M15x 8800M GTX drivers

Alright, so I havent had time trying this myself yet. But was thinking of installing laptopvideo2go drivers for my 8800. Has anyone done this and why have I been reading that it isnt possible/recommended with AW computers?

 

well, most of the drivers haven't been tested and certified by AW i suppose. for the record, we've arrived at v177.73 right now. when you're installing, i'd recommend doing it like this:

1) uninstall driver
2) reboot
3) run driver sweeper
4) reboot
5) install new driver
6) reboot
7) enjoy!

oh yeah, when you're down, do post some feedback how the driver is in relation to gaming performance and heat.

 

They will be just fine... and if you don't want to, the driver sweeper isn't necessary. If you have trouble with the newest drivers, get the latest WHQL or beta from Nvidia.com via lv2go and with the modded inf. they're always the most stable.

 

Yep will post some feedback, if that is all the reasons then I guess there is nothing stopping me!

 

I'm using the drivers 177.72 from laptopvideo2go, Svarto, and it's pretty good. Brought up my 3dMark06 scores to 9393 using the 1280x720 resolution to test. Crysis plays a lot smoother too.

Another cool thing is that the GPU downclocks ONLY on idle mode this time. My idle temps are on the 45C mark.

 

Wow, that sounds amazing dhoang, cant wait to try it out when i get back home, if it lowers temps while idle and improves performance while gaming it is a win-win i guess

 

i am also using 177.72. it gives you much lower idle temps since in idle it will bring your card down to performance level 1. even lower than stealth mode. stealth mode now is basically used to limit the cards performance to level 2. I get 9267 on 3dmark using 177.72. It went from 9965 with 175.80 to 9267 in 177.72. it went lower but i guess all that matters is game performance.

 

How did you find the 177.77 drivers working for you dhoang? Saw that you used those drivers from a comment from one of your m15x gameplay videos on youtube.

 

typo probably, even laptopvideo2go doesn't have anything higher than 177.73 right now...

EDIT: just installed v177.72, they're very nice. GPU downclocks whil doing light work, temps stay very low. sweet!

 

I tried both 177.72 and 177.73 and they are very nice when not doing intense tasks as GPU downclocks and lowers temperatures (great!).

The downside though is that while playing games (Crysis) for half an hour the temperatures rises to 91 and hovers there. That is an increase with 3 degrees and furthermore the temperatures doesnt go up and down like they used to, not sure if fans cant handle the heat or if they just dont turn to full blast.

Have to do more testing, back into Crysis!

 

they do? that's a bugger... be sure to post more feedback when you'r down "testing"

 

Are you sure about the temps going to 91C, Svarto?? Mine hovers at 88C, but 91C is not a bad thing either since this has already been confirmed as safe according to the senior tech of the Roswell crew.

Don't you just love the idle temps? ^^ And the good thing is that this saves more battery than stealth mode. I tried it and I got about almost 3 hours going mobile.

 

only had a chance to play tf2 with these drivers. temps dropped to 70 - 75 on tf2. im still guessing its only because tf2 doesnt like to use the gpu. ill continue to do a bit more testing with other games.

 

yeah, do some more testing. ^^

 

I played crysis for 2 hours straight and the temps rose to 91, then stopped and hovered around 90-91. Weird thing was that when the temp rose to 88 the first time, and the fans kicked in full blast the temps went down to 85 and hovered there for maybe 5-10 minutes. Then it just rose up to 91 and stayed there.

I am not 100% sure that it gives an accurate reading, I am using rivatuner. But i think it does as usually before the fans kicked in at precisely 88 degrees everytime. It is odd.

How do you btw access the powermizer, cause my GPU hovers at 60 when idling and then stealth mode brings it down even lower?

 

you cant change settings for powermizer in vista. the only way to change powermizer settings is by changing it in the registry. use stealth mode to bring the temps down.

 

i will install the new BIOS and see if it makes any difference to the GPU temps, I will see if I have time, going on 3 weeks vacation on saturday and have a lot of packing and stuff to do.

Alright, only reason I asked was as dhoang and you reported lower idling temperatures. I guess it depends on ambient temperature aswell, I was sitting in probably 26 degrees or something (Swiss summer without aircon )

 

yeah, it's pretty hot right now

in related news, i'm idling at 47°C right now... the new drivers really are nice. haven't been able to test gaming performance though, will do that tonight.

 

On the other hand, i was having a skype videocall so that may have been what increased my temperature as I suppose the video in Skype is processed by the GPU to a certain extent or something. Cause when i finished the call the temps went down a bit, it isnt a sudden decrease in temps though as when you turn on stealth mode. it is more a continoues decrease over time, that is if the temps were up around 80 like after you finish playing Crysis

 

what type of graphics settings are you guys using in crysis? and is it much better than the alienware drivers?

 

I am using triple CCC mod at level 4, no AA and native resolution 1440x900. These drivers arent much better, a possible 1-2 fps improvement but I am not 100% sure. Those estimates are only from keeping a track on fps during gameplay, havent made any recordings or average fps.

 

ah, i was lookingfor a miracle . thanks anway. i going to install them for the hell of it anyway.

 

Definitely a lot smoother gameplay with these drivers Lethal. However, don't expect a big jump in FPS.

 

wow, 177.72 are awesome. i was playing Cryis just now, and on Onslaught (outdoor level, lots of foliage and explosions ), my GPU hit 88°C just now, and then stayed at a (more or less) constant 80°C for another half hour or so... and i love that they downclock when idling.

 

So it never went above 88? Wow 80 is really low! Cant believe mine is up at 92, what is it doing up there? I tried to AW beta drivers and they bring down the temps to around 90. How was fps in Crysis for you, and how long did you play in total for?

 

so how the heck do you install theese? i tried but the exe said it was not compatible with my current hardware. can some one give me a download link? maybe i got the wrong file.

 

http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=19699

Download the driver, and the the modded inf. Extract the downloaded driver with winrar or some other program, copy the modded inf file into the extracted driver folder. Install as usual.

 

Maybe it also has something to do with your ambient room temps, Svarto. I have the air conditioner running so that could be the reason.

 

ah so i had the right file i just was not preparing it correctly , thanks

EDIT: i installed and rebooted and my driver now says this as the version

7.15.11.7772

 

Yep that is the 177.72 driver. I tried the 177.79 driver and it doesnt downclock for me as the 177.72 driver did. So i think i will keep the 177.72 driver!

 

Hi guys, I tried to load 177.72 onto my m17x last night and it went on fine but, the control panel didn't work. I uninstalled it, driver sweeper'd and CC'd it and then tried the 177.73, which worked fine and the control panel worked. Only problem is that the idle temp seems to be around 70 DegC and 65DegC for the two 880gtx's.

Any advice? oh, and is it worth me trying the 177.83 drivers without enabling the Physx part for better performance?

OB

 

why not install the PhysX? the effects are pretty nice...

 

Yeah i've readb about them but, it also uses a whole GPU just for the physics and i've not got many games that would use the physx yet... Thought i'd go for performance with the Sli working and maybe try the physx at a later date?

What about the 177.89 drivers, any good?

OB

 

I installed the 177.83 the other night and I didn't see anything about the physx. Where do you get that?

 

In the thread on laptopvideo2go, there was a link. You have to download and install another program to mamage the physx part. It then uses one of your GPU's for pysx only leaving hte other for graphics... it also drops your fps apparently, which is why i'm not sure about enabling it.

There's 183.89 now BTW (",)

OB

 

i have the 175 beta from AW which seems to be working alright except for the game Company of heroes. When I try to run the game on full screen the colors are all distorded. But when I run the game with the window on my desktop, so I am able to see the start toolbar, the game runs great. Suggestions?

 

****.. I think I'll just be patient until AW releases offical updated drivers..

 

AW never really updated drives.

 

I'm using the 177.83 drivers right now, with the Phyx and one thing I've noticed is a lot smoother gameplay in Crysis DX10 Very High Settings at 1280x800. These drivers work wonders for dx10. Higher 3dMark scores as well, but not a big jump.

You can disable Geforce Phyx acceleration and force your CPU to do the work in the the Phyx control panel. Just make sure that you run in administrator mode in Vista.

 

you can run Crysis at very high? what fps are you getting?

 

20-25, but only at 1280x800 though. If I get into the last level on the carrier ship, it drops because of so many particles. If I crank it up to 1440x900, it's not even worth playing.

 

nice. how does 1280x800 look?

 

It doesn't look as sharp as 1440x900, but it's not too bad. I can live with it. I used to have a 1280x800 LCD res on my older Alienware notebook.

 

I'm not sure what has happened to my laptop. THe max I can get on 3Dmark06 is 6800 which is pathetic. When I did a clean install of Vista I was getting very close to 10000 - One test I actually got 10115. HAve there been recent Vista upgrades that render 3dmark06 inaccurate? I have checked to see what tasks are running in the background and I cant find anything out of the ordinary.

Power Mode is on High PErformance, Laptop is plugged in and no applications are running when I do the tests. I'm nt sure what to do other than a clean install again which I am hating becasue it means yet another day out of my life re-installing programs and drivers.. Any thoughts? suggestions?

Thanks

I have the Nvidia 8800GTX 512 with X7900 processor at 2.8 GHZ and 4GB ram

 

stealth mode maybe?

 

Nope wish it was that simple. Def have all the modes off. THe laptop is hot and the fans are going full bore so I know its no in a low power state... Just not sure why its giving me such poor results on 3Dmark06

 

loaded all new drivers and bios updates as well?

 

I just installed the new BIOS and was not expecting much as I had achieved high scores with the previous bios but not anymore. Now after installing the X34 BIOS I am back to scores around 9985 so I am Happy with that again! We will see if it lasts. Thanks for everyones comments!

 

I seem to have the same problem you had before updating your BIOS; I'm getting around 8600 3DMarks every time now for some reason. I've actually never seen my system beat about 9,000, which pisses me off a little, considering how much I dropped on this rig. Which drivers are you using right now? (the x34 drivers didn't help)

m15x: 1920x1200, 2.5 ghz t9300, 8800m gtx, 4gb 667

 

x34 is not a driver dude....its a bios

i dont think bios would really affect your score