My Nvidia GTX 880M Test Run Review

Don't push the system without a second A/C adapter unless you want a now useless brick instead of a brick :\

 

I know I just read your other post :/

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Well, we'll see what happens... XOTIC should replace it, maybe I can get them to give me the adapter so I don't blow another one. Have to wait til Monday.

 

It just sounds like a bad one to me.

 

Catzilla has had some fixes and it seems a lot more stable than it used to. If you don't have it yet, its on Steam Sale.

Speaking of 330W being inadequate... this benchmark pulls over 530W on my system with this amount of overclock.

Hopefully, GTX 880M SLI will be capable of this or better once it gets fixed.

Catzilla Computer Benchmark - Mr. Fox Online Result: 11059

This drew 548W... was going to run the same overclock with Sky Diver and my bridge rectifier blew out... gotta get another one, LOL.

 

Lol brother Fox. That's some serious OC going on with your 780's. Impressive though. What were your temps whiles benching at those settings (780's)?

 

About 58-60°C, CPU hit about 72°C @ 4.7GHz. I was using my 10,000 BTU portable AC unit for cold air on those runs.

 

Very nice. Your a lucky sod you are. Always hitting nice scores.

 

Ok, so I once knew how to dual boot with ease, but I'm uncertain whether it can be done under UEFI. I have Windows 7 64bit. I'm thinking of dual booting temporarily, to see of it's windows 8 that's causing my problem. If it is, well, you know what's going to happen. Windows 8.1 is getting wiped, and windows 7 is going to be installed. I have to admit. Windows 7 has been my favourite OS out of 7 and 8. 8 is far too restricted/buggy in my opinion. Also, will my AW 17 be ok under windows 7, meaning drivers for my hardware?

 

Yes, there is full Windows 7 driver support. Although the new 3DMark suite is optimized for Windows 8 (which is why I am dual booting) Windows 7 is definitely the superior operating system. You can dual boot with UEFI no problem. You cannot use Secure Boot with Windows 7, but I cannot imagine why anyone would want that filthy pile of crap to be enabled anyway. So, yeah... set Legacy Option ROM and you can dual boot to your heart's content.

 

Ok, so legacy rom has to be enabled? Or can I just disable secure boot as I like the UI welcome (loading screen) haha. It helps settle my OCD.

Edit : I've also got another question. I've got a driver and utility discs. Will I be able to install alien fx and the rest of the Alienware software? Or will I have to download all of these directly from Dell?

 

Yes, UEFI with Legacy Option ROM. That's the option to Secure Boot. There are no other choices for boot mode unless you go with Legacy Boot (which is not UEFI). That's OK though, as there are zero disadvantages to using it. When you get down to it, for most people there is no benefit to having UEFI boot enabled. Most people have absolutely no use for it, and many wouldn't even know what you are talking about if you mentioned it.

It's always best to download drivers and utilities directly from Dell Support to be sure you are getting the latest and the correct software. You can use the disk if downloading is a problem. It does come in handy for WiFi or LAN drivers so you can get online to download everything else. The importance of driver installation order is blown way out of proportion and has been for a long time. It's not that important. The only thing I recommend with respect to installation order is to make OSD and AlienFX the last two items, and be sure to install the newest .Net 4.0 Framework before installing them. Alienware Command Center (AlienFX) tends to crash, sometimes crashes very hard, if you install it without .Net 3.5 or newer already installed.

 

Okie dokies. Tonight's going to be a fun night installing my favourite os. I've just had a thought. I can't rid my computer of windows 8 all together can I? Isn't the key tied to the bios somehow? I've heard some right horror stories downgrading to windows 7 if your system come with Windows 8 as stock.

 

What temperature did you got without ac unit. Crash?

 

Ok, this is weird haha. If I open up Nvidia Control Panel first, I'm able to over clock once again (every time). Now, I've had problems with Rivatuner's software. EVGA's Voltage Tuner runs multiple processes in my task managed, even if I don't press Voltage Tuner. A new instance fires up, literally every time I move the sliders. MSI works like a charm, however, voltage control is greyed out. I've ticked the unlock voltage in settings, but nothing changes. I still get a greyed out box. Nvidia Inspector works like a charm as always, but I wanted either MSI or EVGA for the windows startup function. Any ideas guys?

 

This is really odd. I have not encountered that. I wonder if it might be how you are using it. Let me explain... I have a shortcut to the voltage tuner on that RocketDock bar and use that. I do not use the link embedded in the Precision X GUI. I notice that often I close the voltage tuner it does not actually exit but it minimizes to the task bar unless I am very deliberate about clicking on the "X" button. When I don't notice it is already open I end up having more than one running. This used to happen more often before I started using the dedicated shortcut. So, what I am wondering is if you have multiple instances running because you launched it multiple times. Another thing I have found is that if you have more than once voltage control open it can cause instability because you have two voltage controls sending mixed messages to use different values if they are not both set exactly the same. It could also be a Windows 8.1 bug that you are experiencing.

I don't do that kind of extreme overclocking benching without AC because I don't like to stress out my beast like that. If only for a quick bench I do now and then, and it does OK as long as it does not last long enough to totally saturate the heat sinks. But, not sustained run-after-run-after-run benching like I did this morning. It is just too harsh to do it that way. I know it looks like I really punish this monster by looking at numbers, but I actually baby it quite a lot, LOL.

I doubt it would crash, though. I almost never get crashes from high temps. When I do it is almost always due to using wrong power settings. Worse case scenario is that it would simply shut down from getting too hot. With an unlocked system BIOS and the correct settings implemented on the CPU Thermal Management menu my M18xR2 will typically run full speed without any trace of CPU throttling until it reaches the point of thermal shutdown (105°C for 3rd Gen i7).

Oddly enough, the main components that have difficulty from extreme benching are SSD and HDD. If you have multiple abrupt shutdowns this often causes data loss and drive corruption, which is why I keep images of my OS and data disks. I have had to reimage them many times due to this and I am always glad that I took time to create the image when that occurs. And, with cache acceleration and RAID0 it exacerbates the situation.

I did not get to finish by benching fiesta today. The bridge rectifier in my dual 330W adapter mod blew out after about 3 hours of hard benching. I guess it just spent too much time over 530W and the bridge rectifier could not handle it. (But, that's why it is there... it's the weakest link by design, for safety's sake.)

 

I'm downgrading to Windows 7. I have a legit key that I just purchased on eBay, but I need a clean 64 bit Windows 7 ISO so I can get this installed tonight. I can't seem to find any links to an actual Legal copy. I'm not downloading a pirated copy as it's just a real pain having to keep an eye on updates ext.. Any help would be appreciated brother Fox.

 

This should work... http://forum.notebookreview.com/win...-digitalriver-windows-7-sp1-13-languages.html

If it does not, let me know.

 

Downloading now. Not the best download speeds, but it's a good start to my evening. Thanks brother Fox.

 

Hi
I currently use Xtu for my pc. Wonder if there are other benefits to use trottlestop than only have multiple profiles on the fly. I use my computer constantly with my 4x42 profile that works fine. However, a little unsure of the use of trotlestop (if I should use it with Xtu and whether to start up simultaneously in windows). I see again some people destroy their Power supply, if they push their machine too much. I tested my computer again with skywalker, the test pushing my machine up to 250.2 watts. Do not think it is so good to push the power supply several times. The new test skywalker is a resource-intensive test, so it's fascinating, to watching my watt meter during this test. I'd wanted me again you had the opportunity and test skywalker with 4x43 and your gpu 915/1450 with your new Alienware 18, and can measure the wattage with a watt meter. Because I want to see what such a configuration using in Power(watt). After my vacation I have to buy a new bigger power supply, If I get the pleasure and squeeze my machine with mod VBIOS and a slightly higher CPU overclocking. I think that when my computer is overclocked for all day use, it is insufficient to 240W.

Msi laptop has a terrible power supply - Asus need to disassemble the entire machine for cleaning the fans and heat sinks - Clevo has not so good finish. I am glad I have Alienware.

PS: It is wonderful and look good test results with a laptop. It's amazing and think again, these machines can be more powerful than many of the desktop computers you can buy in a computer store. .

 

I've given up. I've just tried to install Windows 7. I can't even get the HDD to show up when I click Install then Custom in the setup environment. I have UEFI secure boot - disabled, and I have Legacy Rom enabled. I really don't understand what's going on, since both UEFI and Legacy are firing up together. I really do despise UEFI. I don't know why the old tried and tested Legacy was ever replaced with this garbage. Another reason to get rid of my AW's.

Edit: I took the dive and reformatted back to factory windows 8.1. Upon first booting into windows, I installed EVGA. Again, voltage tuner shows in task manager processes, but the program itself, doesn't display. So from that, I'm guessing Windows 8.1 isn't the best environment to be doing anything in. I'm yet to try Windows 7. I've downloaded the windows 7 professional from the link brother Fox posted. I've formatted my 4gb USB stick with Rufus in GPT or what ever format UEFI needs. Anyway, I first had secure boot and Legacy rom disabled. Upon pressing F12 whilst booting up, I'm presented with a few settings, but no option to boot from USB stick. Now, if I switch Legacy Rom on, and then press F12 whilst booting. I'm presented with the option to boot from USB. I clicked that option and then went through the windows 7 start setup process. Upon clicking Custom Advance. I'm presented with no HDD or MSATA. I have no idea what to do here. Secure bots disabled, so I'm guessing that's why my HDD and MSATA isn't appearing in the list of storage devices. Anyhow, I'm seriously irritated by Windows 8.1. Windows 8 wasn't too bad since most, if not all programs worked out of the box. Now, hardly any programs work.

 

Back to normal (stock) after a reformat - 3D Mark 11 (Stock Score)

 

Why cant I adjust voltage?

 

try a diffrent program like nvidia inspector or evga

 

Don't use MSI Afterburner or EVGA Precision X... Stay with Nvidia Inspector, the other two have issues while Inspector is completely stable.

 

MSI Afterburner does not support voltage control or temperature targets, so I don't even have it installed. EVGA Precision X and NVIDIA Inspector support all overclocking features for 780M, (voltage, power targets, temp targets,) so I would imagine 880M as well. I stopped using Afterburner about a year ago because it is lacking too many features that I use. Precision X also has K-Boost and twice as many profiles to use for GPU on-the-fly clock changes.

 

I see, EVGA worked well and I have always been using it on my computers...just had the MSI afterburner installationfile at hand. Thanks.


Alittle offtopic but how do you get HWInfo64
to start automaticly at startup? I always need to manually start it, even though I select startup in the settings.

I need it to activate the GPU fan as it dont wanna run, even under benchmark.

 

I use MSI Afterburner to monitor temp, gpu load, core and memory clocks in-game with the OSD function. It works very well for that.

 

Set HWINFO to start with windows in its settings panel.

 

Didnt work.

 

It does work well, but it is not a feature unique to Afterburner, plus lacks monitoring information that I value a great deal. HWiNFO64 works with RTSS just as Afterburner and Precision X do, except that HWiNFO64 gives you tons more options and finite control over how things are placed. Afterburner and Precision X are mostly GPU information that hog up a lot of screen space they don't need to.

Everything you see showing in on-screen display in this screen capture is being pushed through RTSS by HWiNFO64. Nothing is coming from Afterburner or Precision X in this example. You can label and arrange things in rows and columns exactly as you want them to appear on your screen... CPU, GPU, RAM, network data, really whatever data is available in HWiNFO64's sensor windows that you want on have displayed on the screen you can put there.

 

^ 1.4v CPU? Damn!

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk

 

Hmm... I use the portable version of HWiNFO64 with no Windows installer registry entries to screw things up--just a couple of simple files in a folder anywhere I want it--and adding the check mark to the box to run at startup always works great for me. If it does not you can create a Windows Task to launch HWiNFO64 during logon. Adding the check mark to the box to run at startup typically creates the Windows Task automatically, except in your case it appears to not be happening. Look in the Task library and see if it there but disabled for some reason. If not, just create your own Task. If it is already there, you can probably just re-enable it.

That's for 4.5GHz. I use about 1.5V at 4.7GHz and higher overclocks for the 3920XM. At 4.7-4.8GHz the 3920XM draws about 100W on average. My 4930MX requires 1.4V at 4.8GHz but the down side is that 4930MX draws about 130W on average at 4.5GHz and higher while not actually producing anything meaningful in terms of performance... not to mention it runs A LOT hotter than the 3920XM. So, I save 0.1v but lose an extra 30W of system power that could go toward powering the video cards and gain a lot of heat for basically nothing with Haswell. Nice job, Intel!

 

I will have to play with this to see if I can get it working. A quick run through did not yield an OSD for me. Thanks for the tip!

 

Maybe this image from my "HWiNFO64 Album" will help with the OSD (RTSS) tab setup.

Spoiler

Another really cool feature is that any of the sensor items in the table can be double-clicked and open into a graph... very useful if you are looking for evidence of throttle, spikes or drops in voltage, etc.

Spoiler

 

I haven't even given my desktop over 1.31v and its water cooled (H100i) how are you controlling temps? Is liquid ultra really that incredible? I haven't gone past 4GHz on my 4940MX because it won't stabilize, it doesn't even POST on 4 cores but two will do 4.5 :/

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Yes, Liquid Ultra is really that incredible. Using Liquid Ultra, I can do things with nothing but the internal fans blowing that was almost too much for my AC cooler to keep up with before. A huge amount of credit is also due to Alienware for having superior cooling systems in the M18xR1/R2/18. That particular feature, along with chassis build quality, truly distinguishes the caliber of these 18" beasts. That makes it especially unfortunate that a couple of engineer-imposed limitations (mod-protected BIOS and a system power-handling limitation) have hobbled the new 18's performance. Without those two impediments it could be an extremely wicked piece of hardware.

Things are a whole lot easier with a Sandy Bridge or Ivy Bridge CPU. It requires a lot more patience and fiddling around to get equally good overclocking results with a Haswell CPU, but if you get a good Haswell chip (i.e. get lucky since there seem to be few) and are willing to spend (waste) a lot of time with trial and error, figuring out what some of the numerous unexplained settings actually do and determining what works best, you can get some really good result from an unlocked Haswell, too. But, it's definitely more of a pain in the rear end and if you don't get one of the rare excellent Haswell CPU specimens to work with it can be a frustrating and possibly futile endeavor.

 

Hmmm... I'm starting to think that liquid ultra may be in my future for both the GPUs and the CPU...

Clevo's cooling is so poor that I watched my vbios modded 880Ms shoot straight up to 93C at the stock 1v when running 993MHz last night... Then I watched as the same game had 950MHz average on one card with the second card dipping down below even 900 a few times with the stock vbios but maintaining low 80s under load... Never really got to do that before because I didn't know about the OSD with HWInfo and RTSS (I learn an awful lot reading your posts). It only took about 20 minutes of gaming at full boost to push the first GPU to 89C and the second to 93C... I didn't realize how much of a load Bioshock can put on the GPUs though (90-95% GPU utilization is pretty insane, its higher than Watch Dogs even), vsync probably would have knocked them down to 87 or 88C each but yeah, the cooling in these machines is not adequate for a full-on unthrottled 880M. The stock vbios aggressively throttles although the interesting thing is that it starts throttling right off the bat which leads me to believe its the driver doing it...

I, too, wish that Alienware hadn't screwed up with the 18 because I miss the cooling of my M17x... The Clevo just can't keep up.

 

I'm also currently looking into liquid ultra. I just can't push myself to do it without some sort of protection over the components around the die.

 

Liquid Ultra is a pain to put on in my experiance. Just dont wanna stick to the die and if you are alittle uncareful, the ball with Liquid Ultra just rolls down from your CPU and on your board

 

This is why I'm nervous about it... I think for now I will be happy with what I have and use my desktop when I'm not happy with what the laptop can do.

Later when I take the laptop out I'll look at ultra seriously.

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I'll be having performing a test run on an old CPU before I go ahead and apply it to my AW's.

 

For those that are interested, I posted up my Sager/Clevo cooling mod here:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/sag...adsmiley-s-gpu-cooling-mod-np8278-p170ms.html

 

I wonder if it's more to do with you getting bad 880Ms or the heatsink is just defective (probably a bit of both). Reason I say this is because even with my 780Ms OC'd to 880M base clock (954MHz), they never went past the high 70s during the Valley benchmark (well for the 2 minutes 30 seconds it held at 954 MHz). Even after several hours of Crysis 3 it peaks at about 83C, with an average of 79C. In Watch Dogs the peak temperature is 79C, and the average is about 75C. And I'm using MX-4 and auto fans.

I know this a slightly apples to oranges comparison, but if the 880M is running stock at 1V, I don't think it should run 10-15C hotter than a stock or OC'd 780M at 1V.

Actually, I think we've pretty much established your slave heatsink is kinda bad in another thread. And given Arotished's extreme bad luck with 3 dead/defective 880Ms, kinda makes me wonder if there's a bad batch of Clevo 880Ms floating around in the wild.

 

Thanks for sharing this information with us... looks like it turned out well.

 

Thank you, Sly Mr. Fox. I know this is AW country, but the GTX 880M is in a lot of new laptops. Lots of folks have been visiting this thread discussing their experiences with it.
Figured you wouldn't mind the clutter too much.

 

It happens a lot round here, just so long as people behave It's all good.

 

I'm starting to wonder if it is the 9377 design. I'm tempted to ask mySN what reasons they had for not carrying the P377SM or the P377SM-A as they stated in another thread that there were build quality and other concerns that kept them from carrying it.

There is an issue with the secondary heatsink but that can be made up for with some extra paste in that one corner. Nothing can fix their decision to make that GPU sit in the middle of the chassis and rely on heatpipes to run the heat to the fan at the back though.

Every 880M so far is a hot card, not just mine. I would love to do something about it though. I'll have to put up my modded vbios bioshock log to show just how hot 993MHz is. Due to the poor cooling I'll likely have to use my lifetime upgrade policy to have xotic upgrade me to 980M or whatever the Maxwell part ends up being as opposed to being able to overclock my 880M. It sucks but when it comes right down to it, that's exactly what nVidia wants.

EDIT: The log didn't pan out because no matter what I do with the data, it shows the temps for the primary not the secondary card so I won't use HWInfo to make logs again but here's the image of the max temps... The cards were forced to 993MHz and you can see that one didn't pass 83C while the secondary hit the 93C throttle point (although to be fair, looking at the average clocks, it doesn't look like it was throttled too much after hitting it but I also had the OSD on monitoring it and shut the game down as soon as I saw those temps). That was also just 10 minutes of gameplay...

Spoiler

Here is what the stock vbios does

GPU0

Spoiler

GPU1

Spoiler

Pretty heavy throttling but much better temps and that was a full hour of gameplay.

I may have to look into that hard mod for the fan intake...

And yeah, my Alienware M17xR1, almost the whole bottom is a steel mesh screen which is why it had such great airflow. Temps were rarely a problem with that machine even when I was abusing it by setting it directly on my mattress, effectively trapping the hot air. My Clevo would fry without a doubt.

 

I would honestly just ask for a downgrade to 780M at this point. Like I said even when overclocked to base 880M speed the 780M doesn't run as hot, and the cooling in the P370SM and P377SM-A is pretty much identical.

 

Its going to be a hard sell getting them to downgrade me to 780M when even throttling, the cards are running higher than 780M's boost speed. I don't really think they will do a downgrade if your reasoning has to do with overclocking. Even the temps are not a valid reason to them as I have an email from them saying that the goal is to have these cards under 90C which they are always under 90C even without fans on max with the stock vbios.

In their minds, the system is functioning as intended so they would likely charge me for the downgrade.