BIOS modding for GPU OC fun and profit!!

No, if a higher value is available, it will always change to it automatically if the BIOS thinks it's necessary. I could set all to 220/300/0.9, that way it'd never be able to increase even if it wanted to, and you'd just have to manually adjust it higher with AMD GPU tool whenever you need more power.

 

I think thats what I would want it to do. I have been able to run blu rays at 180/250/0.9 without issue, and thats the highest I go.

Ive manually increased it while doing graphically intensive modelling (solidworks/ansys) so im fine with that. Thanks so much! Can i PM you my email address?

 

No need. Here you go. I haven't tried this yet, so let me know how it works.

1645 BIOS 4670 Underclocked

 

im currently on A12 bios. Do i need to downgrade or something before running this?

 

Yes. See the link in my first post for instructions on downgrading.

 

Found it and flashed. Seemed to work. Running IE9 test site doesnt cause GPU to upclock. Thanks!

So if we wanted to try and decrease voltage, how safe would that be? If it didnt work, would I be able to get into windows to undo it?

 

I honestly don't know, I've never tried to undervolt. Maybe somebody else can chime in??

 

Anyway to just adjust the bios to ALLOW other voltages? Using the AMD gpu clock tool i cant even select something less than 0.9. Maybe if you just added a few voltage steps then I could test them out with the GPU tool and test out the stabillity?

 

Hi do you think it's possible to undervolt the CPU this way??? And how about changing the way fan kicks in? (setting it to run always but at 1400RPM or something like that to avoid loud kicking in when doing non-intensive tasks)

 

We are talking about undervolting the GPU not CPU

 

I know, that's why I'm asking ;-)

 

I think you can, but I don't know how to do it. I asked the same thing a few pages back. Da_G was reading through the ACPI spec manual to figure that and some other things out, but he hasn't posted anything in a few days. The ACPI spec is 780 something pages long, so it might take a while, lol.

 

i didn't know upping the clocks would get such high 3dmark scores. 825/1050 gpu tool no bios gives me 9800 up from 7700 stock. nice!

 

Is there a chance anyone has found the charging limitation in the BIOS and removed it from these systems with one of these modded BIOS? I know there is an ID chip in the power supply and on the board, but I believe with the BIOS modded it should be possible to still charge the battery even with a shorted ID chip (in either component)

I am willing to do whatever it takes to help out with this issue. I have a 1640, ATI 3670, P8600 Core Duo, A14 BIOS my system has the ID chip on the motherboard shorted or erased idk. (RW everything report, unmodded BIOS whatever you need)



(fwiw: There is no heat marks, burn marks, scorches, or loose solder on the board anywhere. The jack is not loose. I have gotten a new 130W supply from Dell and that would not charge the battery either)

 

I'm not really sure how to go about doing it, though I'd assume it could be done.

 

Well if someone is willing to try, I will help, if not there will be a lot of nice parts on ebay soon (minus a Motherboard haha)

 

seeker_moc, can you please make bios for
1645 A12 4670 800/900
GPU 800
MEM 900

I tested it on 3dMark6 and there was no problem.
Original bios A12 Drivers and Downloads

Dell Studio XPS 1645, ATI 4670 (Default 675/800)

 

1645_A12_4670_800_900.zip

 

Hmm no changes

3DMark6 result 5526
i7-720qm
ATI 4670
4 GB 1333
500gb 5200
1080p 16'

 

I just downloaded it fresh from the link I supplied, unpacked it, and verified it. The clocks were indeed changed to 800/900. Could you run GPU-Z and see what it says??

Also, did you follow the instructions in the first page, and downgrade your BIOS first? If you already had A12 installed, and didn't first downgrade, the mod BIOS would not have installed.

 

Either your graphics driver is very bad (old), or more likely RGBLED is causing throttling due to lack of power. You should hit 7000 or more points BEFORE any OC around 8000 with those OC clocks with i7 720QM + 4670.

Do you have the 130w adapter?

 

No i Have 90w adapter

Yes i downgradet to a8 then upgradet to your a12
maybe problem with adapter ?

if i buy new 130 adapter it will hit 7000 or 8000 ?

 

Yeah, you're probably throttling. You were likely throttling even before the modded BIOS, so it won't likely help you much. 90w just isn't enough to power all that hardware. The i7, 4670, and RGBLED is the most power-hungry combination possible. Call Dell, they'll send you a free 130W.

Also, download and run GPU-Z, it will give you the clocks, so you can verify if the BIOS flash worked.

 

But i buyed not in dell company... what i need to write them or were to write for 130w adapter?

 

Dell should still give it to you. Just call the Dell warranty hotline and ask. There used to be a website to request it, but I can't remember what it is. Try searching around this board, the thread is in here somewhere.

 

I wouldn't use 3DMark06 for testing.. it doesn't stress the system at all. If you looked at the old BIOS notes (way back when...), you'd seen that Dell actually tested the system with this also and never saw the throttling issue (back with 90W adapter).

 

3DMark06 isn't good for stress testing, though it is good for stability testing. It won't heat the GPU up too much, but it will crash alot sooner than Furmark or other stress testing programs if you turn the clocks up too high.

 

What is your windows experience index?

 

It's 6.9 for graphics, but the WEI score means next to nothing, as the speed of your GPU is only one small part of your score. It's based mostly on what version of DirectX it supports.

 

and HDD 5.9 ?

 

Yes, HDD can't score higher than 5.9 without RAID or SSD. Once again, it means nothing, as it has more to do with the type of HDD than the actual speed.

 

I just don't understand why on studio 1747 i7-720qm
CPU index 7
but i have 6.9

 

It means nothing. Try it again, it's not uncommon for it to change by +/- 0.1 between computers/runs. The weaker power supply might have something to do with it, but I doubt it. You should still try to get the 130w though.

Also, have you tried running GPU-Z yet? You can get it here http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/

 

is the 750/1000 clock significant? Have you tried any recent games before and after the mod?

 

In every game I've played it's a linear scale- if you bump up both clocks by, for example, 15%, you will get 15% more fps.

And if you just bump up just 1 of the clocks you will still get more performance.

 

I've been playing Crysis Warhead a bit lately, and the boost helps. You can go much higher than 750/1000 safely though. Look at my sig. I've been able to go up even higher to around 850/1100 max, but I don't feel comfortable making that one permanent. I just didn't want to create a BIOS at 850/1100, have somebody flash it without testing their system first, and seriously screw something up. If you want a higher clocked BIOS, I take requests. Just let me know what you want, but please test it out first, I won't take responsibility for it if someone fries their system.

 

Ah so around 15% better.
So this is completely safe? I would trust your knowledge since ur pretty respectable around here. I will try ur mod after applying paste and maybe removing that filter to keep my system cool. Kinda dont want crap getting sucked into my comp though

Oh yeah why did u pick A11?

 

It's pretty safe, that's why I did 750/1000, because it's low enough that it should work for everybody without much testing.

A11 was the newest one when I created it. There's no real difference between A11 and A12 though. I should probably get around to updating it to A12, for the 5730 at least. 4670s should stick to A09, or A12 modified with a A09 vBIOS.

 

Actually I didn't do the math before for those particular clocks, but the core clock is around 15% higher and the memory is 25% higher than the default, so I guess 15-20ish percent is reasonable. Also as Seeker said, many individual cards are capable of going quite a bit higher.

One thing though is that you should test the clocks before trying the BIOS mod since every card is different- for example, my 4670 Core Clock is somewhat stable all the way up at 840, but my Memory can't even run at 965 even with no 3d applications open. The closest thing to 100% stable I could find for my card was 800/925. I know it's a different card but my point is it's possible for an individual to get a "sucky" card that doesn't overclock well.

 

Oh i just didnt know if there was any benifits to using A11. I have not updated my BIOS at all and I have not experienced throttling.
Yes, I did the math and it was 15% core increase so I assumed you did it haha

 

Once again, what GPU are you running? The 5730 should have next to no throttling problems, and should upgrade to A11/A12.

The 4670 does have throttling problems, and should stick with A09.

 

I SHOULD upgrade? what are the benefits? Just wondering because mine seems fine. I have the 5730 as well. After I am done my paper i will look up A11/A12 fixes. I wish you could add pipelines!

 

Well maybe should isn't the right word, but there is no reason not to upgrade if you have the 5730, and there were some small improvements made.

Lol, no, the days of unlocking disabled pipelines are long gone. It's too bad, but I think ATI learned their lesson last time they tried that.

 

Well I flashed ur mod. That was super simple! I was thinking it had more clicking. Anyway I will see what this baby can do now. In furmark I went from
Min-8 Max-12 Temp-76 to
Min-10 Max 13 Temp-78
Will play Black Ops soon to test it out. Thank you very much! Is the fan supposed to be constantly running? I have not heard it stop yet but Ive only just flashed it. Before it was a very silent machine.

EDIT: Results from OC
I am able to run Black Ops on highest quality with shadows on 1080p without AA and I get 30fps! Sometimes it will hit 60. Taking off shadows improves fps but why would you not have shadows? Playable just wouldn't have it on this setting online with the current bug. On 720p with 4xAA, shadows, highest settings, it is perfect.
Fallout: New Vegas ran nicely as well! Very playable, 1080p. On Ultra i get 30s fps, High i get 40s.
L4D2 i get 288 FPS in the menu! yay! I actually dont know what it was before but the 5730 run this perfectly on highest setting 1080p stock but it is definitely a little smoother which is nice.
Downside is the card hit 81C which is 2C up for before.

 

That's a good thing and perfectly normal that your temps went up. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it means your CPU is working harder now to keep up with the GPU. The GPU is easily still the bottleneck for games, but it allows the CPU to do more now. And since they share a heatsink, some of that temperature will spill from the CPU to the GPU.

 

seeker_moc, can you do a mod that will upcap the RAM speed? I am putting new rams into my 1645 that have the speed of 1600MHz and wondering if you can do a mod that to lift the capped speed of 1333MHz so I can fully utilize that speed of 1600MHz?

 

Unless I'm not understanding what he's asking, you can't do this without increasing the base clock of the entire system. The memory controller is what is limiting the speed here. Much like my XPS 1647 Core i5 mobile is limited to 1033 because of the memory controller, I think the Core i7 mobile memory controllers are limited to 1333.

 

That is correct. The memory controller for quad cores is on the CPU die, and is limited to 1333 (for the dual cores it's on the integrated GPU die, and limited to 1066). I'd recommend against trying to overclock the entire system, with the heat level / power consumption that the CPU is already hitting at stock speeds.

 

I understood this, that is why I am asking if you can do something to the CPU controller to change the limit on the RAM or not

 

It is possible, but I don't know how. There's a lot of threads over in the gaming board about people looking to overclock i5/i7 laptop CPUs, but from what I've read, they've had no success with software tools. You'd have to alter the ACPI tables in the BIOS to do it, but I haven't dug that far into it. Personally, I'm more interested in trying to undervolt the CPU to lower temps, but I just don't have the time to do all the research involved.

If you are interested in doing this, you'd be better off asking over in this forum: Computing Life They are a lot more knowledgeable BIOS mod people over there than around here.