M18x GTX 580M SLI Throttle Fix and Software Overclocking - No vBIOS Flashing Required

Littleone I have given up using my gpus and are out of system as they are broken from not being installed correct with the yellow plastic between bracket and pcb which wasn't in the gpu kit tech installed. So they are out until they get replaced.

I can say this the above I noted was on the stock .87v with matched P1 and P0. Mr Fox on a good repaste and on max fans my main gpu could get to 75c range easily in Skyrim and more while playing awhile... Fans full entire time and proper ventilation (a back lift while on a notebook cooler to move the air) in a house around 70F ambient temp.

Issue is I didn't have the 90c throttle I couldn't get there. No load fans off I open a game using sli and exited after I reached 90c+ and checked the clocks and no throttle and no crash. Only did it once and for short time. So in game with full 99percent load I get crash as soon as I reach 77-78c and it's usually only my primary gpu... The card on the left looking down at the top of keyboard.

Now if load is lower let's say BF3... No probs at all at that temp... And it never normally got to 78c in a game like that anyway.

To clarify I was pushing these even on stock clocks and volts and getting those temps... But to be fair this is on high setting on the gpu and in game... (High quality textures, no optimizations which lower any image quality at all etc) I mention this because if not set like that Skyrim doesn't load these gpus that much. But to be fair these gpus should be able to handle what I throw at it on stock clocks and volts.

So lastly to clarify further no full load but temps over 78c and no crash...?

The main gpu over time seems both gpus match in temps but under heavy load like I talk about and in SLI what I see is that by about 70c the secondary gpu seems to max there but the main continues to climb every 1-5min by 1-2c.

I was monitoring with afterburner and hwinfo etc to keep track.

Heatsinks weren't dusty I made sure they were blown out good when I repasted from the temp issues in first place. Temps improved dramatically but the main gpu heat issue over single gaming sessions still existed... It took longer but was still inevitable for mine and even at max fans constant.

 

Yea I only get high temps with overclocks resulting in a 90C throttle in games that are not optimized (100% usage at 300+ fps, like the old sc2 bug which was blowing peoples video cards) please post.

 

The only thing I can think of is maybe differences in environment (ambient temps) because I can play Skyrim with everything maxed out and overclocked to 850/1800/0.92v and seldom see 80°C. Even in Vantage and 3DMark11 I usually stay under 80°C.

RV - the yellow plastic insulators never come with a kit. I have fabricated my own out of thin plastic. You can use electrical tape or a small square cut from a sandwich bag or something similar. That is likely what hosed your GPUs... being grounded where they should not have been. Is Alienware sending you replacement 580M GPU modules?

 

hey fox have you tried at 0.92v on diablo 3 with vsync disabled and no framerate cap. What temps do you get? Also Fox are you using vsync, or any notebook cooler?

 

Yes that was the issue and once i had learned of it... it was already too late. Basically i am in contact with the great rep AM-federico... and he is taking care of me... I am just waiting on some drivers.

Skyrim I had set up as in the Geforce.com guide with all the add ons and teaks plus .ini tweaks. The HD textures. plus the ini tweaks that allow the max distance objects etc etc as possible.. like trees, view distance, grass. on 1080P with full AA and AF and more. Plus all optimizations off... no trilinear, no anistropic filter optimization etc etc... esentially you see full textures even in the distance instead of full graphics medium and low as you look farther in the distance in game... well all added up and playing for an hour when they did work only my main gpu got that hot... the other always was much lower... and sadly for me this was on stock clocks and stock volts... I figure its just luck of the draw and they just were glitchy from the get go...

John is having small gpu issues on his so thats strange... his were fully functional originally.. maybe some of them are degrading?

 

So do all M18X-R1's with 580m sli configurations suffer from this throttling problem?

Ive been playing some games and havent really noticed anything so im weary about even attempting this fix. And even if i were to, id opt for the more permanent solution offered by Red Line, but the 'fixed' vbios is not available for download anymore.

 

its only in games that are very intense. The throttle at 60c something is built into the vbios to switch to P1 when over 68c I think or 62c

 

No, it's not all systems. Mine never throttles.

If you use your system in a hot environment, it might be different. However, I have even tried on purpose to force it and I have never been able to make it throttle with P1 set at the same clock speeds as P0. I have seen GPU temps as high as 90°C in a stress test with no sign of throttle on my system. (I use on-screen monitoring during gameplay and benchmark runs, so I would see it immediately if it were to occur.)

I don't recommend undervolting. I am running at 0.92v and stock clock speeds for normal everyday use and gaming. If you don't plan on overclocking beyond about 725 on the GPU core, then stock 0.87v is adequate and you only need to change P1 to equal P0 core/shader/memory clock speeds. You can download the items you are looking for here. [ LINK]

 

Mr.Fox, thanks man. As helpful as always! (+ rep but i apparently have to spread some around. lol)

I just opted for the quick mild OC batch file solution you provided in the OP. So far so good. And with Task Scheduler, its pretty much already a permanent fix that requires no action from me.

I'll go ahead and mod the vbios when I get around to it lol but i honestly have no desire in undervolting.

 

FWIW to anyone, I actually dont have the monitoring setup to run at startup - I saw little point in having the apps running until I wanted to actually do some monitoring. Simplicity to just lauch both HWiNFO and Afterburner when you need to, just remember to launch Afterburner first to avoid any conflicts....

 

As of the latest HWiNFO... After the initial setup of both HWiNFO and Afterbuner and both have been closed completely once. Upon opening them again there will no longer be issues of the order they are launched. HWiNFO now has a check periodically for if the Statistic Server is running to send the info to.

 

Hi,
I have 2xgtx580 with different bioses (70.10.33.00.00 and 70.10.17.00.01). Both water cooled. Temps are strange: under load first in loop is about 60C, second 45C - that is strange and I think has something to do with throttling. Here is my question: how to disable throttling in GTX 580 3GB Gainward Phantom ? Should I set P8 state to Same as P0? What about voltages? At P8 voltage is locked and is 0.963V, at P0 1.025V. The GPU with bios 70.10.33.00.00 fails during rendering (the cooler one), my PSU is 1350W. I canno't read thier bios in nibitor - why? Are they locked?

Please help.

 

Probably so, smicha. I have no experience with Fermi desktop cards, but the version of nibitor that supports 580M is not free. You can only get it by donating. I have that version. I also have Svet's vBIOS Tuner. If you would like me to see if either will allow me to read and modify the vBIOS, post the vBIOS ROM in a zip file and attach it, then I will give it a shot for you.

You should have both cards running the same vBIOS if they are the same video card.

I see you cannot PM with only one post. You will need 5 quality posts (meaningful content) before you can use the PM system.

 

Hi! I have been having significant throttling problem as of late. I had my m18x R1 for a year now and it only started to throttle recently. I tried doing a clean install, updating drivers, trying many different drivers but I still throttle like crazy. I came across this thread and tried all the steps but I am still throttling on almost every single game i have been playing (SC2, diablo III, guild wars2, nba 2k12) Is there anything else I can do. Also I noticed that my laptop have been reaching high temperature (90C) and sometimes my laptop would freeze up and I have to forcibly power off my computer... can someone help me? Thanks in advance. I have 2 580m in SLI and I have the most recent drivers with the most recent bios.

 

Have you already cleaned out your fans and heat sink radiators? If you have already done that, then you need to repaste to get your temperatures under control again. The temps are the reason you are throttling. GPUs don't work properly at 90°C and they are doing that to protect you from destroying them. So, it's probably a very positive thing this is happening to you. If you continue to use your system this way, it may begin just shutting down from heat instead of freezing.

Don't use compressed air through the exhaust vents. That's only going to move crap around. Remove the bottom cover. Take the screws out of the fans (you can leave the wires connected, just be gentle with them. Use a hose on your vacuum cleaner to suck out all of the dirt and dust bunnies. Hold the fan blades stationary so the fans don't rev up to high speeds with the air velocity caused by the vacuum, as that can damage the fans. If necessary, use a Q-tip cotton swab or an old toothbrush to loosen any grime that the vacuum doesn't remove. You can use compressed air instead of a vacuum... it just makes more of a mess to clean up if there is a lot of crud in there.

Good luck, and let us know if this resolves your issue.

 

Having the throttling issues with my M18x. 580M SLI. I tried to use Nvidia Inspector, but as soon as I hit the "Apply Clocks and Voltages" button, the screen goes white and I have to hard reboot the laptop. Thoughts? Tried both the stock and mild overclock options for P1... both did the same thing.

 

What are your temps? Have you removed the bottom cover and vacuumed out the lint and dust bunnies lately? The heat sink radiators and fans may be clogged up and unable to breathe.

 

I don't think this paticular thing has anything to do with temps because I mean... when I go to use Nvidia Inspector, I could be sitting there on the desktop with the laptop idling, no games running, nothing. GPU at around 60 degrees. Yet the INSTANT I press the "apply clocks and voltages" button, BAM, white screen. No waiting for it to heat up or anything.

 

I was following up with the other poster and not responding to your question. I added quotes to make that more obvious.

If your cards work OK other than throttling, your white screen problem could be a driver issue. You could have a hardware issue as well, but I'm thinking drivers are the more likely culprit. When did this start happening? Anything you can relate to on a timeline as to when it began?

 

This technique works with 675m GTX ?

Because I've throttle temperature...

 

It should on the M18x. (It never got completely fixed on the M17x R3.) Try setting P1 equal to P0 and see if it fixes it.

 

Thank you very much Mr. Fox; it works !!!!! =)

I've used nvidia Inspector and I've OC my GPU with your .batch

OC @ 775/1550/1650 with 0.92v vBios ==> 7576 points with 3D11
temp : 82°C max

So this technique solve throttle issues with 675M GTX

 

Hello, idiot here.

I'm using an Alienware m17x laptop with a gtx 460m graphics card. I've experienced a lot of issues with my gpu throttling during gameplay, I'll save you the details but I feel confident this is the problem I was experiencing, and it was making enjoying games difficult . It didn't seem to be heat related, so I've been looking for a fix.

After exhausting google search I turned to this thread. In my desperation I downloaded nvidia inspector, not quite knowing what I was doing.I didn't successfully get the application to open, it just seemed to make my system hang and then gave me an "unhandled exception" error. Now my laptop is somewhat less than functional. When i startup the speed of my system is noticeably slower. Once I get to my desktop, if I try to open the nvidia control panel nothing will happen, for about 3-4 minutes. After that time the control panel will open, not respond, and stay there until I terminate it. Games are extremely sluggish and my computer has frequent blue screen crashes.

With that said I'm seeking to understand what changes I've made to my computer, and how I could (if at all) restore my system to it's previous state. I've tried reinstalling the correct nvidia drivers as well was installing dell's bios update for my GPU, but neither was successful. If theres any additional information I can give anyone willing to help about my problem or my system, please ask and I'll respond as quickly and accurately as possible.

Thanks for reading!

 

If I am interpreting your post correctly, trying to use this tweak made things worse instead of improving them.

Any changes you would make to your GPU core, memory and shader clocks with NVIDIA Inspector should be temporary software tweaks that disappear after rebooting unless you added shortcuts to your Windows Startup folder. If you added shortcuts to your Startup folder, try removing them and see if the problem persists. If that is not the case, it sounds as though you may have some sort of software/driver conflict or possibly a hardware issue.

The GTX 460M did not have any design-related throttling problems to the best of my knowledge. What GPU temps are you seeing? Are you running the "High performance" power profile in Windows with your system connect to AC power? Is your GTX 460M correctly identified in Device Manager? Have you tried disabling Optimus in your System BIOS to force exclusive use of the discrete GPU? Alternatively, if you disable discrete graphics completely and run from the IGFX does the system functionality improve?

 

The GPU throttles around 64 degress, which is usually about 10 minutes after I get into the game. I do have high performance selected in the nvidia control panel, and I'm also positive the ac is connected and my power scheme is fine. The device is identified correctly and I've installed the latest bios updates and drivers, but still no improvement.

Not sure how to disable optimus in the system bios, is there perhaps a link you have just laying about? Thanks again for your help

 

SlickDude80 has a thread in the M17x sub-forum that explains how to disable switchable graphics in the M17x R3/R4. I'll look for it and post a link. I believe you change a setting in the BIOS from SG to PEG, but I would prefer to give you the link in case my memory is not accurate.

Edit: here is the link you need to disable Optimus/Enduro... http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...-mobility-7970-m17x-r3-illustrated-guide.html (first post in this thread explains it).

 

I've been having issues gaming with this computer since I bought it, and your help seems to have finally put my troubles to bed.

Disabling optimus seems to have done the trick. Not only did my throttling issues get resolved but my fps also increased significantly. I can't thank you enough, I thought I was just going to have to live with it and start building a desktop.

Uber props

 

Thanks! Glad I was able to help, bud. That's what makes NBR such an awesome place to hang out.

 

I'm going to amend this and say notebooks are pieces of trash.

never.
ever.
again.

 

Nice just did this throttle fix and overclock for the first time...don't know what took me so long! The 725/1450/1500 basic overclock boosted my 3dMark11 scores by 800 pts! Sweet!

 

ALL RIGHT NOW! That's what I'm talking about. Good job, bro!

 

was running a few rounds of BF3 noticing huge fps dips, so I decided to run furmark paired with gpuz for monitoring and to my surprise both my 580's would downclock from its stock core of 620 down to 470 when a specific temp threshold of 74c hits.

Should I be taking this up with alienware support? it seems all my games have deep fps dips with this.

 

Nvidia cards will do this automatically with furmark, run GPU-z in the background while running the game instead.

 

Your thermal paste has probably worn out. Order some ICD7 and repaste your cpu and gpu! That should solve the problem. There is another option. You can set your gpu's p1 state to the p0 states clocks with nvidia inspector. That would be much less of a hassle but in the end you will need to do a repasting sooner or later so why not do it sooner.

 

I had a similar problem with my now-sold M18X r1 with dual 580. I solved with our ingenious and resourceful Mr. Fox's help that you can find it here. It's the GTX 580 SLI Throttle Fix Thread.
[h=2][/h]

 

Thanks, brother rafix73

@superman3486 - check the details in opening post of this thread for a fix. Be sure you are running the correct vBIOS as well, or you will not be able to resolve the issue.

If you don't already have it, download and flash NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M, v.70.24.2B.00.06, A01 for the additional performance state that is needed.

 

So I"ve noticed after running the batch files (specifically 620 mhz default clock one) from the opening post of this thread, my current clocks will go back down underneath the 620 mhz that I just set it at. My vBIOS is 70.24.2B.00.06, which I believe is the one needed to set these clocks. Just want to eliminate any throttling going on. Thanks!

 

Is that downclocking just happening at idle? - I think it's mean to, if that's the case. I think having the P-States set as per Mr. Fox's guide simply eliminates downclocking under load. How do they behave under a load? - any downclocking going on then?

It's been a while since I used this method so I could be wrong about the idle clocks. My memory is like a cullender! LOL

 

Yes the downclocking is just happening at idle. When under load there is not underclocking going on and it is staying where it should. So sounds like I'm good then...I just wanted to be sure that that was the case.

Though I have been having a recent issue of my screen going black and system hangups after playing some games. Temps are not getting out of hand and gpu is maxing out at around 71C...I don't see why that would be causing it.

 

Sounds like a driver issue more than anything. Do you get any messages that the driver has failed and recovered successfully? - these are Timeout errors and a temporary black screen sounds pretty much like this could be the case. What drivers are you running with?

 

Not getting any failed driver messages or any messages at all..screen just goes black and then system locks up..have to hard reset. Running 314.22 drivers.

 

I wonder if a clean install of the video drivers would help out at all......y'know - Uninstall all Nvidia stuff, reboot into safe mode, run CClean and/or DriverSweep as admin, reboot and re-download/install.

 

@chewbakaats58 - if you are running HWiNFO64, you may have a sensor that needs to be disabled in the configuration. If you are, try not running HWiNFO64 for a day or two and see if you still have the same issue. If the problem comes back when you start using it again, we probably need to check one of the boxes to disable a software sensor.

 

I do have HWiNFO64 installed, but I don't normally run it in the background. I'll double check to make sure that it does not have a service or something running that could be causing this. I did just update to the latest beta drivers that were released yesterday, but haven't had the chance to read the release notes to see if it details anything like this. I do run EVGA Precision X and the RivaTunerStatisticsServer and FRAPS in the background when running games so I can have an onscreen display monitor of temps and fps. I will try not running with those for a day or so to see if that takes care of this issue as well.

 

Well, for some reason...it's happening again. I havent had a throttling issue for a long while and now its back. I remember the first two times it happened, I applied this fix and of course it worked. Many months pass and it happened again..didn't think much of it and just basically ignored it since i wasnt gaming as much as usual then. Now again months later i finally find some free time and this issue just resurfaced. Playing sleeping dogs I'd have basically max settings and id get a constant 60fps. Then after about every 30-40 mins i'd throttle down to 10-12fps. I check GPU-Z and temps were low 60's and for some reason the GPU core clock was stuck at 74.5mhz or was that 76.4mhz I forgot i'll take a screenie next time.

First thing I did was of course use the .bat files...for some reason, they dont work anymore like they did. I tried it directly through NvidiaInspector assuming something was wrong with the bat files..nada. Still not working.

I'm pretty lost at this point. For a long while gaming moderately I never had this issue since the first 2 times it happened wayyy back. Now out of nowhere its back and cannot be stopped... currently on 320.49 drivers

 

It could be the drivers, brother ZombiePikmin. If you are trying to use any of the Geforce 320 series, I recommend that you stop using them. The newer drivers mess up NVIDIA Inspector, and there is a question of whether or not they cause damage to the GPU. See this thread: http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware/721878-nvidia-320-18-driver-warning.html

Use 314.22 WHQL instead. That's what I am using and they work better overall for me than anything newer. I even tried the newest beta and it screws up NVIDIA Inspector as well.

 

As always, the helpful Mr.Fox never fails to help. Will definitely be giving the 314.22 WHQL a run. I'll definitely report back and let you guys know how these drivers work for me. Hopefully this does the trick.

in case anybody else is interested in giving the 314.22's a shot:
GeForce 314.22 WHQL Driver Download

 

Well, i hate to be a buzzkill but after about 12+hrs of gaming ,I can say that downgrading drivers back to 314.22 WHQL did not solve the issue...I was still getting the throttling and i dare say it happened every 15mins now as opposed to every 30-40 mins. The NvidiaInspector fix wasn't doing anything at all to prevent the throttling...even at OC clocks. Im pretty stumped at this point. I think i may just update back to the current drivers for now...in the meantime, i really want to try and downgrade my vbios..is that possible?

edit: Actually just went through my C:/Nvidia]Display Drivers/ folder and saw all the drivers ive previously installed. I was going to install the latest again but since i know i was having issues with that it would be pointless to go back to that...so im going wayyy back on this one. The very first drivers I had 306.97 lol. Fingers crossed.

edit 2: almost forgot the screenies:

Core clocks cap at 73.6 MHz (notice the huge dip). Temps at 65C.


This was about 5 mins into the throttle..clocks got a bit lower.

 

That behavior looks almost like you are running on battery instead of AC power. It seems like a silly question, but I need to ask it. You are plugged into AC power, right? Also, what do you have set in the Windows power profile for Graphics Processor states? And, NVIDIA Control Panel... are you using a global profile setting with "Maximum Performance" versus "Adaptive" instead of "Let the 3D application decide?"

If everything is set up correctly, you may have something wrong with your GPUs. Are you still under warranty?

As a last-ditch effort, you might try doing a clean install of Windows. Something may have gotten corrupted that is causing this.

 

Yes sir, definitely have my laptop plugged in. As a matter of fact, I'm sure I've never gamed on it on battery. As far as Nvidia Control panel, Ive never messed with anything there ever other than the occasional turning on SLI after it has been disabled after a gfx driver install. I also have it set on 'Let 3d application decide'.

What really gets me is that this used to work under the same circumstances (vbios, gfx drivers, etc..)...so im starting to really think its just my GPU(s) crapping out. Oh well....its going to be time for an upgrade soon anyway. Maybe 680m SLI (like yours Mr.Fox and with the guide you provided [ http://en.community.dell.com/owners-club/alienware/f/3746/t/19478915.aspx] this is most likely my route) unless I'll be able to go 780m SLI with this M18x R1. I could also use a CPU upgrade.

Im going to keep tinkering and hopefully i come across something worthwhile or just come to a definite conclusion that my GPUs are now faulty...