderate-high overclock or CPU load + GPU Load + CPU/GPU overclock or if using the wrong drivers.

 

Double post, sorry

 

The only thing I did to the driver is insert my PC ID code so that it would install on my PC. I only use nvidia inspector to OC, and I haven't done any of that for a while now.

 

then the m18 plays nicer with the 980ms sli or so it seems like. I need a modded driver from @j95 in order to stop throttling it doesnt matter if i OC or not. I cant even play games without modded drivers.
I run 353.00 (the modded version) and its running nice and stable. I can overclock the memory and it will stay if I match the clocks on Nvidia inspector P0 &P1. The CORE clock always goes back to stock.

I have tried different drivers directly from nvidia's website and they all throttle for me with the m18x r2

 

Yes exactly this vBIOS prevents system to throttle at all. Rock solid.

 

That's awesome. I cant wait!

 

Wow, so flashing the next Prema vBIOS update we can install new Nvidia drivers without worrying about throttling, that`s very nice. And what about the second gpu fan only working right with HWinfo64 installed, is this issue could be solved by vBios too?

Btw [Nikos] I''m really looking foward for your triple PSU adapter to be ready.

 

Alright... I've read through this whole thing to figure out how not to make the same mistakes and upgrade smoothly. Thanks to everyone for forging the way!

Two things stand out:

1) I'm thinking you might want to add a note on how to set the AW18xR2 to UEFI when your MXM cards are not supported. Coming from an AW18xR1, my 580Ms do not have GOP support in UEFI. Should I set to Intel, remove them and then set to UEFI?

2) When will the mythical vBIOS that solves 99% of the problems be released? Closest I can see are the Clevo v1.1.1 for the 8GB card and AW v1.1.1 for a 4GB card. The cards that are on their way here from the Great White North are 8GB.

Homer

 

1) Yes that will work, your system should automatically use the Intel gfx if you remove your 580, then switch to uefi and finally install 980m.
2)There is no release date, it'll be released when its ready. The current 1.1.1 build is targeted at systems were the card works as "intended". Alienware systems that have the 980m as an aftermarket upgrade have another set of unique problems linked to the bios. I understand Prema may start from scratch to properly address the problems so it might be a while yet... but who knows.