Weird situation, M18X R2 + 4GB GTX 980m = PCIe Bus speed stuck @ 4x 3.0

as title says...
PCIe Bus speed stuck @ 4x 3.0

Ive tried this card in 3 different M18Xr2 so far, all show the same results.

OS: w7 x64
SYS BIOS: A11 ModUnlocked to support maxwell gpus
BIOS BOOT: Legacy
GPU Switch mode: SG ( Does not boot in PEG = 8 beeps )
GPU: MSI Brand GTX980m 4GB
Idle temps good, benchmark on unigine heaven seemed bit poor compared to 680m sli, although load on gpu as reported by HWINFO seems correct and appropriate, see screenshots

 

HWInfo shows PCIe link speed maximum at 8 GT/s?

Try clicking the ? in GPU-Z, run the load test and see what result you get in GPU-Z.

 

PCI-Express x16 3.0 @ x4 3.0

I noticed my vbios shows as DELL, although its Msi card. maybe vbios is doing something to the extent?

otherwise, what do you think of unigine score ?

 

look at those detailed infos from hwinfo, maybe they reveal something ?

 

It will show up as Dell because your computer is Dell. vBIOS won't change what it's identified as.

Maybe @Raidriar knows more

Can't believe I am doing this on my work computer LOL. Run the GPU-Z render test with GPU-Z open...kinda like this, except I don't have a GPU on my work computer.

 

is that ok?
+ NVinspector screenshot

 

Yup, it's definitely running at x4 speeds.

There's an option in the BIOS you can try, I forgot what it was, it has to do with PCIe link speed I think. I need to go to my M18x later and see what it was.

Don't remember if this was an optimus issue.

 

Ive seen pcie link speed options in bios settings too but I'm not that familiar with these settings all that much. Ive went through the list and only thing I wasn't worried about changing was pcie gen speed , all links were set on auto but one was set to gen1, so out of 3 options: gen1/gen2/auto, I picked auto... Made no difference so far.

Regarding optimus thing, can I convert this card in some way bios mod/hardware mod etc? So it will allow booting from PEG video settings instead of SG?

 

On a side note, disabling iGPU and running only on PEG, is it even an option/a possibility on m18xr2 when running legacy boot & win7? Pardon me, Ive just not dove deep enough in this investigation due to time constrains, but would love to hear those who went trough this/succeeded or failed, to share with me about this...? I have just googled a bit , found somewhere that in a case of m17xr temperatures are not being read correctly while in m17xr4 on SG and performance suffered too, until user managed to switch to PEG only but he had to go with UEFI boot / iGFX manually disabled and PEG set to always enabled... am I on to something?

 

You cannot run PEG because your 4GB 980M is a g-sync model I believe.

Only the 8GB 980M non g-sync cards can run in PEG.

 

Thanks mate.... I felt something like that can be the case... As of now Ive tried (and I hope my speakers didnt blow up from allnthe error beeps in pre-boot blackout screens):
In legacy, and in pure uefi with win8 fast boot/secure boot both disabled, all possible configurations etc, 8 beeps, only SG works to startup the 980m...

You would suggest perhaps different vbios can potentially fix it?

Thanks

 

Run 3dmark firestrike or 3dmark11 so we can see performance.

 

Loading... Although I must note, not all games starts now since upgrade, i.e. star wars battlefront 2 wont start, Quantum Break wont start, it may be incompatible driver or something, its beyond me, using latest driver (modified ofc)... It all ran real well @680m in sli ,will post results soon ( if they run)

 

alright here are the results and load meter stats , etc , Ive reset monitors for each test to have better outlook

cinebench + Firestrike on default preset :





and this is unigine heaven 4.0 at standard HD Extreme preset (windowed mode) , I think its pretty bad, seen online people get 3-4x times this score with same card on same preset.

 

ideas anyone?

 

can anyone enlighten me, are mod vbios for these 980m cross-flashable? i.e. 8gb vbios to 4gb gpu, different brands. I feel its mostly to do with the card itself or with the vbios... before any driver installation it already reports PCIe @ 4x, unless its VBIOS , great, if theres a mod for it, its just ideal exit strategy...for now, Im mindfkd

 

You should be getting around 9800 graphics score I think for 980M in FS.

This in in a Clevo so it's higher than what you should be getting: https://www.3dmark.com/fs/17969094

My 1060 in my M18xR2: https://www.3dmark.com/fs/14224321

680m SLI: https://www.3dmark.com/fs/17969094

780m SLI: https://www.3dmark.com/fs/19775350

Those are stock runs (Don't remember if 980M run is stock but it's the lowest score I found by me)

I never really found the 980M to be a good option in the M18xR2 due to issues. However, you should be scoring over 9000 (LOL, DBZ joke but actually true).

Have you tried the hibernation trick?

I'd try this and see what happens: http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/alienware-m18x-r2-with-980m-possible-throttling-fix.791358/

Don't cross flash 4GB vs 8GB vBIOS

 

Thanks for the intel, when time is scarce help like this is much appreciated! A+

Nope, I havent tried hibernation trick.... i think Ive hibernation disabled all together, 32gb ram aint exactly easy on hibernation

I must look in to it. But with today's schedule I cant see doing anything about it until tomorrow morning... Overloaded with work and projects.

Thanks for the tips and findings

 

this was few days ago, as far as I got with stock vbios which was the only one not clipping 980m every 5 seconds, but OC was severely limited just to +135mhz, and that was ran with +135 OC on the core... have a look, but yes, I feel its under performing still

 

This is better but it is still low. You should be getting around that score at stock speeds not OC.

Maybe @Raidriar or @Mr. Fox know if the 8GB 980m vBIOS will work on 4GB 980M. But I am pretty confident it is not cross flash-able.

 

I have kind of the same issue i think, mine is stuck at x8 3.0 with only a single card and my FS score with 3940XM is only 6000 points, (cpu 10000, gpu 5800 roughly), i have flashed premamod v2 vbios with no change. I have i 2 hdd 1 ssd + 1 mSATA connected, can this limit my pci speed to 8x?

 

https://photos.app.goo.gl/mCcjq7S2wqwPbMX29

 

x8 3.0 is correct since the system has 2x x8 ports for pcie.

Score is low. Did you try the hibernation trick I posted earlier?

 

No, i will try that right away.

 

That actually improved alot at 8343 points that run. thanks for the advice

 

See post #28 and try it. Helped me get full performance for 780M SLI, might work for 980M:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/780m-sli-throttle-m18xr2.829574/page-3

 

I dont know ... tried hibernation trick, no change (be aware, Im on w7 legacy boot, maybe thats the reason hibernation trick doesnt work, as I must run SG or if I choose PEG in legacy I get 8 beeps, I must use UEFI to use PEG only, but I have not experiented with that like so YET... maybe later today, just dont like idea o win10 on my baby....at all.

Im on latest nv drivers, would that cause score be crap? Im not experiencing any thrototling or downclocking during GPU load sessions, just score is crap thats all.. I have feeling its down to VBIOS + Driver + OS/Boot mode/SG issue.... trying to stay away from idea its the GPU itself.

My idle temps are between 38-49c my full load sustained stress temperatures does not exceed 70c while gaming and thats not using HWinfo fan controls, if used HWinfo - temps are 5-10 degree lower on full GPU load.

FS gave ~8500 score, when 135MHz Oced on the core, FS gave me ~8950 score... HALP...

 

Try this..

1) Plug in laptop to power adaptor.

2) Turn on and immediately go to BIOS and change graphics type to IGPU.

3) Let windows load then click start>restart

4) Go into BIOS again and set to SG graphics

Try that and see.

Honestly you should have bought 8GB Dell 980M it would have been almost plug n play for everything. Sounds like the 4GB models don't play well.

 

ok, so Ive done that, nothing changed. Tried exactly how you instructed and then alternatively tried load cold start to OS with SG,reboot->F2->iGFX->save&reboot load OS->reboot->F2->SG ... nothing. Stock clocks I keep hitting 8400-8500 firestrike. I need to reach out for some serious VBIOS modding help..im kinda surprised, and Ive searched, 4GB is not common variant to be used in M18XR2 at all as I find, yet I believe its pretty simple workaround , for those in the realm of modding vbios to that extent. it was done on 8gb variant, 4gb should be no different, circuitry should be no less the same as 8gb, just vram amount....