Mr. Fox's GeForce 344.75 Desktop Driver Mod for 780M, 880M and 980M Mobile GPUs

Thanks for the driver Mr. Fox

 

Except for one piece of the puzzle it is ready to go for your MSI. Your MSI machine normally installs with the nvmi.inf file. Anyone that wants to know this can look for their hardware ID in the ListDevices.txt file in the root folder of the NVIDIA driver package. The last part of the hardware ID for the GPU identifies your machine. So you would open ListDevices.txt in NotePad and look for 11051462 in your case and you will see the header at the top of that section in the file shows the nvmi.inf file applies to your MSI. NVIDIA likes to add an extra letter, this time it is an "i" so in your case it is NVMII.INF.

After downloading the modded driver package in the opening post, extract it and open the nvmii.inf in NotePad. Simply use the Find>Replace feature from the top menu in NotePad to replace your hardware ID with something bogus. For example you could Replace All "11051462" with "12345678" to render this INF file worthless for your laptop. (You cannot just delete the file or the driver will not install.) After doing that, uninstall with DDU in Safe Mode. If you are running Windows 8 or newer, reboot with Driver Signature Enforcement disabled (a must or the installation will fail) and then install the package.

If this doesn't make good sense, let me know and I will try to make it more clear.

Anyone else that wants to test the driver mod can follow the same process using the appropriate INF for their computer. The mod is set up for 780M, 880M and 980M and a second tweaked version of the modded INF for adding 970M is in another post in this thread.

Hey bud, you're welcome. I am kind of interested in the performance of your X8 in terms of CPU overclocking. I need something to put my 980M SLI into that behaves properly and the P570WM3 and P377SM-A are the only two options that seem viable. Whatever I land on must have SLI capacity and must have either high overclockable mobile Extreme CPU or desktop K/X CPU or it's unacceptable. Do you have any benchmarks I can look at? How high can you overclock the CPU with stability and manageable temperatures? Feel free to send me a PM with more info. I would appreciate it.

 

Hi, I'm a complete noob when it comes to over clocking, but I am trying to learn, I've already made a post on advice and help and I sent a PM to Ethrem a few days ago as he seems to be an expert on OC'ing. I was also informed that you were as well So if you have some settings you want me to try out, just let me know and I will.

If you have any advice on my post here (on this very subject):
http://forum.notebookreview.com/sager-clevo-reviews-owners-lounges/753213-clevo-p377sm-sager-np9377-owner-s-lounge-85.html#post9884883

The first comment on the next page actually suggests I seek you out so if you have the time that would be great, but its OK if you don't have the time as I know you are a busy guy

Either way I'll figure it out eventually and post the results for you.

 

Hey Mr Fox, could you mod this driver with GTX 970M support as well? Would like to try it on Saturday

 

Drop your hardware ID and he will add it

 

Sometimes I wonder when Brother Fox gets time to sleep... I think he's actually a cyborg

 

You know he loves that the hardware providing maximum Maximum Maximum perfomance. Then he keeps on until there are no more breath again. He knows that the hardware manufacturers do not the job properly with their software, then he becomes even more motivated to help others.

 

Hi Mr Fox,is it possible to modify this driver for geforce 860m (Maxwell) [ lenovo y50 ]? thanks.

 

Mr. Fox I can put this driver on the M18xR1 ( GTX 880M )? No modification is necessary? Thank you.

 

Figured out what he's doing. It's really quite simple if you follow his post #153. Screenshots would only make it easier, but it's not difficult.

 

See post 132, 133 and 134. Use the file I provided to Tom with the driver download in the opening post and you should be good to go.

Yes, super easy to do it. There are not enough hours in a day for me to do the mod for everyone with different machines, but it's something everyone should learn how to do.

 

Thanks Mr Fox. Appriciate it

I would like to learn this myself though.
What is the beef here:

Say you have Alienware 18.

1. Download drivers from Geforce.com
2. Locate nvdmi.inf in the file folder you just downloaded from Geforce.com, which is for Dell machines.
3. Find ID`s for GTX 780M (10DE-119F), and replace all 10DE-119F with 10DE-13D8 (GTX 970M ID) so that you fool the installer to think you have a 780M and let it install?

Is this it?

 

No need to fool anything, I thought we were just adding the device IDs so it will actually LOAD the installer then messing up their ID in the other file.

Need to read between the lines a bit.

 

You can do that to make any notebook driver work. You only need to replace all 119F (using 780M as the example) with 13D8 (for 970M) and then go to the [Strings] section (bottom of INF) and change "780M" to "970M" so your GPU has the correct name in Windows.

What I did with this desktop driver mod I simply used the nv_dispi.inf to hold the hardware ID information generically (same as desktop) for mobile GPUs. This way the drivers are brand agnostic and work with any laptop as long as the GPU hardware ID is in the nv_dispi.inf file. The kicker is, you have to be sure your hardware ID is nowhere to be found in the INF file normally used by your brand of laptop. If you are using a standard factory configuration you will need to mod that INF to remove or distrupt your valid hardware ID strings so they are not referenced during the driver installation. For those with aftermarket upgrades and no valid hardware ID information to be found in the INF file normally used during setup, you don't need to change that INF file. If you don't know which INF your brand of laptop normally uses, you can figure that out by looking in the ListDevices.txt file. As the name implies, it is merely a list of devices supported by that particular driver package.

I borrowed code from a desktop GPU (I think it was Titan, 780Ti or 980, don't remember now and it really doesn't matter which one it was) so the driver would configure Windows as though a desktop GPU was installed instead of a notebook GPU. This affects registry keys and installs some files in a different manner than a notebook driver installation would. One such example is you don't need the SLI-on-the-fly mod when using the nv_dispi.inf because the driver thinks it had installed itself on a desktop so there is no restrictive registry code that needs to be tweaked to enable that feature. The registry keys that prompt for reboot to enable SLI are totally gone from the registry if you use DDU to wipe everything out prior to installing the desktop driver mod. Any OEM laptop tweaks, mods or crippling measures the OEM wants imposed on their systems is also omitted during driver setup because the "Sections" referenced in the nv_dispi.inf do not include any of those OEM tweaks.

When I have more time I will provide a tutorial so everyone can do it.

You mod the nv_dispi.inf file essentially the same as you would for a laptop, but the portion of the hardware ID that identifies the model and brand is missing.

For example, for GTX 780M SLI in an Alienware 18 or any other brand of laptop with 780M:

The nv_dispi.inf would have

Code:

%NVIDIA_DEV.119F%           = Section034, PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_119F                

Versus nvdmi.inf (used by Alienware)

Code:

%NVIDIA_DEV.119F[COLOR=#FF0000].[B]05AB.1028[/B][/COLOR]% = Section219, PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_119F[B][COLOR=#FF0000]&SUBSYS_05AB1028[/COLOR][/B]

In the nv_dispi.inf, the part of the code marked in bold red font is missing, so the driver does not care what kind or brand of notebook computer it is being installed for. It only looks for code that matches the GPU and nothing else.

I think j95 has done a great job with the driver mods and may already have a tutorial at Tech|Inferno. I have learned a lot just by looking at his mods and none if this is difficult once you figure out what needs to be tweaked to make it do what you want it to do. Open the INF I gave to Tom using NotePad and you will be able to see what I did if you compare it to the original nv_dispi.inf.

 

Haha, although that sounds like a very clever mod Fox, I think I will stick with just modding the nvdmi inf first. Then maybe trying out your method once I get a hang of it.

Sounds very simple to do the usual inf mod though. Replace IDs and add correct name.
Btw, does this mean I can add a string at the bottom and call it whatever I want?

 

Yes, you could call your 970M SLI whatever you want to. That might cause a few glitches now and then with some software, but I have done it before just to verify that it would work.

 

I should rename my 780Ms to SLI 280M and then do a firestrike and make everybody on the internet real mad

 

That, or something really strange, like "ATI Radeon HD GT645MX" and then they would really wonder what you did.

 

Hehe I also thought about that idea.
Or with GTX 980M rename it to GTX 880M/780M since both have 1536 cores/256bit just to play around with the GTX 880M/780M owners claiming you have recieved a golden sample from Nvidia or know a secret trick that can unlock hidden powers within the GTX 880M/780M

 

YES. Especially if we clock them up to 1368 or so. Imagine 1368/6000 780Ms? People would die

 

There are people who did this equivalent to their motherboard and desktop cards to look like the were clocking high scores in the laptop area on XTU. They then claimed that their 780 GTX was a 880M gtx.

 

It has been going on for a LONG time, never made much sense to me though.

 

Thanks Mr. Fox for this mod !
My NB is a MSI GT72 2QE with a GTX 980M 8Go VRAM (PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_13D7&SUBSYS_11291462&REV_A1). Can I just install your modded driver for Alienware and Clevo from the first post or I have to edit some .inf files ?

EDIT: I followed your post #153, I will see if it works

 

I have been away too long.

Damn you, Mr. Fox. There goes all my free time for the next week or so... Love you, mean it!

 

@Mr. Fox: Though I shouldn't expect it to help... does this work on optimus laptops?

 

Probably so, but you'll need to try it and find out. Worked for single 980M in Optimus mode on the M18xR2.

 

Alright. I'll report back in once I return from work.

 

Don't forget to mess up your hardware ID in the Clevo INF first. You need to do that in order to force installation using only the nv_dispi.inf file.

 

It works on my P170SM-A with 880M which is an Optimus equipped machine

 

What about performance ? Did you notice improvement in bench ? Games ?

 

Continually getting crashes when overclocking, but works fine when not overclocked. Going to test more when I wake up.

 

I do not see an improvement in benches. However, it seems that the minimum framerate is higher in games. I sm unsure how to test for minimum framerate?

 

I know Fraps can do it: you press a key at start of a game session and again at the end and it calculates the min, max and average FPS during the period. Only problem is that FRAPS overlay can cause reduced performance or crashes in some games.
I'm not really expert regarding frame counters softwares to be be honest :/
Some games also features an in-game overlay which can show FPS.

 

I should mention too, that I used the download link in Mr. Fox's original post. All I did was uninstall the existing driver with DDU and then installed this one. No issues, no fuss.

 

Yeah, I have used things like Fraps and RTSS along with HWiNFO64. I haven't found a real good way to check minimum FPS because how do I determine when to start checking? For example, in Mechwarrior Online, the FPS can vary from 300 FPS to nearly zero while loading a map, which makes it difficult. Bleh...

Thank for the response, BTW.

 

Hi all.
Did anyone tryied new Dell GTX980m on M18xR1? I bet they will work like a charm whit unlocked or whit factory A5 bios.

 

Are you using the 344.75 driver or 347.09 driver? Avoid the 347.09 driver..

 

Used the 344.75 from the OP. It worked fine after the initial +200/200 (core/mem) which boosted my 3D Mark Firestrike score by 900 points. After that the benchmark would crash every time on any further testing.

Edit: Before ya ask, I did edit nvcvi.inf to alter my hardware ID's.

EDIT2: Great... the GPU no longer functions properly. I let the machine sit overnight after the crash and started it up. Tried running 3D Mark only to find that the frames are now reading at only 3-5%. GPU doesnt seem to change P States either...

EDIT3: Reflashed vBIOS and fixed the FPS drop. Back to fine tuning my OC.

 

New Driver:

nVIDIA GeForce Drivers 347.12

 

I'm using 344.91
They are working great for standard vbios and 980m SLI

 

This is the highest I can go for now. 200/200 MHz (Core/Memory) at +12.5 mV

Any more crashes for now.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-4720HQ,Clevo P65_P67SG powered by PremaMod.com


EDIT:

200/400 MHz at +30mV

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/5537430?

 

Is that using my driver mod? If so, it is better, worse or the same for you?

 

You're probably running out of power is why; that only has a 180W brick

 

LOL, yup... 180W is not anywhere near enough power. You're going to just about exhaust that running at stock clock speeds.. I've pulled over 320W with a single 980M overclocked in my M18xR2.

 

Before the mod, I scored in the 8200 range with stock clocks. After mod at stock, 8377 and higher.

Stock Before Mod at 200/200: 897X
After mod at 200/200 is above.

Overall, the driver improves frames between 3-10 frames at stock settings.

For the power issue, I don't have much choice for the moment, but at least I know it works quite well. Will be getting the P750ZM within summer hopefully.

 

anyone check yet if the 347.12 driver still has the OC block?

 

Hey guys,

So here I am with an error after installing the driver. Code 12 : This device cannot find enough resources that it can use.
Diagnosis from Windows is : Two devices have been assigned the same input/output (I/O) ports, the same interrupt, or the same Direct Memory Access channel (Edit : looks like this might be the problem. Found out with Run -> msinfo32 -> Conflicts/Sharing -> There are two Memory Address conflicts with the 860M). The assignment was made by either the basic input/output system (BIOS), the operating system, or a combination of the two

So anyone know why it's doing this? Here what I did with Mr. Fox's driver :

1. Downloaded the package on first post.
2. Device Manager - GPU - Hardware Ids - PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_1392&SUBSYS_397817AA
3. Checked ListDevice.txt to find my GTX 860M
4. Found it under nvlt.inf
5. Went into NVLTI.inf and replaced each code line 397817AA to 123456AA
6. Then into nv_dispi.inf and replaced the 780M "119F" line for "1392" and 860M under [Strings]
7. SafeMode - DDU uninstall - NVIDIA driver only (there was also the Intel driver which I did not uninstall)
8. Disabled Driver signature and double click on setup.exe from Mr. Fox's driver package.

Anything wrong here? Any help would be appreciated! Or I might just reinstall the default 344.75 driver and let it be...

 

I had issues with Mechwarrior Online freezing. Alt-tab was enough to bring it back, but still... I went back to the notebook driver and no issues (yet).

 

Nope, it's not the desktop driver. I removed the desktop driver and reinstalled my previously good running driver and it is still freezing in game. It's either a MWO issue or just another "feature" of the 880M. This card is very finicky. The next time I get it running stable I am not touching it.

Thank you for your efforts Mr. Fox. This problem has nothing to do with you my friend.

I went all the way back to 327.23 and just played MWO. No freezes. Weird ...

 

Sounds like you took the right steps. It should have worked, but maybe it's just not setting things up correctly in Windows. Thanks for testing it.

Thanks for the compliment.

The 980M cards are goofy on my M18xR2. I can hardly wait to get a P570WM to use them in. It's a shame they don't work right in the M18xR2 in SLI.

Here is a video example showing how retarded they behave on better days. What's really puzzling is one works fine, but two act spastic.

<iframe width='1280' height="720" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/xo-zNhcmxVI?rel=0" frameborder='0' allowfullscreen></iframe>