M15X + GTX 580M Tweaking

First off, I would like to thank all of the M15X gurus in this forum. I have used this forum religiously while upgrading my M15X!! :thumbsup:

I purchased a brand new GTX 580M off a buddy of mine and replaced my GTX 260M. If there is a post anywhere about someone else having success with this upgrade I am sorry but, it never surfaced when I was searching for it.

I got multiple reasons as to why it would never work.... M15X Mobo circuits are too weak, GTX 580M draws too much power etc.


Neither of those two reasons hold water. My M15X runs the GTX 580M without any power issues.

Before I start asking questions, here is my rig:

CPU: Intel Core i7-820QM

RAM: 8 gb GDDR3-1333

GPU: GTX 580M

HD: 480 gb SSD

OS: Win 7 Ultimate 64 bit.




The only benchmarks I have are the games that I play, sorry.

With no tweaking to the CPU or the GPU Borderlands 2 and Diablo 3 run liquid smooth maxed out. (50 - 60 FPS for D3).

The first games that I saw issues with were MMO's. Now running off a 3G or 4G mobile dongle can account for many of those issues but the dongle, with strong signal, is pretty solid.

No tweaking:

TERA: 10-15 FPS

Guild Wars 2: 15 - 20 FPS

I initially though this was just latency and TERA being hell on CPUs... Until I started up Guild Wars 2 and got similar feedback. I got the same readings with my CPU overclocked from it's base GHz (1.73 GHz) to 1.95 GHz (Got to 2 GHz but it's not stable).

I came across the real reason as to why these two games were so sluggish.

The GTX 580M's memory clock.

I heard that undervolting the GTX-580M was mandatory for it to operate in the M15X, however no one had verified this that actually had a M15X with a 580M. Luckily for me my BIOS doesn't allow nVidia inspector to change P0's voltage. So I started playing with other values in inspector. I decided to change the memory clock on whim. The GTX-580M's default memory clock is 1500MHz, so I decided to set it to the same MHz as my RAM: 1333 MHz.

After memory underclock:

Tera (Graphic Preset: 5 (max is 6)): 30 - 50 FPS

Guild wars 2 (maxed): 40 - 60 FPS


So here's my question... I have gained, from reading through this forum, that the i7-920XM is the best CPU that the M15X can use. Before I make this purchase, will the i7-920XM be able to handle the GTX-580M's standard memory clock? nVidia's ideal processor for the GTX-580M is the generation 2 of my CPU, the i7-2820QM.

I am in the planning stages of upgrading all together but I would like to get a little more life out of my M15X. This laptop has been solid since I purchased in 2009.

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m15x/650700-m15x-nvidia-gtx-580m.html

 

I don't know why I never found that before.... Thanks! Do you still happen to have the vBios to over volt p1?

 

i think i do but its in the ssd of the M15x which is currently down, and im waiting on some parts to fix it

 

Ah sorry to hear that, I set my 580M to the same settings you had in your thread and the GB/s was only a little bit better than the 260M I had in before. I don't know as much as I would like to about Video Cards, in that state is the 580M still an improvement over the 260M? I'm not real sure what I should be looking for -.-

 

thanks for sharing that! Great info! +1Rep.

 

Mexi you did extensive research and testing for the 580M in the M15X but, did you find out why the M15X doesn't acknowledge the P0 state? Is it a component level design or could it be fixed via mobo bios or vbios? I have already ordered a 6970M but i stumbled on to gpuboss.com and compared the 6970M to the 580M and they are neck and neck. The comparison they did relieves me that I made a good choice but seeing that an AMD card of the same caliber performs at full capacity kinda makes me want to dig a little deeper on the P0 issue.

 

I though that this: http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m15x/729756-m15x-throttle-final-solution.html was the final solution to that problem, or problably I am wrong but cant hurt to try. GL

 

its been a long time, the only conclusion i could come to was the bios. i used various vbios but it would never go into p0 no matter what i used. i dont think the "The M15x throttle? The final solution!" would help, maybe the throttling but not the p-state issue

 

i remember reading some old threads stating that the power drawn by the i7-920XM and a high end graphics card like 480 or 6970 and above would cause issues. Nothing can be done because the mobo can only draw up to 150W of power max. So you will start to get throttling issues should you upgrade to a i7-920XM.

The consensus was that your 820xm and a high end card is the sweet spot. Users that upgraded to the 920xm were underwhelmed by the performance increase of the cpu upgrade. Not worth the cost and effort to get it working without throttling.

I am currently running a 720xm and 260m. Am tempted to upgrade to a 480m or 580m. How much did you get your card for?

 

Utter nonsense. You clearly don't do enough reading noelho lol. The M15x can consume much more than 150W. The sweet spot is the 920xm OCed to the max with a high gpu kept at a max power draw of around 100W. The power circuitry for the GPU in the M15x was designed with 75W cards in mind. Thus with OC headroom there really is only just about enough power for a true 100W card to fit at it's stock voltage. So long as you don't push your GPU too hard and stick to stock voltage max you won't have a problem.

The 580M was a beast though. Possibly as much or more power consuming than the 7970M! Undervolting might be a necessity here.

Personally I run a 920xm pushed to 24x across all cores and the 7970M at 950/1450 at stock 1.05V. This causes zero throttling issues. Simply get the 210W adaptor and throttling is gone. No messing about. Noelho please don't get a 480 or 580M! At least consider the 770M first it is much better and much cooler than both!

 

Yeah, I have read results that the 150W PS, with the M15X, can actually put out more than 150W. Even now, if I leave the clock settings alone for the P1 state on my 580M, Borderlands 2 maxed out plays flawlessly and Diablo 3 only chokes during conflicts with tons of mobs on screen. I won't use Tera as a testing game anymore, Tera hammers the CPU opposed to the GPU. Tera is probably the least CPU efficient game I can think of. Metro Last light was at about 30-40 fps nearly maxed out, and those frames increased slightly on an external screen @1080p. The 580M would be a great choice if the P0 state could be recognized :/

King, how does that 7970M handle? Is that an overclocked rating in your sig or under?

 

i was last active nearly a year ago =P, at that point in time, no one could get the mobo to draw more than 150w of power =(

but from your post, looks like you found a work around? is it consistent/stable? I might be tempted to upgrade my mobo to a 920xm and a 770m? is that even supported? i assume the 770 would be pretty costly?

 

Very consistent. I can always pull a 7000+ 3dmark11 score and play FC3 for hours with temps reaching only 70C. This with the card at 950/1450mhz 1.05V (stock 850/1200). I also run the CPU heavily OCed 24/7 at 25/25/26/27 with full stability. These temps are with an ambient temp of 26C in air conned flat in Japan (warm here)

However I have also carried out about half a dozen modifications to the cooling to improve it. Without these changes temps would be at around 85C at least! To list these simply:

1.) Removed all mesh and plastic over intake vents (can easily put finger inside and touch the moving fan. This greatly increases the amount of air the fans can suck in and push out.
2.) Using wire cutters I cut through the metal grating over the exhaust vents. This helps airflow out of the machine which means more air can pass freely over the heatsinks.
3.) Cut a hole in the backdoor of the machine over the cpu and gpu. Hole measures 16cmX8cm. I have then attached using magic tape for easy install and removal twin 8x8cm fans. Both powered by a single usb cord (fans from notepal U2 cooling pad)
4.) Inverted notepal U2 and put laptop on it so as to give a large clearance under the machine to help airflow also gives me nice typing angle. I also use 9cell and gel feet to help elevation further.
5.) Use HWinfo to set fans to max when running at 950/1450 and 1.05V to keep temps under control more easily. At lower voltages auto fan is more than enough.
6.) Nearly forget! Covered both gpu and cpu heatspreaders in low profile ram heatsinks to help dissipate heat from the usb fans.

Visibly the machine looks the same. No ram heatsinks protrude I was careful they don't. I can easily tear off the external fans and place instead 2 desktop fan guards that cover the hole perfectly for transport.

 

whoa ... that is pretty extreme. I dont think i will be putting that much effort into modding my M15x =)

at most i will look into upgrading my gpu, but keeping everything else stock. what would you recommend?