gtx 780m SLI in alienware 18 parallel to gtx Titan pc ?

Well I was talking about the CPU itself and using in the MSI and it behaved quite differently to the 4900MQ.

 

Once they get this sorted with a BIOS/EC update for the 18, I believe it is going to be really wicked.

 

Thanks for taking the time to explain your thoughts earlier Brother Fox. Since I still have my R1 I could easily do the dual psu mod but it appears to be futile at the moment. It also seems, to get the 18 to it's full potential is going to be a bit of an "enthusiast mission" so to speak. Even if it gets realized, it seems as if it may be too little too late as there will be Maxwell not too far off.

I'm still glad I bought my machine as I, like Anantech, do enjoy the new styling. Actually scratch that. I don't buy based off aesthetics alone. I think the 780mSLI was a fair upgrade over my 580m SLI solution. I'm also glad I didn't sell my R1 because I really do enjoy having them around together. If I could do it over, I wouldn't have sold my m17x R2; what a beautiful machine and a brilliant screen.

I guess I am overall pretty happy with my choices. The 4900mq does show that it is OC'ing to 4ghz max but I am wondering for how long. I am going to have to look at some graphs as i think it has to be spiking all over the place without me realizing it. The chip is running too cool. I don't think I have gone over 70* after hours of gaming and benching. I'm usually in the low 60s at best. I have a sneaking suspicion I am just going to enjoy running the games on max settings at a measly 1080p until a new beast comes out with a much higher resolution.

If I had to take a guess, I would probably end up passing on Maxwell (the paramour everyone around here seems to be waiting for) as even that is going to have a hard time running next gen at a new native resolution. If Volta comes in 2015 maybe then will be an interesting time to upgrade.

I guess the bottom line is pretty simple for the average enthusiast gamer. If you have an R1 with 6970/6990/580mSLI/CF, you can't go wrong over doubling your benches with the new 18. You also can't go wrong for waiting out until Maxwell or a second revision AW next year. I couldn't wait because I wanted to play on Max and not 'high.' Fortunately I can be selfish on myself at the moment.

If you have the 680m SLI, I'd highly recommend the average enthusiast gamer to continue to enjoy return-on-investment with your R1/R2 combos. The bench differences come down to fractions of points and honestly equates to maybe an FPS or two...or three..in game. The 680m is like the 8800mGTX of 2008; powerful as can be with the successors only tweaking an already fine-tuned beast. I think people that got the 680m SLI a year ago are really getting good ROI. I definitely felt that way with my AW m15x with the 8800mGTX. My R1 with the 580m SLI is still really a fantastic machine. I consider myself a videophile as I truly am very discerning with noticing the differences in video settings. It's an expensive hobby to play at such demanding settings. However saying that, I do have to say that there isn't that much of a difference playing games with my 780m SLI Vs 580m SLI. With just certain settings tweaked down, the visual fidelity is almost identical.

I think this goes to show the diminishing returns we gamers get the closer we get to 'real life graphics.' John Carmack has stated a long time ago that the perceptual differences are going to get harder and harder to tell when gaming and the hardware is going to get more and more demanding to make subtle changes. I think this can be evidenced with tessellation with DX11.

I know I say this often on these forums but we should all honestly sometimes sit back and think how lucky we are to own ANY generation of gaming notebook; especially an AW. Sometimes we get caught up in the numbers and realize that we are playing with machines that are sometimes resting on our laps pumping out 5 teraflops of power just from the GPUs. We end up arguing over power differences between 4.5 vs 5 teraflops, 4ghz Vs 4.5 and 80FPS Vs 68. While it is definitely half the fun of owning these machines and also being an enthusiast, it is also where the forums can divide and lose sight over the fact we are all AW notebook fans who love technology.

People come and go all the time on the forums and sometimes it's because they just don't know what it really TAKES to be an enthusiast gamer (manual upgrades, pasting, and learning about your PC) or (endless money supply). So they disappear once they realize they got in over their heads. The only thing I can say is that in only two years, these 580s/680s/780s will be antiquated. Maxwell may be the new 680 or it may end up being a bit of a disappointment. There may be long waits, delays or defects. It may be perfect. It will eventually be demolished by the new fab process pumping out Volta (and whatever AMD has on their roadmap) and the cycle will continue. However the real enthusiasts will be here on the forums because we all "get it" at the end of the day.

Wow I just typed a lot, am not going to edit, re-read or shorten it. It is what it is.

 

You're welcome. I am curious to see if John has any observations that he wants to share.

As far as what your CPU is doing, you can figure that out quite easily.

Do this: http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...mperatures-game-benchmark-screen-display.html

Then run the 32-bit versions of 3DMark11, 3DMark Fire Strike and also run Vantage. Only run a moderate GPU overclock or your max stable GPU overclock without trying to chase a number. Watch what your CPU does. If you set it up to push the CPU information using HWiNFO64 (explained in the thread above) you will know right away what your CPU is doing.

 

Seems that the fan only kicks in about 5-10s after the CPU is topping 100C. That's more than 5000ms delay.

My 4930MX doesn't like being ran higher than 4.1GHz, so I am sticking with that speed for now. I am also trying to avoid the irritating jump in the fan table when it reaches 70C++. There's a big gap in fan RPM, from too low of a speed, to an annoying whine at too high of a speed. Then the CPU cools down, and the fan RPM drops, then the CPU gets hot again, and the fan jumps again. Rinse and repeat. Although I don't mind the fan noise when benching, I do prefer it to be quiet at other times even when gaming.

The best would be to let us have a manual fan profile in the BIOS. That wouldn't be too much to hope, would it?

 

Hi everyone,

I've had my Cleve P370SM now for about 1 month running i7-4800mq and GTX 780m SLI.

I've been overclocking it to play Battlefield 4 and I'm pretty sure on full overclocked CPU and GPU the 330 watt PSU isn't sufficient.

I've noticed this as the Battlefield crashes on heavy scenes despite GPU usage only around 78%.

Anyone else experiencing the same issue?

 

Bf4 is pretty bad at the moment so it could just be the game

 

I am confident BF4 still needs more work to be great. It may also have something to do with the fact that you have a system with a Haswell CPU. They seem to have a way of falling down on the job under demanding conditions.

 

The good thing is you can get the clevo multi box and add in another 330W brick if you like.

I'd use a kilowatt meter to measure your wall power consumption, be sure to take the 80-90% efficiency of the brick into account.

 

Yes that is a good thing. Being able to exploit a dual 330W AC adapter for the M18xR2 allows it to do some truly amazing things. Not being able to effectively use that with the Alienware 18 is sad. (The dual adapter functions with the 18, but the laptop still shuts itself off at the same point as it does when using a single AC adapter, so while the dual adapter mod functions, it simply offers no benefit.) Clevo had a distinct advantage in that regard. Whatever got implemented on the mainboard that limits the 18's capacity for handling power is an impediment.

 

Thanks for the responses.

I bought a power meter (Maplin N47KB) to measure the wattage at the socket

Maximum watts from the socket i've seen is around 200 watts. during BF4 with GPU load around 70-80% and CPU load 80-90%.

Overclocked to GTX 780m sli with MSI Burner to:
Core clock = 941 mhz
Memory clock = 2880 mhz

So it really seems that 330 watts PSU is more than enough!

EDIT: I think the Power meter is broken and will test again with another brand

 

For gaming, yes. In most cases 330W is enough. But, it is not accurate to conclude that 330W is more than enough. Depending on your hardware configuration and use, it can prove to be woefully inadequate.

Understand that you are gaming and not actually taxing your system to its fullest capacity. Your system far exceeds the minimum hardware requirements of most games. Not sure what CPU you have, but that will also make a gigantic difference since an XM CPU can draw more than 250W and a non-XM will seldom even peak out at 100W. Check the reading with your CPU heavily overclocked and the same GPU overclock, or even a higher GPU overclock, running 3DMark11. If the laptop even stays running you will see a whole lot more than 200W being goggled up.

Have a look at these two videos from my testing with 680M SLI (before my upgrade to 780M SLI). As you can see, 330W is not enough even for 680M SLI, which requires significantly less power than 780M SLI.

<iframe width='640' height="480" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/0ovcdk_oWhE?rel=0" frameborder='0' allowfullscreen=""></iframe>

3DMark11 Tests 1 through 4 - 4.7GHz CPU - 1125/1185 GPU
Alienware M18xR2 - 3920XM - GTX 680M SLI (18K GPU Score)

<iframe width='640' height="480" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/cF74tEm7C7A?rel=0" frameborder='0' allowfullscreen=""></iframe>

Edit: I see you have a Clevo with 4800MQ and 780M SLI. I would still be surprised if you did not completely exhaust the capacity of your 330W AC adapter under heavy load and end up shutting down or tripping the AC adapter breaker. That may not happen with gaming, but if you really push your system it will most likely not be enough power. Try 1100 on Core overclock with 1.1V and see if it stays running with 3DMark11. If you don't do a lot of heavy overclocking and benching, you can probably get by just fine with a single 330W AC adapter and the 4800MQ CPU.

 

Hi Mr.Fox,
I think you are right. I'm returning the power meter tomorrow, I'm pretty sure it's broken. I have to be hitting over 200 watts

 

Did you just use the MSI Burner to overclock, or did you have to flash the graphicscards first?

I'm asking since I'm reading about the vbios of slv7, and yet I don't understand if it's necessary or not.

 

You can overclock a small amount with the stock vbios; no overclocking program will let you past a certain programmed limit. The custom vbios unlocks that value, and allows you higher, and even dangerous overclocking levels

 

But, even if you never overclock, the GTX 680M and 780M will both perform much better at stock clock speeds with one of svl7's awesome vBIOS mods. It eliminates the erratic behavior caused by GPU Boost technology.

 

Hmm , so i noticed this guy above here managed to OC his 780m to Core clock = 941 mhz
Memory clock = 2880 mhz. ( and im sure others OC it even higher).
my gtx 780 factory OC i have on my computer ( PC ) , has 954 mhz core clock and and 1502mhz memory clock...
you wanna tell me that each 780m card can be set to same clock speeds as a gtx 780 ( regular PC version ) ?!?! meaning u almost have a gtx 780 sli in a laptop ?!?!
Or am i missing some other form of factors that contribute to better performance with a desktop 780 ?

 

Those are just child's play. We can go way higher than that... have a look

I'm going to go for 1.2GHz on core pretty soon. I think I can do it without too much trouble, but it will definitely require my dual AC adapter to have enough power for that.

 

To prevent misconception, there GTX 780M is not the same as GTX 780. GTX 780M is based on GK 104 core, and has 3.5 billion transistors. GTX 780 is based on GK 110, and has 7.1 billion transistors.

780M SLI oc'ed will be slightly faster than a stock 780. Then 780 will quickly gain its ground back when oc'ed, though.

I hit 1.35 GHz on my previous GTX 670, which is GK 104 based. Assuming there's enough power and adequate cooling, 1.2GHz could be achieved.

 

So there is more to performance than just overclocking...
Also, as far as i understood, 1.2k mhz can stay stable for OC, but during gameplay there is a chance the cards wont hold for more than 5 minutes...?

 

Simply hitting high clock speeds doesn't always translate into great results. It's definitely a requirement, but Cuda cores are a big deal as well.
GT 750M is a good example of higher clock speeds alone not delivering better results.

R9 290X vs 780 Ti Comparison

Nvidia GeForce GTX 780 Ti Benchmarks|MaximumPC

It should be interesting to see what the next NVIDIA mobile flagship is going to look like.

Processor Name	Cuda Cores
GTX 680M	1344
GTX 780M	1536
GTX 780	2304
Titan	2688
GTX 780 Ti	2880
GTX 690	3072

 

The 780MSLI should be faster than 1 GTX titan correct simply based on the specs, however, looking at my 3dMARK (fire strike) score, I'm doing about 1,000 less score, so can anyone chime in?

CPU is a i-4900QM all 4 cores running at 3.6 GHZ

 

There's already quite a long thread covering 780M versus Titan topic. Not sure what page it is on, but you should be able to locate it.

Edit: it was on page 12, but I merged it for you.

Be sure to go back at least a couple of months (last post was November) because there are a lot of great threads with good information in them.

If you are using a stock vBIOS, the first step to take in achieve great performance from your 780M SLI is to grab one of the modded vBIOS from svl7. Stock vBIOS with NVIDIA "GPU Boost" does the opposite of what the name implies and cripples performance.

 

does this require soldering? If so I will probably stay away... I smoke plenty of Ps2 trying to mod them with a modchip until finally getting it right.

 

Nope, just firmware flashing. I've been using svl7 vBIOS mods for 580M, 680M and 780M. All of them run MUCH better with a modded vBIOS.

 

can you post a link to download the vbios for 780m, I tried to get it form there forums but even after registering the site is not letting me download, it wasn't bad enough that they had an insane registration process.

 

Out of respect for the talent and generous contributions that are offered freely at no cost to everyone, we do not allow posting of links to download svl7's vBIOS mods in this forum. They have requirements in place for good reasons and all they require in return is engagement and meaningful participation in discussions. If you want immediate access and the ability to bypass those requirement you are offered the opportunity to do so for a meager $5 contribution. It would be inappropriate and disrespectful to provide such a link.

 

wow, such a long thread, going through for a night!
Please gimme an advise, currently i'm on a m18x r1 with a setup of 2960xm and crossfire 7970m, but i had enough with AMD's driver so i'm gonna jump nvidia boat
the problem is i cant choose between 680m sli setup vs 780m sli one
680m SLI, i can get one set for around 800$ and pretty easy to find, but 780m SLI is different story, its hard to find and the price is around 1300$
So the question is which one to get? note that i'm using this machine for pure gaming, not fancy 3dmark score, and i'm not interesting in OC, overvolt, mod... at all
Thanks for reading!

 

It's a shame you're not interested in any kind of OC. I'm not going to try change your mind and convince you otherwise but if that's how you feel go with the most powerful card you can get -which right now is the 780m/880m. It's hardly worth jumping ship from 7970m CF to 680m SLI if you're not OCing IMO ( I previously had 7970m CF). Performance is the same at stock. I wouldn't value nVidia drivers to be worth $800, even considering 680m SLI has better frame pacing.
And if you own a 680m SLI it's hardly worth upgrading to 780m SLI if you are already overclocking just using 1 x 330 PSU.
The easy hassle free answer is get a 680m SLI and OC the snot out of it.
I hope that helps

 

Hrm.... been reading up sounds like some people are bricking there aw 18 after vbios mods.... I think I'll just stick to the sidelines on this one.

 

Really? Where? You flash a modded vBIOS the same way you do a stock vBIOS if or when Dell/Alienware release one. Are they just not following instructions?

The only bricking I have noticed is people tweaking the BIOS (not vBIOS) experimenting with different settings in an effort to get their CPU to run at advertised speeds because of the messed up stock BIOS. And, that is happening because of how the BIOS was designed with everything locked down rather than it being an inherently dangerous thing to do.

 

I haven't heard of anyone bricking their AW 18 after the mod. I downloaded svl7's vbios mod a few months ago and there are no issues whatsoever. I guess if you didn't follow the instructions you could brick your system. The instructions are so simple it Is not even funny.

 

Just saw a youtube of a i7-4770 using the titan, score: 9340, yeah thats about 1300 more than my i7-4900 SLI 780M so no I don't think its faster than a titan despite the specs.

Also this was 3D mark Fire Strike

 

Not really sure how you go about getting your info, but it's wrong. How do I know? Because I currently own both setups with extreme cpus in both. And It's safe to say that you are currently wrong. Sorry. Sli is faster when it comes to 3dmark11 performance and 3dmark firestrike.
Here is a link to that proof... . You are only looking at the GPU score only.
Result

Side Note:
If you own an AW18.....Then you can forget it. You will loose at pretty much everything....

 

LOL look at this guys score with DUAL titans, they must have done some major changes to the drive since Marh of 2013

NVIDIA GTX TITANS In SLI - 3DMark Fire Strike Benchmark 1920x1080 - YouTube

lol

 

Whatever man, here are my results:

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-4900MQ,Alienware 01W2J2

This is on a i7-4900QM so you tell me how exactly am I lying? Yes is an AW 18

 

Ok..seems to be some confusion here.
1: Never said you were lien about anything.
2: If you are thinking that a single 780m is equivalent to a single titan..then this is wrong. If not, disregard.
3: There is only one AW18 that can keep up with most of the M18XR1/R2's. And that is the one Brother Fox has.
4: There are way to many people complaining about the AW18. And for good reason. No Support on fixing stuff that is needed to make the machine run right. Sorry.
5: The AW18 will never get off the ground with a factory vbios, just not a reality at this point. (This has to do with dell)
6: A factory run with our modded vbios will yield far better results. So much so that you would need a dual PSU setup to get more than you paid for. (AW18 can not benefit from this for what ever reason. We tried - Still a work in progress though)
7: your scores match pretty much every single stock AW18 out of the box no modded setup. So don't feel alone.

Hope this is a little more explanatory...

 

3DMark Fire Strike Result Comparison: Alienware M18xR2 | 3920XM, 780M SLI vs Alienware 18 | 4930MX, 780M SLI​

Spoiler

Alienware M18xR2

Alienware 18

3DMark11 Result Comparison: Alienware M18xR2 | 3920XM, 780M SLI vs Alienware 18 | 4930MX, 780M SLI​

Spoiler

Alienware M18xR2

Alienware 18

Part of the difference is attributable to Haswell not being a strong overclocker and part is attributable to the Alienware 18 not having power-handling capabilities like the M18x does. You cannot overclock it more than this or the system shuts turns itself off (not a thermal shutdown). As Brother John mentioned, it has limitations wherein it does not realize any benefit from the dual AC adapter mod. The mod is completely functional, but it turns itself off at a given point that is roughly the same as the maximum power output provided by a single 330W AC adapter.

 

Thank you, I'm now very happy that I don't have to deal with this clown show of a laptop known as alienware 18
Boxed up and shipped it out this morning and couldn't be happier.

 

A single GTX 780M can achieve performance similar to a single desktop GTX 680 or 7970. You can see how things stack up with the ranking shown below.
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