BIOS modding for GPU OC fun and profit!!

Thanks, buddy.

 

Quick question, with the dust filter you mean only the filter under the fan or other areas also? There are 3 places where it's used; one is above RAM area which I don't think would help if removed and then there's another one at the bottom (the largest one) but that has 2 'stoppers' for lack of another word on it which would also go if removed.

 

I just removed the one under the fan and got the 10C drop. I didn't think removing the others would have much impact on temperature and might be helpful in reducing dust so I decided to leave them alone. Seeker?

 

Thanks, yeap I think it has to be the fan mesh.. at least that one makes the most sense. 10 degree drop is pretty crazy

I just ran some of these tests.. been awhile now. Furmark maxed out but running alone (TS enabled though it doesn't do anything as the CPU isn't used much at all) started throttling the GPU at exactly 6min mark.

This is with the A12 BIOS which has served me well, but I guess the Summer weather proved to be too much and I need to look at A09 and/or some of the other BIOS mods (A12 with A09 vBIOS looks interesting).

add: should add that I've already got AS5 on it and it's sitting on a NC2000 (and it's clean).

 

I applied new thermal paste and cleaned out my intake and it is still hitting 83C!
Is my GPU defective or something? Would Dell replace the GPU?

 

1645_A12_4670_800_1000_A09vBIOS.zip

At first I removed only the filter over the fan, then later I removed the other 2. I saw practically no difference removing the other two filters, so I would not consider it necessary.

 

Thanks, Seeker!

 

If you're hitting 83C (and throttling) on stock clocks, after upgrading thermal paste, then you should call Dell and complain, and see if you could get a new motherboard.

 

Im not throttling. My CPU definitely decreased in temps while my GPU only dropped a litte after the new paste and im using MX-2.
A new motherboard, huh? I hated it last time when the tech was here. I felt like my laptop's glossy coat would get scratched up while he was opening it up to replace the keyboard.

 

I doubt they'll replace it if it's not throttling. High temps are not optimal, but as long as the laptop is still fully functional there's nothing technically wrong with it, and you're not in danger of permanent damage unless you're up above 90C.

 

Could I tell them its very uncomfortable to use the laptop at those temps? Because it is! Normally I dont use it thought because I am plugged into my Razer keyboard for ultra coolness. And a matching mouse!

EDIT: okay, i decided to just remove the filter. I only saw a decrease of 2C for the GPU! The temps for the CPUs look like though. 76C for the highest. The CPU was 80C before.

 

Well, at least it helped you some. You could still complain to Dell, tell them that it's so warm that it's uncomfortable, but there's nothing they can do about it except replace the motherboard, which I'll doubt they'll do. Still, calling and asking doesn't cost you anything but time, and you never know if you'll come across a friendly agent that might just upgrade you to a 5730 (which runs much cooler).

 

You'd load the HP 8530W bios using EzH20, then use HxD to do in-memory editing. Finding the position of the original HD3650 vbios. Overwrite that vbios with your HD4670 one. In EzH2O save the changes to a bios file, package up and try to flash your system ensuring you have the Recovery USB floppy handy.

UPDATE: I found out that PhoenixTool can decompress the 2530P bios, so likely can do the same with the 8530p/w. In that case the mod is very simple. Just replace the HD3650 vbios module with a HD4670 vbios module instead and then use PhoenixTool to reconstruct the bios. TTAV134 on mydigitallife uses that method to create the unwhitelisted bios.

 

I just tested the A12 800/1000v09 for the 4670 with the plate screen removed and had great success. I ran the FurMark stability test full screen at 1920x1080 for 30 minutes with Xtreme Burning, Displacement Mapping, and Post FX all selected. It ran at 7FPS average and ran at a steady 7FPS almost throughout the whole test but went up to 8-11FPS for 7-10 minutes starting close to 20 minutes in. Throughout most of the test, the temperatures were less than 82C but when the test pushed up the FPS to 8-11 then it started hitting 83, 84, and 86 (and 86C was the absolute max) but usually only spent a few seconds at these higher temperatures. I also did not notice any artifacts. Thanks again, Seeker!

 

but i ALREADY have a 5730!

 

My bad, I was confusing you with others with a 4670 that have been posting lately. There is no way that a 5730 should be getting that hot. You really should call Dell and complain, though like I mentioned earlier, as long as you're not throttling they're not likely to do much for you.

 

after a campaign on L4D2 it hit 80C so i guess thats ah high as it gets vent filter off, cleaned fans, and applied thermal.
I really want them to fix the heat problem. Its ridiculous. It is the sexiest laptop imo but it just isnt efficient.

 

I gave this one a go but it was a no go for me. As soon as it went those clocks the driver fell over.

I'm now running the other one where the clocks are 800/900, which is lower than what I put it to using Rivatuner but still high enough for me not to worry about those extra few %.. plus, I forgot to run Rivatuner many times.

You might remember just before my recent headaches with stock clocks furmark throttled me down at 84 at 6min mark. With 800/900 I now get to 78 degrees and I 'think' this has A09 vBIOS.

 

That is too bad. 800/1000 works great for me and I think I got a 2+ fps improvement on the furmark stability test over the 800/900. Do you have the dust screen on the bottom plate removed (ie, I am too lazy to review your previous posts)? I am telling you that made all the difference in the world for me. When I ran the 800/1000 with furmark and that screen in, I had nothing but problems. Also, you might want to double check which 800/900 you have installed because one version was A09 vBIOS and one wasn't and there is a significant performance difference between the two. Things that I noticed were the A12 vBIOS would run hotter, have unnecessary temperature throttling, higher temperature variability/volatility (ie, big and frequent swings in temperature), and the clock frequencies would change but I did not experience these with the 800/900 A09 vBIOS. However, if the one that you have installed works "good enough", you might just want to stick with it. Good luck.

 

Yeap, I saw your post and was (to be honest) slightly disappointed that I couldn't run it like you.

There's nothing wrong with temps, it's just the driver can't seem to cope; Furmark gives the menu but try and start it - it won't and then crashes and you see 'driver has recovered' once you get the screen back. Same thing with games, heaps of artifacts straight away until it crashes few seconds later on (I don't have enough time to even quit the game before it crashes). It's instant (note that the temps are still in the 60s, so it's not that).

I thought there was something wrong with the driver so I removed and reinstalled, no cake.

This is the one I use and it looks to be A09 vBIOS which going by your post, may explain why higher clocks give less temperature compared to the standard clocks at A12.

 

That stinks, but what is important is that you have 800/900 A09 vBIOS and it works. It is plenty good and much better than stock.

 

The driver crash message is just Windows recovering from a too high overclock, it really has little to do with the driver. Usually, crashes like this happen with the gpu clocks are too high, not the mem clocks (which when too high result in artifacts). 800 core may be right on the limit of what your GPU can handle if a 100mhz difference in mem clocks is pushing you over the edge. You might be better off trying something like 750/1000 instead of 800/900.

Could you use the AMD GPU clock tool to change your clocks to 750/1000, and then run OCCT to test for artifacts? If you don't get any artifacts then it's your gpu clocks that are too high, not the mem clocks. I could then make a 750 (or 775) /1000 for you, which would probably be faster than 800/900, as these ATI cards seem to respond better to memory speed increases.

 

What is score on 3dMark06?

sXPS 1645 I7-720qm 4670 4GB 500GB(7200rmp)

3DMark06 show 5237
I have 130w adapter and a12 bios. Win7 64..

Why it is so low score?

 

I had the same issue with 800/1000. Driver crashes and artifacts. 800/900 works fine. I would be willing to try 775/1000 to see if that is more stable. Also one other thing I have noticed with A09 vs A12, after having the machine hibernate a few times, the brightness gets stuck around 70% and I can no longer adjust it. The fix is to shutdown and pull the battery. I had this problem day one until A12 came out.

 

If you're having artifacts, then the mem clocks for you really are too high, and you should stick with 800/900 as long as it works. error-id10t only mentioned crashing, but not artifacts, which is why I think 750/1000 might work for him. If you want to do some software overclock testing, then let me know the exact clocks that are stable for you, then I would make you a custom BIOS. Some good methodology for software overclock testing can be found here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/gaming-software-graphics-cards/487795-how-overclock-ati-5650-a.html or http://forum.notebookreview.com/dell-xps-studio-xps/518711-xps-16-gpu-overclocking.html

As far as the brightness problem goes, I'm not really sure how to fix it. Hibernation in Windows is pretty buggy (it's even disabled by default), and personally I'd suggest sticking to regular sleep, or completely shutting down the system, unless you have a specific need to use hibernation.

 

You removed the dust filter/screen below the air intake from the bottom plate, right? Because this was the key for me. Otherwise, it did not work. Good luck.

 

I'd make sure CCC is set to Factory settings and that PowerPlay is enabled and set to Performance (with no other power saving functions on either). I think you should expect around 6700-7100 with standard clocks.

It appears to be fine at 800/950, but that's very close to the trigger levels for me (artifacts are there at 800/960). Temps with Furmark alone (maxed) at 800/950 were 79-80 degrees, but throw in TS enabled and Prime with small FFTs and you're looking at 90-92 for GPU and 83-84 for the CPU. I was just playing JC2 and it played fine and temps were: 77 for GPU and 68 for CPU.

3Dmark06 (basic edition) with 800/950 gave me 8203.

Give 800/950 a try and see what you get, maybe this is a good level if someone can't get 800/1000?

 

seeker_moc,
I have
I7-720qm, 4GB 1333, ATI 4670, 500GB 7200. RGB
GPU-Z techPowerUp GPU-Z Validation uvzuy
CPU-Z CPU-Z Validator 3.1
Win7 64 clean without programms. Only original progams.
I'm using Throttlestop 2.95 at full (Clock modulation, Chipset clock mod, set multipler-turbo).
Original Bios A12.
130w Adapter

And still have only 6000p in 3dmark6 (sometimes)

May be in 3dmark need to change something, i use original settings

 

Are you using the most recent drivers from AMD (10.12)? Unless you know that you're throttling, I'd leave out Throttlestop all together, you might not be setting it up right, or it may be interfering somehow, but either way you shouldn't need it for 3DMark06. Then try it again, you seem to be about 1000 points short.

 

Idk what happened but last night on standard clocks my CPU only hit 70C and my GPU only hit 73C.
So i decided to flash ur BIOS once more.
OC temps = CPU hitting 71C and GPU reaching 79C peak (usually 78).
This morning normal GPU clocks are now at 76C
Maybe my thermal paste finally kicked in or something. 83,84 down to 78,79 is good i guess.
What did your CPU temps drop to after thermal paste? I want to know if I did a good job. Mine used to be able to reach 80C!
Oh I put the filter back on, for some reason i did not see any temp drop.

 

I upgraded my thermal paste when I first received my laptop, before I even turned it on, it's a habit of mine, so I can't really tell you how much they dropped by. I can say that others have reported a 10C drop from paste + removing the filter. I can also say that my GPU temps don't exceed mid-70s while gaming, or 80C with Prime95+FurMark, which is about as hot as it could possibly get.

If you used AS5, they do recommend a fairly lengthy break-in period. I'm glad to hear that it's working out for you now.

 

Any good links on what thermal paste to buy (ie, bang for the buck) and the optimal placement and amount to apply? Thanks.

 

You can't go wrong with AS5, that's kind of like the standard. It's also cheap, and can be found nearly everywhere (computer stores, internet, even Radio Shack). Some people will complain that it's conductive (which it's not, though it is slightly capacitive) but this won't be a problem unless you goop the stuff all over the entire motherboard. AS5 also takes a few weeks to 'break in' for optimal performance.

This time around, I did some research and tried out G-751 instead (can be had on newegg), and it works great, though not significantly better than AS5. Though it is non-conductive, non-capacitive, and doesn't require a break-in period, so it might be a bit easier to use for people who've never re-pasted before.

For instructions: http://www.arcticsilver.com/pdf/appmeth/int/ss/intel_app_method_surface_spread_v1.1.pdf

 

Catalyst 10.12, 3D settings

without throttlestop, 3dmark hit only P5000

Settings of Throttlestop


What settings must be in Catalyst to hit P7000 or Stable p6000

 

Those are "bad" 3d Catalyst settings.

You shouldn't disable A.I. Default is best. Disabling it will almost always reduce performance.
Adaptive AA will usually lower performance.

Mipmap should be on max quality, or textures can look very nasty.

 

I would also recommend turning AI back on, it can make a pretty significant performance difference for little to no quality loss. For mipmap, I don't know if I'd necessary turn it up to max detail, but I'd put it back on the default at least, the low setting looks real bad. Lastly, there is no reason to enable 'triple buffering' if you have vsynch turned off.

I'd recommend you just use the standard 'high performance' preset.

 

how do you get catalyst to work? i have 10.12 as well

 

Right click on desktop, hit the catalyst control center button. Or do you mean that you're having problems with it? If you're having problems getting it to work, I'd boot into safe mode, save a copy of the full 10.12 package to your desktop, then uninstall all AMD everything from the "Programs and Features", go into Device Manager, and uninstall the drivers for your video card, go into the Program Files and Program Files x86 directories and delete anything ATI/AMD, and finally run CCleaner (first the file and then the registry cleaner part) to get rid of every last trace of your video drivers, then reboot and reinstall the drivers.

 

ok, i do like you say and still 3DMARK P5421
Why ?

 

Hit Ctrl+Alt+Del, click "Task Manager", click "show processes from all users". At the bottom left corner of the window it will say "Processes: ###". How many processes do you have running?

 

Processes: 49
CPU Load: 0%
RAM: 23%

 

Seeker,
I did exactly this and when I look at Options...Help...About Catalyst Control Center... and it says version 2010.1125.2142.38865 Is this 10.12? Here is the file name that I installed...10-12_mobility_vista_win7_64_dd_ccc_ocl.exe from ATI Catalyst? Mobility Display Driver I am just double checking because of the "2010.11" or 10.11 part of the version number. Thanks!

 

That sounds about right... Do you have any large or resource intensive programs running when you run 3DMark?? Have you done a virus/spyware scan recently? In the CCC, is your power play set to 'maximize performance'?

 

Yes, you're good, that's the same version I have. Also, under Device Manager, make sure that your driver version is 8.801.0.0

 

Yep, I have that, too. Thanks again!

 

Yes yes yes

Mey be some drivers? I installed all drivers from dell web
and i have a problems with Drivers and Downloads

Intel PM55 Express Chipset Family
there says it is 9.1.1.1015, A01
but after i install it and reboot it still 9.1.1.1013

 

Try these:

Chipset: http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=19597&ProdId=816&lang=eng

Video: ATI Catalyst? Mobility Display Driver

 

Chipset driver won't install Next next and finish
but i don't see how it install or may be it install less than 1 sec

 

I updated latest driver and still P5554
may be in 3dmark
all test, because i don't select
Feature tests and Bath size tests

 

May be i need to change something in bios
Like disabling virtualization