9400m MacBook EXTREME Overclocking Guide. [C/GPU]

Hi guys.
Note: If you came from Overclock.net, yes this is TK421


This is an OC tutorial for the GeForce 9400M or any Core 2 macbook that has an nvidia GPU!



Performance in games will be posted at the end of the tutorial









What you need

1. Computer (well, duh )
'
2. Windows 7 64-bit. (recommend legit, but other version works)

3. Cooling pad, recommend CM U3, point the fans to the laptop cooling fan, motherboard and RAM (removed bottom cover)

4. Opt: 85W magsafe for more power (the 60w will burn out in a few months on OC, also 85w provides more stability)


Mine: MacBook 2008 Metal. 2GHz, full specs see my sig.



How-to


First, I recommend getting 4GB or more RAM. 1066MHz sticks ONLY


Before you begin...

Tweak your system, and update drivers. Tutorial thanks to KingpinZero

http://forum.notebookreview.com/asu...pdate-nvidia-drivers-any-windows-version.html



Download other tools

Fan control Macfan

Throttlestop (latest stable)

nVIDIA inspector (guru3d latest stable)

nVidia System tools 6.06 (nvidia website)


How to proof stability

CPU: Prime95

GPU: Furmark



Repaste your heatsink, iFixit should have the guide for your macbook model.

I recommend using IC Diamond 24 for the thermal paste


One last thing

A decent amount of time and balls. You will need a lot of patience working on this, the second is self-explanatory


If you have a display driver crash during startup, restart. The GPU WILL NOT OC like this




OPTIONAL: Open up the bottom casing exposing the fan, elevate the computer so that the fan can have a good airflow, i recommend you put your computer in the back edge of your notebook cooler.
Note: If your cooling pad shape is right (Cooler Master U3), put a fan right over the RAM, mobo, and CPU fan (rotary like fan)


Then use MACFAN. (UNZIP, if it don't work redowload, maybe corrupted file). You should know first how many fans your iMac have.

But for 15" MBP. You have 2 fans, so enter [6200, 6200] or 6000 i don't remember.
And for 13" MB/MBP. You have 1 fan, so enter [6200]


If you have an error saying KBmanager.exe (os something like that) crashed, don't worry.


There should be a manual inside the zip folder, read that to understand how to use macfan for iMacs.




WARNING
Now go to NVIDIA Control Panel (right click ur desktop) and choose, 3D settings (dropdown) PHYSX Settings, SET IT TO CPU THE 9400M CANNOT HANDLE PHYSX ON ITS OWN




LAUNCH THROTTLESTOP FIRST. Check the box: Clock modulation, chipset clock mod, set multiplier. Set these three settings to 100, 100, [maximum multiplier for your cpu]. Uncheck SLFM, BD Prochot and Power saver. Uncheck disable turbo.

Might also want to check out "How do enable IDA on both core 2 duo cores"




GRAPHICS OVERCLOCKING


Applies to the 9400m or the 9600m


Open nVIDIA inspector and click on "show overclocking"

These clock is what I got my 9400M to

Remember, these clocks is for my GPU sample, yours might have a different limit


With bottom casing (heat is holding back)
Core clock: 530MHz (linked w/ shader)
Shader Clock: 1350MHz
Mem clock: 1385

With bottom case open
Note that I have a 85W MagSafe power adaptor

Core: 565 (linked w/ shader)
Shader: 1360
Mem clock: 1385

Crash=exceeded temps=restart

Now if you have found the maximum stable using Furmark, let's move on.





CPU Overclocking

This can be accessed at the nvidia control panel after installing nvidia system tools

The 730i maxes at 300MHz BLCK before crashing, I ONLY suggest you do increase the BLCK until 295.

However I cannot predict the OC of your sample, you must find out on your own.

This is how it works [BLCK] x [multiplier {locked}]

Increase BLCK with Prime95 testing for 10 minutes every increase. CPU temps should not exceed 90.


My P7350 can manage 295MHz BLCK, the memory is also OC'ed to 1180MHz from 1066. CPU freq is at 2.212MHz


Run Prime95 and find your max BLCK

Crash=too much OC=restart




Checking stability of all overclock

Alright, you have summed the courage to do overclocking in your beloved macboook.

Now you must pass the final step, the proving grounds.


Run Prime95 and Furmark together. You should not crash, if you do, this is because of temps or because the chipset is not able to handle the BLCK. Reduce clocks.





TEMPERATURE

Mine idles at about 50~55C if no gaming and just browsing/youtube.

Overclocked+Gaming like this can bring up fans to 6200RPM (max) and temps on 81c. On stock thermal paste, with AS5 you can probably lower 15c from the stock paste

With case open and higher graphics freq and CPU Fsb to 295. Max temp is 72c. Fans at 6200. Stock thermal




GAME BENCHMARK



MacBook 5.1.

2.212GHz P7350 3MB L2.

8GB DDR3-1180.

500GB Momentus XT.

9400m 256MB shared. 565/1350.




COD sh|t Ops

1.08
All settings off or on minimal.
Texture on extra, resolution 800x600, AF Max.

BEFORE: 18~25 FPS, many action lag, occasional major FPS drop
AFTER: 25~45 FPS, few action lag, sometimes FPS drops


CRYSIS 2

1.9
800x600
All settings on lowest.
DX10

BEFORE: 5~18 FPS, extremely numerous action lag, major FPS drops sometimes occur
AFTER: 16~28 FPS, some action lag, fewer major FPS drops


Counter Strike 1.6 final.

All settings maxed out

BEFORE: 35~60 FPS. No action lag or major FPS drops
AFTER: 48~60 FPS (looks like it's capped). No action lag or major FPS drops


MINECRAFT

MinecraftSP. 1.0 FULL VERSION (non beta) (Andocaijo). Many cheats, plugins and mods installed

Graphic: Fancy
Render: Normal
Adv OpenGL: no
Bobbing: OFF
Bright: Moody
FOV: Normal
3D anaglyph (can be for minecraft in 3D): off
Singleplayer: Yes
Performance (FPS capping): Max FPS

Before: 5~50 FPS. Occasional hiccups when turning 360 degs. FPS drops constantly when flying past mountains
After: 25~75FPS. Hiccups eliminated. FPS drops decreased when flying past mountains



METRO 2033

With volt driver DLC, pm if you want the DLC
All settings on low, AF x16. 800x600
DX10


Before: 0~28 FPS. Inconsistent FPS, drops to 10 FPS or lower on big and open areas
After: 5~50 FPS. Actually very impressed by the stability so far, 4A's game engine proves to be very stable on a very weak system. Drops to only 15 FPS in large maps





Call Of Duty 5 (World At War)
1.9
Texture on ultra, AA disabled, 800x600.

Before: 10~30 FPS. Many action lags. FPS drops happens a lot (especially trough jungle combat)
After: 10~45 FPS. didn't change anything except max FPS.

NOTE: Patched w/ 1.7 same performance



Plants vs Zombies v1.?
Not GOTY version
Maxed out

Before: 60FPS
After: 60FPS

Note: Faster loading



Red Orchestra 2: Heroes Of Stalingrad

1280x720 (can't go lower res, dunno why)
Lot of setting OFF or LOW, 2 (can't remember) on medium


Game UPDATE 3
Before: 10-30FPS, thousands of micro lag
After: 13-38FPS, micro lag partly eliminated

Note: With Game UPDATE 3, also game sucks, can't understand a single sh|t


MW3
Teknogods 3rd party MP engine

Before: Little better than black ops, with tons of micro stutters
After: 20-45FPS, micro stutter almost gone



If you want the complete details about the version of the game, feel free to PM me



"Cool story bro, but I still need more power. Anymore suggestions?

1. Gaming rig
2. Gaming laptop


Thank You for reading this post I hope it helps

<s> Please rep me </s>

If you're not yet a member please click the blue button and GIVE ME AN INTERNET! lol

 

Pretty big increase from such a bad card.
I'm curious to what the increase in temp is?

 

idles at 50 C

gaming can go up to 81c and fans at full (6200RPM)

 

added some details and a bump

i really experimented hard on this!

 

I wouldn't really call the 9400M crap. It was cutting edge three years ago, it's just outdated now.

 

i know, but even at the launch date a 9400m can't max out COD4 (my fav) in 1280x800



btw, i'm going to try 2033 today....

 

Added METRO 2033 and COD 5 (WAW) to the performance list

 

Macbooks already get so hot is this such a good idea...?

 

i have the fans at 6200rpm, i use a laptop cooler (3 fans, $6), and i have a USB fan plugged in blowing the exhaust port behind.

stays consistently at 75~80 C


stock gunk, may get AS5 later

 

the 9400m is such a weak card im amazed how good it looked 3 years ago. im using the 320m and i wonder if in the future if it will be on the same level of crappyness 3 years from now. i know its a low end card so its already looking that way. its nice to see people really push that chip though to get that extra life out of it. its still good for many things even if not gaming.

i know it likely wont happen, but id like to see the 13 inch mac next year get a amd graphics chip in it like on the mac mini. its pretty compact on the mini if they can fit it in there maybe they can squeeze it into a 13 inch lappy. i would be totally ok with having a 13 inch mac with the same graphics as what the upgraded mini has right now.

 

actually the mini's amd gpu isn't that powerful either...




and when the 9400m came out it's already crap, i can't run COD4 on 1280x800 maxed out, and cod4's graphic req isn't that heavy :/


btw in osx, my GPU is down-clocked on the SL (10.6) update. from 450 core MHz to only 380~

 

compared to what? When it was released it was the fastest IGP ever by a large margin, and even beat a few low end GPUs that were still available at the time... 3 years ago. GPUs have come a long way in the last 3 years. No it wasn't crap when it was released, but it was still low end... decent, but low end.

 

+1, Compared to the ATi HD 3200 that was released the same year, it was a pretty sweet card. It is as faster, or slightly faster in some benchmarks/games, as the ATi HD 4200 that was released a year later.

 

I think we basically came from the intel X3100 graphics on the 13 inch so it was a great upgrade at the time

 

but that's the problem lol, it's still low end

i thought it was the GMA 950?

 

GMA X3100: MacBook "Core 2 Duo" 2.4 13" (White-08) Specs (Early 2008, MB403LL/A, MacBook4,1, A1181, 2242) @ EveryMac.com

 

sorry, my bad...

 

updated crysis to 1.9 and currently updating COD WAW to 1.7 (still downloading)

 

HUGE UPDATE AND ADDED SOME GAMES

NO MORE OSX RESTARTS TO MAX OUT FANS

 

What's up guys

I'm going to try RED ORCHESTRA 2: HEROES OF STALINGRAD <s>[skidrow]</s> now, i'll check in later

 

RO2 updated and made clearer explanation on fan control

 

Watch the piracy talk.

 

Okay guys. I followed everything you me to do. My computer does not overheat though. I get the clock to 540 Hz @ 60 degree C max but anything over 540 Hz then soon it automatically underclocks itself to less than its original values!!! GPU throttling seems to be at play here and I can't seem to find any info how to unlock this feature.

Please help and thank you.