Just got my 880M twins!

Now you have me really curious, could you explain more about true MXM support? I read there used to be some funny business between the BIOS and the vBIOS and how the BIOS initializes the card, but not much more beyond that.

 

Then his heatsink has to be cooling the extremely hot VRM chips (at least that's what I remember gets overly hot) that heats up the rest of everyone's cards... which should get it hot anyway. The extra heat has to go somewhere and it prevents the heatsink from doing its job that well. So when I said he had a good "card" I indeed meant in fact that he had a good "card". Nobody has been able to get stock 880Ms without vsync working at 954/993 in all games without either overheating straight, crashing, or throttling without hitting temp/power limitations.

The cards have never worked properly, and this guy with so-called "perfect 880M" (which doesn't stay at its 954 OR 993 clocks either) and low temps isn't actually listening fully to what we have to say to make him test properly. But people are eager to see if they can get something amazing out of their broken cards using his vBIOS, so that's where the impatience/detailed instructions come from.

 

Unfortunately I got the info from Prema that the EM and prior machines didn't work with true MXM. My 260M GTX actually posted but with a black screen because of the 120hz screen when I had soft bricked my 880s.

Also both SM and SM-A machines can handle the new cards.

I think Clevo fixed whatever was broken in the previous generations which is why we got the new cards in the old chassis. Wish I had a card that I could stick in there but Prema had mentioned that the new cards would work out of the box. It's probable that the vbios will need to be changed if it isn't reporting the temperature to the machine but I know the mod is made from an Alienware vbios.

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk

 

(I for one know it works the opposite way around at least, I have a Clevo card in my Alienware.)

 

Lol my Alienware POSTs with 880s and its an M17xR1. Alienware machines don't care lol.

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk

 

Except for these new ones; 900M series apparently dislike Alienware with a passion.

 

All a person can do is take his vBIOS, flash it to their cards, make sure they've got the best padding/pasting/cooling available & then run it to see how it performs. Ethrem's probably had enough of testing though!

 

Got that right!!! I've been playing my PS4 while I wait and just got Bayonetta 2 for the Wii U plus I started working out on the Wii Fit U... Better things to do than fuss with my machine.

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk

 

I think NVIDIA just got really sloppy with the vBIOS. This is probably because of Alienware's puzzling and disappointing absence of involvement and influence in Maxwell MXM GPU development. Alienware is the only huge high performance laptop OEM and their influence used to be beneficial to everyone, including their competitors.

 

If vBIOS is the thing and every system other than AW is basically plug and play (where AW was the only plug and play before) then something is fishy as hell. The fact that even M17x R1 systems take 880Ms like Ethrem said but nothing takes 900M series cards at all is so... weird. I can't put all the blame on Dell but I can't put all on nVidia either, since AW is the only manufacturer that won't sell with 900M series.

Either way, AW has been going downhill for a while as you constantly complain about with the AW17 and AW18's downsides versus the M17x and M18x systems, and they've not said anything to anyone about new models or lineups, but bring out a new laptop with a ULV chip and a 860M that's STILL thick?

Yeah I don't think they really care much anymore.

Laptop gaming is going le downhill for now. Hopefully it'll climb back up at some point, namely by the time I need a new PC, but still. Right now, I see very little actual good in NEW products. The power of the maxwell cards are nice, but they could be better too, so I'm not even counting that as an "amazing" thing.

 

My friend gonna buy alienware 18 with max options , but when he read the reviews about alienware with gtx 880 sli , they are so many complaints about it. At this time , should he buy this machine ??

 

No. A Clevo P377SM-A would be the better buy for SLI and raw power.

 

ok guys ive tested this vbios and here is a completely stock run.. no oc on cpu and no oc on cards..

1.first impressions seems to show this vbios works as intended.. boost works fine.. boosts to 993 no issues..

2. this vbios doesnt like ocing at all so if you use it dont try.. its not going to happin.

3. seems also to not really play nice with fore strike but im going to rerun 3mark all test after i post this.

 

And here is

firestrike ultra
firestrike extreme
firestrike
skydiver

also John thinks this vbios is screwy

 

Why is your base clock 993 though? And what was that green performance cap reason before? I've only ever seen a grey and that was "util"... what does the green line mean?

I could understand why John might think it's screwy. Especially if OCing won't work.

 

I only use the laptop without cooling stand, thermal paste IC Diamond, the room temperature is 28C. I have a card OEM Alienware.

 

seems gpu-z reads the max boost clock.. and for what ever reason puts it as a base. but under sensors tab it shows what the core is actualy doing and mine right now as i type is 135Mhz

now even the memory is high on this.. my memory is at 1450 right now and its not oced in any way shape or form.. seems they bumped some stuff up..

John also said that the power tables were to close on this vbios..

but ill reset and try it again in the morning rerunning all test to see what it brings in..

oh and yea this vbios doesnt like even a 50+ on core it will hang.. memory also..

according to john we need a dual psu option at this point..

 

Doesn't look like it's performing any better... Would need to see some games to see if the graphics are still throttling. They're definitely still throttling in benchmarks...

+50 core on stock voltage has always crashed. These cards are too close to their max stable core out of the box.

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk

 

DumbDumb, I am confused.
Why are you testing vBIOS 80.04.EA.00.03?

Isn't mitya_alba's vBIOS 80.04.f5.00.07?

 

this is the vbios he posted.. mitya_alba's might not of put up the correct vbios.. if some one has the one he is on please post it up and ill dl and test it..
The thought didnt accure to me to double check the vbios version lol thats my bad.. but then again it pises me off that he posted some other than his... why?

 

vBIOS 80.04.f5.00.07 was factory loaded on my 17r1-880,4910.

When mitya_alba received his 880 gpu, is it SOP to include a copy of the
vBIOS file to load during install? (If so, maybe Dell Parts included the wrong vBIOS version?)

Is my factory loaded copy in compiled code only?
I do not have a CD/DVD with the vBIOS file on it, to send to you.

 

yea its simple.. where it says bios version click the little hand on the far right side and save it then upload it

 

See zip attachment.

 

Comparing.... Give me a few minutes.

 

The vBIOS file I just sent you is 166kb uncompressed.
The vBIOS file mitya_alba sent you was 94kb compressed.
Obviously 2 different vBIOS files.

 

Mitya's is MSI... But I'm going to compare all four with KPT anyway. Right off the bat I see a big change in the MSI vbios but I'd have to consult with Johnkss about brickage before I would test it on my machine. Give me a few,

 

Alright... I just finished the comparison... From left to right, crytallakegary's new AW vBIOS, mitya's MSI vBIOS, my stock vBIOS, and the modded vBIOS.

There are some definite changes.

Mitya's vBIOS actually has changes on the clock states which none of the other vbioses have.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/124320551@N04/sets/72157649043863909/

Feel free to look for yourselves. I'm going to hit up Johnksss and see what he thinks. Mitya's is an MSI vBIOS though... There is no guarantee it won't brick an Alienware or Clevo. Our vBIOSes tend to be interchangeable but I don't know about this one.

Between the new Alienware and my old Clevo, there are literally no changes that are being read by KBT other than the Dell being newer. Mitya's is the oldest of the bunch being noted as 2013... something doesn't sound right.

The MSI vbios is quite different.

 

Here's the funny thing... his GPU-Z showed us the BIOS that crystallakegary shows (and uploaded), however his "dumped" vBIOS is entirely different. Still say things are fishy about him.

 

can someone dump a 780M BIOS for me? I need to know the size.

Something is really odd.

This vbios is reporting as MSI back in December (12/19/13) but its 94kb and Kepler vbios are almost always 166/167 from what I've seen...

But KBT is reporting normal values so I don't know what to think because if it was a corrupt vbios something would be broken, no?

The only irregularities I'm finding are that the MSI vbios under clock states has 2900 instead of 2500 for DDR in the top right corner and on the main page,the TDP Base Clock is set at 993MHz instead of 954MHz.

Oh the power table...



The 117W is across the board on all but the mod and now this new vbios.

I messaged Johnksss about it but he hasn't gotten back to me. I'm going to PM a link to the vbios stored on my mega drive.

 

Here's the 780M vBIOS for ya. It's the modded one from Johnksss & svl7 though.

 

I am not sure I know much about what I am looking at in the comparisons you just posted, so please excuse my ignorance when I ask a few questions.
1. As you said, the MSI vBios shows a higher clock state not seen in the other vBIOS samples. Does that mean MSI believes the 880 can execute/process machine instructions faster than believed by Dell and Clevo?
2. The MSI vBios shows a higher power table value than selected by Dell (160 watts max for MSI vs. 117 watts max for Dell) - if I am reading the info correctly.
When compared to the 117 watts max for the Dell vBIOS, won't the power demand of 160 watts max for the MSI vBIOS push up 880 temps in demanding situations? And if the power supply cannot deliver under this load, thereby causing the MSI 880 to throttle?

Again, when you respond please keep in mind I am not an engineer or chip designer or even a IT specialist; merely a lay person learning as I go along.

 

The PSU will never deliver that load... but they use their battery to boost the drawn power alongside their PSU. Also, MSI does not have a multiGPU model, which is why that must only work for 230W or so PSUs and no real GPU OC on a single GPU system. No SLI machine without the dual power box converter will do it.

Technically, if their vBIOS fixes overheating, then it's possible it'll work and never draw 160W fully. But we don't know. The vBIOS dump that that person uploaded is NOT the same one in his screenshots.

 

Yesterday I flashed with both versions of vBios 80.04.EA.00.03 and 80.04.F5.00.07. No brick. Works ok. So i left it on new stock Dell vBios 80.04.F5.00.07

 

Yeah don't flash this if you have a Clevo. Alienware to the rescue again. It was showing multiple display devices and showing that the resolution couldn't be changed, it wasn't showing the boot screen (should have noticed that and flashed back immediately) but after installing the nVidia drivers, black screen. I have to say... The headaches that come from Clevo machines versus Alienware....... I'll never buy another Clevo regardless of what Alienware does with their power limitations. This is a nightmare every time and this time I actually had to boot into Windows on the Alienware with hybrid boot to do the flash. Why? Because I lost the Micro SD that had the DOS backup ROM. If there ever was a little machine that could it's my Alienware. My Clevo can't be counted on for anything but a migraine.

It is beat to hell... But still works... And the hybrid boot (the ability to have both my on board nVidia and my actual dedicated cards both show up at the same time) is just indispensable.

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk

 

Man, you have the most insane problems. Have you tried using Prema's BIOS on it? Or are you waiting until you get 980Ms/970Ms sorted from Xotic before doing it?

Did your alienware find the card broken though? According to E-wolf the vBIOS works on alienware, therefore... your card SHOULD have worked in your alienware without even flashing back the old ROM, unless you got a bad flash on the Clevo.

 

Here's another graph, 2-3 hours playing CoD AW. As you can see, always 993 MHz.



NVidia has corrected his errors GTX 880M is a good card for the gamer.

 

It kept 993 there, but your previous BF4 graph it was under 900 most of the time. AW is not as demanding a game.

By the way, did you play BF4 at 100% resolution scale? Or 150%? You said "ultra" but resolution scale is a different setting.

 

yea the one i just tried sucks.. big time.. the msi one is where its at.. but if you use that one you might as well use the unlocked one currently available..

 

I play all games on Ultra.

 

I compared the graphics of Far Cry 4 & CoD AW4 they are the same, always works turbo boost 993 MHz. And BF4 (150%) I deleted this old game that I have finished playing.
The thing that always 993 MHz and a temperature of no more than 75C in any game and tests.

 

So... first, Far Cry 4 and Advanced Warfare look the same to you, and second, you uploaded a vBIOS that isn't the one you have in your screenshots... interesting.

 

Something's fishy

 

I'm telling you... its all fishy. The 880Ms are busted pieces of .

Out of the box, they beat 780M how they're supposed to... but all those benchmarks you see? They're all throttled results...

880M was nVidia's pre-Maxwell "efficiency" test...

Now I just need to figure out how to get them out of my machine and replaced with 970s that run cool. I don't care that they're hot. Its the noise that pisses me off. I have the official Maxwell BIOS... the fans don't even kick off to second gear until 89C and shut back off at 87C!

Ugh. I just don't want the damn noise. My PS4 (which gets LOUD) is quieter than this thing!

I've run all the benches and everything... stock for stock with my chip set to the same chip speed that Notebookcheck used... benches are within 2%, most of them dead on. nVidia meant for them to be this way. Every review that wasn't from an extreme gamer point of view has benched these cards within the same 2% range I found... They're working how they're intended and that's what makes me so mad.

After seeing what CLU could do for my CPU... I think I might just have Sager replace the obnoxious slave fan and CLU both cards and go about living my life. So over this.

 

Yeah, that's my point. Something isn't right at all. It's like all his statements don't add up. His GPU-Z shows 954/993, but his vBIOS has it set to 993 flat out and had power tables adjusted, though his HWiNFO64 didn't show anything weird about his voltages and his temps were apparently low. I mean forgive me being skeptical, but he's basically trying to prove that 1+1 = 3 when everyone else has 1+1 = 2, but there's no real-time calculations.

BLAH. If anything, his card is the exception to the rule and he should feel lucky if it works.

 

They make these things called air conditioners... And with how cold it is here in CO right now (-5.6C) I could probably take my machine outside and wouldn't pass 75 either... so there's that.

But that was not a stock vbios... It was pre-programmed to run at 993MHz 24/7 which MSI wouldn't do.

Unfortunately because of the black screen brick it decided to give me AFTER I had already flashed and gotten into Windows and only got after the driver was installed where the screen didn't even turn on in BIOS... That's not an option to even play with. And I knew it going into it.

As to why I don't leave it in the Alienware? M17xR1 was meant to run 280M GTX tops. These cards would not be able to stay cool with all the aluminum that machine uses not to mention that the X-bracket is different so I could not even screw them in, I just did a quick flash job setting the screws on top of the X-bracket. Such a mess.

 

Also your M17x wouldn't be running any kind of CPU that'd push two 880Ms...

My 280M also got hotter than my 780Ms ever did though.

 

Sorry, maybe I did something wrong..
View attachment 118088

 

I repeat again, my laptop is on the table, I don't use the stand for cooling! In the room where the laptop +26-30C! I have a new GTX 880M OEM Alienware!
If you have a bad map, I have a good card and works properly on 100% and not heated!!!



This is a Far Cry 4 all on Ultra!
Ethrem your card should throw in the trash!

 

Your average core is WORSE than mine! If you took that right after a game.... you have an 870MHz average core... My cards stay in the 900s!!!!

I have higher average core and thus higher temps... You don't have a magical 880M, its throttling MORE to keep it cooler.

Its the Maxwell algorithm...... on Kepler. Which doesn't work. Which is why we have all been pissed.

 

I really don't want to have to drop 60 bucks on a game just to prove that your 880M isn't special.........